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Wednesday, February 12, 2003 9:46 PM by Ivan Towlson

# At least one respected commentator has doubts

Bruce Schneier used Meganet and VME as a leading example of snake oil in a Crypto-Gram article three years back:

http://www.counterpane.com/crypto-gram-9902.html

His comments include "This makes no sense, even to an expert ... takes the ridiculous a step further ... This is not a proof. It isn't even close."

Of course the fact that Meganet don't communicate their claims well doesn't mean they haven't come up with something good. It's just that there's little reason to feel much confidence.
Friday, February 14, 2003 12:59 AM by Wes Haggard

# Quick Code.Net

If you really would like to inscrease your productive by having "shortcut code" inserted you should check out QuickCode.Net (http://quickcode.dvxp.com/). You can setup code templates and insert them based on a pattern. For example I have simple pattern "{" and when I hit the Shift-Enter key(hotkey I gave the command) it will insert
{
(Cursor)
}
just like your macro. You can do the same thing for your try/catch blocks or any other shortcut code.

Wes
Tuesday, February 18, 2003 3:02 AM by Jason

# Check out this article

There was an article in the August issue of MSDN Mag, actually written by Chris Sells.. check it out here.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/02/08/VisualStudioforApplications/default.aspx
Tuesday, February 18, 2003 10:20 AM by Tim Marman

# He imported from Radio...

I think he was dealing with Scott and imported his posts from Radio, so now all were done since DotNetWebLogs opened :)
Tuesday, February 18, 2003 4:55 PM by Roy

# That would explain it... :)

That would explain it... :)
Saturday, February 22, 2003 8:20 AM by Jesse Ezell

# IConfigurationSectionHandler

Yah, but have you seen IConfigurationSectionHandler... definately a bit cooler. I'll never go back to appSettings.

--Jesse
Saturday, February 22, 2003 3:53 PM by Roy

# KISS principle applies

The way i see it: KISS principle applies (Keep it Simple)
if you dont need to go with IConfigurationSectionHandler , then don't. the reason this setting is better for me, is that it allows me to add settings with no coding. much simpler. :)
Sunday, February 23, 2003 5:17 PM by Royo

# Testing comment system....

Just testing out the new comment-to-email system...
Sunday, February 23, 2003 6:48 PM by Fleh

# re: About Syndirella


Isn't this where open source is going? i.e. how does one make a living if nobody is willing to pay for anything?
Sunday, February 23, 2003 10:35 PM by Richard Birkby

# re: Microsoft Download Center RSS feed

Hi,

The RSS aggregator was written by myself and John Bristowe. It uses Chris Lovett's excellent SGMLReader from gotdotnet to do the HTML parsing. The ASP.Net cache is set to 1 hour to keep processing overhead low.

Richard
rbirkby@hotmail.com
Monday, February 24, 2003 3:01 AM by TrackBack

# Open Source Vs. Commercial Aggregators - The NewsGator Dillema : ISerializable

Open Source Vs. Commercial Aggregators - The NewsGator Dillema : ISerializable
Monday, February 24, 2003 10:15 PM by TrackBack

# About me : ISerializable

About me : ISerializable
Monday, February 24, 2003 10:15 PM by TrackBack

# About me : Wibbleshanks - ASP.NET UK New Media

About me : Wibbleshanks - ASP.NET UK New Media
Tuesday, February 25, 2003 4:25 AM by Chris

# re: Wow!

Thanks! <blush> :O)
Tuesday, February 25, 2003 8:47 AM by Thom

# re: Unemployment

Thanks for the comments. You and I seem to be on parallel paths. I did almost everything that you mentioned. One of the things that hit me hardest was when I came home the day that I was laid off, and my oldest son said "Dad, that really sucks. You put your heart and soul into that company." And you know what? I did.

I agree that the tables have kinda turned, and as you said, managers have the upper hand. But as you said. morale goes down.

Again, thanks for the comments.
Tuesday, February 25, 2003 12:34 PM by David Stone

# I'm sure it does

Haven't downloaded it yet..but they did release that right after news got out about 3degrees.
Tuesday, February 25, 2003 2:42 PM by Thom

# re: Snow in Jerusalem - Beautiful pictures

Roy, have you ever seen snow before? I live in a state in the US where it snows all the time. I was wondering how your community handled the storm?
Tuesday, February 25, 2003 2:45 PM by Thom

# re: Snow in Jerusalem - Beautiful pictures

Actually, I meant have you ever been in a snow storm? I know it sounds like a stupid question, but there are many people who have never had a snow ball fight or tubbed down a hill side, or skied in powder as deep as your neck.
Thursday, February 27, 2003 8:38 AM by Jason Bock

# re: What the hell...?

What you referring to? Your image isn't showing up...
Thursday, February 27, 2003 9:24 AM by Ben Richardson

# re: What the hell...?

To use the add an image to your blog you need to upload the file somewhere, the app (winform or web) won't upload the file from your local hard drive.

So the rest of us are seeing a broken image in your post.
Friday, February 28, 2003 1:34 AM by Paul Laudeman

# re: What the hell...?

This is a bug within the IDE that we've come across many times. The fix that has worked for us in most cases was to simply select all the code, cut it, save the file, and paste it back in and recompile. Odd, eh?
Friday, February 28, 2003 2:09 AM by Paul

# re: What the hell...?

Try just doing a full rebuild... Might be a problem in the incremental compiler (I never trust incremental compilers!) :)
Friday, February 28, 2003 8:47 AM by Roy

# re: Snow in Jerusalem - Beautiful pictures

Well, Thom, I have been in a snow storm. Israel has mt. "Hermon" which is just on the border between israel and syria up north. that place is usually snowing every winter, and it has slides and ski routes. However, israel is a pretty warm climate country, so any time it snows near the center, it's makes for a celebration.
Friday, February 28, 2003 9:43 AM by David Stone

# Re: "Is there such a name?"

How about "Blogging"?
Friday, February 28, 2003 6:55 PM by Ziv Caspi

# re: RSS is not mature

RSS-SMTP has been done several times (see, for example, http://bitworking.org/Aggie.html). RSS-NNTP has also been done several times (search for HEP, and there are many others). So you see, we're not as backwards as you might think, although we still have a long way to go.
Friday, February 28, 2003 7:15 PM by TrackBack

# Bin Drinkin : Phil Scott's WebLog

Bin Drinkin : Phil Scott's WebLog
Friday, February 28, 2003 7:55 PM by Roy

# re: RSS is not mature

"How about "Blogging"? "
Naa. Blogging is something that uses this technology, but how do we name the whole technology behind it..?
Saturday, March 01, 2003 2:11 AM by Phil Scott

# re: RSS is not mature - continued

Err, think mostly 10 beers talking there :) Mostly I've gotten pretty sick and Tired of Dave (www.scripting.com) acting all high and mighty about Radio, RSS and the such.

He seems to forget that the vast majority of people simply can't afford to get their voices out there.

I guess everything is kinda cool, but I don't see what the big deal is. Sure everything is XML and people can parse it, but you still need something smart to go through the posts to try to figure out what they mean, how to categorize them, or even figure out if it isn't someone just sitting at their computer banging away intoxicated.

Maybe I just don't get it. I've drank the kool-aid, but the only difference from the Kool-aid I already had is that they've pre-added the sugar instead of me having to mix it myself.
Wednesday, March 05, 2003 1:23 AM by Jason

# re: Tips and tricks for the keyboard junkie


For the WinXP users out there, WinKey+L locks your machine up for you.

WinKey + F == Find.



Wednesday, March 05, 2003 2:12 AM by Jesse Ezell

# re: Tips and tricks for the keyboard junkie

Win + D is much better than Win + M for seeing the desktop, because pressing it again reverts back. :-)

--Jesse
Wednesday, March 05, 2003 1:34 PM by Sanjay

# re: Tips and tricks for the keyboard junkie

My favorite file manager which may be even more of a relic is ZTreeWin (a Windows port of the old XTree program). It still uses a character mode interface but it is very powerful and quick to use for many common file management tasks.
Thursday, March 06, 2003 5:35 PM by Epaminondas Pantulis

# re: Tips and tricks for the keyboard junkie

Like total desktop customization, including -but not limited to- keyboard shortcuts, virtual desktops, scheduler, timers, popup notes, etc.? Then Windows Powerpro is for you: http://www.windowspowerpro.com

Thursday, March 06, 2003 5:36 PM by Epaminondas Pantulis

# re: Tips and tricks for the keyboard junkie

Forgot to mention: it's freeware!
Monday, March 10, 2003 1:01 AM by Anonymous

# re: .NET show: "Tell us about yourself, because we Care(TM)"

Agreed!
Monday, March 10, 2003 1:19 AM by Greg

# re: .NET show: "Tell us about yourself, because we Care(TM)"

I have watched a lot of these shows, and, for the most part they are good. I watch the 2nd and 3rd party only though, the techy stuff. Why? Well, why do you think Erika Wiechers was hired? For her interviewing skills? For her IT skills? Nope, cause she looks good and she can read!

I could not agree with you more. I think they are trying to make MS folks look 'just like us'. Well, they are 'just like us'.

Monday, March 10, 2003 1:32 AM by Anil John

# re: Compact framework resources needed

http://www.learnMobile.NET/MobileClient/

If I don't link to it, it does not exist (and I have an RSS feed on the home page) :-)

The following is linked to from above, but I would especially recommend

.NET Compact Framework QuickStart Tutorial
http://samples.gotdotnet.com/quickstart/CompactFramework/
Monday, March 10, 2003 1:36 AM by Anil John

# re: Compact framework resources needed

OK.. now I feel like an idiot as I just pointed you to one of the resources that you'd already found on your own :-)

To make up for that, I would point you to this article which lays out the Mobile development options that are available in .NET and when you should choose what

http://www.learnmobile.net/MobileWeb/Articles/DotNetDev.aspx

Monday, March 10, 2003 2:47 AM by Roy

# re: Compact framework resources needed

Thanks for the input! I'll be sure to check this out and put whatever i can find in a seperate post :)
Monday, March 10, 2003 5:23 AM by TrackBack

# Roogle - RSS search engine : Fabrice's weblog

Roogle - RSS search engine : Fabrice's weblog
Monday, March 10, 2003 5:59 AM by TrackBack

# Last night in brief : David Stone's Blog

Last night in brief : David Stone's Blog
Monday, March 10, 2003 8:45 AM by SLK

# Where is Q810007 ?

By the way, i can not get it !

Anyone got link ?
Tuesday, March 11, 2003 4:13 PM by TrackBack

# Debugging tips-n-hints : ShowUsYour-Blog!

Debugging tips-n-hints : ShowUsYour-Blog!
Tuesday, March 11, 2003 4:13 PM by TrackBack

# .NET Debugging FAQ : Mitch Rupp's .NET Blog

.NET Debugging FAQ : Mitch Rupp's .NET Blog
Tuesday, March 11, 2003 4:13 PM by TrackBack

# Yikes! people sure have problems debugging! : ISerializable

Yikes! people sure have problems debugging! : ISerializable
Tuesday, March 11, 2003 4:13 PM by TrackBack

# Article: Resolving Debugger problems : ISerializable

Article: Resolving Debugger problems : ISerializable
Tuesday, March 11, 2003 4:13 PM by TrackBack

# Debugging Problem : ISerializable

Debugging Problem : ISerializable
Tuesday, March 11, 2003 4:13 PM by TrackBack

# More Debugger Problems: aspnet_regiis does not work on Windows 2003 Server : ISerializable

More Debugger Problems: aspnet_regiis does not work on Windows 2003 Server : ISerializable
Tuesday, March 11, 2003 4:13 PM by TrackBack

# Resolving Debugger Problems in VS.NET : ISerializable

Resolving Debugger Problems in VS.NET : ISerializable
Tuesday, March 11, 2003 4:13 PM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Tuesday, March 11, 2003 4:13 PM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Tuesday, March 11, 2003 4:13 PM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Tuesday, March 11, 2003 10:36 PM by Greg

# re: Article: Resolving Debugger problems

This is linked as a WORD doc too.
Wednesday, March 12, 2003 1:44 AM by Roy

# re: Article: Resolving Debugger problems

How do you mean?
I see no link to it as a .doc file anywhere..
Wednesday, March 12, 2003 11:38 AM by TrackBack

# System.Windows.Forms.PropertyGrid 2 : ISerializable

System.Windows.Forms.PropertyGrid 2 : ISerializable
Thursday, March 13, 2003 2:50 AM by Mike Gunderloy

# re: Helpful .Net Common tasks "Howto" page

If you've installed the Framework SDK, you also have that content locally: Start, Programs, Microsoft .NET Framework SDK, Samples and QuickStart Tutorials.
Thursday, March 13, 2003 4:04 AM by Roy

# re: Helpful .Net Common tasks "Howto" page

Thanks! I guess i should dig in to my hard drive first huh? ;)
Thursday, March 13, 2003 6:42 AM by TrackBack

# Is there a big "Escape" button somewhere? : Blogadocious

Is there a big "Escape" button somewhere? : Blogadocious
Thursday, March 13, 2003 9:38 AM by Chad Brockman

# re: Drag 'n Drop Performance Counters!

Is there a built in UI?
Thursday, March 13, 2003 9:57 AM by Roy

# re: Drag 'n Drop Performance Counters!

What do you mean by UI? Dragging into the designer surface adds the componenets to eh lower design tray of the componenet (they are invisible at runtime) and lets you manipulate them programmatically..
Thursday, March 13, 2003 10:28 AM by Chad Brockman

# re: Drag 'n Drop Performance Counters!

I mean a UI to visualize the counters... like in perfmon? I thought maybe there was a built in graphing control.
Sunday, March 16, 2003 1:45 AM by TrackBack

# SQL Injection Article : Robert McLaws

SQL Injection Article : Robert McLaws
Sunday, March 16, 2003 4:25 AM by TrackBack

# Security? : Jesse Ezell Blog

Security? : Jesse Ezell Blog
Thursday, March 20, 2003 2:03 AM by Addys

# re: I want to start a .Net user group


Contact MS Israel. They are well connected to the dev community and can tell you if there is a need for such a group and if so who to contact for lectures, etc. With any luck they might even give you official/unofficial support such as mailing or a lecture room.

-Addy

P.S. If you need me to introduce you to some of the people there don't hesitate to ask.

Thursday, March 20, 2003 5:45 AM by TrackBack

# .NET User Groups : Chad Osgood's Blog

.NET User Groups : Chad Osgood's Blog
Thursday, March 20, 2003 6:39 AM by Addys

# re: Are you into YOYOing?

Dude,

that is ancient... I saw it on sale in England last year...
Thursday, March 20, 2003 7:55 AM by Roy

# re: Are you into YOYOing?

Well, it just got to israel a month ago. Man we are such a province.....
Thursday, March 20, 2003 9:29 AM by Addys

# re: My own user group & INETA - continued


Some thoughts:

1. Developers have limited time for visiting user groups. More isn't necessarily merrier, since most can't attend more than 1-2 a month.

2. Quality speakers are tough to come by. Opening another group probably won't improve anything - the existing experts will just be spread out thinner.

3. IMHO you can forget help from INETA, I don't know of any active INETA members in Israel. And it is very rare to get foreign speakers unless it is for a BIG event.

4. As someone who has spoken at many such user user groups, I can give you my take on them:

A. It will be a HUGE investment of time on your part to manage such a group.
B. It will be a HUGE, ONGOING investment.
C. Unless you can join up with someone well known (MS, John-Bryce, ANASHIM-MACHSEVIM, etc) it will take many months for you to build an audience.

In short, unless you have some ulterior motive, it is probably not worth the trouble. Want to manage a group? Join up with someone who has a commercial interest in such a group, and have them support you.

- just my 2 cents
Thursday, March 20, 2003 10:03 AM by Roy

# re: My own user group & INETA - continued

Actually, both IVBUG and IVCUG are supported by INETA, but other then that i get your point. "Don't force it". OK. I'll admit i have my own motives in this (is it possible not to?) but it's all for good , not evil (Extending my knowladge + Networking + A nice little line on the Ol' resume....) . As for time investment , i reall y don't think i will mind it. Hell ,i think i'll love evey minute of it (except the dul ones i guess..).
- Quality speakers : Everyone has to start somewhere. how did everyone else start? besides, i think MSFT has an interest in seeing more and more of us..
- Developers have limited time : yep. that's true. however, your assuming that only existing user group goers will attend, which i suspect will be only partially true. i know more then a few people who will join the group who are not actively participating in anything else.
besides, if it comes to a point where people need to choose where to go, it means the group is in a good place :)


Thursday, March 20, 2003 10:35 AM by Chad Osgood

# re: My own user group & INETA - continued

Roy, I commented a little more verbosely in my blog. If you have any questions that I could possibly help answer, let me know.
Thursday, March 20, 2003 6:01 PM by TrackBack

# .NET User Groups : Chad Osgood's Blog

.NET User Groups : Chad Osgood's Blog
Thursday, March 20, 2003 6:01 PM by TrackBack

# We're so Lucky!! (INETA Speakers in Vermont...) : Julia Lerman Blog

We're so Lucky!! (INETA Speakers in Vermont...) : Julia Lerman Blog
Thursday, March 20, 2003 6:01 PM by TrackBack

# My own user group & INETA - the next generation : ISerializable

My own user group & INETA - the next generation : ISerializable
Sunday, March 23, 2003 3:44 PM by TrackBack

# Job Interviews : ISerializable

Job Interviews : ISerializable
Sunday, March 23, 2003 3:44 PM by TrackBack

# A letter : ISerializable

A letter : ISerializable
Monday, March 24, 2003 2:38 AM by Julie Lerman

# re: My own user group & INETA - continued

Roy- impatiently awaiting the trackback to hit your site but see my blog march 24
Monday, March 24, 2003 8:09 AM by Datagrid Girl

# re: My own user group & INETA - the next generation

Hi Roy,
I would definitely join the VB User Group first, if nothing else, you'll find some like-minded folks there who can help you with your new group. And I wouldn't worry about registering and then it not working out. Go ahead and register, and give it your best shot, and if it doesn't work out--too bad! And especially if you're working with INETA, you'll have people to advise you and help you, and make sure it *does* work out. Good luck!!!
Monday, March 24, 2003 10:58 AM by Julie

# re: My own user group & INETA - the next generation

Roy-
Two more suggestions - talk to the other u.g. leaders and see what there communication with INETA Europe has been. If that isn't fulfilling, contact Christian Nagel who is heading up user group relations for INETA in Europe.
Actually, email ugrelations@ineta.org and Christian or maybe Dave Noderer will have better info that I do.
Monday, March 24, 2003 11:22 AM by Brad More

# re: Job Interviews

I don't get a vote, but if I did I'd vote for "C". They have a dog. What more do you need to know?!
Monday, March 24, 2003 1:09 PM by Datagrid Girl

# re: DataGrid Girl rules

Monday, March 24, 2003 1:10 PM by Datagrid Girl

# re: DataGrid Girl rules

Hey, I'm glad people are listening to the show :)
Monday, March 24, 2003 4:55 PM by TrackBack

# DataGrid Girl rules : ISerializable

DataGrid Girl rules : ISerializable
Monday, March 24, 2003 4:55 PM by TrackBack

# Ineta : heLP .Net Blog

Ineta : heLP .Net Blog
Monday, March 24, 2003 6:07 PM by TrackBack

# Datagrid girl : heLP .Net Blog

Datagrid girl : heLP .Net Blog
Monday, March 24, 2003 6:07 PM by TrackBack

# Specialization : Datagrid Girl

Specialization : Datagrid Girl
Monday, March 24, 2003 11:03 PM by Greg Robinson

# re: Job Interviews

I got into the IT industry in 98' with a large company. I did a total career change and they took a chance on me. I worked my arse off and did well. So well, a local 'start-up' consulting company offered me a job. I was developer #3, plus 3 owners. I again worked my arse off and, after 2 years, 20 developers later, I resigned. I am now with a company of 6 and I LOVE it!

So, what to do? really depends on your personality and your goals. I cannot work for a 'corporate' company...I am too independent and too motivated. That said, I would take the start-up position.

I just finished interviewing for a .net position I have here. I was truly amazed at how many great developers were concerend with our size and they needed the comfort of a large company. If this is you, go for the large company and let them take care of you. If this is nto you, go for the start-up.
Tuesday, March 25, 2003 12:38 PM by Also looking

# re: Job Interviews

I haven't had much luck with the MS Careers page. Spent a few hours there creating a resume, submitted a few of them, and nothing. Oh well. Good luck on the job hunt!
Tuesday, March 25, 2003 4:13 PM by Chris Pirillo

# re: Acceptance Test

Yay! ;)
Tuesday, March 25, 2003 7:24 PM by Jan Tielens

# re: ArrrrgggH!

Hi

You can use the StringBuilder to create a stream.

I use it with CodeDom too, like this:
Private Function GetVBCode(ByVal code As CodeTypeDeclaration) As String
Dim gen As New VBCodeProvider

Dim sb As New System.Text.StringBuilder
Dim stream As New IO.StringWriter(sb)
gen.CreateGenerator().GenerateCodeFromType(code, stream, Nothing)
stream.Close()

Return sb.ToString
End Function

Greetz
Jan
Tuesday, March 25, 2003 7:28 PM by Christian Weyer

# re: ArrrrgggH!

This works for me:

[...]
string xmlString = @"<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8' ?><TestType><Number>42</Number><Value>Christian</Value></TestType>";

System.IO.MemoryStream ms = new System.IO.MemoryStream();
System.IO.TextWriter writer = new System.IO.StreamWriter( ms );
writer.Write(xmlString);
writer.Flush();

ms.Seek(0, System.IO.SeekOrigin.Begin);
XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(TestType));
TestType tt = (TestType)serializer.Deserialize(ms);
[...]

public class TestType
{
public int Number;
public string Value;
}


Cheers,
Christian
Tuesday, March 25, 2003 7:33 PM by Royo

# re: ArrrrgggH!

Thanks for the input guys!
That was darn quick :)
I new it was something as easy as a memoryStream, but i just couldn't find the damn thing !
Tuesday, March 25, 2003 7:34 PM by Royo

# re: ArrrrgggH!

Thanks Jen! that looks like a marvelous way do do lotas of stuff!
Tuesday, March 25, 2003 10:20 PM by Wes Haggard

# re: Outlook bugs me

I had a similar problem and its if it doesn't load the rules in time. I fixed the problem by installing SP1 and then SP2 for Office XP.

Wes
Tuesday, March 25, 2003 10:35 PM by Royo

# re: Outlook bugs me

Nope. I already have SP2 installed on my Office XP.... :(
Tuesday, March 25, 2003 10:59 PM by Edward

# re: Outlook bugs me

I had the exact same problem. Apparently the inspection of the sender-field is the problem. Changed my rules to inspect the subject-field instead (the lists I'm subscribed to, all modify the subject), works like a charm ever since.
Wednesday, March 26, 2003 2:33 AM by TrackBack

# Shared Source CLI Essentials Book is out + more about specialization : ISerializable

Shared Source CLI Essentials Book is out + more about specialization : ISerializable
Thursday, March 27, 2003 11:24 AM by Tim Marman

# re: A thought

Huh? :)
Thursday, March 27, 2003 7:27 PM by TrackBack

# Hit Count : ScottW's ASP.NET WebLog

Hit Count : ScottW's ASP.NET WebLog
Thursday, March 27, 2003 10:06 PM by Roy

# re: A thought

Don't my me, just rambling... ;)
Saturday, March 29, 2003 5:34 PM by Ben Richardson

# re: Code Express - Freeware code sharing client

Here is a link to the site.
Sunday, March 30, 2003 1:10 PM by Roy

# re: Code Express - Freeware code sharing client

err. thanks ;)
Monday, March 31, 2003 6:39 AM by Datagrid Girl

# re: ASP.NET is cool + DataGrid Designer Tips

Of course a true DataGridder would type it all out :) Just kidding!
Monday, March 31, 2003 7:00 AM by Roy

# re: ASP.NET is cool + DataGrid Designer Tips

hehe.. But i can really see how far one could get in to this grid. it sure is a world in itself!
Monday, March 31, 2003 7:18 AM by Datagrid Girl

# re: ASP.NET is cool + DataGrid Designer Tips

A pink world...
Monday, March 31, 2003 8:27 AM by Drew Marsh

# re: Err.. Is there a way to put custom HTML in the Blog Header

Yeah, just paste that HTML into the editor for a post. :)
Thursday, April 03, 2003 3:43 AM by Kirk Allen Evans

# re: Avoiding DB_SEC_E_AUTH_FAILED exception on connection string

You could have used \" to escape the quotes, had the "@" not preceded the string:

"Password=\"\""

However, this would not work with "@" in the beginning of the string, because "@" signifies that escape sequences are not processed. This is why the "\" characters in your string did not cause odd errors for unrecognized escape sequences. If you intend on using "@" with a string that contains double-quotes, you have to double-up the quotation marks:

@"Data Source=C:\Documents and Settings\royo\My Documents\WOZ.mdb;Password=""""";

Note that this is also explained in the C# Programmer's Reference:

ms-help://MS.VSCC/MS.MSDNQTR.2002APR.1033/csref/html/vclrfString.htm
Saturday, April 05, 2003 6:06 PM by TrackBack

# .NET Weblogs Feed : Jesse Ezell Blog

.NET Weblogs Feed : Jesse Ezell Blog
Sunday, April 06, 2003 5:46 PM by Matt Berther

# re: Config Hell

The main reason for having config files read only, IMHO, is due to permissions issues. Applications are typically installed to Program Files/*. On a locked down system, its very possible for a user not to have rights to that directory.

http://staff.develop.com/candera/weblog/2003/02/06.html

One alternative may be to use IsolatedStorage...
Sunday, April 06, 2003 10:58 PM by Thomas Tomiczek

# re: Config Hell

::its very possible for a user not to have rights to that
::directory.

Understatement. It is NORMAL for a user not to be able to modify files there.
Monday, April 07, 2003 12:22 AM by Scott Watermasysk

# re: Config Hell


Just create your own Config object and implement serialization.

Or even easier, create a class that dirives from SelfSerializer

-Scott
Monday, April 07, 2003 2:56 AM by TrackBack

# Hell Shmell : ISerializable

Hell Shmell : ISerializable
Monday, April 07, 2003 6:07 PM by TrackBack

# BCL Types Debate : .Avery Blog

BCL Types Debate : .Avery Blog
Monday, April 07, 2003 11:04 PM by Dan F

# re: Joining The BCL Types Wagon + Confession

1) yes. gimme readability any day. just call me mort
2) why worry about the rest of the world when there's perfectly good religious coding debates going on?
3) just me and that wierd guy over in the corner with the raincoat on
Friday, April 11, 2003 9:44 AM by Keith Pleas

# re: I'm A Mort!

That works! You're number 3. Send me your mailing address (keithp@guideddesign.com).
Friday, April 11, 2003 11:12 AM by Roy

# re: I'm A Mort!

Yoohoo!
Friday, April 11, 2003 10:16 PM by TrackBack

# Future of .NET Weblogs : Fabrice's weblog

Future of .NET Weblogs : Fabrice's weblog
Friday, April 11, 2003 10:16 PM by TrackBack

# DNWL future continued : ISerializable

DNWL future continued : ISerializable
Saturday, April 12, 2003 1:44 AM by Dan F

# re: Typed Datasets - Can You Get Much Cooler?

wow. double wow. thank you! i've been wondering about typed datasets for a while now, your blog entry (article?) has prompted me to go read some more about them. thank you again!
Saturday, April 12, 2003 2:14 AM by Roy

# re: Typed Datasets - Can You Get Much Cooler?

Thanks :) Glad to know what I write actually makes a difference sometimes ... ;)
Saturday, April 12, 2003 4:43 AM by TrackBack

# Article: Introduction to Typed Datasets : ISerializable

Article: Introduction to Typed Datasets : ISerializable
Saturday, April 12, 2003 4:43 AM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Saturday, April 12, 2003 4:43 AM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Saturday, April 12, 2003 4:43 AM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Monday, April 14, 2003 10:28 PM by Dan F

# re: Categories

Nice, splitting original and quoted. I hope more people take up that idea. Quoted is good if I manage to miss it elsewhere, but original is the money shot thats gotta be read :)
Tuesday, April 15, 2003 1:31 PM by Jack Hammond

# re: how do you make your .NET application scriptable?

Check out http://dotnetweblogs.com/ahoffman/posts/3589.aspx for an interesting blog on .Net scripting.
Thursday, April 17, 2003 4:32 PM by Phil Weber

# re: Accented Blogging

Accent: California ;-)

Sounds good to me!
Friday, April 18, 2003 4:07 AM by Chak

# re: About Roy Osherove

Hey ! All the best man. Best wishes to you, your wife, Zion the cat, and Israel too - i am an Indian who hopes there will be a peaceful end to the Israel crisis (just as we hope for India and Kashmir !).

I am still at the shallow end of Dot Net and hope that one day i will reach the deep end.

Bye.
Sunday, April 27, 2003 8:08 AM by Don Box

# re: Envy - Cursed be thy name!

Why not apply? SujayS is still has openings in JLamb's org (SDE/T in XML messaging).
Sunday, April 27, 2003 8:14 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Envy - Cursed be thy name!

hrm. Even from Israel? That is usually a showstopper :(
Sunday, April 27, 2003 8:45 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Envy - Cursed be thy name!

ok. I Applied :) here goes ... ;)
Sunday, April 27, 2003 9:28 AM by Marc LaFleur

# re: Windows Server 2003 Rocks

Check out http://www.msfn.org/win2k3/. They have a lot of information on Games, DirectX, and Windows2k3 as a workstation.
Sunday, April 27, 2003 9:28 AM by Marc LaFleur

# re: Windows Server 2003 Rocks

Check out http://www.msfn.org/win2k3/. They have a lot of information on Games, DirectX, and Windows2k3 as a workstation.
Sunday, April 27, 2003 9:41 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Windows Server 2003 Rocks

Thanks!
Sunday, April 27, 2003 11:21 PM by Scott Watermasysk

# re: Testing from w.blogger

Categories are not supported (yet?) :D
Monday, April 28, 2003 7:54 AM by TrackBack

# wbloggar : heLP .Net Blog

wbloggar : heLP .Net Blog
Monday, April 28, 2003 8:54 AM by TrackBack

# wbloggar : heLP .Net Blog

wbloggar : heLP .Net Blog
Monday, April 28, 2003 10:41 AM by TrackBack

# ASP.NET Authentication Question : Fabrice's weblog

ASP.NET Authentication Question : Fabrice's weblog
Monday, April 28, 2003 10:41 AM by TrackBack

# ASP.NET Authentication Question : heLP .Net Blog

ASP.NET Authentication Question : heLP .Net Blog
Tuesday, April 29, 2003 10:05 AM by HumanCompiler

# re: A Quick VS.NET Tweak

Yes, yes you should! ;)
Wednesday, April 30, 2003 2:20 AM by Aaron

# re: Regular Expressions And Log Parsing

Probably just a dumb question, but if ASCII is 'old-style' what is 'new style'?

(Obviously not up-to-date on modern logging techniques)
Wednesday, April 30, 2003 4:53 AM by what up

# re: Code monkeys are people too

thank you for every thing and i whis that you were here to enjoy the fun that i enjoyed last night with you
Wednesday, April 30, 2003 10:31 PM by Wes Haggard

# re: More VS.NET Tips & Tricks

I'm a keyboard junkie. I usually use SHIFT-DEL to cut a line of text. Thanks for the tip about the outlining standard files I hadn't come acrossed that one yet. Maybe we should make a list of all the hotkeys that we use because I know a ton of them, but I'm you know some I don't and I know some you don't. Let me know. I doesn't just have to be Visual Studio shortcuts either I know alot of windows shortcuts as well.
Wednesday, April 30, 2003 11:13 PM by Royo

# re: More VS.NET Tips & Tricks

Sounds Great! Your page or mine..? ;)
Wednesday, April 30, 2003 11:16 PM by Royo

# re: More VS.NET Tips & Tricks

btw, there was a good 'vs.net fun facts' page at chris sells' site somewhere, but i can;t find it. Perhpas everything should go in there...
Wednesday, April 30, 2003 11:43 PM by Royo

# re: About Roy Osherove

Thanks for your kind words!
Thursday, May 01, 2003 1:42 AM by Samer Ibrahim

# re: How to Pass A Microsoft Interview - SDE/T Edition

There is actually this book coming out or is out....

http://www.twbookmark.com/books/36/0316919160/index.html
Thursday, May 01, 2003 1:50 AM by Wes Haggard

# re: More VS.NET Tips & Tricks

Chris' VS Fun Facts I have seen these before and he just has them as a post. I was thinking that I could create a story for it and call it "VS Tips and Tricks". We could break it into some sections like: Shortcut keys, Enviroment setups, Addins, External tools, etc.
I will try to start a story tonight with a simple layout.
Thursday, May 01, 2003 2:19 AM by Sean Gerety

# re: The Mouse I Want(And So Will You)

I got a TouchStream LP about 2 weeks ago and the gestrues are very cool. The touch typing takes a little to get used to, but it rocks not having to move back and forth between a mouse and keyboard.
Thursday, May 01, 2003 2:58 AM by Royo

# re: How to Pass A Microsoft Interview - SDE/T Edition

I knew it!! ;)
Thursday, May 01, 2003 3:06 AM by Royo

# re: More VS.NET Tips & Tricks

Cool. I'm sure eveyone would love to chip in :)
Thursday, May 01, 2003 3:07 AM by Royo

# re: The Mouse I Want(And So Will You)

Ouch! That Hurt. Now I HAVE to have it! ;)
Thursday, May 01, 2003 7:35 AM by TrackBack

# VS.Net Tip/Trick : Jason Tucker's Blog

VS.Net Tip/Trick : Jason Tucker's Blog
Saturday, May 03, 2003 9:40 PM by Nathen

# re: Typed Datasets Are Not Always The Answer

I don't know if I necessarily agree with the fact that typed-datasets should only be used for small applications. Generic datasets do not provide the type safety that a typed dataset provides and I view this a very important need for a large application. True that you have to regenerate your typed datasets when the database schema changes but 99% of the changes in your code that have to be made will be made at compile time and you won't have to manually hunt down where to make those changes. On the other hand, if you're using generic datasets and your database schema changes then you have to search for changed fields in your code to make the change and resort to runtime errors to know that you missed something. So, in my opinion, it seems that typed datasets are better suited for large applications and generic datasets are better suited for small applications.

Sounds like the previous poster had a Domain Model design for his application and typically that type of design does not have a huge dependency on datasets since domain objects tend to be row oriented vs table oriented. Typed datases apply more to a Table Module design where the data needs to be more table oriented.
Saturday, May 03, 2003 10:06 PM by Royo

# re: Typed Datasets Are Not Always The Answer

Nathen: Type Safety is important. But In order to keep the Presentation layer seperate from the data layer, you can't have a direct reference to the typed datasets (IMO). The only way to incroporate them into an enterprise application is stated in this post(See the ending paragraph - It essentially implies what you are suggesting). Also, If TD's are god for enterprise apps, why wouldn;t ehy be good for small apps?
Sunday, May 04, 2003 3:55 AM by TrackBack

# Andres Aguiar's Weblog

Andres Aguiar's Weblog
Sunday, May 04, 2003 3:55 AM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Sunday, May 04, 2003 3:55 AM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Sunday, May 04, 2003 3:55 AM by TrackBack

# Clemens Vasters: Enterprise Development & Alien Abductions

Clemens Vasters: Enterprise Development & Alien Abductions
Sunday, May 04, 2003 4:00 AM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Sunday, May 04, 2003 4:00 AM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Sunday, May 04, 2003 7:07 PM by Duncan Mackenzie

# re: MSDN staff

Are you referring to this phrase: "the groundbreaking SOAP Toolkit 1.0" ?

;)
Sunday, May 04, 2003 7:36 PM by Royo

# re: MSDN staff

You said it, not me ;)
Sunday, May 04, 2003 11:28 PM by Nathen

# re: Typed Datasets Are Not Always The Answer

I guess I'm coming from the point of view that I tend to consider a dataset more as a data transfer object for moving data between layers as opposed to just a member of the data layer. I'm a big fan of keeping things as simple as possible and to add complexity iteratively if needed. The advantage of the approach that you mentioned in your article is you isolate the typed dataset in the data layer which would make updating the code easier given a db schema change. You still have to contend with how you are transferring data between layers in distributed and non-distributed physical architectures. If I'm not using a dataset then I'll have to create custom serializable data transfer objects that are passed to and from each layer, but this begins adding additional complexity that could be kept simple just by using a dataset to move data between layers instead. Again, this is just my opinion on design and there are many very good ways to go about it and what you described in your article is one.

The answer to your last question goes back to my "keep things simple" approach. If the app is small enough with very little business rules and data requirements I would bypass using typed datasets because there may be so few touch points between the data layer and the business layer that using a typed dataset would be an example of over-engineering the solution. If the app continues to grow in size and complexity then I would dedicate a few iterations for refactoring the design to handle the additional complexity.
Sunday, May 04, 2003 11:39 PM by James Avery

# re: OneNote Is Cool But...

They are not going to include it with the release version of Office anyway, so better to not get attached in the first place. :)

-James
Sunday, May 04, 2003 11:52 PM by Mike Gray

# re: Explorer Tips and tricks for the keyboard junkie

WinKey+E - opens Explorer

Alt+F4 - close most windows
Ctrl+F4 - close MDI windows
Monday, May 05, 2003 1:17 AM by Addy Santo

# re: You guy are missing several crucial points

Hi Roy,

I'm currently working on a large enterprise app which is heavily based on typed-datasets. I used to be from the "typed-datasets-are-for-newbies-only" camp but I must admit that *when used correctly* they are an incredibly powerful tool.

Several key things to keep in mind when architecturing around typed datasets:

1. Equating TDSes to the data layer is like limiting XSLT to the presentation layer - that is only one use among the many existing possibilities.

2. Since TDSes are based on XSD schemas, you can load any arbitrary XML block (which matches your schema) and programmatically work against it with a HIGHLY-PERFORMANT object model. XPath queries over the same XML aren't even in the same ballpark.

3. Since TDSes are typed, you get compile time validation, as compared to XML/XPath which is a pain to debug.

4. TDSes come with built-in serialization capabilities and funky webservice related optimizations.

I don't have the bandwidth to describe my architecture in detail, but I am using datasets in several different capacities in my app and in every case they improved performance, reduced the amount of hand-written code and simplified the data structures.

-Addy
Monday, May 05, 2003 12:12 PM by TrackBack

# mads studentblog

mads studentblog
Monday, May 05, 2003 12:12 PM by TrackBack

# Eric J. Smith's Weblog

Eric J. Smith's Weblog
Monday, May 05, 2003 12:12 PM by TrackBack

# mads studentblog

mads studentblog
Monday, May 05, 2003 12:12 PM by TrackBack

# mads studentblog

mads studentblog
Monday, May 05, 2003 12:20 PM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Monday, May 05, 2003 12:20 PM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Monday, May 05, 2003 12:20 PM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Monday, May 05, 2003 4:39 PM by Darren Neimke

# re: Regular Expression Library

Check out the new CheatSheet that Steve added last night --> get to it via the CheatSheet link on the side menu.
Monday, May 05, 2003 9:39 PM by Dan F

# re: Free Book: Software Testing and Internationalization

Any good?
Monday, May 05, 2003 9:52 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Free Book: Software Testing and Internationalization

Just browsing through, It looks promising (Or I wouldn't have posted this..:)
Monday, May 05, 2003 10:13 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Hacking My Blog

Fixed. Thanks for the tip!
Monday, May 05, 2003 11:09 PM by Michael Arnoldus

# re: UI Threading *<b>Might</b>* Sucks

Beware - I've spend quite a lot of time on this problem. We are building a client application fetching information from a server (using SOAP) in the background, and displaying the information in the windows UI when it arrives. Unfortunately it arrives in another thread. On top of this we have implemented a cache the UI components should be reading from (the cache could also be viewed as the "model" part of the MVC pattern). The problem is that it is insufficient to call Control.Invoke() when changing information in f.ex a listbox. We also need to make sure the underlying data to be displayed does not change while the UI thread reads it. And simple synchronization is not enough as this will only give atomic access to a single element, when we need to block the entire array while updating the control.
The best solution I've found until now is to model an UI thread and background threads as two separate processes (implemented as .NET threads) that only communicates through messages and has NO shared memory. The messages are modeled through a homebuild "mailbox" interface. The modeled is inspired by the language Erlang.
I'm looking forward to hear if find something smarter ...
Monday, May 05, 2003 11:43 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: UI Threading *<b>Might</b>* Suck

Hmm. I hear ya. I had a feeling this is just the tip of the iceberg. I was thinking that perhaps a generic class could be created that would handle synchronyzation issues between UI threads and others. I can see it taking in A Thread, A Thread Target (A control? A Delegate?) and another set of options and perhaps shared memory Objects (Through interfaces). Then it would handle the incoming streams of events from each thread, making sure each behaves correctly according to the options specified. I bet there is a pattern in here somewhere that someone has written about But i just don't know about it. MVC seems less relevant here, although i suspect it is part of the solution. Oh well. It's the hard(a.k.a cool) stuff that is the most fun, isn't it? ;)
Tuesday, May 06, 2003 1:42 AM by paul robichaux

# re: Chris Pirillo Sells His Mind

Lots of people have tried to make a business model out of what Chris is doing. The problem is that the degree of difficulty isn't transparent. What I see as a hard problem to solve may seem easy to the person who's handed a solution on a platter. ExpertsExchange has a pretty workable approach, and I'm sure there are other ways to handle it, but Chris' flat-rate approach seems like a fair start.
Tuesday, May 06, 2003 2:17 AM by Chris Pirillo

# re: Chris Pirillo Sells His Mind

I hate to tell ya, but I've already inspired two other gurus.

http://onlinetonight.net/ask/
http://dibona.com/faq/#Q0

And I've already made $100 without putting forth a serious effort.
Tuesday, May 06, 2003 4:54 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Chris Pirillo Sells His Mind

Well, I'll eat my words then! ;)
That's great to hear :)
Tuesday, May 06, 2003 5:33 AM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Tuesday, May 06, 2003 5:33 AM by TrackBack

# Code/Tea/Etc...

Code/Tea/Etc...
Tuesday, May 06, 2003 5:33 AM by TrackBack

# Datagrid Girl

Datagrid Girl
Tuesday, May 06, 2003 5:33 AM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Tuesday, May 06, 2003 6:06 AM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Tuesday, May 06, 2003 6:06 AM by TrackBack

# Julia Lerman Blog

Julia Lerman Blog
Tuesday, May 06, 2003 6:06 AM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Wednesday, May 07, 2003 6:58 AM by Christophe Lauer

# re: Another Free Book + Maybe You Can Help

Hi Roy,

My guess is that it's a question of budget affectation. Promotional operations like this are driven from the US, with US (MS Corp.) budgets and other countries have to rely on subsidiaries operations and budgets. Simplistic, but I think that the answer is not very far from this.

Cheers,
/Christophe
Wednesday, May 07, 2003 7:20 AM by me

# re: Another Free Book + Maybe You Can Help

You can download it from their site for free. It's in pdf.
Wednesday, May 07, 2003 7:21 AM by me again

# re: Another Free Book + Maybe You Can Help

Here is the URL.
http://microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=A08E4A09-7AE3-4942-B466-CC778A3BAB34&displaylang=en
Wednesday, May 07, 2003 7:24 AM by Royo

# re: Another Free Book- Application Architecture for .NET: Designing Applications and Services .

Thanks! Already got an email from Jan on this issue. Still, The print version is always preferable..
Wednesday, May 07, 2003 10:56 AM by SBC

# re: Another Free Book

Let me know and I'll try and arrange to get you a print version (legit of course!).

SBC
Wednesday, May 07, 2003 7:23 PM by Frans Bouma

# re: 3D Cynicism

Hey, I like databases :) I truely do. It's just that after fighting with algorithms how to determine if 2 tables with a multi-field PK, have an m:n relation or not, it suddenly loses it's coolness factor for a few minutes, sometimes :)
Wednesday, May 07, 2003 7:26 PM by Royo

# re: 3D Cynicism

I think I and most others here can relate ;)
Wednesday, May 07, 2003 10:56 PM by Scott Prugh

# re: How Access 2003 Helped Me Out

Did you ever think of using SQL Server and the SQL XML import for this??

Also, there are several SQL Comparison tools out there:

www.redgate.com
www.lockwoodtech.com
Wednesday, May 07, 2003 11:03 PM by Royo

# re: How Access 2003 Helped Me Out

Thanks for your time!

A: SQL server was not an option in this case.. I'm aware of the XML import functionality in there, but we had to use MDB...

B: I can't find anything related to MDB comparison in Redgate.com, and LockWoodTech.com only has SQL server related comparison tools...

Perhaps you know of some tools pertaning to MDB files exclusively...?
Thursday, May 08, 2003 12:26 AM by rick

# MDB Diff tool

I haven't tried it personally, but here's a diff tool for Access MDBs:

http://www.matpie.drw.net/PBSystems/products/retired/MDBDiff.html
Thursday, May 08, 2003 1:16 AM by Adam Hill

# re: How Access 2003 Helped Me Out

Don't forget about MSDE. It is functionaly equivalent to SQL Server modulo the 10 "concurrent SQL processes" limit.

I use it for a client side app and it is very stable (since it is the SQL Server code base) and you get the bonus of being able to use Ent. Manager on it.

A very good DB Compare tool is SQL Data compare from http://www.red-gate.com/SQL_Data_Compare.htm

adam...
Thursday, May 08, 2003 1:40 AM by Royo

# re: How Access 2003 Helped Me Out

Thanks for all the great Info guys. I've found MDBDiff to work, thankfully.
As for MSDE, I always found it a bit cumbersome to work with, havinf to install it and the Ent. Manager with a seperate install.
I say, Either go full with SQL Server or Keep it simple with MDB. We have no need for more the 3 users for this project anyway...
Thursday, May 08, 2003 4:46 AM by TrackBack

# Jimski's Blog

Jimski's Blog
Thursday, May 08, 2003 4:46 AM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Thursday, May 08, 2003 6:44 AM by G. Andrew Duthie

# re: A Better RegEdit

Great tool! Thanks for the tip, Roy!
Thursday, May 08, 2003 6:46 AM by Frans Bouma

# re: System Tweaks & Tricks

One hell of a tip, Roy! Some of them were handy but one was a very nice one, the Speed up Internet Explorer tweak. I switched the max amount of connections from 3 to 15 and suddenly the html editor on this site loads with an amazing speed. I think tweaking it even higher will bring even more speed, but that will probably result in a lot of hammering the webserver might not like. ;) Good one!
Thursday, May 08, 2003 6:50 AM by Royo

# re: System Tweaks & Tricks

Hmm. Havn't even noticed that one! I'll highlight it! Thanks :)
Thursday, May 08, 2003 7:01 AM by Royo

# re: A Better RegEdit

Glad I could help! (It's always fun to hear this stuff... ;))
Thursday, May 08, 2003 7:05 AM by Rachel Reese

# re: System Tweaks & Tricks

These are awesome Roy! Thank you!
Thursday, May 08, 2003 7:19 AM by Wes Haggard

# re: System Tweaks & Tricks

Some more tweaks and my favorite registry site is Regedit.com

This is where I learned to tweak the registry.

Wes
Thursday, May 08, 2003 7:31 AM by Royo

# re: System Tweaks & Tricks

Thanks for all the feedback guys/gals! ;)
Thursday, May 08, 2003 10:57 AM by TrackBack

# Frans Bouma's blog

Frans Bouma's blog
Thursday, May 08, 2003 11:03 AM by David Stone

# re: A Better RegEdit

Favorites have been in RegEdit for a long time. But having regedit embedded in my Explorer window is cool. :)
Thursday, May 08, 2003 4:03 PM by TrackBack

# Jan Tielens' Bloggings

Jan Tielens' Bloggings
Thursday, May 08, 2003 4:06 PM by TrackBack

# Rachel Reese's Blog

Rachel Reese's Blog
Thursday, May 08, 2003 6:02 PM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Thursday, May 08, 2003 6:02 PM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Thursday, May 08, 2003 6:02 PM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Friday, May 09, 2003 2:11 AM by Philip Rieck

# re: Welcome Philip , Interviews, "as" Vs. Casting

Yes, I do. I live with this all the time. It's bad enough that my name is a homonym for "a really bad smell", but my first initial / last name combo looks like a common slang term for the male genetailia. I'll be watching that on my kids (thier names, not genetailia) , to make sure the standard computer user name they'll be assigned for life will not be quite so bad as mine.
Friday, May 09, 2003 3:18 AM by Dan F

# re: The Unofficial "Mort" Logo Is Available

You're right, it *is* ugly! :D

I whipped one up in photoshop, how would I go about getting it to you? You can get me at realfnad at yahoo dot com dot au if you want.
Friday, May 09, 2003 7:04 AM by Royo

# re: Welcome Philip , Interviews, "as" Vs. Casting

hehe.. Better late then never ;)
Friday, May 09, 2003 7:25 AM by Royo

# re: The Unofficial "Mort" Logo Is Available

Hope you got my email then!
For anyone else that would like to contact me, I can be reached either through the "contact" link on the weblog, or at this address:
Royo at Iserializable dot com
Friday, May 09, 2003 11:42 AM by Wes Haggard

# re: Enlightenment

Enlightening indeed, I can't believe I never really looked into this before. I have seen the little blue icon on plenty of websites but I have never really looked into it. But I got one now. I actually have a webservice that I was working on to collect stats but I think I will let Nedstat do the job instead. Yes one less thing I have todo to finish my website.

Thanks for the enlightenment.
Wes
Friday, May 09, 2003 4:07 PM by Jeff Julian

# re: Chris Pirillo Sells His Mind

I hope no one with their MVP is pulling this pay for knowledge deal. I don't like the idea. I will try to help you if you have a problem again, just email. Free!!!

Hide your source, don't hide your knowledge.
Friday, May 09, 2003 6:36 PM by Dan F

# re: Mort Banner - Revised

w00t! immortalised for ever :)
Friday, May 09, 2003 7:42 PM by TrackBack

# Wes' Puzzling Blog

Wes' Puzzling Blog
Friday, May 09, 2003 8:36 PM by TrackBack

# heLP .Net Blog

heLP .Net Blog
Friday, May 09, 2003 8:37 PM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Friday, May 09, 2003 8:37 PM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Friday, May 09, 2003 8:54 PM by TrackBack

# Emitter

Emitter
Friday, May 09, 2003 9:04 PM by Frans Bouma

# re: Enlightenment

Be aware of the fact that Nedstat isn't as secure as it should be. Sometimes the nedstat servers are pretty slow and then the image isn't loaded (the connection between the client and the nedstat server is slow, I mean) or way too late and you will not receive a hit. So I'd add 15% to the average number to get a correct measurement.

It's easy to setup your own counter if you have an online system yourself. Nedstat just checks when an image is loaded from their servers, checks the requester and increases the counter belonging to that requester. You can create such a counter within an hour. :)
Saturday, May 10, 2003 1:13 AM by Royo

# re: Enlightenment

Frans: Yes, I've noticed this myself, but am willing to live with this. Besides, there are some other factors that are not mentioned here. For example, The amount of people who download the direct RSS feed is unknown, so lets add 15% right there. Also, I use a redirecting service from Iseiralizable.com which is also not counted with NedStat.
I kind of like the fact that the stats that I see are known to be just a part of the real stats. It gives me a fuzzy feling knowing this is just part of a bigger crowd out there :)
Saturday, May 10, 2003 2:20 AM by Wes Haggard

# re: Mort Banner - Revised

Ok I have seen references to mort but I don't really know what exactly its all about. Can you explain it or point me to an explaination of it.

Thanks,
Wes
Saturday, May 10, 2003 2:26 AM by Royo

# re: Mort Banner - Revised

Have you tried clicking the banner ? It links to a story about Morts. A "Mort" is what VS.Net team call VB.Net programmers.
Saturday, May 10, 2003 7:58 AM by randy

# re: Writing Articles Is Hard!

Get your ideas down on paper first, then let them sit for a period of time before you come back to them (could be a day, could be weeks in some cases). If the ideas don't seem solid, do a little more work and let them sit again. If they still seem valid, proceed by starting an outline to lay out the structure of your article. Depending on your comfort level with writing, it may need to be a detailed outline. If the article involves code though, have the code ready before you move past the outline. As things go in software development, sometimes the end result isn't exactly what you had imagined when you started.

Once you start writing, force yourself to complete it in sections that correlate to the original outline. Then review them as they are finished to ensure that you're comfortable. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Once you have the article completely written, review it several times in the same manner that you reviewed the individual sections.

Good luck.
Saturday, May 10, 2003 1:07 PM by TrackBack

# heLP .Net Blog

heLP .Net Blog
Saturday, May 10, 2003 4:08 PM by Royo

# re: Writing Articles Is Hard!

Thanks for the input :)
Saturday, May 10, 2003 5:44 PM by Duncan Mackenzie

# re: Mind Rates

It wasn't actually your comments I was talking about, but some of the responses to that post.

Your point about the flat rate is certainly a good one, but difficulty of a problem is hard to track. I was a consultant for many years and I charged by the hour... but Chris wants people to pay up front, and hourly would be difficult to do in that way. Providing an estimate takes time too. Perhaps he could charge $27 for the estimate and count that amount towards the answer if it is harder... I actually think more people would complain about that scenario, even if it is more rational.

Just try to sneak hard questions in and you'll be getting a lot out of your $27 :)
Saturday, May 10, 2003 5:47 PM by TrackBack

# heLP .Net Blog

heLP .Net Blog
Saturday, May 10, 2003 7:49 PM by Matt Berther

# re: Geek Book

Grr... Link didnt work properly... How about this one... Beginning ATL 3 COM Programming
Saturday, May 10, 2003 8:00 PM by Royo

# re: Geek Book

You win!!
Sunday, May 11, 2003 3:25 AM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Sunday, May 11, 2003 3:25 AM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Sunday, May 11, 2003 3:40 AM by Wes Haggard

# re: How I Learn New Technologies

I don't know if I would describe my process of learning in "Circles" but I can see where someone could. I'm completely on par with you as far as the motivation to complete projects that aren't needed by someone. When I start working on a project myself I usually figure out the "cool part" of the project but then I don't usually finish the project. I will usually either find something else that interests me and start working on that or I will just get bored or distracted. I do find myself comming back to projects that I haven't worked on for a while when the need arrises. I'm trying to get better about completing things I start. In fact starting my weblog here has helped me complete more projects because when I discover something I like to clean it a little and post it on my weblog.

Wes
Monday, May 12, 2003 12:12 AM by Dan F

# re: Blindfolded

you're kidding! wow...
[i'd never noticed it before either]
Monday, May 12, 2003 12:30 AM by Royo

# re: Blindfolded

Weird, huh?
Monday, May 12, 2003 2:16 AM by Addy Santo

# re: A Spoiler


Correction: 11 days, not 10. I got tickets for the 14th :)

Na-na Na-na-na....
Monday, May 12, 2003 7:39 AM by Eric J. Smith

# re: Implementing A Data Layer

CodeSmith is a template based code generator. Meaning that you have 100% control over the code that is generated. If nothing else, you should look at using it for generating your stored procedures. Take a look and let me know if you have questions.

http://www.ericjsmith.net/codesmith/
Monday, May 12, 2003 7:50 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Implementing A Data Layer

I think I've tried it before. I think it's a great tool. I couldn;t figure out though if it can run as a VS.Net addin or not. I was only able to run it in StandAlone...
Anyway - is definitely one that is on my toolbox, however, I don't see myself using it for more then relatively small tasks such as SP generation and such...
Anyway - I'll check out the new version :)
Monday, May 12, 2003 7:51 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: A Spoiler

Boy, You sure know how to cheer up a guy ... ;)
Monday, May 12, 2003 8:15 AM by Frans Bouma

# re: Implementing A Data Layer

The problem with the approach you use, Roy, is that it uses datasets. The concept of datasets sucks. I'll try to describe it in a blog tomorrow.
Monday, May 12, 2003 8:18 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Implementing A Data Layer

Frans: Actually - Datasets are only part of it. You can use IDataReader with all your method calls as well...
Monday, May 12, 2003 10:38 AM by Paschal

# re: New Article: Practical Parsing Using Groups in Regular Expressions

Roy maybe you can help me with this question

http://dotnetweblogs.com/pleloup/posts/5611.aspx

Thanks
Monday, May 12, 2003 10:48 AM by Jeff Julian

# re: June Is Officially here

It has been official in my cubical for a little over a week now :).
Monday, May 12, 2003 11:03 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: June Is Officially here

Some of us are not so lucky as to subscribe to it.... :(
Monday, May 12, 2003 11:15 AM by Royo

# re: New Article: Practical Parsing Using Groups in Regular Expressions

I'll have a go at it tommorow when I get the time :)
Monday, May 12, 2003 12:35 PM by Jeff Julian

# re: June Is Officially here

Universal Subscription!!!!

I love my company!

Next month, I will give you the scoop so you don't have to wait so long.
Monday, May 12, 2003 2:16 PM by Royo

# re: June Is Officially here

You mean you get a subscruption if you have a msdn universal subscription?
Monday, May 12, 2003 6:05 PM by Joe

# re: Typed Datasets Are Not Always The Answer

Don't agree with the answers above.
1. A typed dataset can appear in any assembly in any project. Referencing the typedataset is the same as referencing custom classes - there's no difference.

2. Do you want your business objects holding your business rules. This is not scalabale because you are combining state with logic which means that it's more difficult to distribute your logic across servers. Also you don't have a clear visibility on the dependencies between the logic in your code and the data that drives the logic. The public interface on the data container provides this if you keep your functions outside the business objects.

3. Your schema should evolve independently of the database. The database schema is there to cope with the physical contraints of the database and is used to populate your logical schema - which is the XSD file in your project.
Monday, May 12, 2003 7:08 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Typed Datasets Are Not Always The Answer

Joe:
Thanks for your comment, however, before coming to any conclusions, read the following article:
"Oops, Datasets *Are* Scalable!*"
http://dotnetweblogs.com/rosherove/story/6434.aspx

which I wrote later after writing this article.
In it I explain why I was mistaken in this article, and how Datasets *can* be used as scalabale objects.
Even so, The sentence "Do you want your business objects holding your business rules" bugs me. Yes, they are business objects. That's their purpose. As for Holding State and rules togather - That's not always the design decision. I can have business objects that return datasets or data readers. All they do is take care of the logic. They do not have to return TYPED datasets though, just plain datasets.... but that's all explained inthe other article..
Monday, May 12, 2003 7:40 PM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Monday, May 12, 2003 7:40 PM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Monday, May 12, 2003 8:01 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: New Article: Practical Parsing Using Groups in Regular Expressions

Your answer is here:
http://dotnetweblogs.com/rosherove/posts/6963.aspx
Monday, May 12, 2003 8:22 PM by Paschal

# re: Strip HTML tags from a string using regular expressions

Thanks Roy for this but what I want is to keep some tags like <p><br>, etc...
Monday, May 12, 2003 9:41 PM by DD

# re: MSDN Hands-On Labs

Cool! I finally took the leap a few weeks back towards upgrading my MCSD to dotnet - first step towards changing jobs as my company is now officially SAP and I refuse to work with that piece of crap.

So far I dished out the bucks for a P4 laptop and MSDN Universal DVD (amazing how quickly that paid for itself). Now I'm building my library while playing around with VS 2003 (amazing how much smaller the footprint is).

Now I get some free labs too. Next up is signing up for that free Viewsonic! Between that PocketPC and the $300 rebate I can actually say MSDN cost me just over $400.
Tuesday, May 13, 2003 2:08 AM by Oisin

# re: Strip HTML tags from a string using regular expressions

This is probably not the best regular expression for stripping HTML either. A RegEx parser that performs greedy matching (e.g. try to match as much characters as possible) will match \1 in '<(.*)>' to 'i>important info</i' in '<i>important info</i>'.

I would suggest either use non-greedy matching via '<.*?>' (e.g. match the first '>' you find, not the last possible one) or use a more specific pattern like '<[^>]+>' -- e.g. match a '<' than match one or more sequential characters that are not '>' up until the first '>' you find.

Regex is a dark and deep hole that once you fall in, it's hard to get out; but like a big hole, there's light at one end of it ;)

Tuesday, May 13, 2003 2:51 AM by Hugh Brown

# re: Strip HTML tags from a string using regular expressions

Your regex eliminates everything in this HTML:

string html = "<html><head><title>asasdasd</title></head><body><h1>qweqweqwe</h1><div>This is the content</div></body></html>";
string modified = StripHTML(html);
Console.WriteLine (modified);

I typically use patterns more like this to find html tags:

private static string linkPattern = @"(\<link[^\>]+\>)";

Lots of bath water left when I'm done with that baby.
Tuesday, May 13, 2003 3:19 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Strip HTML tags from a string using regular expressions

Thanks for the great tips guys! I'll look in to it and fix the samples. :)
Tuesday, May 13, 2003 5:01 AM by Dumky

# re: Blindfolded

Hi,

You might have noticed this too, but there is this weird behavior on W2k with regedit:
if you open it with "Start->Run->regedit" you get the favorites menu, but if you type "start regedit" in a command prompt, then you don't!

Makes you wonder how the thing was coded ;-)
See you,
Dumky
Wednesday, May 14, 2003 5:28 AM by Anonymous

# re: Practical Parsing Using Groups in Regular Expressions

This won't work.

First, anyone viewing this on the web can't see your named groups, because they're enclosed in less-than and greater-than signs. All people see is the question-mark if they're looking at it in a browser. You need to use the ampersand-representations, &lt; and &gt; .

Secondly, you say the group name is case-sensitive, but in your expression you use "DAY" and in your group index you use "Day". If they are indeed case-sensitive, this example won't work.
Wednesday, May 14, 2003 5:55 AM by Cory Smith

# re: A Long Day!

You are aware that most of the file functions in VB6 are available in Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll? They are just slightly renamed (Get->FileGet, etc.). Albiet, they aren't nearly as high performance as FileStream, there is a lot of things that can be done with them "natively" than are a nightmare to do using FileStream. For an example, take a look at:

http://www.addressof.com/blog/PermaLink.aspx/8c13fd58-4091-46e2-8a77-22e79b08f8fb

and

http://www.addressof.com/blog/PermaLink.aspx/fa9dd4e8-b849-4d57-8620-5be4cca9b88e

Needless to say, I can relate to your frustration ;-)
Wednesday, May 14, 2003 7:22 AM by hughes.tv

# re: A Long Day!

"19:45 - 20:15 head to head with something that you thought you could do in an hour".

By my reckoning, 7:45pm to 8:15pm is 30 minutes and you thought it'd take an hour. That's great performance ;-)
Wednesday, May 14, 2003 8:14 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: A Long Day!

Hughes: DOH! ;)
Wednesday, May 14, 2003 8:22 AM by Royo

# re: A Long Day!

Also, About Using VisualBasic.DLL - I knew about this possiblity, Didn;t think of using it though. Besides. Not sure if it would have helped with the problems I faced, But I'm not sure. So i'll check it out and blog it out!
Wednesday, May 14, 2003 8:32 AM by Royo

# re: Practical Parsing Using Groups in Regular Expressions

Thanks for the comment! I fixed it (Doh,How did I not notice??)
Hopefully it makes more sense now :)
Sorry if this confused anyone...
Wednesday, May 14, 2003 8:42 AM by Jamie Cansdale

# re: A Long Day!

On a similar graphic theme... ;)
http://www.mutantdesign.co.uk
Wednesday, May 14, 2003 9:11 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: A Long Day!

Heh. Good one! :)
Wednesday, May 14, 2003 10:50 AM by SBC

# re: About Design


Have a small mirror next to your alarm clock
;-)
Wednesday, May 14, 2003 6:27 PM by Christian Weyer

# re: Oops! Typed Datasets ARE scalable!

OK, after having gone to nearly all of the articles & posts related to this very interesting topic: I find TDS an extreme powerful and also scalable programming model, absolutely. Therefore, the comments I have here are mostly from a comment I posted on Clemens' weblog ...
If I now want to share the data inside an TDS across boundaries - e.g. through a Web Services interface - I have several options. 1) Just pass back an instance of the TDS schema-based class back from your WebMethod. That is easy but always emits the Schema embedded. Is this bad? Well, there might be some cases ... 2) Just serialize the TDS to stream without any schema, just the data (serialized InfoSet) and return this one. Is this bad? Well, in some cases ... Additionally, the thing with interoperability is homehow a weak argument. The WSDL of a TDS-enabled Web Service always exposes the schema - so it is just not my fault that Axis or any other SOAP toolkit currently does not have a magic wizard DataSet class, but they are definitely able to understand me and work with me and my data.
Actually, when exposing TDSes through a Web Services interface I do not have to care about supplying the client with the TDS class - they get generated from the WSDL.

To come to a conclusion, I just want to say that there might not be *the* way for using and passing TDS. I like them because they ease the programming with databases and smoothly fit into the Web Services picture, IMHO.

Cheers,
Christian
Wednesday, May 14, 2003 11:42 PM by Dan F

# re: About Design

I can honestly say I've never looked at a steering wheel and wondered why its got holes in it.
You're wierd :P
Thursday, May 15, 2003 12:04 AM by Paschal

# re: One Cool Menu

Roy this is cool but what's about Usability ;-)

A dropdown in a menu, a bit useless no?
Thursday, May 15, 2003 12:31 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: One Cool Menu

Useless? Maybe, but cool! :)
Thursday, May 15, 2003 1:32 AM by Damit

# re: Please don't spoil it for us

I couldn't agree more! Especially since it opens here (Singapore) on the 25th. =(
Thursday, May 15, 2003 1:46 AM by Jeff Julian

# re: Please don't spoil it for us

Totally agree. I get to see it tonight at 11:10 but I wont say a word to anyone who hasnt seen it, except my boss who always ruins movies for me.
Thursday, May 15, 2003 1:47 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Please don't spoil it for us

Singapore! cool :)
* I like the idea of reaching out ;)*
Thursday, May 15, 2003 1:51 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Please don't spoil it for us

Jeff: heh, Isn't revenge sweet? ;)
Thursday, May 15, 2003 7:46 PM by Yosi Taguri

# re: Blog style change

how did u edit the css??
Thursday, May 15, 2003 9:44 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Blog style change

Blog Admin->Configuration->Skin combo
Thursday, May 15, 2003 11:58 PM by Cengiz

# re: Please don't spoil it for us

i agree!
i am from Turkey and saloons is full
Saturday, May 17, 2003 11:34 AM by julie

# re: UI Threading Helper Classes

first: I'm "Julia" on paper - my birth certificate, my business card, etc. But I've always been called "Julie"
second: this looks like the right approach. Cool!
julie
Saturday, May 17, 2003 8:35 PM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Saturday, May 17, 2003 8:35 PM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Sunday, May 18, 2003 4:37 PM by Chris Pirillo

# re: When Blogs Go Commercial

That's Lockergnome. ;)
Sunday, May 18, 2003 8:21 PM by AsbjornM

# re: Editor's Choice Awards

How hard is it to enter <ALT>+C ?
I uses block-mode alot, and find it wery handy.
UltraEdit is my editor of choice these days, before it was Qedit (semware?)
Sunday, May 18, 2003 8:48 PM by Royo

# re: Editor's Choice Awards

erm. ALT+Select is easier :) Even visual studio has it !
Sunday, May 18, 2003 9:21 PM by Royo

# re: When Blogs Go Commercial

What are you referring to? I'll replace :)
Sunday, May 18, 2003 9:50 PM by Dan F

# re: Editor's Choice Awards

of the free editors, I've found ConTEXT to be pretty snazzy. Its missing a *lot* of the UE functionality, but its still bucketloads better than notepad for general purpose colour coded editing. http://www.fixedsys.com/context/
One thing I miss about UE is the column mode. That is a fantastic feature :)
Monday, May 19, 2003 12:08 AM by Don

# re: Editor's Choice Awards

Ok, I know that editors are like religion for ppl, but I'd be remiss if I didn't plug my favorite editor of all time: EditPlus (http://www.editplus.com). I've used this editor for ~5 years now and I know it inside and out. If anyone is searching for a new editor, check it out...
Monday, May 19, 2003 3:26 AM by Jason Bock

# re: UI Threading Helper Classes

One suggestion. While some people may know the code that it takes to set up the handler properly, it may be cool to show what it takes without your class and how your class reduces the code base significantly.

BTW cool idea.

Regards,

Jason
Monday, May 19, 2003 4:08 AM by Oisin

# re: About Productivity

This is so true. Until I met someone like that, the thought never entered my head that someone could be a developer and not be a "power user". I am working with some people like that right now: I once asked one of the developers what he thought of a particular topic and his reply was "You're asking the wrong person, I'm not technical". Unbelievable.

It really astounds me. There _really_ are developers who are not technical. I mean, how can you be a developer and not be passionate about technical things? It's like having an mechanical engineer be completely disinterested in physics. I just don't understand.

Anyone out there shed some light on this?
Monday, May 19, 2003 6:30 AM by TrackBack

# Yosi Taguri's WebLog

Yosi Taguri's WebLog
Monday, May 19, 2003 12:14 PM by Damit

# RE: Please don't spoil it for us

Apparently it opens earlier than I thought. =) Will try to get tickets to go for it..
Monday, May 19, 2003 1:14 PM by chadb

# re: Articles, Articles, Articles!

LOL -

Server Error in '/' Application.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Runtime Error
Description: An application error occurred on the server. The current custom error settings for this application prevent the details of the application error from being viewed remotely (for security reasons). It could, however, be viewed by browsers running on the local server machine.

Details: To enable the details of this specific error message to be viewable on remote machines, please create a <customErrors> tag within a "web.config" configuration file located in the root directory of the current web application. This <customErrors> tag should then have its "mode" attribute set to "Off".


<!-- Web.Config Configuration File -->

<configuration>
<system.web>
<customErrors mode="Off"/>
</system.web>
</configuration>


Notes: The current error page you are seeing can be replaced by a custom error page by modifying the "defaultRedirect" attribute of the application's <customErrors> configuration tag to point to a custom error page URL.


<!-- Web.Config Configuration File -->

<configuration>
<system.web>
<customErrors mode="RemoteOnly" defaultRedirect="mycustompage.htm"/>
</system.web>
</configuration>


Monday, May 19, 2003 8:19 PM by SBC

# re: UI Threading - A Very Simple Solution

Good one Roy. Will check it out with an example.
Monday, May 19, 2003 8:21 PM by SBC

# re: Articles, Articles, Articles!

There's no C# in the drop-down list...
;-(
Monday, May 19, 2003 9:20 PM by Yosi Taguri

# re: I'm In!

I'm in for 8:00 am.. ;)
Monday, May 19, 2003 10:17 PM by Rob Cannon

# re: UI Threading - A Very Simple Solution

It seems like this bit of code would be an ideal thing to be hidden via a custom attribute. There was an MSDN article about writing interceptors a couple of issues ago. I'll have to look it up and see what is possible.
Monday, May 19, 2003 10:23 PM by Royo

# re: UI Threading - A Very Simple Solution

Exactly my thoughts! We'll see who gets there first ... ;)
Monday, May 19, 2003 10:31 PM by Tim Marman

# re: I'm In!

How do I get on that list? :)
Monday, May 19, 2003 10:56 PM by Royo

# re: I'm In!

Erm, I suppose I registered at some conference I attended or something. other than that, I have no idea how they got to me..
Tuesday, May 20, 2003 6:08 AM by TrackBack

# Julia Lerman Blog

Julia Lerman Blog
Tuesday, May 20, 2003 8:46 AM by Addy Santo

# re: UI Threading - A Very Simple Solution

Before diving too deep into interceptors and ContextObjects (and their related side effects such as insanity) take a look at this, it might be close to what you had in mind:

http://www.fawcette.com/vsm/2002_09/magazine/columns/blackbelt/default_pf.asp

-Addy

Wednesday, May 21, 2003 6:12 PM by Andrew Stopford

# re: The Books I Really Really Want

I have 6 of the 13 books listed, not bad :D
Friday, May 23, 2003 2:12 AM by Addy Santo

# re: The Right People For The Right Job

Sounds like a company I know... ;)
Friday, May 23, 2003 2:23 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: The Right People For The Right Job

Sounds like A LOT of companies I know, Addy :)
Friday, May 23, 2003 2:41 AM by Greg Robinson

# re: The Right People For The Right Job

For the most part I agree with you. One thing to remember though, unless given the chance, how will you know if you can succeed? I am with a VERY small group now and we all wear many hats. I am learning and having a lot of fun and it is opening other doors for me. I just wish i could close this DBA door and take it this DBA hat!
Friday, May 23, 2003 2:51 AM by Chad Osgood

# re: The Right People For The Right Job

I left a large company with a large development team because of exactly what makes you queasy. I worked in a team that had a dedicated group/individual for every task, some granular enough to be performed by a single individual. I was rather tired of the "assembly line development" strategy, so I left for a smaller company where I could indeed wear multiple hats. I of course agree with the developers->marketing reference, but in consulting you HAVE to do almost everything.

I prefer it this way. Nothing was more frustrating to me than limiting my abilities by making me sit through developer tedium each day.
Friday, May 23, 2003 9:25 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: The Right People For The Right Job

I'm not saying that a person can't own more than one hat, I'm saying not *everyone* is up to the task , yet companies accept an employee to a specific task based only on who's available, and not based on that person's skill set or lack there of...
Friday, May 23, 2003 10:57 PM by Mads Nissen

# re: The Right People For The Right Job

Note that these observations are always done by people below the people in question, in the organization. Otherwise you'd get rid of them right?<br><br>And although I totally agree with you on this one (and feel veery familiar), it can sometimes be necissary for a PM to make unpopular choices.. just another aspect of it all.. But indeed, lousy people are really annoying, especially when they're your boss:)
Friday, May 23, 2003 11:12 PM by Mads Nissen

# re: The Books I Really Really Want

I just bought Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture by Martin Fowler. Can't wait to get through it.. Looks great!
Saturday, May 24, 2003 2:38 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: The Books I Really Really Want

Ahh. I'll need to get that one....
Sunday, May 25, 2003 1:09 AM by Kenneth LeFebvre

# re: The Right People For The Right Job

Sounds like you would really enjoy this article:

http://crystalmethodologies.org/articles/panlc/peopleasnonlinearcomponents.html

Sunday, May 25, 2003 9:16 PM by Dave

# re: Microsoft Internet Controls Life Saver

Is there a link to the article?
Sunday, May 25, 2003 9:17 PM by Royo

# re: Microsoft Internet Controls Life Saver

oops! fixed :)
Monday, May 26, 2003 1:53 AM by SBC

# re: .Net Debugging Resources

Good one Roy. I had a 'debugging' posting recently - http://dotnetweblogs.com/sbchatterjee/posts/7189.aspx. John Robbins 'BugSlayer' column is another good source - for e.g., http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/01/02/Bugslayer/default.aspx
Monday, May 26, 2003 2:10 AM by SBC

# re: Microsoft Internet Controls Life Saver

http://dotnetweblogs.com/sbchatterjee/posts/7583.aspx
Monday, May 26, 2003 6:45 AM by TrackBack

# SBC DotNet Weblog

SBC DotNet Weblog
Monday, May 26, 2003 8:42 AM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Monday, May 26, 2003 8:42 AM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Monday, May 26, 2003 8:42 AM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Monday, May 26, 2003 8:42 AM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Monday, May 26, 2003 8:42 AM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Monday, May 26, 2003 8:42 AM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Tuesday, May 27, 2003 12:13 AM by Jeff Julian

# re: BlogWear

I ordered mine :)
Tuesday, May 27, 2003 4:35 AM by Robert Scoble

# re: PeopleWare

Weird, my mentor here gave that book and I read most of it last night. Totally agree with you, though.
Tuesday, May 27, 2003 4:47 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: PeopleWare

It's cool to hear that MS is using this book in its culture. It says a lot. Of all of the people I've met in various companies (in israel) only 1 or 2 knew about this book. Sad.
Tuesday, May 27, 2003 6:30 AM by Paul Gielens

# re: PeopleWare

Thnx for the tip.
Tuesday, May 27, 2003 6:38 AM by Sam Gentile

# re: PeopleWare

This is a must-read for all software people. I read the first edition aboutb 10 years ago and read it time and time again.
Tuesday, May 27, 2003 6:56 AM by Nino Benvenuti

# re: PeopleWare

I whole-heartedly agree, Roy. I first read this a few years ago, it changed my perspective on some things. A must-read for any developer.
Tuesday, May 27, 2003 9:30 AM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Tuesday, May 27, 2003 9:30 AM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Tuesday, May 27, 2003 9:30 AM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Tuesday, May 27, 2003 9:30 AM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Tuesday, May 27, 2003 9:30 AM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Tuesday, May 27, 2003 6:03 PM by Frans Bouma

# re: About Dynamic Plug-in Discovery And AppDomains

Good post. Thanks for the info :)
Tuesday, May 27, 2003 9:32 PM by SBC

# re: .Net Developer Journal May Issue PDF download

Most of the stuff from Fawcette is pretty much free (but the content is a bit dry at times). http://www.fawcette.com/
Tuesday, May 27, 2003 9:36 PM by Royo

# re: .Net Developer Journal May Issue PDF download

Yeah. But the good thing that there's A LOT of it :)
Tuesday, May 27, 2003 10:59 PM by Fabrice

# Chris Brumme

The following post has a high value to understand what happens:
http://blogs.gotdotnet.com/cbrumme/PermaLink.aspx/2fad6a65-3ced-49b4-ae8b-c4068bad25fc
Tuesday, May 27, 2003 11:09 PM by Royo

# re: Create More Readable Code By Interface Prefixes

Yes, I've read this article once, but could link it to this behavior.
At thought I thought there were some performance implications using this notation, but Chris's post says nothing about that.
It *does* mention performance implications when implicitly implementing an interface Vs. *explicitly* implementing it(i.e declaring ":IMyInterface" Vs. no declaration)
Tuesday, May 27, 2003 11:40 PM by Uwe Thomas

# re: Create More Readable Code By Interface Prefixes

I more like the feature of VS 2003:
When you type the ':IConfigurationSectionHandler' behind the class name, there is a little tooltip saying 'Press tab to implememnt stubs'. This way you get the complete implementaion within a #region

For your method be aware that the explicit interface implementation is not syntactic shuggar of C#.
The resulting IL is different and you even can have both versions (with and without explicit mention of the interface) at the same time.

The disadvantage from the handling point of view is, that you can call these functions only if you have an pointer of interface type. A pointer of the class type is not sufficient and you often have to cast to the interface first.

Wednesday, May 28, 2003 1:22 AM by Mike Gunderloy

# re: .Net Developer Journal May Issue PDF download

You can also get MCP Magazine as a PDF; signup at http://subscribe.101com.com/mcpmag/digsub/?p=enews , sample issue at http://101offer.com/de/?e=ptsang@101com.com&i=0305_mcp&m=mcp&D=4/23/2003 (full disclosure: I'm a contributing editor for MCP Magazine).

SD Times is also available for download, and if you go through their subscription qualification process, you can get them via e-mail. http://www.sdtimes.com/
Wednesday, May 28, 2003 3:29 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Create More Readable Code By Interface Prefixes

Thanks for the good tip, Uwe.
It's a keeper :)
Wednesday, May 28, 2003 6:17 AM by Richard

# re: Paper Prototyping

I really like some of the things you have to say in your blog, but why bother putting references to stuff Joel recommends in yours (other than to get the Amazon commission). If I want to know what Joel recommends, I'll subscribe to his blog (which I do)?

Wednesday, May 28, 2003 6:27 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Paper Prototyping

Hey Richard.
First, Thanks for your comment.

Second,
Not all the people that read my blog read Joel. I quote lots of stuff by lots of people, taking into account that if it's cool enough for me to email my work mates about, it's cool enough to blog about.

Third,
If I see a good book that I can heartily recommend, I'll recommend it, even though it's a quote.
That's excatly the reason I have a post category named "original .Net content" and another named ".Net quotations".
This way you can just concentrate on the original stuff. (You can even have an RSS feed to just that category!)
Plus - If I can get a commission on someone buying it through me, all the better. Since I'll only recommend stuff I believe in, I have no problem promoting books through my blog.
as a developer I'd sure as hell pay a lot more credibilty to what another developer like me recommends than some book site. If that developer gets a commission when I buy the book - good for him/her.

hope this helps clear things :)
Roy
Wednesday, May 28, 2003 2:25 PM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Wednesday, May 28, 2003 6:34 PM by Shawn A. Van Ness

# How to enumerate the named capturing groups in a regex?

Hi Roy,

First off, if you were using the regex-based C# colorizer that Wes H and I have been working on, that anglebracket bug was my fault. Sorry! ;)

But that's not why I'm writing... or actually yes, it is. I was trying to add a feature to that same product, one which would ultimately require "reflecting" on a user-entered regex to get a list of named capturing groups.

Short of scanning a regex pattern with a regex (ugh!) I can't seem to find a way to do that.

IOW, it looks like although GroupCollection allows us to index by string, it doesn not allow us to enumerate by string.

You may have more experience than me, in this area -- am I missing something?

Wednesday, May 28, 2003 6:59 PM by Royo

# re: Practical Parsing Using Groups in Regular Expressions

Hey Shawn.
Actually, I Copy-Pasting from VS.NET into the editor.
Second, As for your question, It seems a pretty complicated case, and off the top of my head, I can't think of a better way than parsing Regex patterns with Regex patterns :)

However, If i'll come up with something , I'll let you know about it :)
I suggest, If you havn't yet, Trying to post on the Regex Mailing list from ASPAlliance.com
The folks there might help...
They have more experience than me on this subject.
Wednesday, May 28, 2003 9:38 PM by Leonard

# re: Using Memory Errors to Attack a Virtual Machine

Knowing that Smartcards have serious security features incorporated into them, I find it hard to believe that this type of attack would be sucessfull against a smart card. Take into consideration that most JAVA cards have current sensors built into them that automaticaly reset the card if 'unnatural' conditions occur on the card's circuitry. Heck they even have light sensors that erase the secure storage locations on the card, if the device is tampered with and exposed to light. I think that seeing is believing when it comes to this type of attack...
Wednesday, May 28, 2003 9:57 PM by Dave

# re: About Blogging Etiquette and Inline Product Promotions

I must be missing something here. Weblogs are definitely NOT professional-for-profit endeavors, right? So exactly what does this imply?

IMHO it means everything you post has a personal slant. Code of conduct? None needed. Okay, since this weblog is part of dotnetweblogs.com you may have some rules, but that's about it. If you want to plug your latest book, software release or MP3 you have every right to.

Trust me, if you end up just talking sales pitches, the traffic to your weblog will fall off dramatically.

I subscibed to your RSS feed weeks ago and will continue to. I read Joel's too. WHen you posted about his last rant I basically skipped over it because I already knew about it. Just like any other reader is able to.

Keep blogging like you have been. You're doing a great job.
Wednesday, May 28, 2003 10:35 PM by Royo

# re: About Blogging Etiquette and Inline Product Promotions

Hey Dave.
Thanks for the positive feedback :).
However, I still think there should be such a thing as an code of conduct , even an unspoken one (Which I think most of us adhere to anyway).
I know that when I read (developer) blogs I like to know that they are "authentic" and without hidden agendas.
I want it all on the table. If i ever discover that someone is "working" me about something I'm reading, I'll never go back.
A good example would be those semi-news articles in the papers that are actually ads that look like articles.
You really have to look closely to find out if what you're reading is legit. That toally annoys me.
I don't want that happening to me in BlogLand.
Wednesday, May 28, 2003 11:38 PM by Jason

# re: About Blogging Etiquette and Inline Product Promotions

I agree with most of what you're saying, Roy, and I think you've got a great site that usually adds a ton of value to my reading for the day. Dave makes an excellent point as well that blogs by definition are a reflection of your own ideas and opinions.

"I only recommend books I would buy myself, hence I feel I lose no credibility when I get commissions from books I refer to"

A statement like that, though, isn't in keeping with the spirit of personal expression though. If you were recommending a paper, application, MP3 or book that you'd actually bought/read/used, and were offering insight into its value and application that would be one thing. If you haven't, though, then cross posting something like Joel's recommendation isn't adding much value to anyone other than changing the affiliate ID in the link.

I realize I'm free to skip over it...but with the flurry of posts recently about how to handle signal-to-noise in arenas like this, I think it's something to try and keep top of mind when making a fresh post.

Keep up the great work...and if the statement I quoted was simply misstated and you have read the work then feel free to ignore this mini-rant :)
Wednesday, May 28, 2003 11:58 PM by Kenneth LeFebvre

# re: About Blogging Etiquette and Inline Product Promotions

I agree with Dave. Blogs are about people expressing themselves and there's no way to formulate guidelines to constrain such free expression.

What would composing a Code of Conduct accomplish? I'll read the blogs I'm interested in because of the content, not because of any particular association with a Code of Conduct.

On the other hand, your desire to formulate such a Code is a very legitimate aspect of your own personal expression... ;) I'm sure, sooner or later, someone will write one. And someone else will write another. And someone will try to organize all bloggers into an empire. And all of this will be part of the nature of people expressing themselves...

...and it will all be fun to watch!
Thursday, May 29, 2003 1:27 AM by Royo

# re: .Net Developer Journal May Issue PDF download

Thanks for the good info guys :)
The question now lies in whether I'll get enough time to read it all ;)
Thursday, May 29, 2003 1:43 AM by Jesse Ezell

# re: About Blogging Etiquette and Inline Product Promotions

Putting affiliate links in your posts is kind of cheezy if you ask me. I don't mind if you get a few bucks if I like the book, but I would bypass it all together, simply because of the potential for someone misunderstanding my intentions. Remember, connotation is just as important as denotation, if not more.
Thursday, May 29, 2003 2:37 AM by Tim Marman

# re: About Blogging Etiquette and Inline Product Promotions

I agree with most things said here.

I have no problems putting affiliate codes on Amazon on weblogs, and when making personal recommendations that's more than fine. It's not like you're making a significant amount of money even if a lot do buy it, and more often than not it's just going to go to yet another book you can review, in which case you're again helping the community by providing another opinion before I/we go out and buy it ourselves.

That being said - did you actually read Paper Prototyping? :)
Thursday, May 29, 2003 2:38 AM by Chad Osgood

# re: About Knowledge Blocks

I completely empathize man; I'm a bibliophile. Knowledge is empowering, and there's no greater feeling of empowerment for inquisitive people than acquiring new knowledge, imo. My only trouble is that I have a tendency to read only the "interesting" parts of a book. I actually very rarely read a book front->back, but then again, a lot of technical books have chapters better suited for a JITKA (JIT knowledge acquisition) reference.
Thursday, May 29, 2003 2:46 AM by Royo

# re: About Blogging Etiquette and Inline Product Promotions

Tim: No I havn't read it, But as I said - I wouldn;t have recommended it if I would not have wanted this book on my bookshelf.
Still, I'm trying not to cross the thin line of credibility here. Perhaps from now on I'll think more before I put referrer links in a post. Maybe that will even give more credibility to my book recommendations..?
I'm saying "perhaps" here because maybe I won't be able to live up to my promise on this one. If I see something I like, I feel a need to post about it. And while I'm alaredy posting about an amazon book, why not put a referrer link on it?
Oh well, My head is starting to spin about this whole issue.
Maybe I shouldn;t be this concerend with what everyone else thinks about me?
I find that almost impossible to do...
Thursday, May 29, 2003 4:30 AM by TrackBack

# Loosely Coupled

Loosely Coupled
Thursday, May 29, 2003 4:48 AM by Dave

# re: About Blogging Etiquette and Inline Product Promotions

Roy, it sounds like you DO have an implicit code. Believe me, it shines through. No need to be explicit for just that reason. As you said yourself, if you feel that hidden agenda shining through on someone's weblog you - and many more like you - will simply never come back. That is exactly the point of my initial comment.

Now, for me there is something implicit also. My lack of a URL due to a lack of a weblog. What this results in is my comment name lacks that 'link' flavor. DO I sometimes wonder if that hurts me? That people wonder about my hidden agenda? Certainly. Unfortunately I learned a while back that I lack the discipline and subject focus to really commit to a weblog. But you see, just like you, I also am concerned with what everyone else thinks of me!
Thursday, May 29, 2003 7:21 AM by Adam Hill

# re: About Knowledge Blocks

Its cool to know there are other people in the world that can *enjoy* going to a book store with other people.

I was in downtown Austin Texas a few weeks ago at a Starbucks and thought to myself - "Wouldn't it be cool to go back to school." What triggered this you may ask - All the people in the store were *reading* I dont get that up here in Dallas.

I really hate (as my friend put it) "filling up all available silence with structured noise".

adam...
Thursday, May 29, 2003 11:31 PM by Dave

# re: Congratulations ScottW

Just commented on Scott's weblog. Roy, my RSS feed from you is borken. SHarpReader 0.9.0.3 only got half the changes, and your's wasn't one of them.

Thank goodness the dotnetweblogs RSS feed still works. That's how I knew you posted some after the change. I had hoped the ones that broke were blogs with no new posts, but yours proves otherwise.

Sorry for spamming the comments, but I think yours is one of the best weblogs I subscribe to - and thought I'd try a second way to get the message to Scott.
Thursday, May 29, 2003 11:34 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Congratulations ScottW

Hey Dave.
Hopefully, Scott is already aware of the problem, and is working on it :)
p.s
Thanks :)
Friday, May 30, 2003 12:38 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Congratulations ScottW

Plus, You can just change the link to the rss feed in sharpreader -
DotnetWeblobg.Com/ - >Weblogs.Asp.Net/
And you should be in the clear
Friday, May 30, 2003 2:11 AM by Marc

# re: Rent My ... What??

I fear. Much.
Friday, May 30, 2003 2:18 AM by crowdozer

# spellcheck... FreeTextBox

FreeTextBox (http://www.revjon.com/ftb/) is a .NET web control that integrates with a free Internet Explorer component called ieSpell. (http://www.iespell.com/)
Friday, May 30, 2003 3:10 AM by Royo

# re: Donny Mack Reveals Hidden Developer Secrets

Cool! Thanks for the tip :)
Maybe we can get Scott to use it..?
Friday, May 30, 2003 4:10 AM by John Porcaro

# re: About "Personal" Blogging

Funny story I’ll post someday. I had an informational interview with someone where we got into a pretty heated debate about how to go about the job, and there couldn’t have been more of a disconnect. I immediately blogged about it, of course with a self-righteous rant.

I wanted to send a link to the blog to a blogging co-worker and friend. She happened to have the same first name as the person I interviewed with, and Outlook picked the interviewer’s email name instead of my co-worker. Luckily, it was late at night, and I caught it before it was read, but if I hadn’t, it would have been a mini-disaster. As it happened, I went back in and edited the entry: (http://johnporcaro.blogspot.com/2003_04_01_johnporcaro_archive.html#92461579).

And I got mail from the interviewer the next day saying she saw my blog and thought it was interesting…
Friday, May 30, 2003 4:18 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: About "Personal" Blogging

Heh. Good one :)
Friday, May 30, 2003 6:02 AM by Alex Lowe

# re: Congratulations ScottW

Scott should be an MVP and I'm sure he will be awarded one in the future. The way the MVP program works is a bit dumb/odd in that they only choose MVPs once a year (and of course they've already picked them for this year (2003). I'm confident he will attain MVP status for next year.
Friday, May 30, 2003 10:39 AM by TrackBack

# mads studentblog

mads studentblog
Friday, May 30, 2003 2:34 PM by Jesse Ezell

# re: New Skin, New Host...

Working on getting this working with mozilla... a little different script and an external CSS file (view source for the changes).
Friday, May 30, 2003 2:39 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: New Skin, New Host...

Ah. This is much better!!! Good work :) Thanks Dan for your help , and jesse for the great Idea.
Friday, May 30, 2003 2:53 PM by Scott Watermasysk

# re: New Skin, New Host...

yes, please use an external style sheet. :)
Friday, May 30, 2003 7:32 PM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Friday, May 30, 2003 7:32 PM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Saturday, May 31, 2003 10:12 AM by Dan

# re: SxS War Story

What does SxS stand for? :)
Saturday, May 31, 2003 10:16 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: SxS War Story

Side-By-Side (both 1.0 and 1.1 of the .net framework on the same machine)
Sunday, June 01, 2003 5:02 AM by DonXML

# re: I'm a Configuration Manager... I Think.

Roy,
I’m currently helping a large pharma do the exact same thing. You can contact me offline if you have any questions. The first thing I recommended was creating a Architecture Portal using Sharepoint Team Services. If your company has a MSDN Universal subscription, a license is included in that. This becomes your home, and all projects, and reusable parts (whether that be a component or a class) need to be documented here. Once you and the teams get use to working thru the portal, things become self documenting (for the most part). The biggest obstacle I’ve found is figuring out how to fund development of reusable components. Usually it takes more time to develop a component with reusability in mind, and time is the one thing most projects don’t have. They usually don’t mind donating code to the cause of reusability, but not at the cost of time on their project. Then you also have the cost of support for the components. The question is “Where do you get that money?” If you have a strong architectural group, which has final say on if a project goes into production, then you can at least twist some arms to get them to build the reusable components, but someone still needs to support them.

DonXML
Sunday, June 01, 2003 8:09 AM by SBC

# re: .Net Developer Journal May Issue PDF download

http://weblogs.asp.net/sbchatterjee/posts/8105.aspx
Sunday, June 01, 2003 1:35 PM by SBC

# re: Performance Tuning and Optimizing ASP.NET Application

I use 'Performance Testing .NET Web Apps'. It has a good chapter on perf analysis of managed code - http://www.microsoft.com/mspress/books/5788.asp
Monday, June 02, 2003 4:22 AM by Tim Marman

# re: In-Your-Face

Marketing, man :) "Teasers" help build the hype.
Monday, June 02, 2003 4:23 AM by Marc

# re: In-Your-Face

The downside of bloggin is that techies keep things to selves about as well as sieves hold water....

And his posting drop me nuts too.
Monday, June 02, 2003 4:24 AM by Tim Marman

# re: In-Your-Face

And btw - I'm getting a JScript error on line 96 when I try to load your page, which looks like some code for your stats stuff.

I'm on a fairly locked down IE6 browser now on XP Pro.
Monday, June 02, 2003 1:24 PM by SBC

# re: I'm a Configuration Manager... I Think.

This may interest you - http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,1065920,00.asp
Tuesday, June 03, 2003 2:33 AM by Oisin

# re: About "Personal" Blogging

A great reason to set up a rule in Outlook to delay delivery by 1 or 2 minutes, like I have. I have too many similar names in my address book to let my instincts take over (click click click, ctrl+enter, d'oh).

1 Tools > Rules Wizard...
2 click New...
3 choose "Start with blank Rule", select "Apply this rule after sending"
4 click Next... do not choose a rule at this step
5 click Next... click "yes" to prompt
6 choose "defer delivery by a number of minutes" rule, click "a number of", enter delay time
Tuesday, June 03, 2003 5:13 AM by julie

# re: Medieval Times

Roy-
Not on my sharpreader my battery died and I forgot my power supply so I didn't see the link to this. But I have found it!! I will definitely respond another time. Chaos ensues today. I'm so incredibly flattered and grateful for you comment about the vtdotnet site. I have done the entire thing myself from design to code to content. It's almost another form of blogging for me because I just put whatever content I want on there.
Tuesday, June 03, 2003 5:54 AM by Nino Benvenuti

# re: About "Personal" Blogging

A little late to the party here, but...

Roy, I agree with you and Scoble. Especially now that my company has been acquired , I find myself more and more hesitant to blog... :/
Wednesday, June 04, 2003 1:57 AM by Greg R

# re: About Blogging Patterns

stick with the smootj jazz stations! :-)...I do!
Wednesday, June 04, 2003 1:58 AM by Greg R

# re: About Blogging Patterns

BTW, Blogger has voice blogging capability.
Wednesday, June 04, 2003 2:32 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: About Blogging Patterns

Neat! I haven't heard (of) anyone using it though. Have you?
Wednesday, June 04, 2003 7:17 AM by Phil Weber

# re: About Blogging Patterns


"An analogous structure to the blogging world would be that each caller had their own talk show..."

Gee, do you think why UserLand calls its blogging software "Radio?" ;-)
Wednesday, June 04, 2003 7:21 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: About Blogging Patterns

huh. That makes sense. DOH
Wednesday, June 04, 2003 11:03 AM by Chad Osgood

# re: IVBUG meeting went well

I've done the same type of thing for my user group in the past, although it wasn't due to lack of electricity :) We have discussion sessions with SIGs that are directed by user group leaders (architecture, ASP.NET, whatever). I too enjoy these more interactive sessions.

I also believe that networking with everyone in the group has proved valuable for all. Many of our members acquired jobs, friends, and resources through our group. Even if I didn't have to be there each month, I'd attend for this reason alone.
Sunday, June 08, 2003 1:48 AM by Mads

# re: Medieval Times

This is why you need to go to the US as I am planning this fall:) Norway is equally "un-cool" on this..
Monday, June 09, 2003 7:33 PM by Darren Neimke

# re: [New Article] Using Regex and The XML Classes To Parse Your Log Files

Nice one Roy :-) Bookmarked!
Tuesday, June 10, 2003 12:14 AM by kpako@yahoo.com (Dare Obasanjo)

# Dare Obasanjo

Roy,
I keep wondering why developers choose to use the DataSet which is a relational data structure which kind off understands XML for their XML processing needs instead of using the XmlDocument which is actually an XML data structure. I'd never think of using the DataSet if I wanted to load and store XML but it seems a lot of developers such as yourself believe this is the way to go.
Tuesday, June 10, 2003 12:29 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: [New Article] Using Regex and The XML Classes To Parse Your Log Files

Dare: The reason I use the Dataset, is to be able to give the user an "SQL like" way of searching, instead of using XPath queris syntax. SQL is a bit more natural. That's the only reason, though. I agree, XMLDocument is the way to go when you want to just load up and search XML stuff..
Tuesday, June 10, 2003 1:49 AM by SBC

# re: Here I Am

You must be a busy guy! I can see that long task list from the MS Project print out on your bulletin board!
Tuesday, June 10, 2003 2:18 AM by Paschal

# re: Here I Am

Roy we know you;re the One ;-)
Tuesday, June 10, 2003 2:19 AM by Paschal

# re: Here I Am

Roy the mechanical old switch that's not really geeky ;-))
Tuesday, June 10, 2003 3:39 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Here I Am

heh, That task list - I have *plenty* of stories about that... :)
Tuesday, June 10, 2003 3:43 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Here I Am

Are the pictures showing OK? I have them flagged as "X"'s for some reason..
Tuesday, June 10, 2003 4:04 AM by Paschal

# re: Here I Am

Roy the pictures are not showing ok
Tuesday, June 10, 2003 4:25 AM by TrackBack

# Datagrid Girl

Datagrid Girl
Tuesday, June 10, 2003 4:25 AM by TrackBack

# Datagrid Girl

Datagrid Girl
Tuesday, June 10, 2003 6:29 AM by Rachel

# re: Here I Am

Pictures aren't showing, but if ya click 'em, the originals load up.
Tuesday, June 10, 2003 6:15 PM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Tuesday, June 10, 2003 6:15 PM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Wednesday, June 11, 2003 4:07 AM by Phil Scott

# re: Women Rule

I think you are onto something with the requiring military service for everyone, especially about being less shy about getting into the careers.

Over here in the US, many girls are still pushed towards more away from things like computers by parents, teachers and worse of all: television.
Wednesday, June 11, 2003 6:56 AM by Carl Franklin

# re: .Net Rocks Show Do's And Don't's

Just to set the record straight, I think you are referring to the previous week's show with Jorge Oblitas.

He is from Peru, and doesn't speak English very well. The show with Chris Sells was great, I thought.

Carl Franklin
Wednesday, June 11, 2003 6:59 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: .Net Rocks Show Do's And Don't's

Carl, Yeah. That's the one I meant.
I think that show was the only one I didn't enjoy as much as the others.
The one with Chris was excellent :)
Wednesday, June 11, 2003 7:15 AM by Paschal

# re: Living in a Bubble

I like the tone of your writing, because I feel, excuse me If I am wrong, that like many of people living in Israel, you look forward to find a peaceful solution.
Myself, I am not good too at politics, but I hate people who strongly affirm an opinion without searching a right balance between the truth and the propaganda.
In our virtual (and irreal world) it's like the pointless language 'war' between each camp.
Wednesday, June 11, 2003 7:37 AM by TrackBack

# Rob Chartier's Excogitation

Rob Chartier's Excogitation
Wednesday, June 11, 2003 7:37 AM by TrackBack

# Robert McLaws

Robert McLaws
Wednesday, June 11, 2003 7:37 AM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Wednesday, June 11, 2003 7:37 AM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Wednesday, June 11, 2003 7:37 AM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Wednesday, June 11, 2003 7:37 AM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Wednesday, June 11, 2003 7:43 AM by Jesse Ezell

# re: .Net Rocks Show Do's And Don't's

I thought that Jorge was great (one of my favorite episodes)! It was very interesting to hear a developer's perspective from a place where IT services are a completely different ball game. Please don't discriminate against guests because they have an accent! Some of the most interesting speakers have accents (take Clemens and Ingo, for example, or if we are talking about heavy accents, the guy that did the ObjectSpaces preview at the last TechEd... very entertaining speaker, but he had a heavy french accent).

By the way Carl, you should definately get Clemens on the show! He is one of the best speakers out there and very knowledgable.
Wednesday, June 11, 2003 8:09 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: .Net Rocks Show Do's And Don't's

Jesse: I have nothing against heavy accents. I enjoyed greatly the show with Ingo, for example. I just couldn't understand half the show we are currently talking about. From what I got from that episode, Carl coudn't get some of the stuff that guy was saying as well.
I'm sure he's a great guy, and from what I *did* get, he had some cool ideas, but sometimes, you need to make sure that your listeners actually *get* what your guest is talking about.
Please don't make me out as a guy who dislikes accents. I have an accent myself. This is *supposed* to be constructive criticism.
Wednesday, June 11, 2003 10:10 AM by JesseEzell

# re: .Net Rocks Show Do's And Don't's

I've heard a lot worse. IMO, his accent wasn't that hard to understand. I don't remember missing anything or having to back up the stream. I thought he spoke English very well (definately a lot better than I speak Spanish). I do remember that there was one or two places where word choice caused a little miscommunication, but that had nothing to do with his accent and really isn't all that uncommon when speaking to people whose native language is not English, and, regarless, two instances of incorrect word choice definately don't make the entire show a lowsy one.
Wednesday, June 11, 2003 11:18 AM by Alex

# re: Geek News

I guess I'll join you in geekdom - I had printed it out and taken it to bed too!
Wednesday, June 11, 2003 5:51 PM by Bruce

# re: Women Rule

I do work for Microsoft, and I'm the same way! I have no idea how my wife can watch TV and do work at the same time...
Wednesday, June 11, 2003 7:51 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: .Net Rocks Show Do's And Don't's

Well, I guess this is where people differ. Some people I'm sure perfectly enjoyed that show, and some didn't as was I. The fact is, that show was harder to understand than most, and that flawed it severely for me.
Wednesday, June 11, 2003 7:57 PM by Enav

# re: Living in a Bubble

What a nice way to put things. Your writing is beatuiful and very touching.
Enav
Wednesday, June 11, 2003 10:20 PM by coacoacoa

# re: BillG Joke

J'adore!
Thursday, June 12, 2003 2:24 AM by Phil Scott

# re: 101 Microsoft Visual Basic .NET Applications

Amazon is saying 3-5 weeks for me before it would ship, but if you go to www.microsoft.com/mspress and find their book you can download the programs and play around with them.

I'm more interesting in seeing what Sean and Scott have about the code than the actual code, but the programs are still kinda fun to fiddle with.
Thursday, June 12, 2003 5:20 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: 101 Microsoft Visual Basic .NET Applications

erm, I found the book, but no code download :(
Friday, June 13, 2003 8:00 PM by Stephane

# re: About Reflector, Encoding, And an Article Error

What about either of these :

1) derive the StringWriter class

public class StringWriterWithEncoding : StringWriter
{
Encoding encoding;

public StringWriterWithEncoding (Encoding encoding)
{
this.encoding = encoding;
}

public override Encoding Encoding
{
get { return encoding; }
}
}


with this class you can specify whatever encoding you like.


2) or use an appropriate memory buffer :

using System.IO;
using System.Xml;

MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream(); XmlTextWriter tw = new XmlTextWriter(ms,new System.Text.UTF8Encoding());
// -- your xml stuff begins here --tw.WriteStartDocument();
tw.WriteStartElement("...");
tw.WriteEndElement();
tw.WriteEndDocument();
tw.Flush();
tw.Close();
// -- your xml stuff ends here

// convert byte[] to String
String s = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetString( ms.GetBuffer() );
MessageBox.Show( s );
Friday, June 13, 2003 10:54 PM by Ziv Caspi

# re: About Reflector, Encoding, And an Article Error

StringWriter writes to strings, whose underlying memory representation is always UTF-16 in the CLR (let's not get into the surrogate pair issue here...).

Thus, if you have StringWriter write to a string, it *will* be UTF-16 whether the first line in the string claims so or not. This is also how MSXML behaves, by the way.

Of course, when you take the string and convert it into a memory buffer in another encoding you need to take care of converting the encoding-providing header, which means extra work to you. Whether this is actually a good design or not is another issue...
Friday, June 13, 2003 10:56 PM by Morten Abrahamsen

# re: About Reflector, Encoding, And an Article Error

I would expect the fact that System.String is unicode has something to do with it :) So, it just won't support another format.

If you want another encoding you should probably use something along the lines of a binary stream.

An UTF8 encoded xml document stored in a UTF16 string doesn't really make much sence now does it :)

Just my 2c!
Saturday, June 14, 2003 12:47 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: About Reflector, Encoding, And an Article Error

Thanks for all the input guys. Like I said, It seems to just reaffirm what I wrote - You can't make you XML document's header UTF-8 encoded without going through some hoops.
Perhaps this is something that would best be solved using a method of the XMLTextWriter, something like 'SetEncodingHeader(Encoding encoding)' that would allow this without too much hassle..
Saturday, June 14, 2003 4:46 AM by David Pickett

# re: About Reflector, Encoding, And an Article Error

"I would expect the fact that System.String is unicode has something to do with it :)"

Technically, UTF-8 is also Unicode--just a different encoding for it ;).
Saturday, June 14, 2003 5:23 AM by Morten Abrahamsen

# re: About Reflector, Encoding, And an Article Error

I know that UTF-8 is unicode as well.

It's just that in the BCL UTF-16 is referred to as Encoding.Unicode... which is why I wrote that statement.

Anyways, the System.String class is an UTF16 string, so an XmlTextWriter with SetEncodingHeader would only enable you to have an encoding mismatch...

Morty :)
Saturday, June 14, 2003 3:08 PM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Saturday, June 14, 2003 5:03 PM by TrackBack

# Emitter

Emitter
Saturday, June 14, 2003 11:19 PM by Dave Sussman

# re: Winforms Data Binding Woes

Yeah, you're right, you are missing something 8)

What you do is bind the sub-grid to the relation, and then just set the CurrencyManager.Position to the current index of the list. For example (based on Northwind), assume you have a DataSet (_ds) with two tables (Orders and OrderDetails), and a relationship (CustOrders). The ListBox is bound to Orders, showing the OrderID only (not hugely useful, but it suffices for this example). The set the grid (dgOrderDetails) bindings like so:

dgOrderDetails.SetDataBinding(_ds, "Orders.CustOrders");

In the SelectedIndexChanged event for the list then do this:

CurrencyManager mgr = (CurrencyManager)this.BindingContext[_ds, "Orders"];
mgr.Position = lstOrders.SelectedIndex;

You just set the Position of the CurrencyManager for the parent table, and since there is a table relation (which is tracked by the binding), the sub grid changes, reflecting only the sub-rows for the selected parent row.

Mail me (contact details on daveandal dot net) if you want a full sample.

Dave
Sunday, June 15, 2003 4:55 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Winforms Data Binding Woes

Thanks for the great answer. It does simplify work a lot when working with a listbox.
however, what about when I want to use a TreeView as the Parent Data Source?
I have no way to data bind a treeview, so I use the Tag property of each node to hold a DataRow object. Now, once I have a clicked node, How do i find the correct Index to set the position to?
Sunday, June 15, 2003 7:08 PM by Robert Scoble

# re: Family Vs. Technology

I was. We had a great weekend. Thanks!
Monday, June 16, 2003 3:28 AM by WildHeart'2k3

# re: Funny Behaviour

Easy: 20.45 cannot be represented as a finite power of 2. Therefore the result can only be approximate. I am surprised it's the first time you see this in all your long years of computing...
Monday, June 16, 2003 3:34 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Funny Behaviour

Cool! Thanks fot the quick reply.
As for your surprise - You shouldn't be. There are lots of people with years of experience in software development(much more than me) that have never crossed path with this thing. It's all about the projects you did. There's always a little tidbit that someone would know that another person wouldn't.
Monday, June 16, 2003 3:39 AM by Chad Osgood

# re: Funny Behaviour

It's also worthwhile to note that the expressions "21 - 5.45" and "21 - 20.45" are evaluated at compile-time and emitted into the IL as constants. The constants look like the following:

15.550000000000001
0.55000000000000071
Monday, June 16, 2003 3:49 AM by Phil Scott

# re: Funny Behaviour

More fun with floats:

dim i as single
dim counter as integer
for counter = 1 to 10
i += .1
Console.WriteLine(i)
next

good times.
Monday, June 16, 2003 9:27 AM by Darren Neimke

# re: Funny Behaviour

I *learnt* this a couple of years ago when I was messing around with the following snippet of Javascript:


var openingBalance = parseFloat(1234.00)
var closingBalance = parseFloat(openingBalance - 1)

// now add 10 lots of .1 to bring our closing
// balance back up to our opening balance
for(var i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
closingBalance += 0.1
}

// What will it be?
// Are they equivalent or not??
alert(openingBalance == closingBalance) ;

return true ;
Monday, June 16, 2003 10:31 AM by Chad Osgood

# re: My Baby Hits The Road Tomorrow

Really nice UI man!
Monday, June 16, 2003 1:20 PM by Mathematician

# re: Funny Behaviour

It is just not right to use any comparison operation between float type figures the mentioned way.
In computer world it has to be
(floatValue1 - floatValue2)< Epsilon
where Epsilon is some small quantity, for ex. 0.00000001 - it will be your calculation accuracy.

The very first "21 - 20.45" problem is the typical in computer mathematics.

For the similar reason it is sometimes not possible, believe me or not, to calculate a determinant of a 3d matrix on a computer, but it would take just 3 minutes to find it by a human brain.

That problems in math is called "error of a method".
Monday, June 16, 2003 9:24 PM by Tim Howard

# re: My Baby Hits The Road Tomorrow

Sweetness. Good luck, man!

Also, I was wondering if you could help me out a bit... I'm a poor college student living in the middle of nowhere... I know a bit of Java, a lot of HTML, and I've got the gist of XML... I was wondering, what should I focus on if I wanted to get a real job in the tech industry? (Not something that any fool with an A+ can do, something where I don't have to wear shoes to work, where the caffine's free, and a life is optional)

My problem is that my local college doesn't teach anything, programming-wise. And quite simply, I don't know where to start. No car, no job, and not knowing anyone in the business is kinda putting me in a corner.

Thanks in advance, and good luck on your tracer!
Monday, June 16, 2003 9:29 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: My Baby Hits The Road Tomorrow

Hey Tim. Thanks for the compliment!
As for your question, it's a pity you didn't leave your email. It would be easier to contact me directly to ask. I'll post an answer as a blog post later in the day.
Monday, June 16, 2003 9:56 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: My Baby Hits The Road Tomorrow

Thanks chad! :)
Monday, June 16, 2003 10:47 PM by Robert Hurlbut

# re: "How Do I Get From Here To There?"

Great advice!
Tuesday, June 17, 2003 12:32 AM by M M

# re: "How Do I Get There From Here?"


Quote
--
"o I want to experience working with [specific field of expertise such as hardware, software,real-time,embedded,web…]"
--

In my opinion, one of the major problems with most college fresh graduates is a lack of direction in the above context. Internship in tech/dev positions matters a lot (from what I've seen), particularly if one can demonstrate a high level of responsibility given at that point.
Tuesday, June 17, 2003 2:45 AM by Ashok

# re: More About Desktops

just saw your desktop on http://pnavy.com/royo/desktops showing reflector as a plugin to VS.NET. i was able to setup reflector as an external tool for vs.net

how to set it up as a plugin?
Tuesday, June 17, 2003 3:12 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: More About Desktops

There's a Reflector Add-in that you can download somewhere...
install it and voila!
Tuesday, June 17, 2003 9:43 AM by Robert Scoble

# re: Scoble, Come Back!

Heh!

My wife will get you for that.
Tuesday, June 17, 2003 12:33 PM by Marcus

# re: "How Do I Get There From Here?"

I will use this a my guide to a better life ;)

I never tought it would be this many steps to get a job these days but i guessed wrong!

Thanks for execellent advices!

Best regards
Marcus
Tuesday, June 17, 2003 12:39 PM by Marcus

# re: "How Do I Get There From Here?"

One thing, You said "Start a blog about what your going through(if you'll learn .Net – start a blog here!)" ..

But a person that is learning .net doesn't have really that much to write or do you mean it is a excellent place to put out questions and get excellent answers to them? ;)

Sorry for filling your comments..

Best regards
Marcus
Tuesday, June 17, 2003 7:53 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: "How Do I Get There From Here?"

Hey Marcus. What I meant is that if you're learning .Net, a blog is a great way to share with people about new stuff that you learn, not just ask questions. So, if you've just learned how to make something witha DataGrid, for example, and you think somebody else might benefit from that knowledge, or if you've overcome some difficult problem. If you encountered it, someone else probably has too, and would love to hear how you overcame it, without going through all the hoops you had to go through...
Tuesday, June 17, 2003 9:10 PM by Frans Bouma

# re: About Interfaces

In a slashdot thread a year or so ago a lot of these things were discussed, particularly about software interfaces. Someone in that thread suddenly said: "Why do I have to click 'save' in a wordprocessor? Isn't it obvious I'm typing the text in to store it?" Excellent thinking, which totally makes todays solutions worthless crap. That remark was about the core of what is truly useful: do not worry about the obvious.
Tuesday, June 17, 2003 9:20 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: About Interfaces

Huh. Nice thought :)
Tuesday, June 17, 2003 11:39 PM by Dave

# re: About Interfaces

Actually your Excel quirk isn't entirely correct. If you CTRL-C then RETURN (copy and paste?) you only get one time. But if you CTRL-C then CTRL-V (copy and insert?) you can do it as many times as you wish. I'm not sure where I picked this up from, but it's been a major time saver for me.
Wednesday, June 18, 2003 12:05 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: About Interfaces

Dave: What I'm talking about is that you *can * multiple paste as long as the cell you CTRL+C'ed is highlighted with that blinking rectangle thingie. What if you COpy a cell, then go to another cell and press DELETE on that cell? can you still paste that cell you copied?
nope. gone forever....
Wednesday, June 18, 2003 2:07 AM by Kenneth LeFebvre

# re: About Interfaces

Another thing that really bothers me, and Microsoft does this too much, too-- when you get a dialog box that asks you "Do you want to do this or that?" and then you get YES/NO or OK/CANCEL buttons... The buttons should be the actual answer to the question!
Wednesday, June 18, 2003 2:46 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: About Interfaces

Kenneth - Yeah I know what you mean. You *know* you're doing something wring when you have to explain which button does what...
Wednesday, June 18, 2003 2:53 AM by Jayme

# re: SQL Server is Missing NextVal Functionality

Maybe this will help?
http://beta.experts-exchange.com/Databases/Microsoft_SQL_Server/Q_10350313.html
Wednesday, June 18, 2003 3:09 AM by Frans Bouma

# re: SQL Server is Missing NextVal Functionality

If you have to rely on the next value in a sequence, you are in serious trouble. The sequences 'NextVal' is to store a new value in a column which values are retrieved from a sequence, it shouldn't be used for something else. 'CurrentVal' or 'Curr' is then used like 'SCOPE_IDENTITY()' (sqlserver2000) or '@@IDENTITY' (sqlserver 7).

Sequences are nice, but if possible you always should rely on unique data that is semantically part of the entity, i.e. already in an attribute.

You can simulate sequences using functions (sqlserver 2000) which update a table with a serialized transaction. Thus your table contains 1 row per sequence, and the function uses a serialized transaction (thus has unique access guaranteed) to retrieve and update the sequence number. When the sequence function fails, the insert will then also fail.

It's a tricky business and when doing it by yourself it can be slower than when the RDBMS does it. How especially does your code rely on the NExtVal function?
Wednesday, June 18, 2003 3:13 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: SQL Server is Missing NextVal Functionality

Frans: Not using it to INSERT or anything, i AM using unique IDENTITY columns. This ID is used by some of our C++ code to map unique objects in memory. I know, it's not the best design, but that's how it is with legacy code. Too ugly to change now ....
btw, Jayme: Your solution seems to be the one. We'll try it and see what happens.
Thanks !:)
Wednesday, June 18, 2003 3:20 AM by Frans Bouma

# re: SQL Server is Missing NextVal Functionality

the MAX(id) doesn't work in a multi-user environment. If after the SELECT MAX(field)... another insert is done in the same table, you have double keys. The only solution is a separate table with own counters and a function which uses a serialized transaction.

There are also issues with DBCC statements in stored procedures. I'd not use these statements in production code, since they are ment for DBA's.
Wednesday, June 18, 2003 3:26 AM by Jesse Ezell

# re: SQL Server is Missing NextVal Functionality

MAX(id)+1 isn't exactly the best idea, because what if the last row was deleted? Now your id generation is off. Additionally, you can't be gaurenteed that ID. What happens if between the query and the update someone inserts a new record? I guess you could make sure the table was locked down until you update, but performance is sucky that way.

A much better idea is not to rely on having to know the identity until after it has been placed in the DB and you can query it with a SQL statement, or to use GUIDs or something that you can calculate ahead of time (or event a GetID function that pulls IDs out of a DB table or from some other source...seen that done before for this type of thing). Of course, if it is legacy code, then I guess you are stuck...
Wednesday, June 18, 2003 3:27 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: SQL Server is Missing NextVal Functionality

Frans: Yeah, I'm aware of the GetMax()+1 issue with multi user scenarios. But from what I gather it looks like it's impossible to do it withoug going through a million hoops. That's toatlly annoying. Why is this basic functionality not implemented in SQL server? boo.
Wednesday, June 18, 2003 3:28 AM by Jesse Ezell

# re: SQL Server is Missing NextVal Functionality

Looks like Frans beat me to it. Great minds think alike I guess ;-)
Wednesday, June 18, 2003 3:31 AM by Jesse Ezell

# re: SQL Server is Missing NextVal Functionality

It isn't there, because you should never do such things.
Wednesday, June 18, 2003 3:35 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: SQL Server is Missing NextVal Functionality

Jesse: So I guess ORACLE got it all wrong when they added this feature? Better yet: They Added a Multi-Column Sequence, allowing you to have multiple tables implementing one unique sequence.
Wednesday, June 18, 2003 3:37 AM by Eric Kepes

# re: SQL Server is Missing NextVal Functionality

"Why is this basic functionality not implemented in SQL server?" Because its not supportable in a multi-user environment. Its not really a very simple operation, when you think about it. IDENTITY works because it is easy (?) to implement - all you need to do is lock the table, look at the previous record, add one, insert, and then unlock the table. It easily passes the ACID test, while what you are proposing does not.

If you don't like it, you can always port to Oracle. I hear they are selling db licenses cheap. :)
Wednesday, June 18, 2003 3:37 AM by Frans Bouma

# re: SQL Server is Missing NextVal Functionality

Jesse :)

Roy: it's not that big of a deal I think. I get the feeling it's more of a scheduling problem in your code: which does what first. The row inserted gets a key which is also the id of an object? but the object has to get the id first before the row does?

Isn't it better to indeed just drop the 'identity' flag from the column and implement the sequence then from code? (f.e. by calling a serialized transaction-based stored proc which returns a new unique key. That key is used for the column and is guaranteed unique in hte database, plus is used in the object. You can keep your db format then.
Wednesday, June 18, 2003 3:42 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: SQL Server is Missing NextVal Functionality

Eric: It *should* be supportable, that's my point. No, I *don't* want to move to oracle just because I don;t have this functionality.

Frans: We were trying not to change the legacy code... But it seems like this is what we'll do.
Wednesday, June 18, 2003 3:43 AM by Frans Bouma

# re: SQL Server is Missing NextVal Functionality

Eric: Oracle's sequencename.NextVal works also in a multi-user environment (If I may believe the Oracle docs :) . Calling that function will update the current value of the central stored sequence. However NextVal is not a 'peek' function, it's an increase. So when another thread calls nextval again, the value is incremented again. If you use it wrong, then indeed the multi-user aspect is killing you :)
Wednesday, June 18, 2003 3:48 AM by TrackBack

# heLP .Net Blog

heLP .Net Blog
Wednesday, June 18, 2003 3:48 AM by TrackBack

# heLP .Net Blog

heLP .Net Blog
Wednesday, June 18, 2003 3:56 AM by Darrell

# re: About Interfaces

The Design of Everyday Things, by Donald Norman (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0465067107/qid=1055948001/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/002-3407400-8481610?v=glance&s=books&n=507846)
Wednesday, June 18, 2003 3:58 AM by Eric Kepes

# re: SQL Server is Missing NextVal Functionality

Frans: That was the point I guess I failed to make. I have to agree with you, if its important that the application have a value before the data is inserted, then the application should accept the responsibility for generating this value and ensuring uniqueness.

Roy: When you get down to it, there are many ways to implement Identity/Sequence, MS chose to integrate it into the table itself, while Oracle chose to set it up as a standalone entity. In most cases, it probably doesn't make a difference, but in your case, it obviously does. I wouldn't say that it makes Microsoft's implementation wrong or lacking, just different. In theory, you could build a mechanism to do this as an external DLL, but that would probably take a lot of time.
Wednesday, June 18, 2003 3:58 AM by Paul Nicholls

# re: Free Full Tech Books

Wow, that's great... but it can't be legal, surely? I've just bought Programming C# by Jesse Liberty...
Wednesday, June 18, 2003 4:14 AM by Chad Brockman

# re: SQL Server is Missing NextVal Functionality

Why not use GUID's? You get a reduction on database load because you don't have to go to the database to generate new keys...

To get the same type of quid string on each system I do:

.net : System.Guid.NewGuid().ToString("N")
SQL Server : (replace(convert(varchar(50),newid()),'-',''))
Oracle: sys_quid()

imho, sequences are awful... I’d much rather have a distributed key generation mechanism…


Wednesday, June 18, 2003 4:16 AM by Marcus

# re: "How Do I Get There From Here?"

Hey Roy.

Thanks. I am still to far away to be blogging about my .net skills. i can do simple things like a guestbook or a simple login but it doesn't follow any patterns or anything.

But reading your blog and a lot of others blogs keeps motivating me to get skilled and get my 5 minute of blogfame ;)

/Marcus
Wednesday, June 18, 2003 5:04 AM by dennis

# re: SQL Server is Missing NextVal Functionality

if you have Sql2k then use scope_identity() instead of @@identity...if the table has a trigger, which inserts to another table with an identity column, then @@identity will return the value inserted by the trigger, while scope_identity() returns the ident you inserted yourself.
Wednesday, June 18, 2003 5:11 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Free Full Tech Books

erm.... Have'nt considred that possibility...
darn!
Wednesday, June 18, 2003 5:15 AM by David

# re: About Interfaces

As for the door, no handle is ok if the closer works at an acceptable speed, otherwise how do you close it behind you if you're going out?
Wednesday, June 18, 2003 5:33 AM by jeff@consultutah.com

# re: Free Full Tech Books

Just in time! Orrin Hatch was about to destroy your computer... ;-)

PS. Yes, I am from Utah...
Wednesday, June 18, 2003 5:59 AM by Dave

# re: About Interfaces

Okay, no problem. I was in agreement and just wan't sure by how you wrote it whether you realized this behavior in Excel existed.

While I am in agreement, I'm curious how you feel MS stacks up relative to other widely-used 'integrated' software. I've often thought their fairly consistant used of menu shortcuts/text and toolbar icons/placements were a reason nobody has really jumped on the Linux desktop much. I'm certainly not going to deal with the retraining issues and frustrated power users that have to learn different keystrokes for the same function in various 'integrated' packages.

I too am constantly amazed at how so-called visual programmers have no clue how to program a usable interface.
Wednesday, June 18, 2003 7:08 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: About Interfaces

Darrell: Yeah. Great Book. I think it's even on my "purchased and recommended" book list :)

Funny Amazon story about that book:

I was in amazon preparing to order the book, when suddenly I see that amazon was having a "sale" .You know, they have this little title saying "Buy this book along with *that* book and get a discount.
well that title was saying "Get 'the design of everyday things' along with 'The Psychology of everyday things" and get a discount'.
well, natuarally, I went ahead and bought both of these books, only to later realize that they are both the same book with different titles!.
I was so convinced that the two books compliment each other, that I didn;t even bother checking it out first. Impulse buys suck!

Heh. Norman even says in the opening of his 'new' book that he wanted to change the title to 'the design of...' because 'the psychology of...' was scaring people away, except for psychologists , that is...

I was totally fooled, but that's a sign amazon has a good marketing design... :)
Wednesday, June 18, 2003 7:54 AM by Kenneth LeFebvre

# re: SQL Server is Missing NextVal Functionality

check out the [autoval] column in the [syscolumns] table. that's where this value is stored, i believe...
Wednesday, June 18, 2003 8:07 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: SQL Server is Missing NextVal Functionality

Kenneth: Yeah . Jayme(first comment) posted a link to a post about how to use that column. Nice trick there...
Thursday, June 19, 2003 3:23 AM by Duncan

# re: Winforms DataBiding Bliss

You're not kidding - I added IBindableList to my printer monitor component and hey-presto, a data grid of print jobs that is updated as the queue changes...can you imagine how difficult it would have been to do that in VB.Classic.
Thursday, June 19, 2003 3:46 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Winforms DataBiding Bliss

Duncan: That totally rocks :)
Thursday, June 19, 2003 4:13 AM by Frans Bouma

# re: Winforms DataBiding Bliss

Try this with a datagrid:
- autoresize all columns to the longest string in the column. (requires pixel counting in custom dirty code relying on hwnd)
- bind a custom collection with custom classes and make the collection sortable. (get geared up for some serious ITypedList implementation and creation of property descriptor classes)
- include versioning in your custom classes in your custom collection when editing is enabled through a binded datagrid.

I'm pretty sure you're not having fun then :) For basic bindings, like binding a dataset or a simple readonly list, it's ok. For every job that requires more, it's horrible.
Thursday, June 19, 2003 4:20 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Winforms DataBiding Bliss

Frans: I agree. Some things are better left alone, but I would use it a lot for read-only situations...
Thursday, June 19, 2003 4:25 AM by Frans Bouma

# re: Winforms DataBiding Bliss

Agreed, for read-only viewing it can be very helpful. I wished it was more usable though. Ah well... perhaps some day.. :)
Thursday, June 19, 2003 4:31 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Winforms DataBiding Bliss

Hey Duncan: just realized your company was the one who released EventVB and the lobalHotKey control. Cool stuff!
Thursday, June 19, 2003 4:47 AM by Cadmium

# re: How To Know When An External Application Exits

Cool tip, this might come in handy for a project I'm thinking about. Thanks!
Thursday, June 19, 2003 5:39 AM by Duncan

# re: Winforms DataBinding Bliss

There's a .NET global hotkey component up there - but there is no need for EventVB in the .NET world (thank goodness - it was taking over my life).

Do you know of an intuitive way to indicate that items in a grid can be moved up or down the ordering? I want to allow reordering of the print queue (subject to access rights, natch) but can't think how to visually represent it.


Thursday, June 19, 2003 6:17 AM by Marc

# re: Kudos to MSFT

I was thinking the exact that thing. I only wish I had a team for him to talk with.
Thursday, June 19, 2003 7:11 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Winforms DataBinding Bliss

huh. Tough one. How about:

*If some of the rows are movable and some arn't how about using an icon column to represend a 'locked' row and an 'unlocked' row?

* actually, I'm not sure I'd use the datagrid for that, but something like a listview, since I can then use Drag-drop features. I'm not sure if you can imple,ent that functionality with a datagrid, but drag-drop is the most natural form of moving thing for a user...

* how about, for rows that are movable, the mouse cursor changes to a special 'drag' icon, like a hand or something?

*Maybe have two up/down arrow buttons on the side that only show when a movable row is selected...

* use tooltips to indicate the hovered on row that you can move it

*Movable rows are colored differently...

I can think of lots of things, it all depends on the look and feel of the app in question and what fits best with the overall design....
Thursday, June 19, 2003 7:13 AM by julie

# re: Winforms DataBinding Bliss

yeah - binding's great but I gave up on that control when I was trying to do "simple" things like implement a check box in the columns (you have to write a major workaround) or better yet, identify when the user has clicked on that check box. Can't be done! I am now a HUGE fan of Janus Gridex!!! I think everyone that uses it loves it.
Thursday, June 19, 2003 7:17 AM by Greg Robinson

# re: Winforms DataBinding Bliss

Beyond rocks, it rules. We are using the heck out of it and it has saved tons of time. Lots to learn but once you understand the internals, baby it rules!
Thursday, June 19, 2003 7:34 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Winforms DataBinding Bliss

Julie: Have you tried looking at the DataGrid FAQ? It has some tips on diong CHeckBoxes on DataGrids:
http://www.syncfusion.com/FAQ/WinForms/FAQ_c44c.asp
Thursday, June 19, 2003 7:38 AM by julie

# re: Winforms DataBinding Bliss

In fact, that was where I finally read that it "can't be done" which was the last straw that pushed me to Janus! btw: www.janusys.com :-) I believe Greg is also referring to GridEx in his rave review since someone named Greg also just emailed me (excellent use of the contact form, there Greg!!) to say how much he loves GridEx also.
Thursday, June 19, 2003 7:53 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Winforms DataBinding Bliss

Julie: Is it pure managed code or is it the good ol' interop grid I know and love from my VB days?
Thursday, June 19, 2003 7:54 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Winforms DataBinding Bliss

nevermind, just went to the site :) looks cool!
Thursday, June 19, 2003 10:36 AM by TrackBack

# Wallace B. McClure

Wallace B. McClure
Thursday, June 19, 2003 10:36 AM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Thursday, June 19, 2003 1:26 PM by Mike Gunderloy

# re: Book Gripes, Safari Bookshelf, And a .Net Desktops Prize

Heck, why not more than one prize? I'll throw in a copy of MCAD/MCSD TRAINING GUIDE 70-310 (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0789728206). Just let me know where to send it.
Thursday, June 19, 2003 6:17 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Book Gripes, Safari Bookshelf, And a .Net Desktops Prize

Mike: Alright! :)
Friday, June 20, 2003 3:22 PM by SBC

# re: How To Know When An External Application Exits

Cool example - any thoughts on multiple instances of the app? May be I should be try out the code...
Friday, June 20, 2003 4:03 PM by Samer Ibrahim

# re: Funny Behaviour

This might be similar to my story.... http://weblogs.asp.net/sibrahim/posts/5846.aspx
Saturday, June 21, 2003 9:17 AM by Steven Smith

# re: More Free Chapters On CodeProject

There are a bunch here too:
http://aspalliance.com/chapters/

Steve
Saturday, June 21, 2003 3:50 PM by Dave Burke

# re: Winforms Data Binding Lessons Learned

Roy, this post is in my "Gold" folder and I will definitely be going back to it. Thanks.
Saturday, June 21, 2003 6:12 PM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Saturday, June 21, 2003 7:50 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: How To Know When An External Application Exits

This article shows handling multiple instances:
http://www.codeproject.com/useritems/restricting_instances.asp
Saturday, June 21, 2003 8:10 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Winforms Data Binding Lessons Learned

:)
Saturday, June 21, 2003 9:17 PM by Paul Gielens

# re: Winforms Data Binding Lessons Learned

Nice share Roy, appreciate it!
Sunday, June 22, 2003 12:18 PM by James Avery

# re: Disabling Connection Pooling

Why would you want to disable connection pooling? I can't think of a reason and was curious why you are disabling it.

Thanks,
James
Sunday, June 22, 2003 7:22 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Disabling Connection Pooling

Connection pooling will hold a connection open even though you specifically opted to close it, for X amount of seconds, then it closes it. There might be situations when you might want to have an "always-connected" application, in which case you would want to have complete control over your connections, and usually one that is open at all times.
Persoanlly I never needed diasbling yet, but , being the control freak that I am, When I see an "On by default" flag, it annoys me to not know hot to turn it off... :)
Sunday, June 22, 2003 9:09 PM by Jonne Kats

# re: A Little Macro To Automate Creating Connection Strings

Thanks man,

I am definetly going to use this...
Monday, June 23, 2003 6:39 AM by Scott Watermasysk

# re: Stop The Silliness

i probably won't do a 1.0 build. These kind of projects are done in my spare time. If I was planning on selling blogert, then yes, a 1.0 build might be a good idea...but considering the fact you can quite easily download the 1.1 Framework...why make it any more work.

-Scott
Monday, June 23, 2003 10:39 AM by John Badda

# re: Stop The Silliness

I'm a student and I think that guys article is relevant. I'm about his age too.
Monday, June 23, 2003 6:36 PM by Tim Howard

# Fish cheese

Hey there, it's me again! I just had a question to ask, and you seem to be a pretty tech-type-guy...

Would it be possible to display current bandwidth usage, (Up/downstream) on the desktop, simular to what bginfo does? I've got some small Java experience, but I've never really dealt with anything in this area...

I know it'd be a pretty useless little waste of time, but the question's been bugging me for quite some time now, and I'd love to be able to see my total bandwidth in one small place.

Also, in that desktop contest thingie... What does that guy use to display the matrix of his C drive on his background?

Thanks in advance, and thanks again for the info on the tech market these days!
Monday, June 23, 2003 8:42 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Stop The Silliness

Tim: I don't have a solution to your question, you'd be better off checking out CodeProject.COM or search the news groups for this topic..

As for the desktop contest: You can leave comments on each screenshot right on the site, and hopefully, you'll get an answer from the owner of the desktop...
cheers.
Wednesday, June 25, 2003 4:01 AM by Phil Weber

# re: .Net Rocks Rocks, INETA, and Starting A User Group


"Hey Carl, How about getting some music-only MP3's our way?"

Roy: http://www.pwop.com/fbros.aspx
Friday, June 27, 2003 12:14 PM by Jason McInerny

# re: Still Alive

Maybe you should keep busy. Give some others the chance to say something actually useful.
Friday, June 27, 2003 12:21 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Still Alive

Jason: I wasn't aware that I'm keeping others from talking about 'useful' things. However, If you think you have something you'd like me to write about that would be of some 'use' to you, I'd like to know.
Friday, June 27, 2003 6:40 PM by TrackBack

# Dan's .NET Wasteland

Dan's .NET Wasteland
Saturday, June 28, 2003 2:08 AM by SBC

# re: Still Alive

MCP? do you mean MCSD?
Saturday, June 28, 2003 4:33 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Still Alive

SBC: Yeah.
Saturday, June 28, 2003 12:07 PM by Dave Burke

# re: Quick & Easy ADO.NET Speed Improvements

Good tip on the EnforceConstants = false tip! Thanks!
Sunday, June 29, 2003 2:49 AM by SBC

# re: More Free Chapters

Free chapters on Regular Expressions (OReilly pub) -
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/regex2/chapter/index.html
Sunday, June 29, 2003 8:58 AM by Datagrid Girl

# re: FeedDemon Likes And Dislikes

Is it just me, or is your font shrinking Roy?
Sunday, June 29, 2003 9:00 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: FeedDemon Likes And Dislikes

Heh. Pasting from word will to that to ya it seems...
Sunday, June 29, 2003 9:09 AM by Datagrid Girl

# re: FeedDemon Likes And Dislikes

Ah yes, that explains it :)
Sunday, June 29, 2003 11:27 AM by Wesley Mason

# re: FeedDemon Likes And Dislikes

My #1 wish for FeedDemon: ability to have links launch in my system's default browser, so I'm not tied MSIE for actual browsing (this is fine for FeedDemon internally, as it's just using MSIE to render a UI and display data, but crossing over to external sites *in* MSIE breaks functionality for me when I dislike the browser, just a matter of personal taste).
Sunday, June 29, 2003 1:11 PM by Don

# re: Me Too!

Is having McDonalds something to actually admit to - let alone boast about? :)
Sunday, June 29, 2003 3:12 PM by Jack Baty

# re: FeedDemon Likes And Dislikes

Wesley,

The latest beta will open *external* links in your default browser. File -> Options -> Open external links in default browser instead of inside FeedDemon.

I'm having tourble getting it to work with Mozilla Firebird, but it's *supposed* to work.
Sunday, June 29, 2003 3:19 PM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Sunday, June 29, 2003 3:29 PM by Byron

# re: Quick & Easy ADO.NET Speed Improvements

I'm not sure what you mean by creating a 'Dataset in code', can you enlighten me? Are you refering to typed Datasets as opposed to non-typed Datasets? I use the later since I prefer "soft-coding" over "hard-coding".
Sunday, June 29, 2003 4:01 PM by Tim Marman

# re: FeedDemon Likes And Dislikes

I also like the synchronize with OPML bit. It seems that each "listing" is treated as a separate OPML file.

I just wish the read/unread/flag status would sync as well :)
Sunday, June 29, 2003 4:42 PM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Sunday, June 29, 2003 4:42 PM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Sunday, June 29, 2003 5:01 PM by TrackBack

# Robert McLaws

Robert McLaws
Sunday, June 29, 2003 8:09 PM by Darshan Singh

# re: FeedDemon Likes And Dislikes

I've been working on a RSS Feed reader using C# .NET. The project RSSConnect with complete source code is available at http://www.PerfectXML.com/RSSConnect. Some of the unique/salient features include ability to export to database and search (phase 1, improvements coming in next release), XSLT skins, check for new feeds, check for RSSConnect application update, Favorites list, OPML import/export, and many other options.

Be sure to check it out: http://www.PerfectXML.com/RSSConnect .

Any comments/suggestions: Please email me at darshan@PerfectXML.com. Thanks.
Monday, June 30, 2003 8:08 AM by EliezerG

# re: .Net Deep Dive Recap

Just came in from the deep dive event myself; I can still taste the coffee from the event and I can already read your impressions from the event - I wish I had you energy levels.
Great capture of the event !!! (If you think the COM+ lecture was boring try spending 2 weeks in the lecturer company learning .Net and attending 1-2 oh his lectures each day!)

ps: you are right about Israeli server hits, I wasn't aware of this website before.
Monday, June 30, 2003 9:32 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: .Net Deep Dive Recap

Glad to see you! Welcome aboard :)
Monday, June 30, 2003 1:20 PM by TrackBack

# Yosi Taguri's WebLog

Yosi Taguri's WebLog
Monday, June 30, 2003 8:39 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Quick & Easy ADO.NET Speed Improvements

Byron: I'm not referring to Typed Datasets, I'm referring to the actual code lines to the DataTable Collection of the dataset, instead of specifying tableName for the dataadapter, and letting it automatically create a table by that name if it does not exist..
Monday, June 30, 2003 9:32 PM by Yosi Taguri

# re: .Net Deep Dive Recap

thnx for review ;)
Tuesday, July 01, 2003 2:26 AM by Yaron ben shalom

# re: FillSchema and AddWithKey Don't Operate As Promised?

Just to affirm your recent update, here is an excerpt from http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q313483:

The DataAdapter does not have any information about the database that it is reading from and writing to; the DataAdapter only runs the commands that it manages. Therefore, the DataAdapter does not create DataRelation objects in the DataSet. To create DataRelation objects in the DataSet, you must use one of the following methods:
Create the objects programmatically at run time.
Load the schema from an XML Schema Definition (XSD) file.
Build the objects into the design-time DataSet schema.
Tuesday, July 01, 2003 2:28 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: FillSchema and AddWithKey Don't Operate As Promised?

Yaron: Yeah. I found that out the hard way. Take a look here for my solution:
http://weblogs.asp.net/rosherove/posts/9542.aspx
Tuesday, July 01, 2003 3:54 AM by LondonGeek

# re: Wasted Years

I don't think it all comes down to "companies not willing to spend the extra buck on the more experienced programmer". I hire programmers with little/no experience, but make sure that they are paired with a more experienced programmer who can guide them. As a manager myseld I also review code from time to time myself as even I can see if something is a mess :)

I started out in the industry the same way myself so I know it works. Just needs to be managed correctly (i.e. if it goes wrong then managment got it wrong).
Tuesday, July 01, 2003 5:49 AM by Yosi Taguri

# re: Automatically Create DataRelations Based On OleDB Schema

why not write it in c#
;)
Tuesday, July 01, 2003 10:24 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Wasted Years

It does if you all the programmers you'll ever hire are ones with no experience. you'll end up with beginners mentoring beginners, teaching them excatly what they have not learned themselves...
If you have a good coder base, that's a different story. But if you keep up with an "Coders are 10 for a buck today" attitude long enough, you'll eventually be left with nothing but first timers, trying to do the right thing, but completely clueless as to what they are actually doing.
Tuesday, July 01, 2003 10:27 AM by Lawrence Oluyede

# re: Why I write in Both C# and VB.NET

Very nice post. I use only C# but when I'll have enough time I'll check VB.NET seriously. The only thing to notice is that in my job place everybody use C# and VB.NET is forbidden :P and so I'll have to learn it in my spare time. Surely I'll do. Bye
Tuesday, July 01, 2003 11:21 AM by Chad Osgood

# re: Why I write in Both C# and VB.NET

Intellisense with enums in C# would be nice, but the consistency of the framework largely obviates any need for it. If I encounter a propery that's an enum, I can usually just pluralize the name of the property to find my enum. Worse case, I'll just hover over the property to find out what type it is.

e.g.:
Foo.FooState = FooStates.Unknown;
Tuesday, July 01, 2003 12:00 PM by Duncan

# re: Why I write in Both C# and VB.NET

C# seems to be shading it in the job ads. Pity though, as VB.Net is more readable (and therefore more maintainable) IMO...
Tuesday, July 01, 2003 5:09 PM by TrackBack

# Darrell Norton's Blog

Darrell Norton's Blog
Tuesday, July 01, 2003 5:09 PM by TrackBack

# Darrell Norton's Blog

Darrell Norton's Blog
Tuesday, July 01, 2003 6:14 PM by Chris Szurgot

# re: Why I write in Both C# and VB.NET

Even though I prefer C# to VB.NET, I have to use it for some of the programs at my job (1/2 in VB.NET and 1/2 in C#) so I use both languages frequently, and yes, I think the Intellisense on the Enums is quite a time saver, and quite a bit quicker that typing it out, or ghosting over to find out what type it is.
Tuesday, July 01, 2003 10:46 PM by Vijay

# re: What's Up With That?

hmm.. well said and infact rightly put !
Tuesday, July 01, 2003 10:48 PM by Graeme Foster

# re: What's Up With That?

"I swear that the next time I get a salad recipe from 3 different sources I'll... I'll..."

...Make a salad?
Wednesday, July 02, 2003 12:40 AM by LondonGeek

# re: Wasted Years

Yes I agree with your follow up comment. The company will not get away with it long term. Even if they do, they will be half the company they could have been. Quality, not quantity. You get good code, tight team, less management overhead and more importantly more effective management (as they can focus on new directions and business).
Wednesday, July 02, 2003 1:36 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: What's Up With That?

Heh. "If you can't beat them, join them!"
Wednesday, July 02, 2003 3:59 AM by TrackBack

# Datagrid Girl

Datagrid Girl
Wednesday, July 02, 2003 8:43 AM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Wednesday, July 02, 2003 10:42 AM by Marc LaFleur

# re: What's Up With That?

Almond Mandarin Salad

1/2 pound bacon
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
3 tablespoons honey
1/2 teaspoon dry hot mustard
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
1/2 teaspoon ground paprika
1/4 cup olive oil
1 head red leaf lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces
1 (15 ounce) can mandarin oranges, drained
1 bunch green onion, diced
3/4 cup slivered almonds

In a medium skillet over medium-high heat, cook bacon until evenly brown. Drain, cool, and crumble.To make the dressing, thoroughly blend the vinegar, honey, dry mustard, celery salt, paprika, and olive oil. Place lettuce, oranges, green onion, bacon, and almonds in a serving bowl. Toss with dressing and serve.
Wednesday, July 02, 2003 2:38 PM by SBC

# re: Why I write in Both C# and VB.NET

"The ability to keep two contrasting thoughts in the mind at the same time and think about it is a sign of fine intelligence" - Donald Rumsfeld... 8-)
Wednesday, July 02, 2003 10:46 PM by why

# re: Copy MsgBox Text

do so many people on weblogs@asp.net feel the need to post things someone else on weblogs@asp.net has just posted?

If you've got nothing new to say, please don't say it, as it really clutters up my aggregator.

(No offence intended, normally good stuff.)
Wednesday, July 02, 2003 10:54 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Copy MsgBox Text

Although the posts I make go into the main feed, they are mostly posted for my personal blog readers, some of which do *not* read the main feed, or are not subscribed to some of the stuff I link too.
That's why my feed has post categories, which allow you to filter out the "non essentials".

Ever run into a link or a quote from a site you've never seen and discovered it for the first time because of it? Well, I wouldn't deny my readers that oppertunity (although I do use discretion when posting)

Sorry to clutter up your aggergator, but I could have replied this to you personally if only you had left some kind of identifying marks...
Thursday, July 03, 2003 12:56 AM by londonGeek

# re: About maintainable code

I'm totally down with the self-describing code vibe. However, I disagree about some of your comment comments :) particularly "Comments get stale".

Many programmers don't comment, they annotate their code. For example the say "Create an XML DOM and load it with the text file cust.xml" when they should actually say "Retrieve a list of my customers". The second version enables someone to understand the intent rather than the implementation.

This kind of comment will rarely get stale, in-fact it will only get stale when you completely change the intent of the code.

Further discussion of this can be found in "Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction" by Steve C McConnell."

Cheers LG
Thursday, July 03, 2003 1:02 AM by Duncan

# re: About maintainable code

Comments only get "stale" because the compiler is seen as the final arbitrator of the developer's work rather than a code review. In my apps I comment often but make sure that the comments are updated with the code...

Other language neutral coding techniques are in: http://www.merrioncomputing.com/Programming/7Secrets.htm

One of the problems with self describing code is that if the code is wrong the description is also wrong. Sometimes it helps to have a description of what the code is supposed to do so that you can look at it and see what it is doing and correct any inconsistency.
Thursday, July 03, 2003 1:09 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: About maintainable code

Duncan: I see your point - but i think if you get wrong code, comments won;t help there - you'll only get more confused since you won;t know which is right(or is more recent) - the code or the description. Which one would you trust blindly?
Thursday, July 03, 2003 1:35 AM by hmm

# re: Copy MsgBox Text

dunno, I just subscribe to the full asp.net rss feed (i.e. everyone on weblogs @asp.net), and it's really annoying when I get things three or four times from the same feed..... (In other words I don't subscribe to any of your feeds, main or otherwise, I just get you as part of the big subscription. Maybe .net weblogs should do META posts, which would allow duplicates to be filtered out of the main feed.)
Thursday, July 03, 2003 1:47 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Copy MsgBox Text

I do wish you would have written your name, then I wouldn't feel like I'm talking to a ghost.
As for your "annoyance" - You'll probably have to live with double posts, as the asp.net feed is just a bunch of private blogs put together - and you can;t help residual information from slipping in. Hopefully in the next generation aggregators we'll get full filtering abilities, but until then its unfair to ask of a person to censor their blog just because it "annoys" you. The point of an aggergator is that the posts you get are kept on your disk, and you can just hop over the ones that do not interest you. That's not too much of a hassle, is it?
I mean, this isn;t a paid service. People spill theire thoughts and musings here, and if other people happen to like them and use them - all the better, but they are, in the end, personal blogs and each blogger must be able to post as they see fit(within the rules of the blogsphere in which they operate, in our case .NetWeblogs). As such, this blogspace does infact take into account the fact that there will be some noise ratio, but that is expected. Coming in and asking that people only blog about that which interests *you* or that does not annoy *you* is kinda not seeing the bigger picture here - "Hey , I get great content from people who live this stuff and are willing to share, should I tell them how to share these thoughts?"
Thursday, July 03, 2003 2:01 AM by Duncan

# re: About maintainable code

If you have a quality control on the code itself (probably by code reviews) then you should be able to trus the comments. This is because a business analyst (or in a really scary set-up, a customer) can read and understand the comments and correct misunderstandings....

Basically it boils down to the fact that developers do not set out to write bugs but they also do not neccessarily have a number of years experience in the business for which the code was written. Therefore they may make assumptions or misunderstand the specification and these gaps in understanding will become bugs in the final code. If there are no comments then these misunderstandings can only be spotted by another developer who is working through the code to fix an error caught in system testing.
Thursday, July 03, 2003 2:06 AM by Duncan

# re: About maintainable code

Ideally what is needed is a hard link between the specification documents and the source code with configuration management warnings issued if they get out of step....hmm - I see a potential project here.

Thursday, July 03, 2003 2:14 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: About maintainable code

I see where you're going and I like it :)
Thursday, July 03, 2003 2:15 AM by LondonGeek

# re: About maintainable code

A method name like RetrieveCustomerList() is spot on. And if it only contains a few lines of code then that is all that is needed. However, if it does 3 different steps you may wish to comment the intent of each step. We haven't all re-factored mercilessly :)

I actually write my comments before I write my code (as suggested in Code Complete) because it helps you spot logic errors before you've spent the minutes cranking the code.

LG
Thursday, July 03, 2003 2:20 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: About maintainable code

LG: Well, in that case (of a method with 3 actions) I would go further and call three different methods within that methods - that's how easy it is; each named appropriately scuh as:
ConnectToDB()
GetSuctomerData()
FillXMLFromCustomerData()

and so on...
totally self describing and not one comment to be confused about...

as for writing commments first, I take a different approach. Say I'd start writing such a method - Much like what you do ,only instead of a comment for each action - I write a method call, to something that may or may not already exist. I then proceed to write out the code in the 'ghost' methods. I find it much clearer...
Thursday, July 03, 2003 2:46 AM by LondonGeek

# re: About maintainable code

OK I give up :) but I'd still like a comment so I know what "GetSuctomerData()" is doing!!

Thursday, July 03, 2003 3:36 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: About maintainable code

Heh. You're right. It's not a good method name.
Thursday, July 03, 2003 3:37 AM by Paul Nicholls

# re: Copy MsgBox Text

Speaking personally, I don't subscribe to Yosi Taguri's blog, and found this interesting.

I used to subscribe to the main feed, at the beginning. I then worked my roll down to about 25 bloggers that interest me, and rely on them to point out other cool blogs that might be worth subscribing to - it's just not efficient to read every single blog myself ;)
Thursday, July 03, 2003 5:39 AM by Oisin Grehan

# re: Nice MS Word shortcut

Also known as "box" selection versus the normal "stream" mode. To do this with a mouse, just hold down ALT and drag as normal.

- Oisin
Thursday, July 03, 2003 6:26 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Nice MS Word shortcut

nope. pressing ALT and selecting with the mouse lets me do block selection, but that's not what I'm talking about here.
When you do what I wrote, it moves the selected rows up and down, replacing them with the rows before them or after them(depending on the arrow direction) without hurting your precious document. So you can easily move that set of bullet points up to the first headline instead of the second one with nor copy-pasting work..
Thursday, July 03, 2003 6:46 AM by Hugh Brown

# re: Nice MS Word shortcut

...and Alt-Shift-LeftArrow and Alt-Shift-RighttArrow cycle the selected text through available heading settings.
Thursday, July 03, 2003 7:35 AM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Thursday, July 03, 2003 1:12 PM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Thursday, July 03, 2003 3:29 PM by George Doubinski

# re: Wasted Years

I think the article misses my favorite naming convention which I call "life reflection" (adapted from Fortran code from 16 years ago):

if(girl.age >= eighteen) {
yourPlace.clean();
Restaurant r = new Restaurant();
r.book();
r.visit(this, girl);
this.saySomethingNice(r, girl);
Taxi.Call();
takeToYourHome(girl);
}
else {
callitoff(girl);
doUsualStuff(backupGirlfriend);
}

You may need to adjust variable names for a consensus age in your area :-)
Friday, July 04, 2003 5:09 AM by Paschal

# re: I’ve just learned that a friend of mine is looking for a job.

Will he consider the country of the green shamrock ;-)

I'm sure we have some opportunities in Ireland.
Friday, July 04, 2003 5:30 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: I’ve just learned that a friend of mine is looking for a job.

Paschal - I have no idea... Sounds a bit too far.. :)
Friday, July 04, 2003 6:13 AM by Paschal

# re: I’ve just learned that a friend of mine is looking for a job.

You must be joking... too far from London ;-)
Friday, July 04, 2003 12:16 PM by Paschal

# re: I’ve just learned that a friend of mine is looking for a job.

Roy a lot of people commute daily between London and Dublin... by plane.

It's not that far, I know also some people living in London and working in Dublin, back home every week.
Friday, July 04, 2003 12:27 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: I’ve just learned that a friend of mine is looking for a job.

Cool. Than I'm sure its a possibility
Friday, July 04, 2003 3:23 PM by Tarz

# re: How's this for less eye strain

Roy,

Are you trying to make VS.NET look a little like VI, EMACs etc.?

- Tarz
Friday, July 04, 2003 3:35 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: How's this for less eye strain

Not really. I just played around till I got what delt ok. Never got to work with UNIX style editors...
Friday, July 04, 2003 4:15 PM by ClearType!

# re: How's this for less eye strain

I know I'll get my programmer card pulled for this, but since I tried Verdana 12pt on a laptop panel with ClearType enabled I've never switched it back. Clearer, more code on the screen, bling-bling, who needs mono-spaced fonts.
Friday, July 04, 2003 4:59 PM by Brian Desmond

# re: Export and import VS.NET's text editor's color and font settings

If I'm not mistaken, one of the GDN VS.Net [pwertoys does this: www.gotdotnet.com/team/ide.
Friday, July 04, 2003 7:59 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Export and import VS.NET's text editor's color and font settings

nah, it looks as if it will import/export key bindings ,but that's it...
but havnt reaslly tried it, just from reading the features list, it seems missing from that.
Friday, July 04, 2003 8:34 PM by TrackBack

# Roland Weigelt

Roland Weigelt
Friday, July 04, 2003 9:40 PM by Yosi Taguri

# re: What's missing in today's hottest languages?

can't agree on some of the stuff:
c# case insensitivity - it's fine as it is, it comes from c and c++ , if you have only one way to write a variable name ,you can enfoce coding conventions while compiling.
Automatic creation of "()" braces - that's beacuse you are coming from vb ;) - it makes no sense to write methods calls without braces it looks ugly.
With - it an ugly construct , I hate it it doesn't look readable. and besides if your code calls many properities at the same time maybe you need to design your classes again.

Friday, July 04, 2003 9:51 PM by Jan Tielens

# re: What's missing in today's hottest languages?

Check out my post (linked to yours): http://weblogs.asp.net/jan/posts/9727.aspx

Greetz
Jan
Saturday, July 05, 2003 12:19 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: What's missing in today's hottest languages?

Yosi:
- Insensitivity: Why should I be able to write basically the same variable name with only case differences? That's just giving us enough rope to hang ourselvss with.. and you *know* that its a common practice in a lot of places, although its not a good one.. Hell, even I used it at times, because its more convenient than readable..

braces - Not saying that no braces is good, just saying that saving me the trouble to write them wil save me about 20% of coding time... hows that for a productivity increase?

With - Ugly? now *that's* because you came from a non-VB background ;) its one of the most useful, time saving, readable, productivity enhancing code constructs I've met, and I can't think of how I could totally get rid of the need for it no matter how good I design my copmonents. sometimes you just *have* code that calls or sets multiple properties on a componenet in one method.
Saturday, July 05, 2003 12:51 AM by dave

# re: What's missing in today's hottest languages?

I think case sensitivity is a huge strength! It makes your code much cleaner, and naming conventions much cleaner.

For example, in C#
you can declare

MyClass myClass = new MyClass();

while in VB you would have to do something like
Dim [myClass] as New MyClass()

I consider it to be a strength, much more than a weakness.
Saturday, July 05, 2003 2:56 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: What's missing in today's hottest languages?

dave: that's exactly the kind of code that I believe should be avoided. It's much more confusing to readf by a 3rd party, and although easy to create and looks cleaner- but is harder to maintain.
Saturday, July 05, 2003 3:29 AM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Saturday, July 05, 2003 3:29 AM by TrackBack

# Jan Tielens' Bloggings

Jan Tielens' Bloggings
Saturday, July 05, 2003 4:14 AM by Jeff Julian

# re: What's missing in today's hottest languages?

If all those things were in both languages, why would you need to. I think they are great the way they are and PLEASE LEAVE THE CASE-SENSITIVITY in C#.
Saturday, July 05, 2003 4:58 AM by Sam Gentile

# re: What's missing in today's hottest languages?

From Jan's topic:
#
re: What's missing in VB.NET and C#?
Sam Gentile
Posted @ 7/5/2003 11:55 AM
Let me the first of hopefully many to correct you both in that C# has Edit and Continue in VS.NET 2003 (which has been out for some months).
#
re: What's missing in VB.NET and C#?
Sam Gentile
Posted @ 7/5/2003 11:56 AM
And Visual Assist.NET (http://www.wholetomato.com) adds #1, #3, #4 among many other things. I find it a must have.
Saturday, July 05, 2003 4:59 AM by Sam Gentile

# re: What's missing in today's hottest languages?

That was #1, 3, and 4 on "his" list...
Saturday, July 05, 2003 5:48 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: What's missing in today's hottest languages?

I had vs 2003 installed, but the only "edit & continue " like feature was that once you edited, you couldn't continue...
Saturday, July 05, 2003 5:51 AM by Wes Haggard

# re: How's this for less eye strain

I have been using a black background in VS.net for a while now, it is so much better on my eyes. I'm using slightly different other colors for the other types.

Here is a tip for you as well(if you didn't already know this) If you ever have to reinstall or change computers you can save these color settings by exporting the following key in the registry.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\7.0\FontAndColors
(or 7.1 if you are using vs 2003)

Wes
Saturday, July 05, 2003 5:54 AM by Wes Haggard

# re: How's this for less eye strain

crap I should have keep reading your posts anyway I gave you another way to do it this is how I usually do it.

Wes
Saturday, July 05, 2003 6:20 AM by Sam Gentile

# re: What's missing in today's hottest languages?

You're telling me that "Tools-> Options-> Edit and Continue-> Changes in VB and C# Code-> Allow me to Edit C# Files While Editing" does not work for you?
Saturday, July 05, 2003 6:30 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: What's missing in today's hottest languages?

Doesn;t that feature only change the source file but make the program continue as if you hadn't changed anything?
I'm talking edit & continue like in Vb6 - where changing something at run time actually changed run-time behaviour - I don;t think they have that. I could be wrong but i'm 99% sure... (I dont have it installed anymore so I can't check it out)
Saturday, July 05, 2003 6:35 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: How's this for less eye strain

cool. I wan't aware of that registry key, but my soon to be released add-in should make that whole process a lot simpler...
Saturday, July 05, 2003 9:53 AM by SBC

# re: What's missing in today's hottest languages?

hmm... getting rid of case insensitivity in C# may make a lot of sensitive C# programmers insensitive...
sorry had to put that one in 8-)
Saturday, July 05, 2003 12:47 PM by Tim Marman

# re: What's missing in today's hottest languages?

What does case insensitivity buy you other than less maintainable code? :)
Saturday, July 05, 2003 1:52 PM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Saturday, July 05, 2003 5:56 PM by Chad Osgood

# re: What's missing in today's hottest languages?

Not to be pedantic, but it's wortwhile to point out that many of your wishes for both VB.NET and C# are not for the languages themselves, but for the IDE that facilitates their use. Keep in mind that there are many people who don't use VS.NET. I myself didn't use VS.NET for quite some time, and if the cross-platform story of .NET becomes longer this will only increase.

If you really want the autocreation of the surrounding parens of a method call for C# in VS.NET, you should try QuickCode.NET.

Saturday, July 05, 2003 8:40 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: What's missing in today's hottest languages?

Tim: I would think just the opposite - insensitivity "blocks" the same variable name from appearing twice in the same scope with different casing. Allowing *that* could lead to harder to maintain code...

Chad: I agree. It should have said "Missing IDE enhancements for language 'X'"
As for QuickCode - It's pretty cool, I just wanted to air out the fact that I shhouldn't need to use such a tool to get that sort of functionality from the world's most advanced IDE to date..
Saturday, July 05, 2003 9:03 PM by Roland Weigelt

# re: Settings Add-in ver. 1.0 released on GotDotNet

Hi Roy,

Hmm, the download won't work (D/L takes ages to start, but then only a 0k file is saved). The whole gotdotnet site seems to be pretty slow... Maybe they're doing maintenance work (taking the time zones into account, this would be a typical time for a US site).
I'll try later.
Saturday, July 05, 2003 9:07 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Settings Add-in ver. 1.0 released on GotDotNet

Yeah its slow on my end as well....
Saturday, July 05, 2003 10:51 PM by Frans Bouma

# re: There goes an hour or two

You're not alone when it comes to hardware misery :( Yesterday (saturday) I thought, I install SP4 on my co-located win2k server (remote via VNC). It didn't work very well, so it deinstalled and then I thought, maybe the webserver process is not shutting down correctly (it had errors there) so I rebooted the thing... however it didn't seem to get back up, no network connection. SO I thought: the sp4 installation has messed up the system, and it has now jumped in a BSOD or something. I went over to the datacenter where the server is (a 70KM drive (the hague - amsterdam)), go to the rack where my dell server is, hook up a monitor and expect to see "STOP .... ". However what do I see?

A post BIOS screen which congratulates me with the correct boot of the RAID controllers, and it politely asks me to hit F1 to continue...

So I hit F1 and it boots flawlessly. AAAARG. Who builds that kind of crap into a server bios.... Ah well.. :)
Sunday, July 06, 2003 12:04 AM by IUnknown

# re: There goes an hour or two

Good Idea, why dont you start a workspaceo on GotDotNet
Sunday, July 06, 2003 12:08 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: There goes an hour or two

huh. I may just do that, though I wouldn't know where to begin...
Sunday, July 06, 2003 12:11 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: There goes an hour or two

Although, .Net applications have very low security out of the box - so tweaking windows systens from .net may prove to be a bigger problem...
however - some of the easier stuff - like tweaking registry entries - that could be done easily(I think)
Sunday, July 06, 2003 1:05 PM by Aaron Vance

# re: What's missing in today's hottest languages?

You can replicate the "With" functionality in C# with the "using" statement.

using(obj) {
// use obj to do stuff here
}

As long as it supports the IDisposable interface, the instance of obj will be disposed of at the end of the using scope.
Sunday, July 06, 2003 6:16 PM by Tim Marman

# re: There goes an hour or two

There is software that does that (and again, more than just the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard), though I can't remember the name off the top of my head. I'll see if I can remember it over the next few days.

Actually, I'm sure there's more than one package that does it.
Sunday, July 06, 2003 8:33 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: What's missing in today's hottest languages?

Aaron: 'using' not does allow me to write something like this:
using(thins)
{
.MyProperty= "something";
}
Monday, July 07, 2003 12:43 AM by Roland Weigelt

# re: Settings Add-in ver. 1.0 released on GotDotNet

Hi Roy,

I tried it with both VS.NET 2002 and 2003. The addin doesn't appear in VS.NET 2003. In VS.NET 2002 I only tried the export, but that went fine.

Suggestions for future versions (yeah, it's always the same... people see a new program and the first thing they say is "it's nice, but could you please add X and change Y" ;-):

- use of an XML file for the settings
- colors as hex numbers
- only ship the MSI of the setup to reduce the download size


Roland
Monday, July 07, 2003 1:11 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Settings Add-in ver. 1.0 released on GotDotNet

Rolang: Thanks for the input! :)
Monday, July 07, 2003 3:50 AM by Mike Gunderloy

# re: Settings Add-in ver. 1.0 released on GotDotNet

Pretty easy to get running in 2003, actually. It's just a matter of making the right registry settings. Find the keys that the setup creates at

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\VisualStudio\7.0\AddIns\SettingsAddin.Connect]

and make a copy of them at

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\VisualStudio\7.1\AddIns\SettingsAddin.Connect]

(The easy way to do this is to export a .reg file from regedit, edit it to change the location, and then import the changed file).

After this, it will show up on the 2003 menu as well.

Be nice if it at least warned you before overwriting an existing file.
Monday, July 07, 2003 9:34 PM by Oisin Grehan

# re: What's missing in today's hottest languages?

Roy, if there ever was a stereotypical VB programmer to be singled out as an example, it would be you. Absolutely no understanding of why things aren't all like VB. This post was enough to put me off reading your blog for good. Unsubscribed.



Monday, July 07, 2003 9:38 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: What's missing in today's hottest languages?

Oisin: Ouch. Sorry you feel that way.I have lots to say about that , so I'll write a post about it.
Tuesday, July 08, 2003 2:30 AM by matthew

# re: Am I the stereotypical VB programmer?

Your post just shows how each person gets used to something and then dislikes anything different, regardless of whether it's better or not.

I've never done any VB-like programming, and on the rare occasion I've even had to extract (ripoff!) six lines of code from VB code from a VB project it has pissed me off no end.

Firing up a VB project for 2 minutes, here's what pisses me off:

Intellisense: I want to access Me.myVariable.

In C#, I type this.myV until it comes to the member I want, I press enter - it autocompletes the rest of the variable.

In VB, I type this.myV, press enter - it gives me the variable and adds the new line!

Why would I want a new line? I'm just about to say Me.myVariable = x, so why do I have to go back and do this?

Why do you need all those redundant words like End If?


On your complaints, case-sensitivity is a fundamental language feature, and unlike some of your other complaints cannot be changed as it's part of the standard.

It's also very cool

public class myClass {

private bool myBool;

public MyBool {

set {
myBool = value
}
get {
return myBool
}
}

two different variables there....

Automatic creation of "()" braces:

Since I've never had this I don't miss it.....

It really doesn't take me too long to go MyFunction(.... Plus the ( gives me the intellisense to remind me of the parameters the function is expecting.

I guess VB programmers don't have to type many brackets, but in C# you get used to it, and I don't think I would want or use this feature

With. I'm sure there's an article I read about why this is bad, but it's really hard to google for 'with', so I can't post the link..... I did use it once in JavaScript, and I felt it tended to obfuscate things a little though.
Tuesday, July 08, 2003 2:30 AM by Martin Spedding

# re: Am I the stereotypical VB programmer?

Hi Roy,
I liked your list of potential improvements to the IDE and I have to say I agree with all of them. Case sensitivity seems to be one of those annoying things that seems to a feature of C syntax languages and operating systems and I agree with you it is a pain. You should never have two variables with same name except for case.

As for the with statement I remember having this discussion at the PDC in 2000 and seems that the developers did not seem to see a need for it.

I surprised the person who complained that you are looking at everything from a VB point of view did not complain at your mention of "edit and continue" for C#. I remember seeing a comment in MSDN chat where Eric Rudder was asked about adding "Edit and Continue" for C# and he said he did not think there was the demand for it from C# developers.

I developed in about 10 different programming languages over time, including Java, vb and C# and really want all the productivity aids that come with VB and especially "Edit and Continue".

You are definitely on the right track.

Martin Spedding
Tuesday, July 08, 2003 2:35 AM by Paul Nicholls

# re: Am I the stereotypical VB programmer?

Case sensitivity is important to me, because it makes my code cleaner. It stops me (and other people) from writing

MySpecialMethod()

as

myspecialmethod()

or

MYSPECIALMETHOD()

It forces code to be uniform. I understand that not every VB programmer is this sloppy, but I've run into quite a lot of hard-to-read code because case was used inconsistantly.

(I'm speaking from when I used to be a VBScript programmer, I haven't touched VB at all.)

I don't think it's vital to the language, I just like the constraint. :)
Tuesday, July 08, 2003 2:41 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Am I the stereotypical VB programmer?

matthew:
Pressing TAB instead of Enter fixes your issue :)
as for "wordy" - I agree. I think VB.Net can sometimes be too wordy for its own good - but it sure is self-documenting - the wording fo access modifiers might seem redundant - but it is much more self documenting than curly braces...
I still like curly braces better(I'm a VB traitor..)
as for naming variables - I don;think it's cool to have two variables named exactly the same with only casing diffrentiating them. It makes for less understandable code. The fact that you had to mention "two variables there" in your code shows exactly that - It should be easy to spot and read two different variables without getting confused between them.

Paul:
That's what I'm talking about - In VB you can write MYVARIABLE but you'll get automatically formatted text to the name of the variable, so if it was named "MyVariable" - your text will automatically turn into that casing... how easy is that? :)
Tuesday, July 08, 2003 2:44 AM by Jeff Julian

# re: Am I the stereotypical VB programmer?

Leave case-sensitivity alone. It will never change, nor do most C# developers want it to.
Tuesday, July 08, 2003 3:17 AM by Duncan

# re: Am I the stereotypical VB programmer?

Case sensitivity leads to bugs.
Tuesday, July 08, 2003 3:32 AM by Frans Bouma

# re: Am I the stereotypical VB programmer?

"That's what I'm talking about - In VB you can write MYVARIABLE but you'll get automatically formatted text to the name of the variable, so if it was named "MyVariable" - your text will automatically turn into that casing... how easy is that? :) "
Not always. If you are typing some code and realize you have to declare a variable, you type in the statement using hte variable and then you type the declaration above it. AFAIK, the statement will not change based on another casing.

Personally I think code which relies on case sensitivity to run properly is not that good and it shows lazyness, because coming up with a new good name is not that hard but takes a little time and the shortest way out is to simpy use the same name with another casing...
Tuesday, July 08, 2003 5:00 AM by Oisin Grehan

# re: Am I the stereotypical VB programmer?

Oh dear -- what have I started? I didn't mean to word my original comment so personally, apologies are due, please accept them Roy.

I've a lot of pent up anger to disperse on VB programmers in general, yes I used to be one, until I discovered the light about ten years ago, along with curly braces and square bracket indexers. It's only fair that if I flame you for your post, I give you (and many others) the chance to do likewise for my reasons.

My biggest problem with VB in general is that something that can be so "self-documentating" as you put it can be simultaneously so woefully inelegant. In general Roy, I disagree with your principals for suggesting changes to the language, not really the changes themselves. To put it simply, I believe there to be two broad camps of programming methodologies, the VB way, and the C way -- the languages may have changed over the years, but the developers' frames of mind remain the same. I'll rant about the VB way:

The 'VB' way.

I'm sure you're aware of the history of Visual Basic, it was originally built as a application prototyping environment, for quick turnaround of concepts into working code. Every single feature that has been added to the language and the dev ide have tried to accomodate this scenario. Every little thing seems to be designed around the lazy programmer. Just spit out grammar as it comes into your head and let the background-compile process draw little squiggley red lines underneath your code -- you can fix it later. Your pinky has slapped the capslock key? Never mind, let's code the rest of this module entirely in UPPER case, the compiler doesn't care. Option Strict? what's that? -- "lets not bother declaring any variables, I'll just make them up when I need them." Option Base 1? "I can't get my head around zero-based indexes, let's all start at 1, except for this module over here". "I think I'll use zero based indexes there. I'm not sure why". It's syntactical verbosity is just astounding, the amount of syntactic sugar is enough to induce programmatic diabetes. Edit and continue is more pandering to this hack up a demo ethic, IMO. Used correctly, it can be a help, but in my experience it caused me to think less and brainfart more.

You see where I'm going with this? There was no discipline in VB. Yes, you could argue that VB.NET changes all this, but giving a VB programmer a copy of VB.net doesn't change their habits. We have several VB programmers here, and our shop is moving to .NET. I've insisted that the VBers start afresh with c#. My reasoning behind this is that if they were to learn VB.NET properly, they should treat it as a completely new language. But, coming from VB 6, they will see all these things and keywords that are familiar to them and they'll never really mentally shake off the connection (and the bad habits). I strongly believe that they'll take to OO programming faster and with a better attitude if they go with a new language, a perceived blank sheet per-se. I may be wrong.

I think this endless pursuit of making it easier for the programmer has gone beyond aiding creativity. It is positively eroding it.

Back to your points:

- Background compile
(discourages discipline: see above rant)

- Case insensitivity
(discourages discipline: see above rant)

- '[]' instead of '()' for array indices
Sounds like you're getting confused between languages Roy.

- VB.NET-like Intellisense for enums and namespaces writing
Sounds like a good idea to me. I'd imagine it awaits us in the next rollout of the IDE.

- Automatic creation of "()" braces on method calls
This sounds like more help for VB programmers used to typing function calls without parentheses. It had never occurred to me. How much productivity are you going to save with the s
Tuesday, July 08, 2003 5:02 AM by Oisin Grehan

# re: Am I the stereotypical VB programmer?

(continuation)

- Automatic creation of "()" braces on method calls
This sounds like more help for VB programmers used to typing function calls without parentheses. It had never occurred to me. How much productivity are you going to save with the saving of two characters?

- With like functionality VB.NET
As pointed out in various forms to you:
using (q = Namespace.Object.Object) {
q.property1 = "a";
q.property2 = "b";
}

Admittedly, you've had to type an extra four characters, but hey, life is tough. VB and C# are different for a reason. That reason is so they are different -- it's that simple. VB.NET has underscore line continuation, a 'With' keyword, parentheses for array etc because it is Visual Basic. I believe that VB has been put together to enable speedy mock ups for a broad spectrum of applications, with an emphasis on strong visualisation and good readability for the lay coder. C-syntax to me has always been about the embodiment of abstract concepts, its concise grammar lends itself especially well to this IMO. I'd like to think I'm not a C-syntax snob, but it appears I am.


And last, but not least, I am currently involved in porting a large multitier app from VB to C#. This has been the source of countless rage fits. Again, apologies for getting a little too personal on the rant.

Subscribed.
Tuesday, July 08, 2003 5:23 AM by Dave Burke

# re: Am I the stereotypical VB programmer?

Roy, I liked your list. I agree with all except Case Sensitivity. It should be smarter and automatically adjust like VB, but then it wouldn't be C# anymore. I like using VB primarily because the VS.NET editor seems much smarter and supportive than C# (though I have coded almost exclusively in C# for the last year.) Keep on doing what you're doing, whether its "stereotypical" or not!
Tuesday, July 08, 2003 6:56 AM by Marc LaFleur

# re: Am I the stereotypical VB programmer?

I'm with you Roy.
Tuesday, July 08, 2003 6:59 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Am I the stereotypical VB programmer?

Thanks for the feedback guys(especially Oisin). I've learned a lot :)
Tuesday, July 08, 2003 9:03 AM by TrackBack

# heLP .Net Blog

heLP .Net Blog
Tuesday, July 08, 2003 9:03 AM by TrackBack

# Frans Bouma's blog

Frans Bouma's blog
Tuesday, July 08, 2003 11:44 PM by SBC

# re: Speed up Internet Explorer

From:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings]

shouldn't it be -

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Connections]
Tuesday, July 08, 2003 11:49 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Speed up Internet Explorer

Nope. it works great as is :)
Wednesday, July 09, 2003 1:03 AM by s

# re: Word 2003 CodeBehind using VS.NET sample video

sdfgsd
Wednesday, July 09, 2003 1:04 AM by ghsg

# re: Word 2003 CodeBehind using VS.NET sample video

rttrterty
Wednesday, July 09, 2003 1:10 AM by Kenneth LeFebvre

# re: Israel .net web developers group meeting

I didn't know you're in Israel. I have some friends over there... I hope all is well for you, in the midst of the troubles brewing in the area.
Wednesday, July 09, 2003 3:01 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Israel .net web developers group meeting

Thanks :)
Wednesday, July 09, 2003 5:42 AM by Joerg Hilger

# re: Add Plugins to Your App 2: Search dynamically for plugins without Config Files

Nice Articel -
Can you provide the source for that too?
Wednesday, July 09, 2003 2:53 PM by TrackBack

# Yosi Taguri's WebLog

Yosi Taguri's WebLog
Wednesday, July 09, 2003 2:53 PM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Wednesday, July 09, 2003 7:07 PM by vikey

# re: Downloadable MSDN magazine

vikey
Wednesday, July 09, 2003 7:32 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Downloadable MSDN magazine

Hey, thanks for the insightful comment, Vikey ;)
Thursday, July 10, 2003 9:47 AM by Paul Vick

# re: Microsoft does, but can do even more

Thanks for the kind words! (I'd also add that I, too, like C# quite a lot... I just like VB even better! No surprise, I guess...)

I think you bring up two excellent things for Microsoft to be doing. The first is definitely starting to take shape - I don't know as much about the broader company, but the VB team is very much focusing on how to better engage with the community. As for the second, I have very little to do with external events, unfortunately, but will pass along what I can to those who might be able to do something about it!
Thursday, July 10, 2003 1:03 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Microsoft does, but can do even more

That's wonderful to hear :)
Friday, July 11, 2003 2:40 AM by Sebastien Lambla

# re: Geek encounters

Trackback
Friday, July 11, 2003 5:59 AM by Greg

# re: DirectCast

DirectCast is our best friend...or one of them
Friday, July 11, 2003 8:28 AM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Friday, July 11, 2003 12:24 PM by Robert McLaws

# re: Patterns

The GoF themselves helped write it... cool :)
Friday, July 11, 2003 10:30 PM by Ziv Caspi

# re: Geek encounters

If working at MS means so much to you, you might increase your chances considerably by applying for a job in our R&D center at Haifa. If you send me your resume, I'll make sure to pass it along to our recruiter.
Monday, July 14, 2003 1:54 AM by Oisin Grehan

# re: Command line life saver - LinkD

Mark Russinovich has a similiar tool, junction.exe, over on www.sysinternals.com. He also has a whole suite of other amazing gui and cmdline tools available, some of which I could not live without. Completely free.

- Oisin
Monday, July 14, 2003 2:45 PM by Darrell

# re: A C# programmer's VB.Net starter kit

Cool! I was linked to by Roy Osherove! Sweet!
Monday, July 14, 2003 5:34 PM by TrackBack

# HumanCompiler

HumanCompiler
Monday, July 14, 2003 5:52 PM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Monday, July 14, 2003 6:45 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: A C# programmer's VB.Net starter kit

Cool! Someone thinks its cool that I linked to them ;)
Monday, July 14, 2003 9:21 PM by Duncan

# re: More maintainable code(and others) lessons

I did the database documentation in HTML help - and it was a revalation. You can - for instance - click on a table name in a stored proc and it will take you to the table def, and on each table there are links to the stored procs that use it, triggers, indexes etc.
Am thinking of expanding this to include the VB code that calls the stored procs by integrating with Document!X...(which is such a great product. Pity I haven't got purchase approval for the .NET version yet)
Monday, July 14, 2003 9:23 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: More maintainable code(and others) lessons

SOuds really coo! How did you do it in HTML help? manually? sounds like a difficult task. then again, I did practically the same only in word format...
Monday, July 14, 2003 9:53 PM by Duncan

# re: More maintainable code(and others) lessons

Did it with a quick-and-dirty VB program.
Basically create a HTML file for each table named "TABLE_[tablename].HTM", one for each stored proc "SP_[procname].HTM" and so on.

e.g.
'--------------------------------------------
Public Sub DocumentTable(ByVal Tablename As String)

Dim nFile As Long
nFile = FreeFile

Open "TABLE_" & LCase(Tablename) & ".htm" For Output As nFile

'\\ Print the html header bit
Print #nFile, "<html>"
Print #nFile, "<head>"
Print #nFile, "<TITLE>GOALD Table Def : " & Tablename & " </TITLE>"
Print #nFile, "<META HTTP-EQUIV=" & Quote("Content-Type") & " CONTENT=" & Quote("text/html; charset=windows-1252") & ">"
Print #nFile, "<meta name=" & Quote("GENERATOR") & " content=" & Quote("Notepad and Chardonnay") & ">"
Print #nFile, "<link REL=" & Quote("stylesheet") & " type=" & Quote("text/css") & " href=" & Quote("stylesheet.css") & ">"
Print #nFile, "</head>"
Print #nFile, "<body>"
Print #nFile, "<TABLE id=Header height=100 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=" & Quote("100%") & " border=0>"
Print #nFile, " <TR bgcolor=#0b02aa >"
Print #nFile, " <TD>"
Print #nFile, " <P class=" & Quote("titlebar") & ">Table definition: " & Tablename & "</P>"
Print #nFile, " </TD>"
Print #nFile, " </TR>"
Print #nFile, "</TABLE>"
Print #nFile, "<HR>"
Print #nFile, "&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=" & Quote("tables.htm") & ">All Tables</a>"
Print #nFile, "<HR>"
Print #nFile, "<H1> Fields </H1>"

'\\ Do the fields....
Print #nFile, "<TABLE id=" & Quote("Fields") & " class=" & Quote("sourcecode") & " align=" & Quote("center") & ">"
Print #nFile, " <TR bgcolor=#ccffff >"
Print #nFile, " <TD width=" & Quote("30%") & ">"
Print #nFile, " <P class=" & Quote("comment") & "> Name </P>"
Print #nFile, " </TD>"
Print #nFile, " <TD width=" & Quote("30%") & ">"
Print #nFile, " <P class=" & Quote("comment") & "> Data Type </P>"
Print #nFile, " </TD>"
Print #nFile, " <TD width=" & Quote("30%") & ">"
Print #nFile, " <P class=" & Quote("comment") & "> Size </P>"
Print #nFile, " </TD>"
Print #nFile, " </TR>"

Dim fldThis As rdoColumn
For Each fldThis In gRDOConnection.rdoTables(Tablename).rdoColumns
Call DocumentField(nFile, fldThis)
Next fldThis

Print #nFile, "</TABLE>"

'\\ Close the html text...
Print #nFile, "</body>"
Print #nFile, "<html>"

Close nFile

End Sub
'--------------------------------------------

Then use the MS HTML Help workshop t
Monday, July 14, 2003 11:20 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: More maintainable code(and others) lessons

Which just goes to show - sometimes you just can't beat VB for fast and simple stuff. I love it.
Tuesday, July 15, 2003 3:44 AM by Duncan

# re: The PDC is missing its target audience

Consider yourself lucky...Microsoft Ireland has the following on their events page:

"There are currently no events for Microsoft Ireland."

Tuesday, July 15, 2003 3:47 AM by A little weird

# re: The PDC is missing its target audience

I'm not sure what the goal is for this event, but I'm surprised that making money is one of them. I would have thought that it would make sense to pack people in at a lower cost and spread the word that bit more.

The price is not exactly steep though. I don't know about where you live, but around here $2000 (£1243) would buy you a 3-day IT training course with a third-rate instructor. Corporate events are not cheap.

I'll think you'll find though that for Chief Information Architects of corporates, and for most software companies of a decent size, there will be enough insightful lectures, inspiration discussions (like 'Microsoft are delivering this technology tomorrow, our company needs to bet its future on that'), to make it excellent value.

I don't think you'll find any empty seats.
Tuesday, July 15, 2003 3:51 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: The PDC is missing its target audience

Little Weird:
My poit was that the amount of added value from the PDC is nowhere near the amount of added value you can get at a 3 day IT course.
As for CTO's - nothing there they won't be able to get a day later using all the media at their disposale. The only thing left - parties ,networking and clearing up your head a little bit from work matters. It's like summer camp for programmers.
Tuesday, July 15, 2003 3:52 AM by Frans Bouma

# re: The PDC is missing its target audience

Well said, Roy!
Tuesday, July 15, 2003 4:22 AM by Doug Thews

# re: The PDC is missing its target audience

I couldn't agree more, but it's all conferences that are overpriced. I think they charge so much because that's what they CAN get. Like some people who suggest having a more techie COMDEX (which was originally for the techies), maybe it's time for a more techie Dev conference. Get rid of all the keynotes and all but the best booths, and start a dev conferences just for developers - no CIOs, CTO's or business guys. Just talks from developers to developers. I wonder what that would cost?
Tuesday, July 15, 2003 4:37 AM by cost of a developer conference

# re: The PDC is missing its target audience

is still going to be big, because the sites that host these things expect to rake it in on these events.

Business events and corporate hospitality are huge margin events. (Somewhat prosaic example) We had a small barbeque at our company, food cooked by staff. Excellent, good choice of food, cost very low.

We had a professionally catered barbeque. Food inferior (beef burgers and no more), cost much higher.

Business events make the money, just like the business-class airplane tickets subsidize the cost of the plebs sitting in economy. Overall it's good for the little man, because it makes consumer stuff cheaper.

Bottom line: good speakers, halls, hotels, caterers are not going to drop their rates for you.
Tuesday, July 15, 2003 4:49 AM by Martin Spedding

# re: The PDC is missing its target audience

Hi Roy,

I agree that the conference is expensive but it is not $2000 it is $1695 if you register early. Also the cost of the flight and the hotel will be greater than the cost of the conference.

So why have attended the PDC in the past and probably will do this year is :
(a) In a tight job market anything which gives you an advantage over the next guy is of value. If I can know about Yukon, Longhorn in detail now I have an advantage even if the implementation is a few years later.
(2) The PDC's are technical conferences where you actually get to meet the engineers. It is usually much deeper than a Teched and you get real answers not PR answers.
(3) I can probably read blogs and download a lot of information for free but you cannot beat hearing someone explaining it live to you. Using the Hands on Lab being supervised by people who know the stuff inside out also gives you a leg up.
(4) At conferences you can guage where the industry is going which if you do some consulting can be very important.

My main complaint about the PDC is that is always held in the US.

Really you could say why go to any conference but the conferences I have been to the PDC has usually given the best value.

Martin Spedding
Tuesday, July 15, 2003 6:30 AM by Mike Gunderloy

# re: The PDC is missing its target audience

My own feeling is that these conferences are on the way out. Before the pervasive Internet, something like Tech Ed or PDC made sense as a way to get a ton of info I couldn't get elsewhere. Now by the second day I can download everything, so why bother? They're just corporate vacations. Fine for the Fortune 1000, but irrelevant to most of us.

I'd rather read ASP.NET weblogs for a week than go to the PDC. Much better return on my investment of time and money.
Tuesday, July 15, 2003 6:33 AM by Bill Booth

# re: The PDC is missing its target audience

Good job Roy. I went to one of these conferences once and it was a bunch of hype with very little subsistence.
It would have been a better investment for me to buy a copy of MSDN magazine. Never again.
Tuesday, July 15, 2003 8:08 AM by ENAV

# WOW MAZAL TOV!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wish you all the success in the world.
Many Friday nights taught me that you're the ultimate number one, and Microsoft sure must start an investigation to understand how could it be that the've lost you...
Your brother (in law),
Enav
Tuesday, July 15, 2003 8:44 AM by Jeff Julian

# re: New job

Wow, you get a job and I get laid off. How did that work out? :) Good luck and congrats.
Tuesday, July 15, 2003 9:06 AM by Yosi Taguri

# re: New job

Mazal tov
;)

still w8ing for the dinner
Tuesday, July 15, 2003 10:31 AM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Tuesday, July 15, 2003 10:31 AM by TrackBack

# Eric J. Smith's Weblog

Eric J. Smith's Weblog
Tuesday, July 15, 2003 10:31 AM by TrackBack

# heLP .Net Blog

heLP .Net Blog
Tuesday, July 15, 2003 10:31 AM by TrackBack

# Slightly Bent Archives

Slightly Bent Archives
Tuesday, July 15, 2003 10:31 AM by TrackBack

# Santomania

Santomania
Tuesday, July 15, 2003 10:35 AM by Rob Chartier

# re: Vote for your favorite desktop at the .Net Desktops Contest


Any way to see the current standings?
Tuesday, July 15, 2003 11:19 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Vote for your favorite desktop at the .Net Desktops Contest

I've blocked it until the voting is finished. It's a surprise :) plus - seeing the results early on might influence future voting.
Tuesday, July 15, 2003 11:47 AM by Lawrence Oluyede

# re: New job

congrats Roy :)
Tuesday, July 15, 2003 2:35 PM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Tuesday, July 15, 2003 3:43 PM by Anon

# re: Cheer up Jeff. Here's how you'll get the job of your dreams.

You really are full of yourself are't you?
Tuesday, July 15, 2003 4:29 PM by Allen Edwards

# re: Death to the double-click (a lesson in design)

Logitech (!) has an iTouch Wireless Optical Mouse with a dedicated "double clicker" on the left side (thumb side, for us righties)... and it's just labeled "Double Click".

It also supports the redefined scroll-button as a double click, but I've hated that for several years on all mice, because it never seems to work reliably.
Tuesday, July 15, 2003 5:40 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Cheer up Jeff. Here's how you'll get the job of your dreams.

Anon: I'll take that as a complement :)
Tuesday, July 15, 2003 5:43 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Death to the double-click (a lesson in design)

Allen: I didn't know that! Do you not have to configure anything for it to work?
Actually my point was that regular mice (like the stadard 3-button from microsoft should support an 'actiavte' button by default(maybe at the scroller click?). An iTouch is usually for power users only I would think
Wednesday, July 16, 2003 2:55 AM by Duncan

# We will ship s#!*t

(Posted here because the original authore requires registration...)

We will ship s#!t
-because we do not have any minimum training or entrance exams before you can take the profession of "programmer"
-because our work is not subject to observation and criticism by our professional peers at the code level
-because independent standards are either missing or not enforced

Consider the difference in perception if you are introduced to someone who is a "Doctor" and someone who is a "Developer". The former word evokes ideas about professionalism and competence in 95% of people. I'm afraid that the latter does not.
Wednesday, July 16, 2003 3:50 AM by Adam Kinney

# re: Cheer up Jeff. You can get the job you want

Weird. You must have deleted the "I *might* be full of myself" post. Still showed up in SharpReader, though :p

Well they looked like good points to me. I guess the only thing I would add would be to advertise some type of speciality. It seems like people are trying to advertise that they are good at everything; and to figure out what they specialize in you have to sift through all of their content.

So if you are looking to use a blog as a resume, I think it would be nice to have some type of objective, or even like a sub-title which shows up on weblogs.asp.net blogs.
Wednesday, July 16, 2003 3:59 AM by TrackBack

# The Bleeding Edge

The Bleeding Edge
Wednesday, July 16, 2003 3:59 AM by TrackBack

# Steve Eichert's Blog

Steve Eichert's Blog
Wednesday, July 16, 2003 4:14 AM by Jorge Oblitas

# re: .Net Rocks Show Do's And Don't's

Well, I am better at writing than speaking (I think) Yes, I thin sometimes I push the topic to a dead ends because my english, but the point I would like to remark is that in here, business necesities are like USA, but enterprises perception of developers role is different, and worse... developers perception of themselves in their companies is very wrong in many many cases. the point is that this "globalization" thing, will have to carry most than code to everybody i the world, but a better perception of what is the role of developers in this information society

Wednesday, July 16, 2003 6:44 AM by Robert Scoble

# re: The PDC is missing its target audience

See my comments here:

http://radio.weblogs.com/0001011/2003/07/15.html#a3796
Wednesday, July 16, 2003 7:00 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Cheer up Jeff. You can get the job you want

Good point! Yes I did delete that post. It served no purpose other than to take space.
Wednesday, July 16, 2003 8:29 AM by Alex Lowe

# re: PDC pricing continued

Just because a company can afford to do something does not mean that it makes sound business sense. I'm not necessarily saying it doesn't make business sense in this case but your post seems to disregard the fact that this costs millions of dollars to put this shindig on. I would probably argue that the local sales force is a much better investment for Microsoft than this big show. So, as an investor, I want them to keep charging so the expense is low and the yield is still fairly high.

I also think you are missing the fact that the PDC is much like a technical conference (check the agenda - http://www.msdn.microsoft.com/events/pdc/agenda.aspx) so it serves as more than just a marketing blitz and thus should not be free. I mean, vendors are at TechEd and every other technical conference in the world and people don't complain about paying for those.



Wednesday, July 16, 2003 8:34 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: PDC pricing continued

Let me clear up some things:
1) I sholudn't be free, but it should have a human price tag
2) Becuase this *is* Microsoft, this is a special case. I'm not saying this applies to *any* company.

As for TechEd - I can see a real added value here, its mainly about teaching some stuff. This conference(just look at scobles post on the subject) is mostly networking and cool stuff.
Wednesday, July 16, 2003 8:35 AM by Alex Lowe

# re: PDC pricing continued

I'm also curious to know if you have ever been to a PDC, Roy?
Wednesday, July 16, 2003 8:39 AM by Alex Lowe

# re: PDC pricing continued

Ok, so what would the human price tag be? How would you calculate that?

No, it's not just networking and cool stuff. While that is certainly a value add to the conference it is not just that (IMHO, Scoble's response appears to be more of an informative response to let everyone know it's not *just* a Microsoft marketing blitz - just my interpretation though). Read the agenda - it is very technical and covers a great deal of the concepts in the "cool stuff".

Wednesday, July 16, 2003 8:47 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: PDC pricing continued

No. I've never been to the PDC, not does it look like I will get to attend it anytime soon. The price tag drives away most companies who are small.
Human price tag? 500$ max.
Sure it's not *just* marketing, but its a confernece of which its main marketing angle(which I can see) is longhorn and future products. I'll check out the schedule more closely though.
Wednesday, July 16, 2003 9:00 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: PDC pricing continued

Looking more into the agenda, all I can see is sessions for the future versions of products,longhorn and whidbey. Yeah, its cool to see how one can develop for these, but the information there is of no real value to products being built and deployed today.
Less added value IMHO (not that I wouldn't like to be there and learn, but I don't think it's worth 2k$).
Wednesday, July 16, 2003 9:02 AM by Martin Spedding

# re: PDC pricing continued

I decided to write a blog entry(http://weblogs.asp.net/mspedding) as a reply. I have been to a few PDC's and apart from the Hailstorm (.Net my services) they have all been excellent. Also knowing what is coming in future helps you plan. By the time they discuss something at Teched it almost yesterday's news.

Have fun and I like the way you always provoke discussion.

Martin
Wednesday, July 16, 2003 9:07 AM by Alex Lowe

# re: PDC pricing continued

My last comment on the subject is that I agree that it would be great if the conference was much cheaper (although it would cost even more to put on then because the venue would have to be absolutely gigantic to accomodate the number of attendees - which would be a reason not to attend IMHO). I think that the PDC and some of the other conferences are things that every developer should get to do at least once in their career.

I do think that everyone is missing the financial boat here though - again, the local sales (that's account managers, evangelist, MCS architects) are a better investment because they can reach a much larger audience and in fact can provide many of these same presentations on a smaller (think user group) scale for a fraction of the cost.

Wednesday, July 16, 2003 9:39 AM by Justin

# re: PDC pricing continued

I think Alex hit on an excellent point. If you lower the price and get three times as many attendees you need a venue three times as big, three times as many demo booths, three times as much food and swag. The cost goes up quite a bit, with economies of scale does it balance out? Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. For $500 bucks I may consider going but even then its a tough call because I, despite my desire to be, can't be an early adopter of everything. I'm also an independent contractor, so I have little enough time as it is staying on top of the current and next 6 months technologies let alone something two years down the line. The PDC isn't for me, I'll catch the cool stuff on blogs and power point presentations. To be perfectly honest I'd feel like I was in a geek's Disney Land but really I'd probably just be taking up space.
Wednesday, July 16, 2003 10:08 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: PDC pricing continued

No. What I want to see is the price dropped to 500$ but the amount of people staying the same. Yeah, I think Microsoft can afford it. They are doing it no less for themselves as they are for us. Well, again, its all about making developers want to use the technology at the end of the day. How much is that worth to Microsoft?
How do you calculate money loss on something as intangible as this? It only happens once a year, so make it big and loud as possible, and let people pay low prices to get in. Microsoft will only benefit from this. Let's see. 5,000 people , each paying 2000$ - that amounts to 10,000,000$. How crazy is that? Now, if everyone pays only 500$, MS only racks in 2,500,000$. You think that will *just* cover the conference? and what if it isn't? We are still dealing with the biggest richest company in the world.
Wednesday, July 16, 2003 10:52 AM by Robert Scoble

# re: PDC pricing continued

Interesting opinions Roy. Unfortunately, how do you decide which 5000 developers are the right ones? We chose the capitalistic system instead of just inviting our friends. That way you vote with your dollars.

Make no mistake about it, the PDC is highly technical. If you're just learning to program, it will be over your head.
Wednesday, July 16, 2003 2:24 PM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Wednesday, July 16, 2003 2:24 PM by TrackBack

# Martin Spedding's Blog

Martin Spedding's Blog
Wednesday, July 16, 2003 2:54 PM by Allen Edwards

# re: Death to the double-click (a lesson in design)

Straight out of the box (after losing my temper over the execrable polyvinyl plastic wrap!). It is specifically labeled "Double Click", and doesn't appear to have any configurability at all.

Power user? I'm a programmer by profession, but not really a hardware-oriented kind of guy (makes me nervous to crack the case of my machine). I just wanted a wireless keyboard and mouse, and (IIRC) the Microsoft version was $10 or $20 more.

I agree on the "out of the box" configuration for std mice with a scroller. I've forgotten what the default is now, setting it to double click is second nature for new devices, I never look at the original setting.

BTW, as an aside, I like your blog, and I'm ambivalent about PDC pricing. I'm in the US, and my company/division usually pays for 2 or 3 of us to attend PDC, and at least one VSLive a year, which of course (?) includes travel and lodging. This is not my year for PDC (Oct. 2001 in LA was, and coming after 9/11, that was a TRIP!).
Wednesday, July 16, 2003 6:18 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: PDC pricing continued

You don't. The first 5000 win. It's that simple and that's how it usually works.
Once its full, no one else can join.
Wednesday, July 16, 2003 6:38 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: PDC pricing continued

Plus, It's not like your friends don't have 2k$ to pay up. Usually, they'll be the first to pay to get in. Having a lower price tag won't change that.
Wednesday, July 16, 2003 8:52 PM by Duncan

# re: Vs.Net for presentations

There's also a /nologo switch if you don't want the VS splash screen to be shown. Can be useful in "MS hostile" groups.

Thursday, July 17, 2003 2:43 AM by Slobodan

# re: A C# programmer's VB.Net starter kit

Cool Links !!!
Maybe is better title is C# to VB.NET Translator

Only Crazy people can go for VB.NET if they know C#!!!
Thursday, July 17, 2003 1:53 PM by Here there be dragons

# re: Touch typing hell

Hahah, great comments... and don't forget the classic: "There is a bug in this next part that noone can find, good luck fixing your problem if you traced it here"
Thursday, July 17, 2003 2:22 PM by Chad Osgood

# re: Touch typing hell

I don't believe I could function without knowing how to touch-type. I, like you, was pretty fast until I took an intro typing class back in high school. All I really needed was the concept of "home row" keys and my typing speed went over 150wpm.

If you don't currently type with your fingers on the "home row keys", that will afford you the ability to tough-type, imo.
Thursday, July 17, 2003 6:02 PM by Here there be dragons

# re: Touch typing hell

Over 150wpm just by movin' to the home keys eh? I call shenanigans :)
Thursday, July 17, 2003 9:51 PM by what for?

# re: Touch typing hell

I've been typing for 12 years with two fingers and my thumb for the spacebar, and I do around 70wpm. Retraining would slow me down for months. I can touch type in that I don't need to look at the keyboard.

Practice makes perfect...
Thursday, July 17, 2003 9:56 PM by Julien C.

# re: Yet another new tabbed browser? This one has some new features

Wow ! Seems I gonna switch from IE to this iRider browser !! This is much more intelligent than tabbed browser, which are in fact totally useless !
Friday, July 18, 2003 12:29 AM by Paschal

# re: PDC pricing continued

I wonder how MS consider also the media too. It's good value to have a press pass those days, to attend any kind of conferences ! It's like be a VIP.
Friday, July 18, 2003 4:19 AM by TrackBack

# Dewayne Mikkelson and his Radio WebDog, Shadow: Friday, July 18, 2003

Dewayne Mikkelson and his Radio WebDog, Shadow: Friday, July 18, 2003
Friday, July 18, 2003 4:19 AM by TrackBack

# Jim Meeker

Jim Meeker
Friday, July 18, 2003 4:39 AM by TrackBack

# heLP .Net Blog

heLP .Net Blog
Friday, July 18, 2003 6:56 AM by Chad Osgood

# re: Touch typing hell

Well, I was already over 100wpm before switching to home row. Switching to home row allows you to touch-type which allows you to type faster due to the fact that you're not looking at your hands...

70wpm with two fingers is impressive!
Friday, July 18, 2003 12:58 PM by John R. Lewis

# re: BitVector32 in the real world

Chris did not write the article, he wrote a blog entry pointing to my article. :-)
Friday, July 18, 2003 1:15 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: BitVector32 in the real world

jeez! I'm so sorry, scrwed a little bit there. *fixed*
Friday, July 18, 2003 1:54 PM by Anon

# re: Must-have books for my new job

You forgot:
Mr. Bunny's Guide to Activex
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0201485362/002-5293248-8007210?vi=glance
Friday, July 18, 2003 2:16 PM by Mattias Sjögren

# re: BitVector32 in the real world

FYI, the BitVector32 has a bug in that the indexer always returns false for bit #31, even if it's set. The following code should reproduce it.

class BitVectorBugDemo
{
static void Main()
{
BitVector32 bv = new BitVector32( unchecked((int)0xFFFFFFFF) );
int mask = BitVector32.CreateMask();

for ( int bit = 0; bit < 32; bit++ ) {
Console.WriteLine( "Bit: {0}, Mask: {1:X}, value: {2}", bit, mask, bv[mask] );
if ( bit < 31 ) mask = BitVector32.CreateMask( mask );
}
}
}
Friday, July 18, 2003 2:18 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: BitVector32 in the real world

Is this a known bug? as in MS is aware of this?
Friday, July 18, 2003 2:31 PM by Doug Thews

# re: Must-have books for my new job

I was always partial to Introducing .NET (Platt) and Programming .NET (Prosise). The 1st rev of the Platt book came out at a time when we were getting dumped on by a bunch of intro books - I think it was the first book to discuss the guts of .NET (which is why it's one of my favorites).
Friday, July 18, 2003 4:18 PM by Philip Rieck

# re: Must-have books for my new job

You must have Richter's "Applied Microsoft .NET Framework Programming" as well.

[ http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0735614229/qid=1058584423/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/002-5504154-8164800 ]
Friday, July 18, 2003 7:35 PM by TrackBack

# Matthew ".NET" Reynolds

Matthew ".NET" Reynolds
Friday, July 18, 2003 7:35 PM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Friday, July 18, 2003 9:55 PM by SBC

# re: Must-have books for my new job

Any good book on the C# language - Archer, Liberty or Lipmann.
Friday, July 18, 2003 9:57 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Must-have books for my new job

"Applied Microsoft .NET Framework Programming" is one of my favorites, yeah, but I think they have that already.
Friday, July 18, 2003 10:57 PM by Mattias Sjögren

# re: BitVector32 in the real world

Yes, it was reported to them during the Everett beta.
Saturday, July 19, 2003 3:59 AM by Mehran Nikoo

# re: Must-have books for my new job

I also liked Essential ASP.NET by Fritz Onion. Very good insight into ASP.NET, talks about the similarities and differences between rendering model in Web and Win applications.

Sunday, July 20, 2003 9:20 AM by OmegaSupreme

# re: Add run-time functionality to your application by providing a plug-in mechanism

Great article , 5 stars :D
Sunday, July 20, 2003 9:38 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Add run-time functionality to your application by providing a plug-in mechanism

Thank you! :)
Monday, July 21, 2003 6:28 AM by Kit George

# re: BitVector32 in the real world

Just a note all: we are tracking this issue at Microsoft, and we do appreciate you taking the time to let us know about it. We didn't get a chance to fix this during Everett, but you can expect this to be fixed in the next release.

Thanks,
Kit
Tuesday, July 22, 2003 4:00 AM by Christian Romney

# re: [New Article] Using Regex and The XML Classes To Parse Your Log Files

I like the combining datasets and the XmlDataDocument class for flexibility. This lets you use compact T-SQL in the stored procs for pulling data out of the database instead of writing 500+ line convoluted FOR XML EXPLICIT queries. You can then use the XmlDataDocument class to get an XML representation for XSLT transformations quite easily. Any performance hit could be easily justified by the increase in maintainability, although the XML processing in SQL is unlikely to perform as well as the XMLDataDocument when all is said and done.
Tuesday, July 22, 2003 5:40 AM by Addy Santo

# re: My article on MSDNAA

Congrats! It looks good...
Tuesday, July 22, 2003 8:42 AM by Steve

# re: Do what you love

Very true. I remember back when I was coming out of school many of the interviewers asking why I went into the CS field and each was happy to hear it was because I enjoyed it and not becuase I thought I could get rich. Apparently many of the other canidates were after the money. I got offers from each place I interviewed so apparently the "love" is what employers are looking for.
Tuesday, July 22, 2003 8:43 AM by SBC

# re: My article on MSDNAA

Great article. I think I read it earlier at OReilly's site a few weeks ago.
Tuesday, July 22, 2003 8:54 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Do what you love

Steve: Yeah, I agree. Sadly, I think today it's mostly for the wrong reasons. A programmer who does what he does out of *love* , would usually take a pay cut more easily because "it's not about the money", or is willing to do interesting technical work for initial less pay. Sad but true.
When people say "I can't believe they pay me to do this" an employer just might take that literally!
Tuesday, July 22, 2003 8:56 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: My article on MSDNAA

SBC: Yeah, MSDNAA has an agreeement with OnDotNet.com that they can re-post any articles they like, given permission from the author. Cool.
Tuesday, July 22, 2003 9:14 AM by Addy Santo

# re: Do what you love

It all depends on the situation - take Bill Clinton for instance :)
Tuesday, July 22, 2003 9:36 AM by Steve

# re: Do what you love

Absolutely, I do what I do becuase I really do enjoy it. At the same time I'll fight to make sure I get paid what I deserve. Does that make me a money grubber and void my "I do it for the love" claim?
Tuesday, July 22, 2003 9:56 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Do what you love

Steve: No it does not, but it *will*,sadly, make you less attractive as an employee to a lot of short-sighted employers. Not that I don't fight for my pay as well, I just fight less :(
Wednesday, July 23, 2003 12:02 AM by Bart B

# re: Avoiding DB_SEC_E_AUTH_FAILED exception on connection string

I got the DB_SEC ... error as well. And the double quotes solved it indeed. Thanks a lot !
Wednesday, July 23, 2003 10:25 AM by Andrew Stopford

# re: Must-have books for my new job

Jason Bocks Programming IL book is a great book to go with Serges. I also recommend the Rotor book as well, always handy.
Wednesday, July 23, 2003 11:41 AM by GeheimnisNacht

# re: Add Plugins to Your App 2: Search dynamically for plugins without Config Files

Great, this is some good stuff. I am totally new to progamming in the .NET-environment, and I needed some plugin stuff.

Well written article, all is clear. You seem like a bright fellow :)


Cheers,
GeheimnisNacht
Wednesday, July 23, 2003 12:54 PM by TrackBack

# Rob Chartier's Excogitation

Rob Chartier's Excogitation
Wednesday, July 23, 2003 9:17 PM by Duncan

# re: Faster typing achived slowly

I take it the missing 'e' in achieved is ironic? ;-)
Thursday, July 24, 2003 2:43 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Faster typing achieved slowly

Doh!
Friday, July 25, 2003 10:04 AM by Lauri

# re: My article on MSDNAA

Roy, You should become a regular. You have really sent me some great ideas, and I appreciate it! Be sure and let me know if I can do anything for you as far as MSDNAA is concerned! I look forward to reading these blogs and other blogger's as well - but I can honestly say that you got me started in blogging! Keep on writing!
Sunday, July 27, 2003 1:55 AM by julie

# re: MSDN VB blog section

Awesome Roy. Well earned too. You have TONS of great technical content and pointers. Certainly this will be more than a "15 minutes of fame" deal!
Sunday, July 27, 2003 2:30 AM by Kyle Cordes

# re: Using XPath to find objects in your object model

The article linked to above is titled "Producing Multiple Outputs from an XSL Transformation", which is interesting, but unrelated to the topic at hand. The actual URL of the article about querying objects with XPath is

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnexxml/html/xml03172003.asp
Sunday, July 27, 2003 2:40 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Using XPath to find objects in your object model

Doh! Miss-Paste :) Fixed. Thanks Kyle!
Sunday, July 27, 2003 2:42 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: MSDN VB blog section

Thanks Julie. :)
Sunday, July 27, 2003 11:47 AM by Scott Mitchell

# re: The Imposter Syndrome: Feeling Like A Fraud

I've never suffered from Imposter Syndrome. Overly Conceited Demigod Syndrome, perhaps, but not Imposter Syndrome. :-)
Sunday, July 27, 2003 1:03 PM by SBC

# re: The Imposter Syndrome: Feeling Like A Fraud

Good posting Roy. The article is from an Indian journal & that was a pleasant surprise. I imagine the "syndrome" has no country or culture barriers. That also includes the "Overly Conceited Demigod Syndrome... ;)
Sunday, July 27, 2003 1:07 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: The Imposter Syndrome: Feeling Like A Fraud

It was actually pretty hard to post this. I kept being afraid that I would be "exposed" for my fears. I think it's too important for me to keep inside , though. plus, it's another way for me to deal with my feelings.
Sunday, July 27, 2003 1:09 PM by SBC

# re: C++ for programmers

Another notable C++ book is Andrei Alexandrescu's Modern C++ Design - http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0201704315/ref=pd_sxp_elt_l1/103-0239326-5711818

I also recall Jim Coplien's Advanced C++ Programming Styles & Idioms - http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0201548550/qid=1059350676/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-0239326-5711818
Sunday, July 27, 2003 9:09 PM by Dana

# re: C++ for programmers

from experience it is not so simple or even posiable to improt big workspaces to VS .NET.
There are some problems to compile the code
compiled in VS 6.
Sunday, July 27, 2003 10:37 PM by Mehran Nikoo

# re: The Imposter Syndrome: Feeling Like A Fraud

You are not alone Roy :)

And I think the Internet has made this syndrome even more popular. But as the study shows, no one wants to appraise someone else for nothing. If someone does that, s/he has seen something positive in you, if if many people do that, then it means that you really have something to say!
Monday, July 28, 2003 12:00 AM by SBC

# re: Geekier than thou

It helps to take a few days off from work that demands intense concentration (like programming). The side-effects, at times, may cause anxiety - I think the shrinks call it 'withdrawal symptoms'.. 8-)
Monday, July 28, 2003 12:36 AM by Paschal

# re: Checking for NULL values

Another solution, if you have a huge quantity of fields, is to do a concatenation with an empty string.

It works for me well in VB.

( I know it's not the 'cleanest' way :-))

myPhone = myDatareader("FieldPhone") + ""
Monday, July 28, 2003 2:30 AM by Tim Marman

# re: Geekier than thou

While it's healthy to enjoy other endeavours on occasion, it's good to see your passion is that strong. I think I've become jaded lately and I'm starting to lose it... D'oh!

See, I can get away from the computer, but what REALLY drives me insane is when I HAVE a computer but no connectivity :)
Monday, July 28, 2003 2:49 AM by Josh Baltzell

# re: Geekier than thou

I agree with the computer with no connectivity comment. I would rather have a GBA instead of that.

I only skip using computers for a day about twice or so a year. Usually those are flukes that just have to do with me having a busy day. I don't think there is anything wrong with wanting to have time on the computer. Many people seem to see it as a single activity, but there really are hundreds of different things you can do at the computer. Try to get work done on the TV sometime.
Monday, July 28, 2003 3:10 AM by Doug Thews

# re: What's up with BlogShares?

I'm not sure. I checked my status, and it was last updated on the 27th. Although I have issues with how the calculate incoming links (they list that I only have 1), and I know for a fact from my trackback database that I have quite a few.
Monday, July 28, 2003 3:11 AM by micho

# re: Checking for NULL values

sometimes i use "if typeof myDBNullObject is dbnull then"
Monday, July 28, 2003 3:13 AM by Doug Thews

# re: What's up with BlogShares?

Notice that your share price has been updated, but the spider hasn't run for awhile. Also, notice that your Blogshares image doesn't resolve (mine does this too). If you try to just bring up the image, you'll get some kind of CGI error stating that the site database is having problems. This may be related to the spider issue.
Monday, July 28, 2003 6:08 AM by Mark Brown

# re: Filling typed datasets using Data Access Application Block v.2.0

Roy, I found a bug in version 2 of the applicaion block. Check out http://www.dotnetjunkies.com/weblog/markbrown/posts/454.aspx for details. I notified MS but havn't checked to see if the change is in the latest bits.
Monday, July 28, 2003 9:16 AM by Robert Scoble

# re: The Imposter Syndrome: Feeling Like A Fraud

One problem: I really AM fooling all of you.
Monday, July 28, 2003 10:04 AM by brad more

# re: Geekier than thou

Just back from 2 weeks holiday in Northern U. S. (think cabin in the woods) with trusty laptop in tow. Even did some nice coding sitting by the lake. My wife thinks I'm insane (big sigh).

With regard to your choice of vacation destination, I've been to both Antalya, Turkey and Corfu in Greece. Both were fab. Either is highly recommended.
Monday, July 28, 2003 12:14 PM by Steve Hiner

# re: Geekier than thou

I'm not alone. You're certainly no geekier than I am.

I have a vacation coming up and I have NO intention of not programing while I'm gone. My boss thinks I'm crazy (he's a coder too) but then again, he probably thinks I "work" for him rather than him giving me a chance to get paid for my hobby. I always feared that working as a programmer would burn me out on coding for fun but it's just given me access to better toys. I should come out of this vacation with my first PocketPC application. Even better, my wife WANTS me to write it, she's encouraging my obsession.

We recently figured out that it would save us a bunch of money if my wife and kids leave 2 weeks ahead of me for the vacation and I only have 2 thoughts:
1) Can I survive without seeing them for that long
2) Wow, I can get a ton of coding time if I have every evening free for 2 weeks

Thou geekier than me? Perhaps not.
Monday, July 28, 2003 5:10 PM by TrackBack

# ISerializable

ISerializable
Tuesday, July 29, 2003 2:54 AM by TrackBack

# Personal VS.Net Editor Color/Font Settings

Tuesday, July 29, 2003 2:56 AM by TrackBack

# VS.Net and the FontSize Parameter

Tuesday, July 29, 2003 4:31 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Geekier than thou

Steve: You win :) but not by much!
Tuesday, July 29, 2003 9:49 AM by TrackBack

# <br> Darrell Norton's Blog


Darrell Norton's Blog
Tuesday, July 29, 2003 10:57 AM by fgh fgh

# re: System.Text.Encoding.Tip

j gfj gfj dfgh hgh gfh
Tuesday, July 29, 2003 12:31 PM by Phil Weber

# re: Nice quote


With all due respect to Mr. Simmons, the correct quote is: "The LOVE of money is the root of all evil." (1 Tim. 6:10) A person may love money whether or not he has any. :-)
Tuesday, July 29, 2003 12:50 PM by Jason

# re: Nasty bug in Data Access Block Ver. 2.0

Good overview. This bug is also described in detail on the GotDotNet workspace for Data Access. Anyone interested in discussing the DAAB is more than welcome to join.

Thanks

Jason
Tuesday, July 29, 2003 7:36 PM by Addy Santo

# re: As years go by

The unavoidable conclusion from those pictures: DON'T HAVE CHILDREN! Not only do they look like monkeys until age 12, observe the father's appearance- he seems to instantly age 10 years whenever another child is born :)

Tuesday, July 29, 2003 9:05 PM by Scott Mitchell

# re: As years go by

Speaking of children, I heard that a study concluded that for each male child, the mother's life expectancy is shortened by three months, or something to that effect.

The father did seem to age quickly with each new little bundle of joy, eh? :-)
Wednesday, July 30, 2003 1:05 AM by TrackBack

# An imposter? Who, me?

Wednesday, July 30, 2003 11:44 AM by Mehran Nikoo

# re: Visual Studio .Net tips page on MSDN

The link crashes my browser, I don't know whether there is a problem with IE on my machine or with the page.
Wednesday, July 30, 2003 1:52 PM by Dave Burke

# re: Filling typed datasets using Data Access Application Block v.2.0

Roy, I continue to appreciate you sharing your experience with the Data Access App Block and ADO.NET in general. I was ready to implement your 3-line Getdataset method approach, but you're right, Lior's one-pass approach is even better. Keep up the great work! btw, thanks for posting a separate blog entry on the bug Mark discovered. I wouldn't have found it otherwise.
Wednesday, July 30, 2003 4:30 PM by TrackBack

# Data Access Application Block, Part 2 (Halfa bug)

Wednesday, July 30, 2003 4:30 PM by Dave Burke

# re: Filling typed datasets using Data Access Application Block v.2.0

Roy,

The following post describes my experience with your Filldataset() advice focusing on the fix reported by Mark Brown, which to me didn't appear to be a fix at all. I'd be interested in any comments you might have (strictly optional, of course.) Thanks!

http://weblogs.asp.net/dburke/posts/21931.aspx
Wednesday, July 30, 2003 4:54 PM by HumanCompiler

# re: Out on vacation

Have fun and enjoy! :)
Wednesday, July 30, 2003 5:14 PM by HumanCompiler

# re: Count anything in your open Word document

It exists in Office XP for sure (not sure if it was in 2000 or 97
Wednesday, July 30, 2003 5:23 PM by Scott Mitchell

# re: Count anything in your open Word document

Does this 2003 toolbar offer any features different than the Tools/Word Count in Word 2000?
Wednesday, July 30, 2003 5:24 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Count anything in your open Word document

Scott: I really don't know. It was a first for me to find out about it a few days ago...
Wednesday, July 30, 2003 5:42 PM by Rob Chartier

# re: Out on vacation

If this is correct...

Ka-Lo Tea-He

(Good Luck)
Wednesday, July 30, 2003 5:43 PM by Anon

# re: Out on vacation

I will miss you and your brilliant posts.
Wednesday, July 30, 2003 6:16 PM by Eric

# re: Count anything in your open Word document

It also works in Office XP.
Wednesday, July 30, 2003 8:11 PM by Dave

# re: Count anything in your open Word document

I heard about this - thanks to our resident Word power user - a few years back in Word 2000.
Wednesday, July 30, 2003 11:02 PM by Tariq

# re: Count anything in your open Word document

Oh Gosh Roy,
I think its been there since Word 97.
Its been my biggest friend through high school, and university, specially when all your assignments have a number of words restriction.

Regards,
Tariq
Thursday, July 31, 2003 9:17 AM by Mel Grubb II

# re: Nasty bug in Data Access Block Ver. 2.0

I would argue that the line should also be moved before the actual fill. As the code stands (after the modification above), the table names will be Table, Table1, Table2

The first table is not named consistently with the others. Moving the tablename concatenation before the fill would provide more consistent results:
tableName = "Table" & (index + 1).ToString()
dataAdapter.TableMappings.Add(tableName, tableNames(index))

This would result in Table1, Table2, Table3, which in my opinion is better. Others may disagree.
Thursday, July 31, 2003 11:17 AM by TrackBack

# XmlTextWriter StringWriter = Headache

Saturday, August 02, 2003 1:51 AM by Mano Mangaldas

# re: HOWTO: Create an XMLSerializer from a given XML string

Thank U very much.

small unexpected requirements are very rare to find
Saturday, August 02, 2003 12:32 PM by Fabrice

# re: Silly quote of the day

Why is this silly?
Sunday, August 03, 2003 11:38 AM by Omer

# re: Checking for NULL values

With typed DataSets you can just use Is[Field]Null. e.g.: If you have a column named PersonId, you can use myRow.IsPersonIdNull.

Remember, this only works in typed DataSets.
Monday, August 04, 2003 1:19 AM by Russ

# re: Remoting Events May Break in V1.1

Greetings,

It should be noted that I merely EDITED the article mentioned in this post. It was the author himself who raised the issues about the differences in 1.1.

Thanks,
Russ
Wednesday, August 06, 2003 5:25 AM by Vasudha

# re: About coding standards

Hiya!!!
I am searching for VB.NET/ASP.NET coding standards, Can u please help me out with that?

Warm regards,
Vasu
Thursday, August 07, 2003 5:05 PM by TrackBack

# Framework Compatibility Graphics initiative

Thursday, August 07, 2003 5:05 PM by TrackBack

# Speed up Internet Explorer

Friday, August 08, 2003 12:50 AM by Yosi Taguri

# re: Short and sweet - I'm back

welcome back
Friday, August 08, 2003 6:57 PM by David Stone

# re: Can I please have my keyboard and mouse talking to my Win3k server?

Windows Update doesn't recognize it?
Friday, August 08, 2003 7:31 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Can I please have my keyboard and mouse talking to my Win3k server?

David: sure, they both "work", but only the basic native features that can be configured using the control panel's "Mouse" applet.
The real power of these tools lies inside their bundled software, which sadly, does not install :(
Friday, August 08, 2003 7:32 PM by Rachel Reese

# re: Can I please have my keyboard and mouse talking to my Win3k server?

Take the mouse back -- the Cordless Optical TrackMan® works on 2003. (http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm?page=products/details&CRID=6&CONTENTID=5006&countryid=19&languageid=1) I got one last week. :)
Friday, August 08, 2003 7:47 PM by Chris Martin

# re: Can I please have my keyboard and mouse talking to my Win3k server?

You can emulate probably just about every feature of the software with Girder. I use it for just about everything anymore. I even bought a IR device so I could teach my computer remote-control commands(for TV and DVD veiwing mostly).

http://www.girder.nl/
Friday, August 08, 2003 9:03 PM by Brian Desmond

# re: Can I please have my keyboard and mouse talking to my Win3k server?

I have caught word from Redmond that there may be updates for MS hardware to work with 2003 this fall. ;) I heard this a while ago, though.

--Brian
Friday, August 08, 2003 9:05 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Can I please have my keyboard and mouse talking to my Win3k server?

Rachel: were you able to also install the mouseware software bundled with it?
Saturday, August 09, 2003 9:30 PM by SBC

# re: Short and sweet - I'm back

welcome back & g'luck with your new job.
Sunday, August 10, 2003 6:19 PM by TrackBack

# OurNotepad

Monday, August 11, 2003 6:09 AM by SBC

# re: OurNotepad

Tried it. Looks cool and am awaiting a (collab) response.
Monday, August 11, 2003 11:06 AM by Diego Gonzalez

# re: Server.Transfer vs. Response.Redirect

Redirect, issues a 304 (http code) to the browser and the broser navigates to the next page.

Tansfer, changes the server processing of the HTTP reguest and start ejecuting anothe page without sending anything to the browser.
Monday, August 11, 2003 11:22 AM by Diego Gonzalez

# re: Nasty bug in Data Access Block Ver. 2.0

Hey i'm guilty for that bug... I have solved this one and there will be a new version of the DAAB which supports an abstract factory so you can use the same code to call different ADO.NET providers... it will be available on the workspace this week.

Your solution is not totally correct because the tables must be named Table, Table1, Table2, and so on. So the correct code is:
In C#:
<pre>
dataAdapter.TableMappings.Add(
tableName + (index == 0 ? "" : index.ToString()),
tableNames[index] );
</pre>

In VB.NET
<pre>
dataAdapter.TableMappings.Add(tableName + CType(IIf(index = 0, "", index.ToString()), String), tableNames(index))
</pre>
Monday, August 11, 2003 6:31 PM by Scott Mitchell

# re: OurNotepad

Roy, the links in the quote appear a bit funny and when I click on them I get an error re: MSN Messenger, which is weird, since I don't have that installed. :-)
Monday, August 11, 2003 11:31 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: OurNotepad

for some reason the links got corrupted. I don't knw why, but it's fixed now...
Tuesday, August 12, 2003 3:05 AM by Blair Stephenson

# re: Server.Transfer vs. Response.Redirect

Cool, I hadn't seen the context.items before.

I've just used querystrings in the past.
Tuesday, August 12, 2003 11:45 AM by sergio

# re: Server.Transfer vs. Response.Redirect

One important difference : redirect emits a silent exception.
Tuesday, August 12, 2003 11:46 AM by Jason Best

# re: Why I write in Both C# and VB.NET

I do my DLL's - Classes in C# For the XML Comment features. :-)
Tuesday, August 12, 2003 3:56 PM by Addy Santo

# re: Caching in WinForms


"Just-in-time invalidation" gives best performance and is simplest to implement. Just imagine what would happen if you tried to implement realtime invalidation of a cache with thousands of items, each with varying expiration criteria... the expiration management would probably drain more resources than the actual data being cached!

Implementing a *simple* determistic invalidation mechanism should be fairly simple - just spawn a thread which periodically accesses the cache object to remove/refresh items.

And GL!
Tuesday, August 12, 2003 5:11 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Caching in WinForms

Addy - I agree. I do think that there should be an API that allows this, as well as how it works now. Let me decide if I want to sacrifice performance in specific cases.
Tuesday, August 12, 2003 8:22 PM by Mattias Sjögren

# re: Catch ex As Exception When...

I too thought it was pretty cool when I first saw it, but frankly I've never found a use for it in real code, so I'm not sure how useful it actually is.

There's no equivalent in C#.

You don't get a DivideByZeroException because you're using the floating point division operator (/) and not the integer division one (\). Only integer division by zero throws, floating point generates NAN or infinity or something like that.
Tuesday, August 12, 2003 8:33 PM by Paul Vick

# re: Catch ex As Exception When...

Bah, Mattias beat me to it! Something to talk about in the blog at some point, I guess...
Tuesday, August 12, 2003 9:59 PM by Dave Rothgery

# re: Catch ex As Exception When...

0/0 is NaN (Not a Number). If x>0, then x/0 is Infinity ; if x<0, then x/0 is -Infinity. It's defined in the rules of IEEE (some number which I definitely don't know off the top of my head) floating point numbers somewhere.

Incidentally, you can definitely get the same behavior in C#, as per...

private void button1_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
int x = int.Parse(textBox1.Text);
try
{
MessageBox.Show(((double) x/ (double) x).ToString());
}
catch(Exception ex)
{
this.Text = ex.Message;
}
}
Wednesday, August 13, 2003 3:20 AM by TrackBack

# Catch ex As Exception (sometimes)

Wednesday, August 13, 2003 4:10 AM by Darren Neimke

# re: Announcing: .Net Desktops Contest

Show us your desktop eh? I'll sue you Roy Osherove ;-)
Wednesday, August 13, 2003 5:39 AM by Derek Stone

# re: Catch ex As Exception When...

I think the bigger picture is you shouldn't be using exception handling to catch divide by zero errors. Logic! Logic! Logic! :)
Wednesday, August 13, 2003 2:34 PM by Josh Baltzell

# re: Google Calc

That is freaking sweet. You can type in "30 degrees C in F" to convert temp too, there are all kinds of cool things.
Thursday, August 14, 2003 5:08 AM by Sudhakar

# re: Google Calc

I did it for 2 Kilometers in Miles :)
Thursday, August 14, 2003 5:14 AM by Sudhakar

# re: Can I please have my keyboard and mouse talking to my Win2k3 server?

I got the same problem with my TV Capture card and GeForceGx video card, hence : Welcome back windows XP :(
Friday, August 15, 2003 1:01 PM by Addy Santo

# re: PDC: Show me the bits

Well, if you worked for one of the right companies you could have those bits weeks ago, long before the PDC ;)

Of course working for any of those companies would probably also mean that you would be so busy that you wouldn't have time to even install them!

Sunday, August 17, 2003 3:32 AM by HumanCompiler

# re: Happy birthday to me!

Hope you're having a good one! :)
Sunday, August 17, 2003 3:52 AM by Lorenzo Barbieri

# re: Happy birthday to me!

Happy birthday!!!
Sunday, August 17, 2003 3:54 AM by Tosh Meston

# re: Happy birthday to me!

Yeah, happy birthday man.
Sunday, August 17, 2003 4:51 AM by Paul Gielens

# re: Happy birthday to me!

Congrats!
Sunday, August 17, 2003 5:04 AM by Jan Tielens

# re: Happy birthday to me!

Enjoy it! Congratulations!
Sunday, August 17, 2003 6:29 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Happy birthday to me!

Thanks guys! :)
Sunday, August 17, 2003 7:45 AM by Jamie Cansdale

# re: WMI mind blower

I've had a look at this before and never quite got it. I think I'm missing some vital piece of the puzzle...

Okay, say I want to monitor things being added and removed to IE's favorites list. There's something under 'Management Events' that looks promising. I right clock on 'Management Events' and 'Add Event Query...'. I then open the 'root\RSOP\User' node in the tree and select 'RSOP_IEFavoriteItem'. I enable 'Object creation, modification and deletion' in the drop down. After I select 'OK' a new node appears under 'Management Events'. I can look at the properties for this event and 'Refresh' but nothing seems to happen (even after addin a new favorite). Where does one view these events?

I'm confused. Please help me out...

Thanks, Jamie.
Sunday, August 17, 2003 8:09 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: WMI mind blower

Jamie - Drag and drop this event query node onto any open component designer (i.e on any form in your application) and voila - you have an object that represents the event you wish to work with. (I'm simplifying this of course. You need to know how to work with a WMI object and understand what it represents in order to go through with this)
Sunday, August 17, 2003 8:22 AM by Damit

# re: Happy birthday to me!

Happy birthday! =)
Sunday, August 17, 2003 8:48 AM by Dan Bright

# re: Happy birthday to me!

Happy belated birthday. Hope it was fun.
Sunday, August 17, 2003 9:35 AM by MIke Gunderloy

# re: Happy birthday to me!

Many happy returns of the day, youngster (as Eeyore would say).
Sunday, August 17, 2003 10:13 AM by Thomas Johansen

# re: Happy birthday to me!

Happy birthday mate! Have a cold one for me (Can't drink now, too busy working :C )
Sunday, August 17, 2003 2:15 PM by Paschal

# re: Happy birthday to me!

Happy birthday Roy ! 28 no way you're a kid ;-)
Sunday, August 17, 2003 5:30 PM by Ryan

# re: Winforms Data Binding Woes

Can you write an article about how to bind a dataset to a datagrid with lookup tables? It is impossible to find this on the internet.

For example: I have a customer table that has a 2 digit code that represents the country they live in. That 2 digit code coorespondes to another table that has a list of all the countries.

Sunday, August 17, 2003 6:38 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Winforms Data Binding Woes

Ryan: look here:
http://weblogs.asp.net/rosherove/story/9088.aspx
Sunday, August 17, 2003 6:58 PM by SBC

# re: Happy birthday to me!

a happy birthday and other assorted good wishes.
Monday, August 18, 2003 7:33 AM by OmegaSupreme

# re: Happy birthday to me!

Happy birhday man :D
Monday, August 18, 2003 8:26 AM by Phil Weber

# re: Google binding


Roy: You could have included a link to the Google search: http://www.google.com/search?q=winforms+data+binding ;-)
Monday, August 18, 2003 10:55 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Google binding

Done! :)
Wednesday, August 20, 2003 9:37 AM by Ruebs

# re: Winforms Data Binding Lessons Learned

Excellent stuff on the delete cancellation in a datagrid. i have been searching for info for many days now. Thanks.
Wednesday, August 20, 2003 5:11 PM by TrackBack

# I give up - Career Calculus

Wednesday, August 20, 2003 5:21 PM by Robert Scoble

# re: I give up - Career Calculus

I don't know about that. My wife moved from Iran to America because America offered her greater opportunities than Iran did. I notice that Silicon Valley keeps getting more and more crowded. Why? Because of the career opportunities offered there. Same up here in Redmond.

Going to the PDC is the same kind of thing. By not being there, you've decided to turn down some economic activity. How much, I'm not sure. I spoke at a user group six years ago and got a new job there and a $10,000 a year raise. Had I decided not to go, I would have turned down $60,000 (and growing).

But, I can't guarantee the same thing will happen to you. We'll never know.
Wednesday, August 20, 2003 6:06 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: I give up - Career Calculus

One can't always rely on this for their survival. There's no way I'd have 4k to put in this thing. Life is just not that easy. Now tell me, would you go to a conference in Iran, spending all your savings, blowing off your job responsibilities, just for the chance that somehow someone will hook you up? I'd say that unless I'd know theres a definite possiblity that something like will happen, I'd be reluctant. Plenty of oppertunities closer to home (although much less, which is part of the "suckiness" of it all)
Wednesday, August 20, 2003 6:29 PM by Lauri

# re: Commandments for a publishable article

Roy - I think if I took credit for "managing" the .NET group, all the other people who work really hard, might schedule next month's meeting for my untimely demise!


Everyone who reads this should send me an article for MSDNAA!
Wednesday, August 20, 2003 6:39 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Commandments for a publishable article

oops! I'll change it.
Wednesday, August 20, 2003 8:02 PM by Dave

# re: I give up - Career Calculus

I'm one who ranted - both at (1) those who have (and still IMHO) overhyped the "need" to attend the PDC in order to get a sneak peek and decidedly alpha bits of products that won't be available for true solution providing for 1-2 more years at best, and (2) those who speak of "responsibility" of directing their own careers like this is some sort of divine revelation that puts them in some advantageious position.

Each of these points of view are simply untrue.

To the former I say decide for yourself if the PDC is cost effective, both in money AND time. Decide if getting the beta releases that will most likely be offered through MSDN Universal is a better route. Decide if using alternative resource venues (including the overwhelming amount of blogging from the PDC) can give you the edge you need. Decide if formal training using handson of pre-release software cuts it.

To the latter I say... well, if you already asked the above questions in a honest and objective manner, you've already accomplished everything that Eric Sink wrote so eloquently. And if you have, then nothing he wrote should strike you as revelatory.

If you haven't asked these questions, then take his words to heart, and add one more question too: do you honestly believe YOUR worth to YOUR clients (remember, as an employee of some company you are really offering your services to your employer)... do you really believe you are worth much at all if you haven't been taking responsibility all along? You aren't! Remember, rule #1 for anyone in their job is to know what value you provide to your client/customer/employer. If you don't understand where the value lies and do whatever you MUST to keep providing that value you WILL eventually LOSE that value to someone who comes by and yields much better value.

In my case, I spend maybe 10% of my year learning new things. This is enough to stay ahead of the curve on what I need to use. I spend about 60% of my year developing brand new solutions that are needed to address needs today. About 30% of my time is spent working on enhancements and maintenance of existing solutions. When I add in that we still haven't eliminated all Win2k clients nor MSSQL7 servers, I objectively assess that (1) Whidbey is something to consider but I won't be able to gain from it's unique benefits for 12 months, (2) Yukon is not going to be in use until Q4 2005 or Q1 2006 for us and (3) Longhorn is definitely not going to be on clients until sometime in 2007. For me, the time and money is simply not worth it. Both are better spent in other ways today. And both will be spent on these unreleased products in the next few years - just not now.

The PDC is a great thing for some. It is completely worthless for me. I have no fear - sorry Robert - of "losing my job to someone in India". (Yeah, that comment still rubs me the wrong way. You made it directly to me Robert. You made it such an absolute too. No only did you assume to know my career needs by saying this, you also assumed I didn't do the thorough assessment I spoke of above. How dare you? PS: I mean this with all due respect. I just ask that you pay me the same respect.)
Wednesday, August 20, 2003 9:13 PM by Douglas Reilly

# re: I give up - Career Calculus

Clearly, Roy, the PDC is not the thing. Doing any of the things that improve your L, Learning, is the issue.

How many developers do you know who do nothing to continue learning and growing as developers? I can tell you that at one client site, there were perhaps half a dozen developers who did not read *a single development related book* in the last year.

PDC may not be essential for you in your situation, however, I am sure there are other things you can do to add value to what you offer in the employment/consulting marketplace, and I expect you do. However, there are lots of folks who do not. And many of these same folks will be very upset when they find themselves mostly unemployable because what they learned a decade or so in school has very little revelance to the work that needs to be done.
Wednesday, August 20, 2003 9:25 PM by SBC

# re: User Group notes: WMI, CLR hosting and AppDomains

I just picked up Golomshtok's 'NET System Management Services' book as I plan to do some WMI development soon. There is an introductory chapter on WMI Mgmnt at the APress website - http://www.apress.com/book/supplementDownload.html?bID=120&sID=971
Wednesday, August 20, 2003 10:17 PM by Eric Sink

# re: I give up - Career Calculus

Many readers of my piece saw more PDC hype than I intended to convey.

I agree with Roy. Attending PDC is just one example of grabbing the reins of your own career. There are lots other examples, many of which don't cost so darn much. Nobody should feel like a slug just because they skip PDC.

The point was not about PDC. The point was that we need to grab opportunities to learn new stuff, all kinds of stuff. If we don't, we've got nobody to blame but ourselves.

BTW, Roy, thanks for the link, but let's try to move a little quicker next time, okay? You were the last blogger on earth who had not linked my article, and I was just getting ready to send the blog police after you. :-)

Wednesday, August 20, 2003 11:09 PM by Dave

# re: I give up - Career Calculus

Eric, I'll comment here only because you did. I didn't take your piece as PDC related at all. The only connection to it was that the PDC initiated some talk about how one handles their career throughout their life. Like you and your piece, I agree that one should always be proactive. Proactive also includes saying "no" or having no interest in something too, just in a conscious thought-out way. Your piece was only conveying like thoughts in a well-written way (like alot of what you have to say).
Wednesday, August 20, 2003 11:42 PM by Vijay

# re: It's so hardcore you could say it's CLR Porn

Beautifully put !
Thursday, August 21, 2003 2:44 AM by Paul Gielens

# re: I give up - Career Calculus

The "about commitment guy" could have been me 2 years back. Only then saving all the goodies on a 100 mb zip disk ;)

Roy do yourself a favor, buy (or lend) the book I recently blogged about.

ps: Great post, was feeling the same about the PDC horror (for those that aren't going).
Thursday, August 21, 2003 5:32 AM by Jamie Cansdale

# re: WMI mind blower

Thanks. I'll also read that sample book chapter you just posted about. Hopefully that will give me more of a clue.

BTW, how good a fit do you think WMI would be for unit testing results? I'm finding getting test results back difficult in multi process applications. I'm wondering it this is the way to go. At the moment I'm using .NET Remoting to cummunicate with the test runner. This problem with this is it has side effects if you're writing certain types of applications (i.e. ones that use remoting or context themselves). It's also a problem if the tests are running in a process that the test runner spins up.
Thursday, August 21, 2003 5:59 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: WMI mind blower

I'm not sure how one would use WMI for unit testing. Perhaps only to check physical results on disk or stuff like that? I'm not sure what WMI ability your referring to..
Thursday, August 21, 2003 7:59 AM by Jamie Cansdale

# re: WMI mind blower

As an out of band way of getting events out of an application (ie one that doesn't involve .NET Remoting side effects). Each assertion and test result could be an event. I think there's also a way of making an object accessable vier WMI. The test runner could be made available this way.

At the moment in process unit tests are very well catored for (ie of libraries). I'm thinking more about out of proc testing.
Thursday, August 21, 2003 8:19 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: WMI mind blower

Cool idea. I don't know how feasible it is though. I have not worked with event on the WMI front. Mainly done more "manual" labor or so...
Thursday, August 21, 2003 10:39 AM by Lauri

# re: Commandments for a publishable article

Send articles to: ltravis@msdnaa.net
Thursday, August 21, 2003 1:04 PM by Jeff Key

# re: Free WMI book chapter

Thanks, Roy. I could've used this a few months ago, but better late than never!
Thursday, August 21, 2003 2:27 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Add Plugins to Your App 2: Search dynamically for plugins without Config Files

Here's the direct link to the zip file with the code to this article :
http://msdnaa.net/Legacy/Download.asp?Filename=Plugins_Dynamic_srcII.zip&ResID=2197&FileID=585
Friday, August 22, 2003 7:20 PM by Dana

# re: User Group notes: WMI, CLR hosting and AppDomains

Thanks Roy for the meeting summary i could not attend ! :-)

Dana
Saturday, August 23, 2003 6:11 PM by sirshannon

# re: MSN Messenger upgrade blocks Trillian

because those networks do not want one program to access them all.
Saturday, August 23, 2003 6:13 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: MSN Messenger upgrade blocks Trillian

Exactly. It's going against the user instead of towards them. Sucks.
Saturday, August 23, 2003 7:21 PM by Luci

# re: MSN Messenger upgrade blocks Trillian

I think AOL patended its sooo special protocol and were trying to get on court with Trilian.
They also have non-aggression pacts, the one obvious being AOL-MS.
Saturday, August 23, 2003 8:07 PM by sirshannon

# re: MSN Messenger upgrade blocks Trillian

I guess I misunderstood your question, I thought you were asking why MS didn't make a tool to communicate with IM networks that do not want MS to have access to (like AIM). Yes, it would be nice if there were an open universal IM protocol but there is not. The companies who made the protocols made the decision and it is not MS's place to decide if AIM should be open to everyone. That is AOL's decision and they have made it.
MS can not simply say "users want MSN to talk to AIM so we're going to h4X0r your protocol". Trillian (with nothing to lose) can and did. MS can't set a precident like that because turn-about is fair play. MS did the right thing in trying to get that universal protocol started with AOL a few years ago, AOL said no (and for good reason, it's close to the only thing they have that keeps people in the AOL circle).
Saturday, August 23, 2003 10:02 PM by G. Andrew Duthie

# re: Finally some helpful code!

Who needs code? Just add a rule in Outlook that filters on the body text:

"Please see the attached file for details" or:

"See the attached file for details"

Didn't miss a single one for me. Alternatively, since all of the emails seemed to have a faked successful virus-scan header, you could filter on that basis as well.

Besides, filtering on the subject field is a bad idea, IMO. It's way too easy to end up deleting a valid email that happens to use the same subject as the worm, such as "thank you!" or "your details". Better to filter on something that's a little longer, and/or less likely to appear in a valid email.

Sunday, August 24, 2003 12:20 AM by Brian Desmond

# re: Screensaver from hell

That screensaver happens to be one of my all time favorite group policy objects to assign to users.
Sunday, August 24, 2003 12:21 AM by Brian Desmond

# re: MSN Messenger upgrade blocks Trillian

Works for me.
Sunday, August 24, 2003 12:27 AM by Matt Hawley

# re: MSN Messenger upgrade blocks Trillian

I read on Trillian's website, that the "required upgrade for MSN Messenger Users" is primarily for security reasons...ie: get them using the new protocol that newer version of MSN Messenger relies on. Trillian Pro v2.0 (beta) currently is using this newer protocol, but the free version (and pro 1.0) currently do not. Its still unsure if MS will be not enabling Trillian (or any other 3rd party software) to connect until Oct. 15 actually rolls around, though ... so don't hold me to this comment. The possibility that Trillian Pro 2.0 beta will still function, is pretty good, since its using the newer security protocol.
Sunday, August 24, 2003 2:03 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Finally some helpful code!

Well, still. I posted because the code is that cool and simple. :)
Sunday, August 24, 2003 7:51 AM by Jamie Cansdale

# re: Some debugging tips

This certainly opens up some interesting posabilities. I would like to see a set of attributes that act as breakpoint hints. i.e...

[PreCondition("x!=null")]
void method(string x)
{
int length = x.Length;
// blar blar
}

A tool (dare I say it, add-in) could be asked to enable breakpoint hints. It would go through the code and set conditional breakpoints wherever it sees these hint attributes.

The same could be done for method enter, leave, exception style tracing.

Just a thought... ;)
Sunday, August 24, 2003 5:16 PM by SBC

# re: Was that a shout out?

Carl & his .NET Rocks! show is quite a hit in this neck of the woods - http://weblogs.asp.net/sbchatterjee/posts/9263.aspx

Monday, August 25, 2003 4:34 PM by Scott Watermasysk

# re: The ultimate connection string reference

Its a really small world or you are on the .Text mailing list :)

-Scott
Monday, August 25, 2003 4:37 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: The ultimate connection string reference

It must be pretty small, cause I'm not registered for that mailing list :)
Monday, August 25, 2003 4:49 PM by Yosi Taguri

# re: Combobox binding trouble - with a solution

had it too last week..
Monday, August 25, 2003 5:29 PM by TrackBack

# A meeting with Udi, and a talk about performance Do's and Don'ts

Monday, August 25, 2003 8:57 PM by SBC

# re: The ultimate connection string reference

I thought it was a dating agency ;-)
Tuesday, August 26, 2003 10:50 AM by Addy Santo

# re: MSFT.Opml

Oh shit, there goes my last hour of sleep tonight ;)
Tuesday, August 26, 2003 11:57 AM by TrackBack

# MSFT Bloggers..

Tuesday, August 26, 2003 8:10 PM by TrackBack

# Trillian disconnected?

Tuesday, August 26, 2003 9:55 PM by SBC

# re: Advice for article writers - part II

You don't need any more advice to publish - just keep'em coming at your blogs, MSDNAA & OReilly.
Tuesday, August 26, 2003 11:23 PM by Ray Jezek

# re: Typed Datasets Are Not Always The Answer

Roy, your right about it being a design decision. We decided to treat out TDS's as DTO's as opposed to business objects, which i think works great and allows you to pass your object "through" business logic instead of being coupled with it. But again it depends on your ultimate architecture... there a lots of ways to solve the same problems. Also, i think updating a TDS is very trivial and shouldn't be seen as a challenge in terms of maint. as compared to custom business entities.
Wednesday, August 27, 2003 2:02 PM by Jason

# re: No smiling! We're Canadian

Hey...don't laugh :) My sister had to have her picture taken three times because there was "inadequate lighting". In plain speak...it was a small shadow on her nose.
Thursday, August 28, 2003 5:16 AM by Frans Bouma

# re: "Could not open in Design view. Quote values differently..." solved!

It's still one of the crappy bugs in the ASP.NET editor IMHO. Also when you include databinding statements in the strings of a html tag, it can't show the designer. MS should have solved this years ago.
Thursday, August 28, 2003 5:19 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: "Could not open in Design view. Quote values differently..." solved!

Yep. It does suck :)
Friday, August 29, 2003 10:49 AM by bt

# re: A .Net weblogger business card?

I think it would be very useful to have your blog on your business card (like a company having their URL).

I'm not convinced about the universal business card idea. Sounds a little less community and a little more cliquey.
Friday, August 29, 2003 10:49 AM by Lorenzo Barbieri

# re: A .Net weblogger business card?

I don't think it's too "out there"...
And I like the idea of the universal business card too...
Perhaps someone can make a template...
But what logo do you want to use... the asp.net logo? the .net logo? or a fresh new logo?

Friday, August 29, 2003 11:15 AM by Shannon J Hager

# re: A .Net weblogger business card?

Having a business card for your website isn't "out there" at all. I got mine in 1999.
Friday, August 29, 2003 12:10 PM by Ron Green

# re: A .Net weblogger business card?

Been thinking about that too.
Saturday, August 30, 2003 2:23 AM by Simon Phipps

# re: A 'softie at a linux show

It was interesting how many Microsoft staff were at LinuxWorld. Both in my talk and in the one where Sterling Ball was presenting, a show of hands was requested and in each case there was a whole row! There's actually always been an openness to the technival staff, so I'm pleased it carries on.

I'll mention on Josh's site too, but I was never a Microsoft employee (did my Word testing as an end user back in more liberal days).
Saturday, August 30, 2003 1:24 PM by TrackBack

# MS Offers Licensing to Trillian

Monday, September 01, 2003 4:39 AM by TrackBack

# Hosting the CLR - the native approach

Monday, September 01, 2003 6:12 AM by Dave

# re: Asynchronous ASP.Net actions suck?

Just like you say the browser was never meant to be a 'real' application platform, let me add this: .NET WinForms were never meant to be a real 'universal' solution.

At least a browser guarantees you some standard kind of exporsure on Linux and Mac. At least a browser guarantess you exposure on that Win98 box with only a 56k connection to the web.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that each arena has it's pros and cons. Yes, you have no easy nor simple way to make an intelligent progress bar in a browser app. On the other hand, this forces you to develop disciplines you might not otherwise hone. Do you really want create web apps that force a 20 meg download just ot run them? One that really needs that intelligent progress bar? Because if you do then you probably have WAY too much happening... a download that would be a complete dog over a dirty phone connection.

Personally I think the greatest way to challenge a WinForm developer to hone their skills is to ask them to develop in .NET CF. If you can get your app to work with the limitations of that subset, you've probably made something that will not only scale well, but also has a simple interface and blazing performance to boot!

Now, in answer to your original problem, I've used two solutions in my ASP apps. (This is already assuming you rethought why you must force the user to wait long enough to need that progress bar - and have no other recourse.) First off, make a 'dumb' progress bar. Some simple DHTML will do the trick. Second off, provide 'intelligent' feedback.... "Step x of x...." or give them numbers and figures, but stream it line by line to the browser. The user doesn't have to understand it, they just have to know things haven't grounded to a standstill.

I had a finance system load. Intranet app. Lots of number crunching. Couldn't tell the user no. In that case I opted to have the web server make one call to get back the calculated data and then make several sequential calls to update the database one account at a time. That way I was able to tell the user - account by account - exactly what I was writing to the database. When finance 'pulled' the data in several departments at a time (a process that took about 10 minutes) they were left not only with frequent feedback - but relevant feedback also. Yes, it was a hack. Yes, I could have asked WHY THE HELL IT IS SO MUCH MORE DIFFICULT. Instead I took it as a challenge to be creative - and unexpectedly developed a much appreciated 'feature' of my app. (Not only from a finance standpoint, but a debugging one too!)
Monday, September 01, 2003 7:48 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Asynchronous ASP.Net actions suck?

Dave: Thanks for the relevant feedback. I agree with most of what you said. Perhaps I should have re-labled this post: "Rant:".
Yes, I love these kinds of challenges. But consider a different view:
If everyone who has ever encountered a problem would just say "Great , a challenge" and tried to find a workaround, and noone ever bothered to say "why is it so hard? let's make things better/easier/faster" we wouldn't get where we are now. We would still have ASP, not ASP.Net. Actually, we still might be in the COBOL days.

Still I see what you mean. Thanks.
Monday, September 01, 2003 4:54 PM by Derek Stone

# re: Hosting the CLR - the native approach

Thanks for the plug Roy. I'll see if I can work in one of your articles (or your blog altogether) in on of my upcoming pieces. ;)
Monday, September 01, 2003 4:58 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Hosting the CLR - the native approach

Hey Derek. It wasn't a plug. You simply wrote a fine article, and it was really worth posting about. Keep up the great work!
Monday, September 01, 2003 6:28 PM by Duncan Godwin

# re: Asynchronous ASP.Net actions suck?

I've had to integrate something quite recently that could potentially take a long time to run, and I wanted to give the user feedback, the solution I opted for was to utilies MSMQ and a Windows Service to listen for events on the queue. The ASPX page after submitting checks every 3 seconds to see if the job is complete. This solution works if you have full server access.

Monday, September 01, 2003 7:10 PM by Duncan Mackenzie (MSDN)

# re: Showing the "Browse For Folder" dialog

Of course, in 1.1 you can just use the FolderBrowser component included in Windows Forms
Monday, September 01, 2003 7:22 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Showing the "Browse For Folder" dialog

Duncan, For the life of me I can't find any reference to a class or component named "FolderBrowser" in winforms using Vs.Net 2003 (other than the one mentioned in this post). How can I reach it?
Monday, September 01, 2003 8:47 PM by Husein Choroomi

# re: Showing the "Browse For Folder" dialog

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/cpref/html/frlrfSystemWindowsFormsFolderBrowserDialogClassTopic.asp
Monday, September 01, 2003 11:54 PM by JE

# re: Asynchronous ASP.Net actions suck?

HTTP is a pull only mechanism, that's something you have to deal with when you code for it. You can get your client to query you several time but you can only answer to a client request, not push anything back to the client. This is a limitation of the protocol that was never meant for anything else than pulling data from a server. Honestly there is no point in complaining that it sucks, especially more than 10 years after is was first invented, thats just the way the protocol was meant to work and what we have to deal with. Any protocol has it's limitations and drawbacks and are meant to solve a specific set of tasks that evolves, slowly becoming more and more difficult to adapt... That's the way things goes in computer science, and honestly more than 10 years and still a long life ahead of it is a VERY impressive achievment for HTTP.
Tuesday, September 02, 2003 1:20 AM by Derek Stone

# re: Showing the "Browse For Folder" dialog

I mention in the discussion portion of the article that .NET 1.1 contains a preferred class called FolderBrowserDialog, located in System.Windows.Forms of course. Apologies for the confusion. I've emended the article and added in an editors note.
Tuesday, September 02, 2003 4:11 AM by Julien CHEYSSIAL

# re: A better disposable email

Yep ! That's a French website !
Tuesday, September 02, 2003 4:11 AM by Michel

# re: A better disposable email

On dit :
- Très cool !
- Super génial !
- Trop bien !
etc...
Tuesday, September 02, 2003 9:06 AM by Marc Shiker

# re: Showing the "Browse For Folder" dialog

I remember the Microsoft discouragement as well and I believe it was in v 1.0 of the framework. It drove me crazya that that class wasn't available for use since it seems like it is one of the more common tasks that a Windows forms programmer performs. I was glad to see that discouamgement is no longer present.
Tuesday, September 02, 2003 10:33 AM by Monsur

# re: Asynchronous ASP.Net actions suck?

Microsoft just recently came out with an Asynchronous Application Block, which could provide some good info on this: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnpag/html/PAIBlock.asp
Tuesday, September 02, 2003 10:50 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Showing the "Browse For Folder" dialog

Anyone know of any reason why my home copy of VS.Net does not show this class as part of the framework, while my work copy does? Perhaps its due to the fact that I have win2k3 at home or something?
Tuesday, September 02, 2003 2:35 PM by Scott Watermasysk

# re: .NetWeblogs chosen for site of the week on ASPExperts

Ha :) That's not me...that is all of you posting great stuff. Keep it up!

-Scott
Tuesday, September 02, 2003 6:11 PM by Anon

# re: Windows Forms Programming in C# Sample Chapter

> Do I?)
Yes
Wednesday, September 03, 2003 1:03 AM by Bruce

# re: Communication is key

I'm sitting here blogging next to my wife in bed, and totally agreeing with you. Yet, I seem to still be blogging?
Wednesday, September 03, 2003 5:00 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Communication is key

Heh. I could never do that. Not that I don't won't to. I *could't*.
Wednesday, September 03, 2003 1:54 PM by satish

# re: Free ADO.NET book chapter

it is good
Wednesday, September 03, 2003 9:14 PM by Sam Gentile

# re: Israel Visual Basic User Group today - on ADO.Net

> You don't have to be a VB programmer to learn about .Net. It's about the framework anyway
>

Yes! Bravo! I wish more people would grok this...
Thursday, September 04, 2003 4:24 AM by Mahesh

# re: Books to buy

May I suggest Essential ASP.NET, or is it that you are not into Web based apps?
Thursday, September 04, 2003 4:36 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Books to buy

I'll have to check. If we don't have it I'll recommend it.
Thursday, September 04, 2003 6:34 AM by Duncan

# re: Books to buy

That's a lot of books - opening a library?

Other books you might find useful are "Code complete" (MS Press), "Professional VB.Net" (Wrox) and "Data structures and algorithms" (?Prentice Hall?)
Thursday, September 04, 2003 7:21 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Books to buy

Dancan - no just refreshing the current stock. We have code complete. I'll check out the third book you mentioned though. thanks.
Thursday, September 04, 2003 7:32 AM by Slavomir Furman

# re: Books to buy

Hi!

few more tips:

"Refactoring" by Martin Fowler

"The Unified Modeling Language User Guide"
by Grady Booch,James Rumbaugh,Ivar Jacobson

"Writing Secure Code"
by Michael Howard, David LeBlanc

regards,
Slavo.
Thursday, September 04, 2003 8:13 AM by Sam Gentile

# re: Books to buy

Nice list Roy. I agree with all of them and if you are assembling a complete software development lib, I echo "Code Complete" and "Refactoring" as absolute must-haves. I echo "Essential ASP.NET" as a must-have. A must-have I didn't see is "Design Patterns" by Gamma, Helm, Johnson, Vlissides (the GOF book).
Thursday, September 04, 2003 10:47 AM by Yosi Taguri

# re: Congratulations Lior!

don't forget you're invited
Thursday, September 04, 2003 10:55 AM by Jesse Ezell

# re: Books to buy

GOF

Modern Structed Analysis (Edward Yourdon)
Thursday, September 04, 2003 3:10 PM by Jamie Cansdale

# re: Books to buy

Microsoft .NET Remoting - Scott McLean

If you ever do stuff with Remoting/Contexts this is a must (even if you've got Ingo's book).
Thursday, September 04, 2003 7:10 PM by Shannon J Hager

# re: MSDN could have had me

you have a blog, hit up Scoble!
Friday, September 05, 2003 1:52 AM by Duncan Mackenzie (MSDN)

# re: MSDN could have had me

Scoble has nothing to do with MSDN, but feel free to email Kent Sharkey (http://weblogs.asp.net/ksharkey) who is the Content Strategist for ASP.NET and Visual Studio... myself (Visual Basic and Visual C#)...

Friday, September 05, 2003 6:23 AM by Paul Gielens

# re: Unit testing links, and NUnit Add-in rocks

Roy get yourself this book:

Beck. Test Driven Development: By Example. Addison Wesley, 2003

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0321146530/104-6118467-1794354?v=glance

Good initiative a study group within your company. I’m certainly at the wrong place atm cause I would not get anyone motivated besides myself to do anything like that.

Share your findings will ya.
Friday, September 05, 2003 8:27 AM by Jamie Cansdale

# re: Unit testing links, and NUnit Add-in rocks

Wow, thanks for the recomendation. You've made me feel guilty for neglecting NUnit Add-In. I've got plenty of ideas for improvements. I'll get back into it as soon as the new Managed Add-Ins is out the door. Hopefully by then writing add-ins will be painless enough so that other people will want to join the project... ;)
Friday, September 05, 2003 6:57 PM by the querier

# re: The Imposter Syndrome: Feeling Like A Fraud

The ( perfectly correct) belief that you're 'fooling' others comes from a surfeit of intelligence. If you're sufficiently dumb, you'll just think you're rather clever.
Friday, September 05, 2003 11:56 PM by Dave Burke

# re: Pics from the new office

Hey, Roy. I'm not seeing the pics, dude. When I go directly to the jpg. URLs I'm getting: Forbidden You don't have permission to access /royo/albums/Identify/view1.thumb.jpg on this server....
Saturday, September 06, 2003 2:42 AM by Julien CHEYSSIAL

# re: Pics from the new office

Hi Roy, pics are not displayed !
Saturday, September 06, 2003 6:32 PM by Dave

# re: Usability vs. Beauty

Couldn't have said it better myself Roy. A major component of usability is keeping to standards.

You can have the most beautiful marketing website in the world - many come to mind - but if nobody can figure out what you are selling and how to buy it in 2 minutes and 3 pageclicks you are toast. Granted, product usability is different, but the same does hold true from version-to-version.
Sunday, September 07, 2003 1:20 AM by Korby Parnell

# re: MSDN could have had me

And if you can't get in through the front door, give me a holler.
Sunday, September 07, 2003 10:00 AM by Paschal

# re: Israel .NET web User Group meeting at September 10th - Performance & Caching

It's a pity that teleportation doesn't exist yet, I will be so happy to be there ;-)

Beam it up Roy !
Sunday, September 07, 2003 1:47 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Israel .NET web User Group meeting at September 10th - Performance & Caching

Heh Paschal. Yeah - no teleportation sucks ;-)
Sunday, September 07, 2003 7:17 PM by ICE COLD KILLERS

# re: Drag 'n Drop Performance Counters!

hi there
Sunday, September 07, 2003 7:43 PM by John Watson

# re: Can we have this for the PDC as well?

Roy, they are making them available but this is America, remember? You can purchase the entire PDC conference on DVD for $199 :-/
Sunday, September 07, 2003 8:34 PM by Marc LaFleur

# re: Can we have this for the PDC as well?

Wow, very cool.
Monday, September 08, 2003 4:40 AM by TrackBack

# The OLE syndrom

Monday, September 08, 2003 10:03 AM by G. Andrew Duthie

# re: The OLE syndrom

Y'know...I was thinking something similar. It's one thing to be humble, but to suggest that one's own writing wasn't "created by my own power" goes a little beyond humility.

I used to speak similarly of my writing, saying that I was just lucky to have been given the opportunities that I was. Then a good friend responded with "lots of people have opportunities...you acted on them."

Life is part opportunity, part luck, part timing, and a big part...hard work. It's kind of a shame that Brockschmidt seems reluctant to credit himself with the hard work that was doubtless necessary to get him where he was. I sincerely doubt that it all "just happened" to him, but that's the impression one gets from reading that passage.
Monday, September 08, 2003 12:05 PM by Brenton House

# re: Why people are not into RSS readers

Maybe microsoft will purchase NewsGator and integrate the features into Outlook...
Monday, September 08, 2003 12:18 PM by Addy Santo

# re: BuildIt

Nant is probably the best known and most flexible. Personally I really don't like Build-IT since it uses VS solutions to compile. Be aware that in order to really benefit from a good build tool you will need to invest a suprising amount of time and effort integrating it in your dev org.
Monday, September 08, 2003 12:32 PM by Kenny Lamoot

# re: Why people are not into RSS readers

Feed-Me.Info is a web based news reader, that isn't talking about RSS.

You have one or more 'Views'

You add 'News Feeds' to a 'View'.

'News Feeds' contain News Items.

A user can create his own view on the web, where the source is not that important, but the content is.

Putting these News Feeds into categories, which is called the 'News Directory', and I believe we getting closer to non-tech people.

I try to ban the word RSS from the site, which is not always easy.

Maybe you should try it out, and start creating your view on the web!
Monday, September 08, 2003 3:22 PM by Peter Provost

# re: BuildIt

Just use CruiseControl.NET and you'll be happy.

http://www.continuousintegration.net

--Peter
Monday, September 08, 2003 6:33 PM by Joe Grossberg

# re: Why people are not into RSS readers

"Actually all this will happen when we stop talking about “RSS” and start calling it a more people friendly name."

A people-friendly name for the format ... like, um, "mp3"?

Yeah, that sh*t's going nowhere until they come up with a marketable name. ;)

I would also take your analogy further and say RSS readers are the <i>circa-1999 Linuxes</i> of today's data clients.
Tuesday, September 09, 2003 4:32 AM by TrackBack

# Issues and solutions with Process and Request Identity in ASP.NET

Tuesday, September 09, 2003 7:54 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: BuildIt

Will do!
Tuesday, September 09, 2003 9:27 AM by Dustin Mihalik

# re: X1 is cool

You might try forcing it to "index all new files" in the options menu. I found that it did not index all my files at first. I set it up to index files overnight, and all my files were there the next day. You can also set how much it indexes in different directories, so if you dont need full-text search on some stuff you can turn it off.
Tuesday, September 09, 2003 9:44 AM by TrackBack

# Geek TV and more

Tuesday, September 09, 2003 9:50 AM by TrackBack

# Paired Programming

Tuesday, September 09, 2003 12:21 PM by Michael Favro

# re: NerdTV

Then you'll love the Multi-University/Research Laboratory Seminar Series at http://murl.microsoft.com/default.asp. It contains the UW CSE Colloquia Series from past years, as well as other research and lecture series.
Tuesday, September 09, 2003 1:27 PM by Dave Burke

# re: Issues and solutions with Process and Request Identity in ASP.NET

You're right, as usual, Roy. This is an excellent KB article. Thanks!
Tuesday, September 09, 2003 2:08 PM by TrackBack

# What do I subscribe to? Get the OPML

Wednesday, September 10, 2003 4:59 AM by TrackBack

# More geeky streaming lectures

Wednesday, September 10, 2003 9:04 AM by Paschal

# re: Issue and solution: Web custom control not showing in designer with "Security Error" tooltip

Roy your wife seems also to be smarter than you he he ;-))) (just joking)
She should have her own weblog here ;-)
BTW your picture on the left column doesn't show up maybe a problem with the link ?!?
Wednesday, September 10, 2003 9:30 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Issue and solution: Web custom control not showing in designer with "Security Error" tooltip

The picture shows fine at some places and disappears in other places. I have no idea why :(
Wednesday, September 10, 2003 9:52 AM by TrackBack

# Israeli .Net web casts

Wednesday, September 10, 2003 10:24 AM by Paschal

# re: Issue and solution: Web custom control not showing in designer with "Security Error" tooltip

I checked the link. I think you should try this link instead

http://pnavy.com/royo/albums/Me/Office2.jpg

This one seems to be perfect ;-)

It's probably because on the current link some access privileges are not properly setup on the folder itself.

BTW don't you have some shame to have your pictures on a Apache server rather than a good Windows server ? ;-))
Wednesday, September 10, 2003 7:00 PM by Dumky

# Some more links to streaming video

I have aggregated a bunch of similar links a couple of weeks back. http://blog.monstuff.com/archives/000099.html
Thursday, September 11, 2003 12:09 PM by tom

# re: X1 is cool

test
Thursday, September 11, 2003 1:35 PM by SeanB

# re: Document outline

Hey Thanks! I never noticed the script outline before.
Thursday, September 11, 2003 2:17 PM by Rai Umair

# re: Geeky lectures - part III

Check Rai Umair's Blog = <a href="http://dotnetrai.blogspot.com">Managed|Core</a>
Thursday, September 11, 2003 2:22 PM by Rai Umair

# re: Geeky lectures - part III

Check Rai Umair's Blog = <a href="http://dotnetrai.blogspot.com">Managed|Core</a>
Friday, September 12, 2003 4:42 AM by dfg

# re: UML Tutorial

dfg
Saturday, September 13, 2003 11:25 AM by Carl Franklin

# re: .Net Rocks Rocks, INETA, and Starting A User Group

Hey, I have some Music only MP3s at http://www.pwop.com !

Check em out, and thanks for the kind words!

Carl
Saturday, September 13, 2003 1:01 PM by Jonathan Cogley

# re: Asynchronous ASP.Net actions suck?

I like to use Remote Scripting in these situations which allows you to call back (poll) to the server to track progress without refreshing the page. Then I simply update a DHTML progress bar with the results.
I have done this in ASP
http://msdn.microsoft.com/scripting/remotescripting/default.htm
and continue to do it in ASP.NET
http://www.thycotic.com/dotnet_remotescripting.html

Another alternative which would be a little tedious would be to write an applet that connects back to the server and listens for "push" updates regarding the status. This obviously would have scalability implications though due to the persistent connection.
Saturday, September 13, 2003 8:51 PM by SBC

# re: Happy Anniversary, honey. I love you.

Congrats Roy... wishing you many more...
Sunday, September 14, 2003 7:17 AM by x

# re: Interesting research

wow, i could read that as fast as a normal sentence :)
Sunday, September 14, 2003 8:13 AM by Yosi Taguri

# re: Interesting research

amazing !!!!
Sunday, September 14, 2003 10:48 AM by Scott Galloway

# re: Interesting research

Pretty remarkable...maybe my bad spelling isn't so much of a problem as I've always thought :-)
Sunday, September 14, 2003 10:50 AM by TrackBack

# This is very interesting - maybe bad speling doesn't matter!

Sunday, September 14, 2003 10:59 AM by Duane Mohney

# re: Interesting research

Wow, that is remarkable. I didn't even slow down to read that.
Sunday, September 14, 2003 2:32 PM by Dumky

# re: Interesting research

This thing must be a social engineered virus, it gets forwarded by email like crazy and blogged too ;-)
Sunday, September 14, 2003 5:37 PM by Martin Liversage

# Let's have some fun

Wll, hw abt wtht an wvls excpt if th frst lttr is a wvl? Lk arbc nd ivrt.

Let's try this again...

Wlel, how aoubt wthiout any wvoles ecxpet if the frist lteter is a woevl? Lkie arbaic and ivirt.

Was that better?
Sunday, September 14, 2003 7:26 PM by Alper

# re: Interesting research

Eevn i am not ntavie Elingsh sepaikng preosn i culod raed!

but it is no easy to write words by changing order :-)
Sunday, September 14, 2003 7:40 PM by TrackBack

# tihs is azamnig!

Sunday, September 14, 2003 8:13 PM by SBC

# re: Interesting research

hmm... doesn't work in Scrabble though...
;-)

(New England Region College Scrabble Champion '83 '84)
Sunday, September 14, 2003 8:18 PM by Doug Ferguson

# re: IsNumeric() hell

In the .NET Framework you can do a lot of string operations with RegEx.

A Google search on "isnumeric regex" turned up an example at:

http://www.aspalliance.com/olson/methods/IsNumeric.aspx
Monday, September 15, 2003 1:22 AM by Rajesh

# re: Interesting research

Very interesting .. I could read with same pace.
Monday, September 15, 2003 1:23 AM by Paul Gielens

# re: Interesting research

Welcome to a technique used in speed reading.
Monday, September 15, 2003 4:14 AM by Emad

# re: About Roy Osherove

Hi
Best Wishes to You and your family,and all people in the world who have bright heart .
I am Iranian programmer and Muslim but not fundmental .
i wishes a world full fill peace.
Monday, September 15, 2003 6:38 AM by kalpesh soni

# re: Interesting research

thismiz wasmoz a rismeal fusmun
Monday, September 15, 2003 9:25 AM by Uwe Thomas

# re: Interesting research

This could be a new simple kind of cryptography. The text is readable by every person but not by machines. E.G. Google would'nt index these texts approprately and spam filters couldn't filter appropriately.
Interesting
Monday, September 15, 2003 9:47 AM by TrackBack

# WatchmanCole's Watch Tower Archives

WatchmanCole's Watch Tower Archives
Monday, September 15, 2003 11:39 AM by Mike

# re: Interesting research

Great news for dyslexics!
Monday, September 15, 2003 12:34 PM by Xavier Lazard

# re: IsNumeric() hell

I was going to say that many of the methods listed in the discussion would not take into account numbers written in an exponential format. However the methods listed in Doug Ferguson's link would.
Monday, September 15, 2003 2:45 PM by Phil

# re: IsNumeric() hell

I just reference the MS.VB dll, or you can use Double.TryParse().
Monday, September 15, 2003 3:31 PM by Raj

# re: "Could not open in Design view. Quote values differently..." solved!

Thanks Guys , the above change from " to ' on an image tag helped me get back to the design view.

Thanks again,

Raj
Monday, September 15, 2003 4:02 PM by Chad Osgood

# re: IsNumeric() hell

I'm Chad from the Tulsa DNUG (also the recently enigmatic blogger), so I extend my appreciation for any value you derived from the discussion :)
Monday, September 15, 2003 4:29 PM by Jeff Julian

# re: I'm in the "contributor spotlight" on MSDNAA

Congrats! My DNJ articles will be up on MSDNAA in a week or so. Give you a little competition.
Monday, September 15, 2003 4:40 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: I'm in the "contributor spotlight" on MSDNAA

Heh. You know what they say about a writer's competition.... :)
Monday, September 15, 2003 5:42 PM by Xavier Lazard

# re: IsNumeric() hell

a possible Hybrid implementation:

public bool IsNumeric(object s)
{
if ( s is decimal )
{
return true;
}
if ( s is int )
{
return true;
}
if ( s is short )
{
return true;
}
if ( s is long )
{
return true;
}
if ( s is uint )
{
return true;
}
if ( s is float )
{
return true;
}
if ( s is ulong )
{
return true;
}
if ( s is ushort )
{
return true;
}
if ( s is char )
{
return (((char)s > 57 || (char)s < 48));
}
if (s is string)
{
System.Double OutputValue;
return System.Double.TryParse((string) s,
NumberStyles.Any | NumberStyles.AllowHexSpecifier | NumberStyles.AllowHexSpecifier,
CultureInfo.CurrentCulture , out OutputValue );
}

return false;

}
Monday, September 15, 2003 6:06 PM by Billy

# re: Interesting research

cool.
'though I think its a scam that 1, 2, and 3-letter words by default get to remain the same. :-p
Monday, September 15, 2003 9:08 PM by TrackBack

# Word letter order

Monday, September 15, 2003 9:18 PM by Frank Boumphrey

# re: Interesting research

It even works if you only read the top half of the letters (if the font is serifed)

This also semi works
a*******g to a r********h at an E*****h u********y, it d****'t m****r in w**t o***r the l****rs in a w**d are, the o**y i*******t t***g is t**t f***t and l**t l****r is at the r***t p***e.
Monday, September 15, 2003 11:23 PM by Jesse Ezell

# re: Interesting research

Which makes something like this:

https://www.fcukfragrance.com/retail2002/main.htm

a very interestingly named product...
Tuesday, September 16, 2003 1:43 AM by Ryan Cromwell

# re: Interesting research

Thatis by far the coolest thing I've seen in 2003. And it's almost the end of the year. You've easily overtaken the Anything into Oil article from discover... http://www.discover.com/may_03/featoil.html
Tuesday, September 16, 2003 2:28 AM by Yura2000

# re: I'm in the "contributor spotlight" on MSDNAA

Great!
The article is really worth.
Cnogratluatoins! :-)
Tuesday, September 16, 2003 2:59 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Interesting research

Ugh. That's one gory picture in that article!
Tuesday, September 16, 2003 7:40 AM by Richard

# re: Interesting research

totally amazing
Tuesday, September 16, 2003 11:57 AM by IM

# re: VB.Net Whidbey Nuggets

As an ex-VB3/5/6 programmer (hallelujah for .NET!), I can assure you that nothing will coax me back into using good ol VB, now that excellent nu C# is an option.
Not even job-saving productivity :-)
Tuesday, September 16, 2003 1:03 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: VB.Net Whidbey Nuggets

You'll come around. I did. I used C# almost solely for a year and then "re-discovered" VB.Net for it's coolness and ease of use.
It's about knowing what to use at the right time. You'll find that a lot of things have changed. It's safe to return :)
Wednesday, September 17, 2003 4:11 AM by Gary Brewer

# re: Interesting research

Here's a very hack and slash program to do it (it doesn't like punctuation) -



using System;
using System.IO;


class go {
public go(string file) {
StreamReader sr=File.OpenText(file);
string[] v=sr.ReadToEnd().Replace("\n","").Replace("\r","").Split(new char[]{' '});

Random r=new Random();

foreach(string str in v) {
// jumble the letters
char[] chars=str.ToCharArray();

for(int x=1;x<str.Length-1;x++) {
int rindex=r.Next(str.Length-2)+1;
char temp=chars[rindex];
chars[rindex]=chars[x];
chars[x]=temp;
}
Console.Write(chars);
Console.Write(" ");
}

}


public static void Main(string[] args) {
new go(args[0]);
}
}
Wednesday, September 17, 2003 6:47 PM by Darren Neimke

# re: Feeds of interest

Hi Roy... don't forget the regexlib.com feed ;-)

http://www.regexlib.com/Rss.aspx
Wednesday, September 17, 2003 6:57 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Feeds of interest

Done! (notice the suggestion..)
Wednesday, September 17, 2003 10:28 PM by TrackBack

# Have you even done unit testing?

Wednesday, September 17, 2003 11:03 PM by Devdutt Dave

# re: Interesting research

Wow....what a beauty.....in future no teacher to mark the spelling mistakes with red pen ink.
Wednesday, September 17, 2003 11:14 PM by Ray Jezek

# re: XP is still widely unknown black magic

You're view of XP has to be flexible though. For instance we could never do pairs programming because there are only 3 of us... hard to justify in that case.. but you can still follow the other principles of XP (such as work environment, interaction, and delivery schedule).
Wednesday, September 17, 2003 11:42 PM by Darren Neimke

# re: Feeds of interest

Thanks Roy - I'll take a look at that tonight. FYI, Steve (Smith) and I also plan to add a feed for the comments that are received too :-)
Thursday, September 18, 2003 3:53 AM by Chris Martin

# re: XP is still widely unknown black magic

The first thing to write in a method body is something to make your test FAIL! ;)
Thursday, September 18, 2003 3:55 AM by TrackBack

# <br> UnknownReference


UnknownReference
Thursday, September 18, 2003 4:58 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: XP is still widely unknown black magic

Chris - I agree. That's why ASSERTs and Exception throwers are the first thing:)

Ray: I agree. Pair programming is better suited to somewhat bigger teams. But I'm a supporter of even partial implementations, so PP would not have to be THE thing to keep, although it's a great technique for bug proofing and speed coding.
Thursday, September 18, 2003 7:09 AM by Sam Gentile

# re: Happy Anniversary, honey. I love you.

Congrats Roy. Many more to come.
Thursday, September 18, 2003 9:15 AM by TrackBack

# RegexLib.com RSS feeds

Thursday, September 18, 2003 9:27 AM by Dave Burke

# re: RegexLib RSS now even cooler

Wow, Roy. You know how nerdy that sounds? "Now I can sit back and watch for new and cool regexs from the comfort of my aggregator.." Good one!
Thursday, September 18, 2003 10:15 AM by Don

# re: Interesting research

Unbeleavable... I read that post with NO problem...
Thursday, September 18, 2003 10:59 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: RegexLib RSS now even cooler

Yeah. I just realized that. <g>
Thursday, September 18, 2003 5:06 PM by Addy Santo

# re: XmlUnit

Is XmlUnit really necessary? NUnit makes sense since there is no inclusive way to verify code validity other than running it with known input. However XML was specifically designed to be verifiable using DTDs, and later extended to schemas. If your XML doesn't match the schema, it is't valid. period. So what does XmlUnit bring to the table that a validatingReader doesn't do?
Friday, September 19, 2003 6:47 AM by Benjamin Mitchell

# re: XP is still widely unknown black magic

Roy, good to see you pushing the XP approaches in the .NET community. I'm a C# developer in London and there's a great XP community here with meetings every Tuesday in a pub (it's great to drink beer and talk code). Most of the people here are Java/Smalltalk guys. Hardly any Microsoft developers seem to be into ideas like this about how you code, rather than what you code. It's good to see you out in the blog world pushing the case.

It's good to take a critical approach to XP like you're doing (e.g. defensive programming isn't strictly an XP idea but it's still a fundamentally good thing to do). There's a new book on the 'case against XP' which I think is useful at redressing the balance between the hype of the methodology and the benefits of the specific practices. See http://benjaminm.net for more.
Friday, September 19, 2003 8:17 AM by Wenderson Teixeira

# re: Interesting research

By the way, when the word is too big and you scramble it to much, sometimes it doesn't work, for example:
uiilgntebinlle
uaedabrnle
ispbnpeahnierle
icmpesinborhenle
Friday, September 19, 2003 9:46 AM by Nino

# re: Passed MCP 70-316

Congrats, Roy!
Friday, September 19, 2003 9:47 AM by Sean Wilkins

# re: Passed MCP 70-316

How did you find your numeric score? I never got it when I took my 316.

swilkins@volcorp.org
Friday, September 19, 2003 9:51 AM by Sean Wilkins

# re: Passed MCP 70-316

Congrats nontheless!
Friday, September 19, 2003 9:52 AM by Lorenzo Barbieri

# re: Passed MCP 70-316

Congratulations Roy!!!

Sean, from this month they've restarted to show the score on the test report, with all the area of weakness/excellence...
Friday, September 19, 2003 9:53 AM by Phil Scott

# re: Passed MCP 70-316

Congrats! Soon you'll too be a TitleBitch :)
Friday, September 19, 2003 9:56 AM by Lorenzo Barbieri

# re: Passed MCP 70-316

Roy, the Web Service and Components one is harder than the Web Apps test, but all of them can be passed with experience and study...

I liked all the .NET exams because they've forced me to study also parts of the framework that I didn't know...
Friday, September 19, 2003 9:58 AM by Sean Wilkins

# re: Passed MCP 70-316

Lorenzo, thanks - I took my 70-316 in Jan of 2003, thats why, I rem the article now! Roy, I am about to take the web-apps aspect of the MCSD and I have practiced with the Transcenders and it seems to be the best prep for me!

Sean
Friday, September 19, 2003 10:20 AM by Jeff Julian

# re: Passed MCP 70-316

Good Job!
Friday, September 19, 2003 10:39 AM by Eric Kepes

# re: Passed MCP 70-316

Congrats!
Friday, September 19, 2003 1:05 PM by TrackBack

# Hvad skal vi med folkeskolen ?

Friday, September 19, 2003 2:05 PM by Chris Frazier

# re: Passed MCP 70-316

Hellz yeah! (er, congrats:)
Friday, September 19, 2003 3:08 PM by David McNamee

# re: Passed MCP 70-316

Congrats, Roy!!
Friday, September 19, 2003 3:22 PM by Datagrid Girl

# re: Passed MCP 70-316

Congratulations Roy, that must give you a good feeling :) I'm also glad that they're bringing back the numeric scores!

Marcie
Friday, September 19, 2003 6:29 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Passed MCP 70-316

Thanks alot you guys(and gals). :)
Friday, September 19, 2003 7:14 PM by Mathew Nolton

# re: Data Access application block v3.0 has some good stuff

This is good news. I wrote a version of it for the Oracle Data Provider. It worked fine, but I wasn't impressed with my own design. Given the time, I would have wanted to make a version such as this. No I won't have to.
Saturday, September 20, 2003 11:39 AM by Annoyed Blog Subscriber

# re: Ed has returned to the building

Rather than waste my time telling me you're going to get back to blogging, why don't you write up something that might at least be of some value to your subscribers?

Too many blog posts these days are about people getting back to blogging or who they went to dinner with.
Saturday, September 20, 2003 5:54 PM by Addy Santo

# re: Making a decision in 4 seconds (or: How to know what you *really* want to do)

When I'm not sure what I really want to do, I usually ask my wife... "Of course you want to wash the dishes now!" ;)
Saturday, September 20, 2003 7:08 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Ed has returned to the building

Too bad you feel you need to hide behind a nick name to speak your mind. You have to remember that these are personal blogs, and people here (and there) write out of their own time and pocket. If you don't like some of the posts, leaping to the next post is not that time consuming. Instead of bitching about how annoyin this is, why don't you start a blog and make a promise to yourself to awlays write things that you *know* your readers would like to hear?
Sunday, September 21, 2003 4:59 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: XmlUnit

It's not "necessary", but it's easier to test with it. It's just an abstraction on the kind of checks you and I would do anyhow with a validating reader or other things. Nothing wrong with making stuff easier, is there?
Sunday, September 21, 2003 8:48 AM by Marc LaFleur

# re: Looking for a reporting solution for .Net

What do you mean by it "sucks payment wise"?

I have to select a reporting solution next week as well, but I didn't see anything with Crystal that I needed other than the one time price to purchase Crystal Developer. But I'm assuming I missed something in the fine print.
Sunday, September 21, 2003 9:01 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Looking for a reporting solution for .Net

From what I understand, you have royalty payments for each distribution of your product that contains reports. So, you pay for each customer you have as well.
http://www.crystaldecisions.com/products/crystalreports/popups/licensing.htm
Sunday, September 21, 2003 9:50 AM by Yura2000

# re: Passed MCP 70-316

Mazal Tov!
Sunday, September 21, 2003 9:57 AM by Paul Wilson

# re: Looking for a reporting solution for .Net

We just chose Active Reports for .NET (from Data Dynamics). It was definitely cheaper than Crystal in the long run, but it also had some features we liked better, like Xml report definitions and the ability to "brand" the end-user report designer. Other options that were considered were a reporting package from ComponentOne and report add-in for SQL Server. The report add-in for SQL is still in beta, so it wasn't even a possible factor for us, and Active Reports simply has a great history with lots of success stories that the one from ComponentOne couldn't match. I also saw a few others, but they failed obvious criteria and were not considered any further, so I don't even recall their names now.
Sunday, September 21, 2003 10:04 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Looking for a reporting solution for .Net

Excellent! Thanks Paul. You certainly eased my mind in this issue. It's very strange that so few solutiong exist...
Sunday, September 21, 2003 10:31 AM by SBC

# re: Looking for a reporting solution for .Net

Hang in there Roy - SQL2K Reporting Services is coming soon. :)
I'd go with ActiveReports (it also has better support than Crystal).
Sunday, September 21, 2003 10:33 AM by SBC

# re: Looking for a reporting solution for .Net

There's a list at ComponentSource:
http://www.componentsource.com/Catalog/DatabaseReportingComponents.htm
Sunday, September 21, 2003 2:35 PM by TrackBack

# [Article] Introduction to Test-driven development with NUnit and the NUnit-Add-in

Sunday, September 21, 2003 2:39 PM by TrackBack

# Asp.Net Error Handling Part Deux

Sunday, September 21, 2003 5:21 PM by Peter Provost

# re: Introduction to Test-driven development with NUnit and the NUnit-Add-in

Nice article Roy. You really covered this in a nice introductory way. I especially like how you didn't start with NUnit, but showed how to do it without a harness. Nice.

One thing that you missed is the refactoring phase that really should happen after getting a test to go green. That is the point at which you can feel safe about aggressively refactoring because you have tests to prevent you from messing anything up.

Looking ahead, I'm interested in how you intend to address "Testing abstract classes". From a pure TDD standpoint, you don't test abstract classes directly. Abstract classes come into existence due to a refactoring phase. Typically when you find some duplication between two classes that you wish to refactor out, introducing a common base (abstract) class is one choice.

If your tests of the concrete classes were complete enough, then you will get coverage of the base class for free.

Nice work,

Peter
Sunday, September 21, 2003 5:35 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Introduction to Test-driven development with NUnit and the NUnit-Add-in

Peter. Thanks for reading. I didn't show refactoring explicitly because refactoring is a process which has its place in more complex examples. I do intened to show the benefits of TDD and how refactoring fits into this nicely in the next article.
As for testing the abstract classes, it really depened on the situation. Sometimes abstract classes are introduced early in the design phase and not after refactoring. This comes into play mostly when you design and implement frameworks for others to build on. That article will show, among other things, how using Mock objects, derived from the abstract class can help test inner workings and assumptions, but I don't want to give it all away now, do I? :)
Sunday, September 21, 2003 7:40 PM by SBC

# re: Where did the desktops disappear?

Sorry to hear that Roy. Not to be taken aback - let's have another desktop contest! (This time let's make the gallery more secure).
Sunday, September 21, 2003 10:42 PM by Dave Burke

# re: Where did the desktops disappear?

Dude, this is mission critical as it gets. I LOVED those desktops!
Sunday, September 21, 2003 10:51 PM by Jesse Ezell

# re: Where did the desktops disappear?

"DUE TO OUR POPULARITY, PNAVY NEEDS A NEW SERVER, MORE HARD DRIVES, AND MORE BANDWIDTH. I APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE & DELAY! WE HAVE OUTGROWN SERVERS TWICE ALREADY. WE WILL GET A MONSTER SERVER IN THE NEXT COUPLE WEEKS. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO DONATE, IT WOULD BE VERY MUCH APPRECIATED!! THANKS!! RANGER :)"

They probably deleted your stuff...
Monday, September 22, 2003 5:00 AM by Lorenzo Barbieri

# re: Introduction to Test-driven development with NUnit and the NUnit-Add-in

Great article Roy! I'm starting to use NUnit and TDD and I've found a lot of interesting starting points. I'll wait the others!!!
Monday, September 22, 2003 7:52 AM by Mathew Nolton

# re: HOW TO: Encrypt the settings in your web.config

Interesting article. I will have to look into it more.

We took a slightly different approach. We are using the Configuration Block. Since another group owns the credentials for the connection strings to production databases, we just agreed on the keys to use to get into the block. The operations group controls where the data is actually stored and the underlying values.

But I will have to look at this. It looks like something I will have to keep in my backpocket for later use.
-Mathew Nolton
Monday, September 22, 2003 10:40 AM by Ray Jezek

# re: Sharing ASP.NET user controls accross projects

I have seen this article before but never found the solution to be adequate since it adds a whole new application with different session, config, etc.. to the mix... so sharing the control becomes tricky if your doing something more than squiring out html.
Monday, September 22, 2003 12:03 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Sharing ASP.NET user controls across projects

I agree, but I like the notion of it. Perhaps something more useful could be derived out of it.
Maybe using it in conjunction with the caching application block would solve some of these problems as it provides the ability to share state between AppDomains, Processes and even separate machines (but that last one is a real bitch to setup)
Monday, September 22, 2003 1:03 PM by TrackBack

# Securing ASP.NET: use a checklist

Monday, September 22, 2003 1:16 PM by TrackBack

# New blog (to me at least)...Roy Osherove does it again!

Monday, September 22, 2003 2:39 PM by Chris Frazier

# re: Looking for a reporting solution for .Net

+1 for ActiveReports. Support is great, and the reports are highly customizeable - you can make 'em purty.
Monday, September 22, 2003 3:27 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Looking for a reporting solution for .Net

Done! I've recommended it today to my boss. Thanks for all your help guys :)
Monday, September 22, 2003 5:49 PM by Brian Jackson

# re: Nice blog

Roy,

Thanks for the kind words. I've been subscribed to your blog for quite a while, so your encouragement is.... well, encouraging!

Regards,

Brian
Monday, September 22, 2003 6:47 PM by Joon

# re: What the hell...?

the cut, save, and re-paste trick didn't work for me

selecting "rebuild solution" option instead of my usual shift+ctrl+'b' shortcut did fix things though
Monday, September 22, 2003 8:48 PM by TrackBack

# Microsoft Patterns and Practices: Hosting

Monday, September 22, 2003 10:13 PM by SBC

# re: Free chapter from "Essential .Net" by Don Box

Download Ch 2 (Components) here - http://www.aw-bc.com/samplechapter/0201734117.pdf
Certainly a good book.
Tuesday, September 23, 2003 9:39 AM by TrackBack

# I'm available

Tuesday, September 23, 2003 9:39 AM by TrackBack

# I'm available

Tuesday, September 23, 2003 9:59 AM by TrackBack

# I'm available

Tuesday, September 23, 2003 9:59 AM by TrackBack

# I'm available

Tuesday, September 23, 2003 10:29 AM by Scott Galloway

# re: I'm available

My company is hiring...umm...would Edinburgh be too far to commute?
Tuesday, September 23, 2003 10:48 AM by Dave Burke

# re: I'm available

How could you not be the guy this company was looking for?????
Tuesday, September 23, 2003 11:41 AM by Mehran Nikoo

# re: I'm available

I think you should be thinking of celebrating your new year at the moment :)

PS: I am really sorry for that company...
Tuesday, September 23, 2003 3:25 PM by Patrick Steele

# re: I'm available

Sorry to here the new job didn't work out. Good luck on the job hunt!
Tuesday, September 23, 2003 3:27 PM by SBC

# re: I'm available

Roy - you are very talented so hang in there. Think of this as one event that happened for the best. Have a Happy ROSH HASHANAH!
Tuesday, September 23, 2003 3:28 PM by OmegaSupreme

# re: I'm available

Sorry to hear about this Roy, just by reading your blog its obvious you know your stuff. Their loss. Good luck for the future :D
Tuesday, September 23, 2003 3:34 PM by Sam Gentile

# re: I'm available

Sorry to hear that. Here's hoping you can find somethinng real soon now.
Tuesday, September 23, 2003 6:19 PM by Robert Scoble

# re: PDC hype and real actions

It would be, but I looked into doing it, and just ran out of time (doing a contest requires quite a bit of behind the scenes legal work). Our staff here is getting slammed with tasks. Sorry.
Tuesday, September 23, 2003 7:47 PM by Jeffrey E. Moeller

# re: Getting the list of installed programs on the local machine

Hi, you inspired me to try my first windows application.

I created a C# windows application, dragged a button on the form and put your function guts in the button click function.

There were a number of errors in 1.1

the first being:
Cannot implicitly convert type '<error>' to 'System.IDisposable'

Any ideas?
thanks, Jeff
Tuesday, September 23, 2003 8:01 PM by foreigner

# re: Interesting research

I had no problem with 3 of 4.
uilgntebinlle - unintelligible
uaedabrnle - unreadable
ispbnpeahnierle - ???
icmpesinborhenle - incomprehensible
Not a naitve Elgnish skaeper, nor was I eevr good at sbrabcle ;)
Tuesday, September 23, 2003 8:35 PM by Jamie Cansdale

# re: Getting the list of installed programs on the local machine

I'll show you mine, if you show me yours... ;)
Tuesday, September 23, 2003 10:55 PM by SBC

# re: Getting the list of installed programs on the local machine

Note the following in the code (it's a console app)

using Microsoft.Win32; // needed namespace

Call Class1.GetInstalled() in the Main as it's a static call

Put Console.ReadLine() at the end so that the console window stays stationary to read output.

Good little app...
Wednesday, September 24, 2003 8:58 AM by Alexandre Rocco

# re: Getting the list of installed programs on the local machine

Nice snippet, just added a check to see if sk.GetValue("DisplayName") is null so I do not display some entries that is not related to the list! :)

--Alexandre
Wednesday, September 24, 2003 12:04 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Getting the list of installed programs on the local machine

Good thinking, Alexandre!
Wednesday, September 24, 2003 1:46 PM by Carl Franklin

# re: .Net rocks show wants a blog search engine? they got it!

I found out about feedster.com after the show was recorded. I should put a note up there or something...

Carl
Wednesday, September 24, 2003 1:52 PM by The Jeff

# re: The perfect birthday gift

Yeah, that $7,800 does not include the monitor, so we gotta tack on another $3000 for a monitor. Not a bad machine for $10,000.
Wednesday, September 24, 2003 2:41 PM by TrackBack

# Carl and Mark Get Wasted

Thursday, September 25, 2003 7:17 AM by SBC

# re: [Article] Fun with Unit Tests – Testing abstract classes

This may be of interest, I saw this article by Mike Gunderloy - http://www.mcpmag.com/columns/article.asp?EditorialsID=598
Thursday, September 25, 2003 7:19 AM by SBC

# re: Nothing like the smell of new books!

Yup... next to smell of a new car, it's the best! 8-)
I finally picked up Fowler's Refactoring for myself (and gave the borrowed book back).
Thursday, September 25, 2003 7:25 AM by Darren Neimke

# re: AmazReplacer - Convert Amazon's URL into your referrer URL automatically



{snip}
Thanks Roy!

Thursday, September 25, 2003 7:41 AM by SBC

# re: AmazReplacer - Convert Amazon's URL into your referrer URL automatically

Good one Roy. Is there a code chunk in there that invisibly appends 'ISerializable' as a referer (& credits accordingly)?
;-)
Thursday, September 25, 2003 8:26 AM by TrackBack

# <br> Peter Marshall


Peter Marshall
Thursday, September 25, 2003 8:38 AM by TrackBack

# MachL 3.8 Desktop

Thursday, September 25, 2003 9:56 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: AmazReplacer - Convert Amazon's URL into your referrer URL automatically

SBC - my own little trojan? Heh. No but seriously - the source is all these so you can change it.
Thursday, September 25, 2003 10:03 AM by SBC

# re: AmazReplacer - Convert Amazon's URL into your referrer URL automatically

Just kiddin' Roy! You need a dose of Dilbert! Send me your mailing address & I'll send you a Dilbert Cartoon book (I get them at a tremendous discount)...
Regards & keep up the good postings.
Thursday, September 25, 2003 11:25 AM by Scott Galloway

# re: Expresso up to version 1.2 already

Roy, tried to send you an email...never got through (no idea why)...did you receive the other one I sent?(Feel free to delete this comment! - decidedly off topic!)
Thursday, September 25, 2003 11:26 AM by Peter Provost

# re: Introduction to Test-driven development with NUnit and the NUnit-Add-in

RE: Refactoring

I guess my point was that if you do TDD without refactoring, you are only doing half of the process. Sure, refactoring is a large concept but the 5th step of TDD is "Remove Duplication"... i.e. Refactoring. If you only do the first two, you will leave duplication all over the place.

RE: Abstract Classes and Mocks

Sure, I suppose that you need to introduce mocks if it is your expressed purpose to expose abstract classes in a framework for other developers. But if you have implemented a basic concrete class that extends the abstract class, then thorough testing of the concrete class should equal thorough testing of the abstract class.

Also, a number of authors have been noting on the TDD Mailing List lately, that in general the use of mocks should be considered a code smell. If you HAVE to use mocks, perhaps the code isn't clear enough. I'm not sure how I stand on that particular issue, but it certainly makes you think.

Again... excellent work.

Thanks.
Thursday, September 25, 2003 11:31 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Expresso up to version 1.2 already

Just sent you a reply :)
Thursday, September 25, 2003 12:01 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: AmazReplacer - Convert Amazon's URL into your referrer URL automatically

Dilbert huh? I happen to subscribe to the dilbert RSS feed:
http://dwlt.net/tapestry/dilbert.rdf
Thursday, September 25, 2003 12:35 PM by Hugh Brown

# re: AmazReplacer - Convert Amazon's URL into your referrer URL automatically

FWIW, you can shorten
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/...
to
http://www.amazon.com/o/...
Thursday, September 25, 2003 12:42 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: AmazReplacer - Convert Amazon's URL into your referrer URL automatically

Thanks Hugh! :)
Thursday, September 25, 2003 3:06 PM by Scott Mitchell

# re: AmazReplacer - Convert Amazon's URL into your referrer URL automatically

FYI, I'm getting server timeout error messages when trying to download...
Thursday, September 25, 2003 3:54 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: AmazReplacer - Convert Amazon's URL into your referrer URL automatically

Scott: Yeah. I'm having some sort of DNS problem I think :(
Thursday, September 25, 2003 4:17 PM by Peter Provost

# re: Expresso up to version 1.2 already

Looks like your post crushed their Brinkster account. :)

I guess I'll have to wait for a day or so to get it, eh?
Thursday, September 25, 2003 4:24 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Expresso up to version 1.2 already

Huh! Who would have known :)
I can mail it to ya if you like.
it's only 200 k or so.
Thursday, September 25, 2003 4:47 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: AmazReplacer - Convert Amazon's URL into your referrer URL automatically

Ok I fixed it. The download works now :)
Thursday, September 25, 2003 4:57 PM by Rachel Reese

# re: The perfect birthday gift

I think I'm adding "will work for mach L 3.8 Desktop" to my business cards. I so have to get one.

Thursday, September 25, 2003 5:20 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: The perfect birthday gift

Heh. Good one Rachel :)
Let me know if it works. I'll try it myself.
Thursday, September 25, 2003 5:53 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Expresso up to version 1.2 already

Ok. You can download it from my server. Here's the direct link:
http://royo.is-a-geek.com/files/tools/Expresso12.zip

I'll delete this in 24 hours
Thursday, September 25, 2003 6:51 PM by Andres Aguiar

# re: Nothing like the smell of new books!

The COM+ one is baaad, cancel it if you can and change it for something more interesting ;)
Thursday, September 25, 2003 7:11 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Nothing like the smell of new books!

Really? I heard very good things about it!
Thursday, September 25, 2003 9:37 PM by SBC

# re: AmazReplacer - Convert Amazon's URL into your referrer URL automatically

Subscribed! Thanks for RSS Feed.
Friday, September 26, 2003 4:43 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: AmazReplacer - Convert Amazon's URL into your referrer URL automatically

Rss feed?
Friday, September 26, 2003 9:28 AM by SBC

# re: AmazReplacer - Convert Amazon's URL into your referrer URL automatically

The Dilbert feed mentioned by you above - http://dwlt.net/tapestry/dilbert.rdf
'A Dilbert a day, .....'
8-)
Friday, September 26, 2003 9:30 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: AmazReplacer - Convert Amazon's URL into your referrer URL automatically

Boy I'm getting old. Forgot about that..
Friday, September 26, 2003 11:35 AM by Hugh Brown

# re: AmazReplacer - Convert Amazon's URL into your referrer URL automatically

Your HTML markup is missing some of the actual code because the code contains characters that should be escaped. For example, book.Groups["book"] refers to a section in the regular expression named 'book'. However, the code aboove does not show any <book> section.

The code in your ZIP file looks like this:
const string pattern = @".*(ASIN|tg/detail/-)/(?<book>.\d*)/.*";
Your code above reads like this:
const string pattern = .*(ASIN|tg/detail/-)/(?.\d*)/.*";

I'm not sure why your leading @ and " are missing, but I think you just have to escape the < and > to get <book> back.


Friday, September 26, 2003 12:52 PM by Josh Ledgard

# re: Testing nirvana

Thanks for the positive feedback. I'm glad you enjoyed my entry. Just one clarification: The book is not at testing book or specific to any discipline. It's more about the process of understanding how to identify the strengths needed to be succesfull and managing towards those strengths. I just think you can apply the formulas well towards the problems space of running a test team. Thanks, again,
josh
Friday, September 26, 2003 4:18 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Testing nirvana

Thanks for the clarification, josh :)
Friday, September 26, 2003 4:54 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: AmazReplacer - Convert Amazon's URL into your referrer URL automatically

My fault for changing stuff manually inside the post istead of copy-pasting..
Will fix it. Thanks :)
Friday, September 26, 2003 6:14 PM by Dave

# re: Pay for my PDC?

I found this insulting actually. Okay, Phillip says Dave is one of the best developers he's ever worked with. Yet the guy is so destitute he can swing paying for himself? And exactly what does he do when his 'donations' total only US$1000? Rebate everyone? Take a long weekend in the Bahamas?

Very very few attendees at this PDC really belong there. The only ones that do are those who are involved with developing products with release dates coinciding with releases of the MS products. To all others they can learn just as much - and more - by reading up on all the blogging being done by those attendees and having hands-on with the betas (which BTW are likely not being given out as most are just alpha bits). Obviously Dave's employer made a strategic decision that their developers belong in the group of us who do not need to attend.

I made a personal prediction the other day. Wave one of blogging will be ecstatic in nature over the "cool" things being presented. Wave two will be the inevitable backlash of postings from many who discover they were misled and are previewing some very UNREADY software. Wave three will be postings that realize the biggest reason one should attend is really unrelated to the "cool" things... instead the networking potential and realization.

Problem is, way too many are going for the "cool" things only. They don't realize previewing early alpha bits is relatively meaningless to one's career compared to concrete development of solutions.
Friday, September 26, 2003 6:27 PM by Darren Neimke

# re: Pay for my PDC?

Roy, I agree 100% with Dave. The long and short of it is that there will be more shows like this and, if this guy cannot afford to go to this years big event then, he should start saving up for next years.

I'm in pretty much the same boat as you are - I live in Australia. As you know, many of the really cool shows are in the US; which costs people like us "an arm and a leg" to attend. I was lucky enough to have saved enough money to attend a "cool" show in Redmond earlier this year and I'm currently saving again so that I can afford to go to 1 US show of my choice next year too. No pain - no gain! :-)
Friday, September 26, 2003 7:03 PM by Dave Bettin

# re: Pay for my PDC?

I am sorry this insults you. But I actually think I belong in this "select group", considering my comany is part of the beta program for the Speech SDK and server and will be utilizing BizTalk 2004 when it is released.

Anyway, when it comes down to it Roy is 100%correct in saying that it is practically impossible for this to work. But it doesn't hurt to try. Maybe Microsoft will suprise me and give me a free registration pass.
Friday, September 26, 2003 7:05 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Pay for my PDC?

I think the only viable reason to object to something like this would be because it might generate a chain reaction of other poeple begging. we do *NOT* want that, do we?
If I really look at it, I get upset seeing people begging because internally I feel "Hey, If he gets money like that why should I have to work for it?". But sometimes You just can't put yourself in the same situation as other people. You can't truly judge someone if they should or should not go to the PDC. You're not in their shoes. Maybe the big company he works in is too stupid to realize the value of sending someone to the PDC from its ranks. Maybe he really should be there because he's one of those guys that you *know* should be there. Whatever. fact is, I'm trying not to judge someone other than me in this situation because I might be totally and utterly wrong. So , I give them the benefit of the doubt. If they feel they should be asking for donations, let them. No skin off my nose.
Friday, September 26, 2003 7:08 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Pay for my PDC?

Oh I see dave bettin has written his comment. Good for you dave. I may not be 100% behind you on that course of action, but hey, I may be totally and utterly wrong. I see blogging as oppertunity land, and Bettin is just catching some oppertunities. Everyone else can either love it or leave it. I like that.
Friday, September 26, 2003 7:16 PM by Dave Bettin

# re: Pay for my PDC?

Also, please don't take this to seriously. Its a great way to generate traffic to my new site.
Friday, September 26, 2003 8:11 PM by Jason

# re: Pay for my PDC?

It would seem some company named Verisign already owns that domain...

(tongue planted firmly in cheek)
Friday, September 26, 2003 8:29 PM by SBC

# re: Google Code Jam 2003

Go for it, Roy!
Friday, September 26, 2003 8:50 PM by Christophe Lauer

# re: Google Code Jam 2003

Too bad, we French guys cannot compete ;-(
Friday, September 26, 2003 9:04 PM by Phil

# re: Google Code Jam 2003

Try the topcoder sample problems first to see how you score.
Friday, September 26, 2003 11:23 PM by Dave

# re: Pay for my PDC?

Dave, I'll post a final comment here only and not your weblog only because... well, at first I was going to say it fits here best, but come to think of it I will also add that I feel no desire to add to the traffic on your site. (Please, nothing personal meant, let me explain.)

I was wrong when I used the word insult. It implies something much more personal than I ever meant. The insult I felt was an insult to my intelligence over this whole hype on the PDC. I commented quite a bit about a month ago on this in various places and have refrained since - until now.

Without sounding judgemental of you and your position in any personal manner... the context from which you speak simply amazes me. Maybe you belong in this "select group" like you say, but I believe I can safely say two things.

First, your employer doesn't think so. At least they feel they won't receive enough payback from paying your way. Maybe they are correct in this - in which case it must be only your opinion that your presense there is almost mandatory. Maybe they are incorrect about this - in which case I have to ask why haven't you found better employment.

Second, if you truely do belong in this select group due to your talents - and please, I'm not saying you aren't in this group - then you must not really be doing something right. Either you are grossly undercutting your worth and being paid a small fraction of what you should be, or you simply do not know how to attain personal financial goals. Part of the 'Career Calculus' concept means taking responsibility for your own career and that includes spending that $5000 wisely - including on the PDC if you are a "select group" developer and it has value for you.

No matter what though, I wish you well and I apologize for my poor choice of words.
Saturday, September 27, 2003 3:42 PM by Kofi Sarfo

# re: What the hell...?

how odd.
Sunday, September 28, 2003 7:48 PM by TrackBack

# [New article]: Creating a generic Site-To-RSS tool (site scraping)

Sunday, September 28, 2003 8:09 PM by TrackBack

# [New article]: Creating a generic Site-To-RSS tool (site scraping)

Sunday, September 28, 2003 8:15 PM by Scott Watermasysk

# re: [New article]: Creating a generic Site-To-RSS tool (site scraping)

Hi Roy,

1. DotnetWire already has a feed: http://dotnetwire.com/newsfeed/rss/

2. I would not recommend hosting a feed the scrapes someone else's site. If a site (such as DotNetWire) wanted to provide its content via RSS, they would. Many of these sites only revenue stream is through page views. Hosting something like this is effectively stealing from them. For your own personal use, I see no harm.

-Scott
Sunday, September 28, 2003 8:26 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: [New article]: Creating a generic Site-To-RSS tool (site scraping)

Scott: Oops! Ok. I won't host it. But it's still a great excercise! :)
Sunday, September 28, 2003 8:43 PM by Scott Watermasysk

# re: [New article]: Creating a generic Site-To-RSS tool (site scraping)

Absolutely. For internal/personal use I think it is a great idea. Companies that want to make use of RSS, but don't have the time to create the feeds can probably make a lot of use out of it.

yole used to have a feature in Syndirella which did this for you.
Sunday, September 28, 2003 9:34 PM by Randy H.

# re: [New article]: Creating a generic Site-To-RSS tool (site scraping)

Roy- don't be down. This is a great idea and good effort, glad to see the work you did here.
Monday, September 29, 2003 7:17 AM by TrackBack

# Extreme Programming (Intro)

Monday, September 29, 2003 8:10 AM by Eric

# re: Am I the stereotypical VB programmer?

Matthew said:

-----------------------
It's also very cool

public class myClass {

private bool myBool;

public MyBool {

set {
myBool = value
}
get {
return myBool
}
}

---------------------
There is so much to say about case sensitivity from a psychological point of view that I wont even start. Suffice it to say that its NOT cool. Matthew, here is your code again only this time it will cause a stack overflow every time you set the MyBool property:

----
public class myClass {

private bool myBool;

public MyBool {

set {
MyBool = value
}
get {
return myBool
}
}
-----

Go ahead. Run it and see what happens when you create an instance of myClass and do "myVar.MyBool = False". Now without using the debugger to step through the code, try and work out what's going on :). Now throw in several thousand lines of code, a few differences in the way your programmers use case-sensitivity in identifiers and voila! - CHAOS.

Monday, September 29, 2003 9:22 AM by SBC

# re: [New article]: Creating a generic Site-To-RSS tool (site scraping)

Roy.. good stuff.. you the man..
Monday, September 29, 2003 10:20 AM by TrackBack

# <br> Jim Meeker


Jim Meeker
Monday, September 29, 2003 10:40 AM by Sam Gentile

# re: Engineering Notebook: An Extreme Programming Episode

Good post Roy. Glad to see you are looking into XP. I was one of the original XP people (credited in Ron Jefferies and Kent's books). I am a huge proponent of XP. You may be interested in some of the XP postings on my blog - you can use the Software Development category. I admire your constast quest to learn new things - keep it up.
Monday, September 29, 2003 10:51 AM by Addy Santo

# re: Pay for my PDC?

This reminds me of the spoof emails from a few years back with the beggar holding the "know HTML, will code for food" sign.

Monday, September 29, 2003 11:22 AM by Drew Robbins

# re: [New article]: Creating a generic Site-To-RSS tool (site scraping)

Great article. I need something like this on the backend of PDCBloggers.net to track blogs that do not have RSS feeds.
Monday, September 29, 2003 11:44 AM by Vijay

# re: Creating a generic Site-To-RSS tool

Really cool ! Great article Roy :)
Monday, September 29, 2003 11:55 AM by id

# Assembly.Load()

It is probably worth stating in the beginning of the article that unless a dynamic update of plugins is required "Assembly.Load(string path)" will do the job. In other words, unless the application is required to allow updating loaded plugins without restarting it (e.g. it's a server) there is no need to resort to a complex loading/unloading routine.

I know it is mentioned in the linked article on MSDN but for a new user reading this article it might appear that using AppDomain-based loading is the only way of loading plugins dynamicaly, therefore it might be useful re-iterating it in the beginning.

Hope it's useful.

ID
Monday, September 29, 2003 9:35 PM by Damian

# re: PDC hype is really really really annoying!

Roy

Just as you can post what you like on your weblog, if someone wants to post about PDC on their weblog, they can.

If you don't like it, don't read them. It's really that simple.
Monday, September 29, 2003 9:37 PM by Robert Scoble

# re: PDC hype is really really really annoying!

Roy,

As the PDC hypster #1, I agree.

Let's just share what we know.

Plus, it invites people to try to get you to leak what you do know if you admit to knowing anyway. And, it puts you on the radar screens of the NDA police.

Part of this is just a frustration of knowing we can't talk for a month.

Damn it's hard keeping your mouth shut.

Sorry you won't be coming.

By the way, you added to the noise level. I didn't see the post you linked to on weblogs.asp.net but I saw your post.

That's one thing that's different about weblogs than newsgroups. you can avoid the posts you aren't interested in.

But, not when they get aggregated into the .NET Weblogs.
Monday, September 29, 2003 9:46 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: PDC hype is really really really annoying!

Damian: I agree. It's their weblog and they can post whatever they like. This, however, is *my* weblog which means I can say what I think about people who take joy out of saying "I know and YOU don't!". Free speech, you know?
So It's my total right (just like it is theirs) to write out stuff that might disconcern other people. However, I try to keep that stuff to a minmimum, and only wrote this when I reached the point of no-freakin-return.

Scoble: rather than answering "for real" you circled around and tried to find an interesting comeback. It's real easy to find easy comebacks for almost anything you know? But answering to the point, which if you had not written those last 3 lines would have been considered such an answer, is a much harder deal.
Monday, September 29, 2003 10:32 PM by Eric Maino

# re: PDC hype is really really really annoying!

I am going to stand on neutral ground as to what can or can't be said about the PDC, but if you're interested I posted the list of products I received as a Student Ambassador on my blog.
Monday, September 29, 2003 11:03 PM by Matt Smith

# re: PDC hype is really really really annoying!

Roy

I couldn't agree more. And yes, Scoble is right up there with the best of them. True, people can say what they like, but it is getting a tad repetitive.

I like the ones that say "I had so much trouble booking a hotel room". And I can't wait for the inevitable "Only 1 week, 3 days, 12 hours and 4 minutes to go"....
Monday, September 29, 2003 11:21 PM by SBC

# re: Engineering Notebook: An Extreme Programming Episode

WIRED magazine had a great article on XP recently - http://weblogs.asp.net/sbchatterjee/posts/24654.aspx
Tuesday, September 30, 2003 2:52 AM by TheCshark

# re: [New article]: Creating a generic Site-To-RSS tool (site scraping)

Tip: use ToArray instead of GetBuffer, ToArray works when the MemoryStream is closed.
Tuesday, September 30, 2003 3:41 AM by TrackBack

# Link Interface 15.

Tuesday, September 30, 2003 8:01 AM by julie

# re: PDC hype is really really really annoying!

but Matt - you don'th ave to wait for that ...it's here: scottwater.com/blog/
(sorry - couldn't be helped).
I don't disagree with what you are saying. I actually wrote about the fact that I was annoyed by the noise when I wasn't going (though for quite different reasons) and then felt a little guilty mentioning it after I decided to go after all (weblogs.asp.net/jlerman/posts/29408.aspx)
Tuesday, September 30, 2003 8:02 AM by Jim D

# re: Creating a generic Site-To-RSS tool

Roy,

This is a great app and surely will be useful in the near future, I do however question your choice to scrape dotnetwire. It seems like the site is only updated every two weeks. Hardly worth doing all that work for.
Tuesday, September 30, 2003 9:46 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: [New article]: Creating a generic Site-To-RSS tool (site scraping)

Thanks for the tip TheCshark!
Tuesday, September 30, 2003 9:47 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Creating a generic Site-To-RSS tool

Jim: When I wrote this I wasn't aware that :
1) .Net wire already have an RSS feed
2) it's just an example for a useful feed. it's pretty easy to make a regex for most other sites fairly easily.
Tuesday, September 30, 2003 11:22 AM by senkwe chanda

# re: Unit Test Your .NET Data Access Layer: Where are the Mocks?

I have yet to find an in depth tutorial on how best to use mocks. For example, lets say you're accesing your DB via the DAAB. What should you mock? Everything I've seen so far has been very simplistic, which might mean that it's so easy that people don't bother to write about it while I sit here going "huh??"
Tuesday, September 30, 2003 11:24 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Unit Test Your .NET Data Access Layer: Where are the Mocks?

I totally agree! I've been into this same problem just today. I bet I can figure out a common pattern that lets us use the SQLHelper class with mock objects, it just might take some time. :)
Tuesday, September 30, 2003 11:39 AM by Kartal Guner

# re: [Cool Tool]: Code Library for .Net

I just downloaded the new version and I just doublechecked, the server seems fine.
Tuesday, September 30, 2003 12:50 PM by Darrell

# re: Responses to agile concerns

Yes, it is very difficult to sell customers on something new... that's why I reference Moore's book Crossing the Chasm. We need to figure out what will make the pragmatists buy into a new and totally different product - in this case software development! Very challenging...
Tuesday, September 30, 2003 1:54 PM by Jason Nadal

# re: Google Frequent Searchers tool

I wish I could figure out how to get it back. I cleared out my cookies; It seems to only be available randomly.
Wednesday, October 01, 2003 10:26 AM by Christopher Burns

# re: The perfect birthday gift

This computer has replace the pinup girls on my wall!
Wednesday, October 01, 2003 4:55 PM by Graeme Foster

# re: Win A Free pass to the PDC!

Better start looking for competitions where they're giving away flights ;)
Wednesday, October 01, 2003 6:11 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Win A Free pass to the PDC!

Heh. Let's burn that bridge when we get to it ;)
Thursday, October 02, 2003 2:51 AM by TrackBack

# Lots of News This Week

Congrats to the new MS MVPs!
Thursday, October 02, 2003 8:12 AM by SBC

# re: Two good blogs: Hiring Technical People, Managing Product Development

Good sources Roy. The '*Product Development' blog is an excellent one. One factor, I see in *PD but not mentioned much is 'Commitment to Platform'. Quite a few IT dev shops are not fully commited to the undertaken dev platform (be it .NET or Java or Mac). Examples include - development is fine as long as it's all in XML with no or minimal use of C# or VB.NET or in another example, Mac development is fine as long as it's all in Java, etc. What's most disconcerting is if the team dev lead slams the dev platform itself - be it comments on 'Sun' setting or the daily Microsoft bashing. In such cases, you can be sure that any dev efforts will be sub-optimal (aka 'half-assed') and the dev project doomed to failure. I should write more about the 'Commitment to Platform' paradigm. 8-)
Thursday, October 02, 2003 9:02 AM by Dave Burke

# re: Visual Studio .NET Shortcut Key Guide

Bookmarked! Thanks, Roy.
Thursday, October 02, 2003 9:10 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Two good blogs: Hiring Technical People, Managing Product Development

Good point SBC! I'd like to know your take on this subject.
Thursday, October 02, 2003 9:24 AM by Dylan Greene

# re: .Net Desktop contest winners announced

Empty album... Are they archived somewhere?
Thursday, October 02, 2003 9:41 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: .Net Desktop contest winners announced

Hey Dylan. No. Unfortulantely, pNavy.com decided, for space reasones, to *remove* all the pics. How sad is that?? Lots of data lost forever. :(
Thursday, October 02, 2003 9:59 AM by TrackBack

# Visual Studio .NET Shortcut Key Guide

Thursday, October 02, 2003 10:16 AM by Yura2000

# re: Real Progress Bars in Web Application

Hi Roy!
We spoke about this before one month approx(on C++/C# community meeting).
Really nice solution, but there is few problems, IMHO.
It blows out not consistent HTML.
But, I think, it is easy enough to find work arownd.
Next - Flush is not best practices from performance point of view.
May be next solution will good for you:

You create iframe for drawing progress bar , refreshes each 3 sec, for instance.
IFrame request turns to any static field of the object that you are working with in the main page , that indicates progress state.
On this field's value IFrame's page Request draw what do you need.
Why this may be better - at least you don't interrupt processing of your current response with flushing.

If I not enough explained myself - you welcome email me:
yurig@clal-ins.co.il

Thursday, October 02, 2003 9:14 PM by Doug Thews

# re: Web GUI unit testing techniques

I've been using Application Center Test (ACT) and Web Application Stress (WAS) tool. I'm not sure on the comparison of features between these tools and what you're using are.

Do you have any thoughts as to their comparisons?
Thursday, October 02, 2003 9:14 PM by Jon Galloway

# re: Web GUI unit testing techniques

Thanks! That's a great list. There's also http://nunitasp.sourceforge.net/ - it's an extension of NUnit for ASP.NET.
Thursday, October 02, 2003 9:18 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Web GUI unit testing techniques

Doug:S orry - I have'nt had any experiece with the tools you mentioned. Web dev is a very new subject for me, so my guess is you can probably help me on this subject much more than I can help you :) However, If there's one dude I kknow *can* answer that question it's Addy Santo (http://weblogs.asp.net/asanto) . Maybe he'll actually read this comment and answer here...
Thursday, October 02, 2003 9:18 PM by Doug Thews

# re: Real Progress Bars in Web Application

I wrote some code on this same subject back in July. Thought you might enjoy taking a look at it. Pretty much on line with what Julien did recently.

http://www.ddconsult.com/blogs/illuminati/archives/000089.html
Thursday, October 02, 2003 10:49 PM by Addy Santo

# re: Web GUI unit testing techniques

Hi guys! Thanks for the props Roy - now I really don't have a choice about answering, do I ;)

I don't regard WAS as a GUI testing tool. WAS reports data which is mainly performance oriented (ttfb,ttlb, page sizes, std.dev, etc) and the WAS scripts are targeted at perf testing scenarios. Things like conditional branches are really non-trivial.

ACT is basically an updated version of WAS. The limitations are the same.

For real UI testing you should probably go with a professional testing tool - my favorite is the Mercury toolset, but there also quite a few others out there.

-Addy
Thursday, October 02, 2003 10:59 PM by Addy Santo

# re: Web GUI unit testing techniques - clarification

Just a bit more info regarding WAS/ACT:

They set themselves up as an HTTP proxy between your browser and the test site, and log the HTTP requests which your browser generates while you use the site. You can then "replay" the logged HTTP request stream to the server to simulate multiple users. The server's response is then analysed and displayed in a friendly report. The report includes mainly perf related data. Other than the page size in bytes and error counts,there isn't enough info in there to actually determine if the app behaves as expected.

There is some parameterization available- for instance you can simulate multiple users - but not enough for real UI testing.
Thursday, October 02, 2003 11:22 PM by Ritesh Arora

# re: App.Config Magic

My VB.Net application creates and uses a config File.
Now I am at cleint site and when I build my project my .config gets deleted from the Bin folder.
I even copy it to bin folder and add to project but it gets deleted on build.

I doubt if it something withthe .Net Dev Env version.. i m using .Net 1.1 now.
When I add a new application Configuration File from my project, rename it to my application name and build it gets deleted from bin folder.
Can you help me with this, why this is happening ?

Waiting for your response.
Please respond at : ritesh.arora@ubs.com

Regards,
Ritesh
Friday, October 03, 2003 1:36 AM by 1

# re: 101 Microsoft Visual Basic .NET Applications

1
Friday, October 03, 2003 9:59 AM by jason buxton

# re: Web GUI unit testing techniques

I recently started using NUnitASP. The learning curve wasn't that steep, and the results have been really good. My unit tests insert data on the pages, then verify results in the database. It can follow links, push buttons and so on.

It doesn't cover all cases, however - support will surely be added for certain controls as the app evolves - but I did come up with a small DLL that lets me parse the HTML the server gives me. I can pretty much find whatever I need to on the page with one or two lines of code, even when the control isn't supported by NUnitASP.

I also tried XmlTestSuite (http://xmltestsuite.sourceforge.org), but found it lacking. Has anyone had luck making that work with .NET?
Friday, October 03, 2003 12:42 PM by Addy Santo

# re: Web GUI unit testing techniques

I think some people are a bit confused about testing. Be aware that "When holding a hammer, everything tends to look like a nail" - UI testing and unit testing are very different and each has its own goals and methodologies.

Unit tests are designed to ensure that each system component behaves per spec in an isolated environment, and that there are no bugs, side-effects or dependencies. After unit testing all the components, any remaining bugs should be related to integration issues only. Unit tests are usually very technical tests which are prepared by the developers who wrote the components. The blueprints for unit test planning arethe detailed design document, which are written by the architecture/design teams.

UI Testing is meant to validate that the interaction between the app and the end-user is per spec. The emphasis is more on completing processes and scenarios, and the testing is done by people who are not necessarily developers. The blueprints for UI testing are the requirements and/or UI designs which are authored by the biz analysts or UI designers.

The only case I can think of where UI and Unit tests could actually meet are when a system includes components which include a simple, self-contained UI. Example: widgets such as "Load File" dialog.




UI testing usually tests more involved scenarios and longer processes than unit testing
Friday, October 03, 2003 4:55 PM by Dylan Greene

# re: Skype Rocks!


I'm afraid of what Skype is going to do to my computer. Skype is run by the same people who made, Kazaa - one of kings of adware.

YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT INSTALLATION OF THE SKYPE SOFTWARE WILL ALLOW THIRD PARTIES WHO ARE NOT AFFILIATED WITH SKYPER THE ABILITY TO COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR COMPUTER ("OUTSIDE PARTIES").

http://www.skype.com/eula.html
Friday, October 03, 2003 5:12 PM by Mark Levison

# re: Fun with Unit Tests – Testing abstract classes

Why not just create an abstract test case, that throughly tests your base class. Then concrete implementations of Task, would have similiar concrete test cases. You end up with a parallel inheritance hierarchy - but it works well for us. We've been doing it on our project for over a year.
Friday, October 03, 2003 11:06 PM by Doug Thews

# re: Web GUI unit testing techniques

Andy, great point on the different types of testing.

FYI, I use ACT to simulate (script) UI interactions to make sure that I get the correct response based on the inputs delivered (unit testing). I keep the script so I can run the same unit tests as the pages/modules get updated.

ACT isn't really good for stress testing because it can't really simulate different IPs hitting your site.

FOr small shops I recommend ACT/WAS for unit testing because their apps are smallish and the testing can be done pretty well with the tools delivered as part of VS.NET. For enterprise development, I agree that an enterprise tool like NUnit, ANTS, SoftICE< or the QA-Series (from CompuWare) are the better choices.
Saturday, October 04, 2003 10:34 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Skype Rocks!

I figured if scoble was using it with no problem, so can I.
Saturday, October 04, 2003 11:20 AM by Frans Bouma

# re: Another day, another bombing

I know this might offend you, and I want to make clear that I feel sorry for the people who die and that suicide bombers are evil and wrong, it has to be said that the 'fence' Israel is building is not good and what is worse: palestinians, civilians, who live at the 'wrong' side of the fence, are forced to move out of their houses. Now, I don't know but that remembers me of a war in Bosnia several years ago...
Saturday, October 04, 2003 11:30 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Another day, another bombing

Frans, I'm not going to get into a political argument here. Suffice to say that from a far, it's easy to see everything as black and white. Oh, and the war in bosnia is *nothing* like this one. See, Israelis don't go into arab villages, raping,pillaging and burning everything in sight, killing whatever happens to be infront of them. We don't bomb busses with school children, nor do we go into restaurants and bomb ourselves inside. We *do* make a point of sniping off those who send people to do this to us. Can you guess who *is* doing this?
Saturday, October 04, 2003 11:44 AM by TrackBack

# Emplace - revamped

Saturday, October 04, 2003 12:08 PM by G. Andrew Duthie

# re: Another day, another bombing

Roy,

Our prayers are with you and your fellow Israelis. The notion that the proper response to the building of a defensive wall is to murder innocent men, women, and children is simply inexcusable. I can only imagine what it must be like to live under that threat every day, and I hope that there will come a day when this is no longer necessary.

As for Frans, perhaps he should consider that if it weren't for the stream of Palestinians sneaking into Israel to blow themselves up along with innocents, the fence would be unnecessary. Perhaps those who are displaced should do something about *that* instead of complaining about how wronged they are. At the very least, I'd like to see critics of the fence (including my own government) offer some more constructive solution than once again criticizing Israel for defending its citizens (and in a non-violent fashion, no less).
Saturday, October 04, 2003 1:57 PM by M. Keith Warren

# re: Another day, another bombing

AS IF:

A suicide bomber struct the port city of Baltimore this morning, killing 931 people and leaving another 1,960 people injured. Among the dead; 147 children.

----

I am very sorry that the world and many in America do not see this mornings events in Haifa in such a relative light. The American psyche is callous to the thought of 19 people being killed simply because the death toll on 9/11 was so staggering. What Americans fail to equate in their mind is the difference in population.

I have no doubt in my mind that if such events were happening here in the states that the question would not be whether or not to expel Arafat; but long we should wait until we expel him from the planet.

I grow more and more weary of the administration in America who aspouses a hard-line against terrorism but ignores the most organized and deadly terror groups in this world. I had great hopes that Mr. Bush would truly take this fight to the doorsteps of people like Arafat but it is quite obvious that there is a double standard.
Saturday, October 04, 2003 2:10 PM by julie

# re: Another day, another bombing

I have wondered for a long time how you have this seemingly "normal" life from what we see in your blog when we read and hear about these events weekly. Possibly you are not in the middle of it. Of course, one never gets used to that - how is it humanly possible? I cannot even imagine. We lived for a short while with that fear of suddenly having daily attacks after 9/11 on u.s. soil but it just never happened. We are so incredibly fortunate not to have to live like that.

I think of this frequently when I read your blog.
Saturday, October 04, 2003 2:25 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Another day, another bombing

Julie. My life seems normal because most people here do live a normal life. As normal as possible, I mean. I usually don't write about these things because:
- It makes makes me too sad to write about it
- It's is not what I opened this weblog
- If I let it change my way of life, they have won.

We keep hearing on the news that in that explosion about 5 kids were killed. Entire Families were killed together today! It's awuful. The feeling is so sad it cannot be expressed with words. I simply couldn't not write about it.
Saturday, October 04, 2003 3:01 PM by Shannon J Hager

# re: Another day, another bombing

The reality of the situation in your country never really touched me until I met a girl from Isreal last year. She went home a month after we met and suddenly every mention of a bombing struck a nerve with me. And those mentions seem to come every day.
I have no way of forming an opinion of right and wrong in the situation, I can only believe that every side has to be wrong in things like this or they would otherwise end sooner. I know better than to assume that there is an easy answer for something this large and horrible, but I pray that the answer comes soon.
The tragedy of these things is that those who suffer and those who cause the suffering are so rarely the same people.
Saturday, October 04, 2003 3:09 PM by TrackBack

# Putting Things Into Perspective

Saturday, October 04, 2003 3:54 PM by julie

# re: Another day, another bombing

Roy- All points understood and as I would have expected.
Saturday, October 04, 2003 3:59 PM by ASTRA

# re: One Cool Menu

HI ,

I HAVE SOME DOUBTS, I AM BASICALLY A VB.NET PROGRAMMER, AND I SAW THS SHARPLIBRARY, I WNT TO KNOW FROM THS SHARPLIBRARY ALL THE CONTROLS CAN BE USED IN VB.NET OR NOT. BECAUSE MOST OF THE EXAMPLES ARE IN C# ONLY..

PLS ADVICE ME
Saturday, October 04, 2003 5:15 PM by Wallym

# re: Another day, another bombing

I appreciate your thought that "This is Israel and were tough." Kind of reminds me of the stories I heard about the British during WWII. And no, I wasn't there. I am only 36.

Wally
Saturday, October 04, 2003 9:23 PM by SBC

# re: Another day, another bombing

Roy, hope you & family stay safe ...
Saturday, October 04, 2003 11:38 PM by maxhodges

# re: Creating a generic Site-To-RSS tool

what is RSS?
Sunday, October 05, 2003 3:51 AM by Yigal

# re: Passed MCP 70-316

Roy,
How much does it cost taking the exam (in NIS) ?
Sunday, October 05, 2003 5:50 AM by Manfred Lange

# re: Introduction to Test-driven development with NUnit and the NUnit-Add-in

While in general I liked the article, there are a few things I believe need clarification: you listed csUnit as a commercial tool. This is not correct. csUnit (http://www.csunit.org) is an open-source unit testing framework for the .NET framework. It is available for free under the terms of the GPL.

Also, csUnit does not provide a different mean of expressing tests, but instead supports the identical set of attributes for writing tests. Furthermore, csUnit introduced the TestFixtureSetup/TestFixtureTearDown methods back in May 2003 while other frameworks supported them not before end of September.

In csUnit, using assertions requires less typing compared to other frameworks, especially if you editor supports autocompletion of code. Just have a look at the csUnit.Assert class.

Support for loading multiple assemblies was introduced in May 2003, too, while other open source testing framework released similar functionality in September 2003.

Best regards,
Manfred.
---
Manfred Lange, Project Manager csUnit
Sunday, October 05, 2003 6:19 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Introduction to Test-driven development with NUnit and the NUnit-Add-in

Thanks Manfred.
I definitely did not know all those things.
Thanks for the clerification :)
Sunday, October 05, 2003 6:31 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Passed MCP 70-316

Hi Yigal. The exam costs 100$. You can call Sivan or John brice schools and ask how to register for the exam there.
Good luck!
Sunday, October 05, 2003 4:21 PM by Randy H.

# re: Scoble on .Net Rocks? Give me a break..

Roy,

Fair comments on Scoble not being a .NET developer, but the speculation is that Windows and .NET development will become synonymous in Longhorn. I'd wait until the interview airs before determining how relevant the material is to .NET developers.
Sunday, October 05, 2003 4:28 PM by faisal

# re: MSN Messenger upgrade blocks Trillian

plz stop this new msn 6.0 messenger
i have msn 4.6 i love this 4.6 messenger
Sunday, October 05, 2003 4:29 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Scoble on .Net Rocks? Give me a break..

Randy, Do you really think anything terribly important can be said on the air? If somehting is important, Scoble will have to keep it to himself, because it will be one of those "I can't tell you until after the PDC" things.
Otherwise, we would have known it already, methinks.
Sunday, October 05, 2003 5:14 PM by Jeff Julian

# re: Scoble on .Net Rocks? Give me a break..

After hanging out with Scoble for a considerable amount of time this week, he knows more about .NET development then some people who make their income designing with it.
Sunday, October 05, 2003 5:23 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Scoble on .Net Rocks? Give me a break..

Jeff. That maybe the case, but I'm more worried about that conversation turning into one big hype ball instead of a developer oriented programme (which I've grown to know and love). Do you really think you'll hear anything new? Anything that's not been hyped before? Will we learn some tricks of the trade? some .net dev tips that could point us in the right direction in the problems we are facing as developers? I don't think so. I think it's going to be about how great .Net is, and wow, that group is working on *oops secret* and that group is *oh I can't say*. In short, I'm worried it will be a recap of his blog - nothing really useful - lots of hype on the PDC/longhorn.
Sunday, October 05, 2003 5:27 PM by Jeff Julian

# re: Scoble on .Net Rocks? Give me a break..

What did you actually learn in the last episode in the pub besides not going to their training because they will make fun of you. I think there are tons of developers who don't read blogs, but do listen to their show and that is the audience they are after right now. For us, we will just have to watch an MSDN TV episode instead of listening to the show.
Sunday, October 05, 2003 5:32 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Scoble on .Net Rocks? Give me a break..

Jeff. That last episode totally BOMBED. What can I say? If they continue like this they *will* become irrelevant for me as well. Right now, though, it looks like innocent mistakes. I applud what they do, but somehow inviting Scoble seems - irrelevant. As for your answer - I don't want it to become irrelevant for .Net bloggers. It wasn't in the past, why should it change now? That would totally suck.
Sunday, October 05, 2003 5:39 PM by Mark Dunn

# re: .Net Rocks Show

Hi Roy,

We've had several folks comment on the sound quality. In response, Carl has reworked that file. Please give it another listen.

Cheers,

-Mark
Sunday, October 05, 2003 5:40 PM by Dave

# re: Scoble on .Net Rocks? Give me a break..

You may be a bit too harsh Roy, but Jeff.... no way. No friggin way. Scoble knows more _technical_ details about dotnet coding than someone using it? Simply put, NO. He was not part of the internal development of any part of it. He is not a coder. He has never claimed to even write a single line of code with it.

With all due respect to Scoble - he is very good at his job, "technical" (he corrected me on this) evangelist - but he has NEVER ONCE made a cliam to be a dotnet developer nor part of the groups that designed any of it.

That said, I understand the bulk will be general talk and hype over upcoming products - particularly Longhorn. But even Roy admits that 1 out of 100 posts are enough to keep him reading Socble. I'd expect about the same ratio in this interview, meaning it'll be one of the most downloaded dotnetrocks yet.
Sunday, October 05, 2003 6:12 PM by Robert Scoble

# re: Scoble on .Net Rocks? Give me a break..

For the record: I have written more than one line of code in Longhorn and in .NET. :-)

My skill comes from being able to talk to developers and translate that into plain English that most other people can understand.

I know quite deeply what the possibilities are with Longhorn. The teams I'm working with are building the demos for Gates and Allchin and are building the app that will be distributed to attendees. I might not be able to write code, but I've had an unbelieveable look at the inside of Microsoft's most technical teams.

I'm no Don Box, but I know more than I let on on my blog.
Sunday, October 05, 2003 6:15 PM by Robert Scoble

# re: Scoble on .Net Rocks? Give me a break..

Dave: you are not correct. I'm in constant contact with the teams who are developing the features. Last night one of the top Avalon developers was here at the house.

Also, I'm on the team that's developing an app for distribution to all PDC attendees.

Certainly not a guy who slings code, but certainly very close to the inside. And, I've read every word in Brent Rector's very technical book about Longhorn.
Sunday, October 05, 2003 6:23 PM by Robert Scoble

# re: More on .Net Rocks

Don't worry, I have a thick skin.

Also, that show was a lighter-weight one than most of the others. One thing to remember is that Carl and Mark are doing this show for free and for fun. It's not easy doing something great every week on your own time.
Sunday, October 05, 2003 6:25 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: More on .Net Rocks

Robert - I agree. All I'm writing is out of pure love and respect for what they do.
Sunday, October 05, 2003 7:36 PM by Dave

# re: Scoble on .Net Rocks? Give me a break..

I'll take back some of my statements then! :-) In my defense though, I'll say two things Robert.

First, I did try to clearly say that you haven't made any claims to writing code before. I'm not aware of your entire background, but have known you since you wrote for Fawcette. It does age me to day this, but my memory of things you specifically wrote for VBPJ is very hazy. Oh, and I never meant to say I thought you knew nothing of coding either.

Second though, is my comment on your association with the history behind dotnet. I definitely wasn't clear on this. By many accounts the most popular dotnetrocks interview was the one a few weeks ago with some of the people involved in the migration of VB from VB6 to VB.NET. These are the kinds of interviews that (1) I find exceptionally revealing and interesting, (2) have a great deal of connection to dotnet and (3) I weould figure _in this specific instance_ you would have little to add to because you were not employed by MS during the time the VB port to dotnet was accomplished.

While a dotnetrocks interview with you would probably have less direct connection to dotnet coding or dotnet specifics like this interview had, I would expect the "revealing and interesting" aspects, as they pertain to working for MS and the future direction of their products WOULD be well worth hearing what you have to say.
Sunday, October 05, 2003 7:53 PM by SBC

# re: More on .Net Rocks

Roy, I think it's time .NET Rocks puts you on the show! Next time I see Carl (he lives around here in CT), I'll try twisting his arm (if I can)...
Sunday, October 05, 2003 8:00 PM by SBC

# re: More on .Net Rocks

just want to add to the above ... a smiley 8-)
Sunday, October 05, 2003 8:04 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: More on .Net Rocks

SBC: Heh. That *would* rock :)
Sunday, October 05, 2003 9:59 PM by Darrell

# re: Fun with NUnit - clarification

NUnit
Sunday, October 05, 2003 10:28 PM by Carl Franklin

# re: Scoble on .Net Rocks? Give me a break..

I have to chime in here. You don't have to be a .NET developer to be a guest on DNR. You have to have something to say of interest to .NET developers. We have had several guests that are not developers or who have a casual relationship with development (Jonathan Zuck, INETA, the Microsoft .NET Evangelism Team to name a few).

We frankly wanted to promote blogging, and we could think of nobody better than Scoble to introduce blogging to our blog-newbie listeners.

We did learn a few things about Longhorn that we didn't know, but most of our conversation was about blogging.

As for us making fun of our students, Jeff, that's just not fair. Mark has taught hundreds of classes and thousands of students. He mentioned a story where there was a problem student in an HTML class. It wasn't even a .NET or a franklins.net class. Anyway, we took that story out of the show, but it was completely benign, and actually funny as well.
Sunday, October 05, 2003 10:53 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Scoble on .Net Rocks? Give me a break..

Carl - thanks for that comment. It means a lot to me that you took the time and trouble to respond.
I understand what you're saying. .Net Rocks is not strictly about .Net. I'll go ahead and say that up until about 4-5 shows ago your program was one of the best things in the .Net sphere.

There were shows there that definitely were pure gold. but just to clear my point - the shows you mentioned, that involved less .Net and more "around" stuff, were, IMHO, much less interesting. As an extreme opposite example, I'll take the case of Paul Alen - that show was mostly about stories. It was a-m-a-z-i-n-g. You know why? It was relevant to me as a developer. I got to learn how the tools I use evolved into what they are today.
With Scoble, I just didn't see such a chance. I might be totally wrong here, but my biggest fear was that Scoble was going to come onto the show and sell the hype that we're being fed with for the past couple of months. Frankly - that would suck. If you're assuring me that that's not the case, I totally and whole heartedly apologize.
Monday, October 06, 2003 12:51 AM by Brian Desmond

# re: .Net Blogging MVP - a myth?

The award is for community contributions in the past year, so, I suppose, theoretically, you could, but you would need to make some pretty significant blog posts/volume.

I'd spend a good deal of time hanging out on msnews or asp.net/forums.
Monday, October 06, 2003 12:52 AM by Me

# re: Geek marriage - Episode I

Both ways are very wasteful on water compared to just putting a plug in the sink.

Or getting a dishwasher. ;)
Monday, October 06, 2003 12:53 AM by Jon Galloway

# re: .Net Blogging MVP - a myth?

Not if you keep <a href=http://weblogs.asp.net/rosherove/posts/30609.aspx>picking</a> on Scoble. :p
Monday, October 06, 2003 1:03 AM by Kartal Guner

# re: .Net Blogging MVP - a myth?

What is the Microsoft MVP award?
The Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Award is an annual award that is given to outstanding members of Microsoft's peer-to-peer communities.

I think blogging can be considered a form of peer-to-peer community. You definitely have you name known to at least the readers of dotnetweblogs, which includes people from Microsoft. Just up your valuable posts vs your It's not fair I can't go to the PDC posts and I think you are on your way. It does take time though so don't expect it overnight.

Monday, October 06, 2003 1:45 AM by G. Andrew Duthie

# re: Geek marriage - Episode I

And the dishwasher's not only less wasteful of water, it takes less time and effort. :-)
Monday, October 06, 2003 1:46 AM by senkwe chanda

# re: .Net Blogging MVP - a myth?

Umm, I don't know how the MVP stuff works, but I'd assume you'd have to have a blog that the dev community finds indispensible as a source of useful technicle info. But if I put up a bunch of links to cool MSDN articles, I don't think that should count. Most of us do exactly that. Similarly, having a huge archive of blog posts shouldn't count. But hey, what do I know.
Monday, October 06, 2003 3:01 AM by Stephane Rodriguez

# re: Scoble on .Net Rocks? Give me a break..


The problem with Scoble is whenever he uses technical words.

He's reflecting quite well the feeling one gets when reading Microsoft msdn papers. After all, with this company technical papers are marketing papers.

Monday, October 06, 2003 3:20 AM by Darren Neimke

# re: Good JavaScript reference and help


Roy,

Not sure whether you saw these or not but... here's my list-o-javascript links:

http://weblogs.asp.net/dneimke/posts/29244.aspx

Monday, October 06, 2003 4:38 AM by Robert Scoble

# re: .Net Blogging MVP - a myth?

Right, if you compete with me in posting links, you probably won't get the MVP award. :-)

The MVP award is given to people who do an extraordinary amount of helping people use Microsoft technology.

Lots of bloggers were just added, from what I saw. So, chances are good. They usually add people every October.

I'll be looking to sponsor some new MVPs over the next year. So, keep up the good work!
Monday, October 06, 2003 4:46 AM by Robert Scoble

# re: Scoble on .Net Rocks? Give me a break..

Stephane: that's unfair. Both toward me and toward MSDN. After all, Chris Brumme is posting on an MSDN site. Are you saying he isn't technical? http://blogs.gotdotnet.com/cbrumme/
Monday, October 06, 2003 8:01 AM by SBC

# re: Geek marriage - Episode I

I am a bachelor, I am lazy - use paper plates & plastic cutlery... just kidding 8-)
Monday, October 06, 2003 9:30 AM by Stephane Rodriguez

# re: Scoble on .Net Rocks? Give me a break..


Please keep away geniuses like brumme from your stupid posts.

Listening Marilyn Manson : "This is the new shit".
Monday, October 06, 2003 12:04 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Scoble on .Net Rocks? Give me a break..

Stephane - There's a difference between insulting and constructive criticism. Please, keep such stuff away from my blog.

-Roy.
Monday, October 06, 2003 12:10 PM by Addy Santo

# re: Scoble on .Net Rocks? Give me a break..

Heh lets call it quits before it starts getting ugly here... :)

Everyone reads scoble and no-one does it looking for deep technical development insights. I personally have yet to learn any new skills from the .NET Rocks shows, but I love the peeks that they provide into the mindsets of people like Sells & Paul Vick... People who are helping shape the future versions of the products we work with today.

Rename the show to "the .NET Community Rocks", and you get both a more accurate description and a sensible reason why Scoble *should* be on it.

My 2 cents :)

Monday, October 06, 2003 2:45 PM by Dare Obasanjo

# re: .Net Blogging MVP - a myth?

From my perspective as the MVP Lead for the WebData XML team, if all you do is blog then it is unlikely that you'll be awarded an MVP. This seems to be the current stance of the MVP Program and I heartily agree with it.
Monday, October 06, 2003 3:07 PM by Dave Burke

# re: Scoble on .Net Rocks? Give me a break..

Roy, dude, you are such a purist! :-) One of your charms, for sure, as I'm definitely a fan of your blog. As for my 2-cents on the interview, Scoble rules and Carl Franklin is the King of Cool. This is one .NET Rocks show I am not going to miss.
Monday, October 06, 2003 5:26 PM by Carl Franklin

# re: Scoble on .Net Rocks? Give me a break..

Roy,

We never did a show with Paul Allen. Maybe you were thinking of someone else. Anyway, you'll like some of our upcoming guests.

Tomorrow, we're going to air an interview with Scott Guthrie. After that we're doing an Interview with Don Box at the PDC, where he will invariably talk about the next SOAP, longhorn, and other things they are going to launch there. Unlike the PDC, our show is free :-)

We're going to ask Chris Sells to come back after the PDC as well (Chris, you listening?? heh) and Keith Pleas on architecture and design.

We've got Huihong Luo, the genius behind the <a href="http://www.remotesoft.com/linker/">Salamander .NET Linker</a> coming up, and some other surprises as well.

That said, we're also going to have a 100% fun and funny episode live onstage from the PDC, and we'll probably do some other less technical stuff. That's what we do. We mix it up. Everyone's happy.

BTW: Thanks for giving us a little controversy!! It all helps our ratings! :-)

Carl
Monday, October 06, 2003 5:29 PM by Carl Franklin

# re: Scoble on .Net Rocks? Give me a break..

Whoops... Didn't realize how href formatting works. The URL I mentioned above is www.remotesoft.com/linker

Carl
Monday, October 06, 2003 5:36 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Scoble on .Net Rocks? Give me a break..

Carl -
Heh - I got mixed up with Alan Cooper - father of VB. That's the interview I meant. Anyway -Great to hear about all those upcoming shows, methinks some of them are going to be very cool!
as for controversy - no problem. My pleasure :)
Monday, October 06, 2003 6:01 PM by Chris Martin

# re: [Cool tool] : Visustin - Visually graph your code

I happened upon that tool awhile ago and I agree. It is very cool indeed! :) It helped me show my retarted boss what I was doing and that his way...well...uh...SUCKED! haha
Monday, October 06, 2003 6:21 PM by Addy Santo

# re: [Cool tool] : Visustin - Visually graph your code

Cool!

I especially like the intelligent way it displays CASE statements and Try-Catch-Finally blocks....
Monday, October 06, 2003 6:26 PM by David Stone

# re: Geek marriage - Episode I

Heh, I wash the dishes the exact same way as you...unless there are only like 1 or 2 dishes at which point it's just run the water over it and scrub it down.

Your wife's method just seems totally elongated...I would never spend that much time doing the dishes. Tell her that what you waste in water, you make in time. ;)
Monday, October 06, 2003 6:35 PM by Peter Provost

# re: Fun with NUnit - clarification

My problem with csUnit is that it is GPL. Other than that they appear to be roughly equivalent.
Monday, October 06, 2003 8:05 PM by Robert Scoble

# re: .Net Blogging MVP - a myth?

MVPs are not evangelists. The MVP award is given to people who help our customers use our technology. Sometimes the line gets a bit fuzzy, though.

But, clearly, the MVP group is growing the program outside of the traditional newsgroup base.
Monday, October 06, 2003 8:31 PM by Sam Gentile

# re: .Net Blogging MVP - a myth?

I didn't mean evangelizing. I meant doing the same thing that people do on newsgroups - helping with questions and helping people understand the technology.
Monday, October 06, 2003 8:38 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: .Net Blogging MVP - a myth?

Note: I've removed some of the comments as per a specific request, as they belonged in a spearate, private discussion.
Sorry.
Monday, October 06, 2003 9:36 PM by SBC

# re: Excellent TDD articles, and a Code Kata

Wow! The Zen of Code Development ... :-)
Monday, October 06, 2003 11:15 PM by Dewayne Christensen

# re: Geek marriage - Episode I

Sounds like someone has been spending too much time on the Dining Philosopher's problem!
Tuesday, October 07, 2003 3:29 AM by Peter Marshall

# re: [Tip]:MemoryStream.GetBuffer() vs. MemoryStream.ToArray()

I appreciate this tip.
Tuesday, October 07, 2003 6:46 AM by Daniel Fisher (lennybacon)

# re: More than 500 sample chapters

brinkster eh, i hate the daily bandwidth limit.
Tuesday, October 07, 2003 11:36 AM by dennis

# re: Excellent TDD articles, and a Code Kata

FYI, TANSTAAFL was coined by Robert Heinlein
Tuesday, October 07, 2003 6:55 PM by Pieter Visser

# re: A big bug in Google

Try searching for vb.net - YOu would expect to get lots and lots of results, but you get none!
Tuesday, October 07, 2003 7:49 PM by Seth Finkelstein

# VB.NET isn't a bug - need "VB.NET"

Searching for vb.net itself isn't a bug.

That's a website, so you just get the website.

Instead, search quote-vb.net-quote

That is, "vb.net" WITH the quotes.

Then it's a phrase, and should work.
Wednesday, October 08, 2003 5:15 AM by Francois Verbeeck

# re: A big bug in Google

Seth Finkelstein was quickier than i ... Here's the proof. Alwas use quote in your queries to prevent them from being interprated as websites url ...

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22vb.net%22
Wednesday, October 08, 2003 5:20 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: A big bug in Google

doh! guess I was a bit quick to post on that one :) thanks for the heads up!
Wednesday, October 08, 2003 6:19 AM by Phil Weber

# re: Why I like SharpReader better

Interesting. I recently switched to SharpReader from nntp//rss (http://www.methodize.org/nntprss/), which allowed me to use Outlook Express as my aggregator. I switched because nntp//rss doesn't support xhtml:body, which so many MS bloggers are using these days.

There's a lot to like about SharpReader -- xhtml:body support and aggregated categories are my two favorite features -- but I have a few more wishes than you do...

Like you, I'd like to be able to flag items and filter on those items. I also miss the "Size" column in Outlook Express, which allows me to choose which items to read based on their length. In SharpReader, I can't tell how long an item is until I click on it, and then it gets immediately marked as read.

I'd like to be able to save items in folders, as I can e-mails and newsgroup posts.

I'd like to be able to hide read items.

I'd like to be able to select multiple items and mark them all simultaneously as read, unread, locked, etc.

I'd like to be able to specify where SharpReader stores its data, so I can share one set of data files between my desktop and my laptop.

In short, if nntp//rss supported xhtml:body and allowed me to aggregate by category, it would be the perfect aggregator.
Wednesday, October 08, 2003 7:21 AM by Julien CHEYSSIAL

# re: Why I like SharpReader better

I also use SharpReader because of it's fast, simple, and the most important for me, the hierarchical organization of subscribed feeds...

I just miss the "Watches" feature of FeedDemon, and the ability to flag "Interesting" posts so that you can find them easily when you need them. I also miss the nice look'n'feel of FeedDemon...

As I'm also building an RSS Reader: MyBlogroll.com (check out the screenshots !), I'll take note of all your feedbacks and will try to implement them in it..
Wednesday, October 08, 2003 7:30 AM by julie

# re: Why I like SharpReader better

#3) Mail To: that hooks into outlook
Wednesday, October 08, 2003 9:04 AM by Dave Verwer

# re: Why I like SharpReader better

I have recently switched to SharpReader from FeedDemon and while I love the hierarchical categories, my major problem so far is that it will not allow me to sort by read status and because blogs come in with different dates on them, when highlighting the top level for new posts you have to really search hard to find the new (unread) posts.

MyBlogRoll looks good Julien, but the beta download didnt work. Is it available anywhere?
Wednesday, October 08, 2003 9:05 AM by Mel Grubb

# re: Why I like SharpReader better

Agreed, it's the only thing I use. My only beef is the drain it puts on my system when starting up. I have SharpReader set to run on startup, and it really drags the system down. A lower thread priority for the fetching process would be very welcome.
Wednesday, October 08, 2003 9:15 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Why I like SharpReader better

Julian - the screenshots are very slick! can't wait to try it out! Make sure it has "Import from sharpreader opml" feature built in, though...
I'm also not seeing the "author" column over there as well.
Wednesday, October 08, 2003 9:59 AM by Adam

# re: Why I like SharpReader better


Outlook 2003

* Create search folder only containing unread articles from the newsgator hierarchy
* Click on properties for the search folder and make sure it shows 'show number of unread messages'.

You may be able to do this partially in outlook 2002 but i can't remember.
Wednesday, October 08, 2003 10:07 AM by Manoj Agarwal

# re: Why I like SharpReader better

I would also like to see some kind of search capability in SharpReader.
Wednesday, October 08, 2003 11:03 AM by IE

# re: Another day, another bombing

Such events are tragic when they happen anywhere, any time. Just to remind everyone that there is another side to all this:
http://www.ifamericansknew.org/index.html
Wednesday, October 08, 2003 11:31 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Another day, another bombing

IE: That page does not show an accurate portrait of things. It is intentionally taking things out of context, and is not meant to bring "peace". Peace occurs when both sides understand their actions. Example:

"1 Israeli home has been destroyed by Palestinians and 2,202 Palestinian homes have been completely destroyed (14,436 partially destroyed) since September 29, 2000."

Gee, I wonder. Could it be that those were homes of suicide bombers? Is there a graph that shows the number of Israelis that got on a Palestinian school bus and blew them selves up vs. the other side? and then on of restaurants .. or discos..

"The Israeli unemployment rate is 10.4%, while the Palestinian unemployment is estimated at 37-67%."

Is there a graph that shows unemployment there before and after the intifada started?
the Palestinian unemployment was much better before the last intifada started. Is it any wonder that Israelis don't want to hire Arabs to work for them? Is there a graph that shows the number of Arab employees that murdered their employer? After more than 4-5 years of close work and "friendship" with them?

"The U.S. gives $15,139,178 per day to the Israeli government and military and $205,479 to Palestinian NGO's."

Is there a graph that shows how much money the authority got before the intifada, and while the kamp david peace process was occuring?
I wonder why there is less now? Maybe it's because its a proven fact that most of this money is handed to suicide bombers families, and half goes into the governments pockets? Don't you know that Arafat has over 10,000,000$ in a bank account somewhere?

Did you know that while Arafat preaches to the masses to "go kill themselves and their children be Martyrs" his own children go to a private school (in France I think) and his wife lives in Paris, wearing designer dresses while the Palestinian people don't have money to buy food?

Is there a graph that shows the number of times Israel opened the closures on the territories ,and a day after that had several bombers?

for some reason, I think we won't see any graphs of that sort anytime soon.

Wednesday, October 08, 2003 12:16 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Why I like SharpReader better

Manoj - you can search right now. Press CTRL+SHIFT+F
Wednesday, October 08, 2003 1:52 PM by Vadim

# re: Why I like SharpReader better

I only have one problem with SharpReader: it doesn't run under Whidbey.
Wednesday, October 08, 2003 1:54 PM by Vadim

# re: Why I like SharpReader better

I take that back: I tried on another computer, and everything is fine. Great.
Wednesday, October 08, 2003 5:29 PM by Charles Shopsin

# re: Why I like SharpReader better

I love sharp reader and use it all day, every day. My only real problem is that if you have a lot of feeds it consumes a VAST amount of memory. Mine usually runs at about 135mb. It would be nice if it had some sort of paging system so that feeds you weren't reading were not loaded into memory all the time. But other than that, it's fantastic.
Wednesday, October 08, 2003 10:24 PM by julie

# re: Introducing SiteFeeder

Thanks! I was just trying to subscribe to Diane's blog just yesterday!
Wednesday, October 08, 2003 11:47 PM by Shane Bauer

# re: Introducing SiteFeeder

Nice idea. Thanks for posting.
Thursday, October 09, 2003 1:15 AM by joeler

# re: Filling typed datasets using Data Access Application Block v.2.0

where in the world is the definition for "ApartmentDataset" ?
Thursday, October 09, 2003 2:08 AM by Darren Neimke

# re: New feed for Tech Guru


Hey Roy - you should add a feed that tells us when a new feed has been added :)
Thursday, October 09, 2003 2:13 AM by Ali Parvaresh

# re: New feed for Tech Guru

Thanks for everything ;)

And also a feed for informing us of new added feeds will be kewl.
Thursday, October 09, 2003 3:46 AM by TheCshark

# re: [Tip]:MemoryStream.GetBuffer() vs. MemoryStream.ToArray()

I let you know when I start a blog ;-)
Thursday, October 09, 2003 4:12 AM by Julien CHEYSSIAL

# re: Introducing SiteFeeder

Nice one Roy !
Thursday, October 09, 2003 6:35 AM by SBC

# re: New feed for Tech Guru

"you should add a feed that tells us when a new feed has been added" - yes, like a meta-feed feeder... :-)
Thursday, October 09, 2003 6:36 AM by SBC

# re: Introducing SiteFeeder

a very good one Roy...you da man...
Thursday, October 09, 2003 11:25 AM by Addy Santo

# re: Introducing SiteFeeder

Coolbeans!
Thursday, October 09, 2003 4:04 PM by Mark Levison

# re: Fun with Unit Tests – Testing abstract classes

BTW the original reference for this is http://www.placebosoft.com/abstract-test.html
Friday, October 10, 2003 10:48 AM by Deepak Sharma

# re: Introducing SiteFeeder

This is cool. Also, Consider having a OPML feed encompassing these individual feeds. What say?
Friday, October 10, 2003 3:06 PM by Adam Hill

# re: Why I like SharpReader better

Why doesn't Luke release source code so we can add these things?
Saturday, October 11, 2003 3:59 AM by hcm0790

# re: source code of the Internet Explorer Web Controls released by MSFT

i am a .net fans.
Saturday, October 11, 2003 8:09 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Filling typed datasets using Data Access Application Block v.2.0

Joeler: ApartmentDataset is a typed dataset that inherits from DataSet. It's not defined anywhere. It's just an example of how I'd use such a technique with a typed dataset.
Monday, October 13, 2003 8:13 PM by SBC

# re: More Feedable updates

LOL!!!
The 'I am Feedable' thong had me in stitches! (see http://www.cafeshops.com/feedable.8052301).
Monday, October 13, 2003 8:14 PM by SBC

# re: More Feedable updates

BTW - the 'feedable.net' site has yet to propagate via DNS - perhaps in a day or two.
Monday, October 13, 2003 9:12 PM by Chris Stewart

# re: Better times ahead?

I would imagine a lot of it has to do with the personalities of the two of you. It's nice to see another quality use of technology though. Esp on a subject with so much history of bad blood.
Monday, October 13, 2003 9:22 PM by denny

# re: Better times ahead?

Well Roy we are all "Children of God".

now don't take this wrong but....

I sometimes wonder about the ways of political and religious go and forget who and what we are.

And while the Israeli peoples should have a home I sometimes feel that the way things were done at the end of WWII made for some of the mess we have now in the mid-east.

I guess I was raised with very little in the way of hate, so when I hear of the killing ... it just makes me sick and angry....

we are all his children.....

I don't care what color your skin,hair,eyes,height,weight....

everything I have ever learned of the old works tells me they same the same thing different ways.
Cristian Bible
Koran
Bahavad Gita
Budda's Eightfold path
tales of the native cultures of every island or contenant....


sorry if anyone feels this is wrong.....

May the Force be with you!
Monday, October 13, 2003 10:02 PM by SBC

# re: Better times ahead?

Isn't this technology great?
Monday, October 13, 2003 11:56 PM by Greg Reinacker

# re: More Feedable updates

Roy, I don't want to start a big debate...I would just be very, very careful here. Offering (albeit cool) swag makes this a for-profit venture, and you may thus find sites being MUCH more resistant to screen-scraping like this.

I read your About page where you address site owners...just remember, you're in some sense republishing copyrighted content without consent.
Tuesday, October 14, 2003 2:56 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: More Feedable updates

Greg: Most if not all the feeds I have are actually approved by the respective site owners.
Tuesday, October 14, 2003 2:56 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: More Feedable updates

BTW - profit? ha. :)
Tuesday, October 14, 2003 4:08 AM by Mahesh

# re: Better times ahead?

May saner minds like these prevail
Tuesday, October 14, 2003 5:08 AM by Phil Weber

# re: More Feedable updates

FYI, I noticed a couple of problems with your "Add a Feed" form:

- Try tabbing through the fields with your keyboard;

- The form submission fails with an unhandled exception if any of the fields contain angle bracket characters.
Tuesday, October 14, 2003 10:57 AM by Scott Galloway

# re: Cool trick of the day - VSS keyword expanstion

Tremendously cool thing! Now...if someone could come up with a regular expression which puts : //$Header: $ at the top of all .cs files in a 'safe' way...my day would be made :-)
Tuesday, October 14, 2003 11:48 AM by Duncan

# re: Cool trick of the day - VSS keyword expanstion

Not so cool - we have VB source code that has been in near constant maintenance since 1997. By now the history is more like an anthology!

So we now have a new rule: the source code is only a snapshot of how the code works right now. History is for the VSS history dialog.

Tuesday, October 14, 2003 1:08 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Cool trick of the day - VSS keyword expanstion

Dancan: I see what you mean. Still, lots of other good keywords there that I think could be of use..
Tuesday, October 14, 2003 2:12 PM by Matt Berther

# re: Cool trick of the day - VSS keyword expanstion

Duncan: Im with you. When we made the transition to CVS, I went through and stripped all the history out of our .cs files.

Replaced $History with $Id $... So, at the top of the file, I get a one line summary of filename, date/time last committed and who committed it.
Tuesday, October 14, 2003 2:33 PM by Scott Galloway

# re: Cool trick of the day - VSS keyword expanstion

Yup, //$Header: $ does a similar thing - gives a little summary of the latest info. Check out this http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/guides/html/vstskexpand_keywords.asp?frame=true for all the possibles...
Wednesday, October 15, 2003 12:09 AM by Dave Burke

# re: Microsoft PDC 2003 Sessions RSS feed? Oh yeah!

Thanks for posting this, Roy. I am likewise, definitely subscribed, and will be looking for the ppt links!
Wednesday, October 15, 2003 3:24 AM by senkwe chanda

# re: FDML? Here's a different direction

Hi Roy, I think what you've described is somthing similar to what you can do with XHTML and namespaces today

http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/#xhtml
Wednesday, October 15, 2003 10:57 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: FDML? Here's a different direction

senkwe: Yeah - it's similar in some ways, but different in others. Here the description is separate from the "data", for example.
Thursday, October 16, 2003 3:37 AM by theCshark

# re: [Article] on MSDNAA: Creating a Generic Site-To-Rss Tool

What a pity that it isn't the 'ToArray()'-version...
Thursday, October 16, 2003 8:29 AM by Eric Kepes

# re: [Rant] Horrible two weeks

Roy,
Good luck! Its a tough market out there. I don't know how things are in Israel, but in western Pennsylvania here is the States, things are bad. I've been looking aggressively for about 6 months (since the company I work for moved 1000 miles away to Orlando), and was looking nonchalantly for about a year before that.
I will say, though, that the market is finally picking up, although everybody is moving really, really slowly to fill the openings.
My advice, keep publishing the articles (although you may want to put them somewhere that gets a little more attention - DotNetJunkies?), and maybe work on getting a cert. Sure, certs don't mean much to us, but you'd be surprised what HR and the recruiters think...
Thursday, October 16, 2003 2:48 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: [Rant] Horrible two weeks

I just removed a comment from this post. It had language that I felt was not appropriate for other people to be reading on my blog. Sorry Mr. Jobless. Next time please try and keep it a little cleaner.
Thanks.
Thursday, October 16, 2003 4:54 PM by Majid Hossein Poor

# re: Free ADO.NET book chapter

I want learn ado.net with vb.net
Thursday, October 16, 2003 11:06 PM by Emmad

# re: Introduction To Regular Expressions

How could you find two dot(.) characters in a string? say you have the target string as such:
"This is it. That is all."
Friday, October 17, 2003 7:34 AM by Martin Spedding

# re: [Rant] Horrible two weeks

This looks a bit worrying for MS job market in Israel :

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/33365.html

good luck with the job hunt. The sad thing is that even when you have a job there is no job security any more.

Martin
Thursday, October 23, 2003 7:28 AM by TrackBack

# Introducing The Regulator

Thursday, October 23, 2003 11:59 AM by OmegaSupreme

# re: [Tool] Introducing The Regulator - advanced regex tool

Wow !, thanks Roy it looks amazing. Cool name too ;)
Thursday, October 23, 2003 12:02 PM by robert

# re: [Tool] Introducing The Regulator - advanced regex tool

There is nothing in the download.
Thursday, October 23, 2003 12:07 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: [Tool] Introducing The Regulator - advanced regex tool

Robert - what do you mena? it's in the releases section.
BTW - I just discovered a bug in the release. can you find it? :)
Thursday, October 23, 2003 12:12 PM by robert

# re: [Tool] Introducing The Regulator - advanced regex tool

Roy - I mean that when I click on the download link I get the standard download dialog for a moment, then WinZip pops up with an empty screen.
Thursday, October 23, 2003 12:21 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: [Tool] Introducing The Regulator - advanced regex tool

Robert - try copy pasting the direct link into a download manager. (remove all the JS code from there..). it will work.
the download is there...
I have that problem too.
Thursday, October 23, 2003 12:37 PM by robert

# re: [Tool] Introducing The Regulator - advanced regex tool

I'm not sure where you're getting the direct link from. Nothing I could find works. How about pasting the link here for everyone?
Thursday, October 23, 2003 2:12 PM by Deepak Sharma

# re: [Tool] Introducing The Regulator - advanced regex tool

Great work. Probably, You would like to mention that it targets .Net framework 1.1.
Thursday, October 23, 2003 5:17 PM by AF

# re: [Tool] Introducing The Regulator - advanced regex tool

Robert: Do you have Norton Internet Security installed ? Sometimes I have download problems with NIS.
Thursday, October 23, 2003 5:20 PM by julie lerman

# re: [Tool] Introducing The Regulator - advanced regex tool

looks great Roy. You are making great use of your free time!
Thursday, October 23, 2003 8:08 PM by SBC

# re: [Tool] Introducing The Regulator - advanced regex tool

'The Regulator'.. lol... If you stand for elections like 'The Terminator', you'll have our vote... :-)
you never cease to amaze with your coding talent..
Thursday, October 23, 2003 9:52 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: [Tool] Introducing The Regulator - advanced regex tool

Robert: here's the direct link, just on case:

http://www.gotdotnet.com/community/workspaces/download.aspx?FileGuid=a596e443-5bc5-4dff-a368-d30117fe3e83
Thursday, October 23, 2003 9:53 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: [Tool] Introducing The Regulator - advanced regex tool

Oh, be sure to right click and "Save target as" for it to work.
Friday, October 24, 2003 5:29 AM by Paul Nicholls

# re: [Tool] Introducing The Regulator - advanced regex tool

Wow, that's great - love the built-in web search too. Thanks for sharing! :)
Friday, October 24, 2003 10:08 AM by SBC

# re: [Tool] Introducing The Regulator - advanced regex tool

This is a cool tool! I'll post some feedback in the GotDotNet workspace.
Friday, October 24, 2003 10:57 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: [Tool] Introducing The Regulator - advanced regex tool

Paul: Heh - "love" you latin site ;)
Friday, October 24, 2003 2:16 PM by Jesse Ezell

# re: [Tool] Introducing The Regulator - advanced regex tool

Roy, you might want to check out this discussion:

http://weblogs.asp.net/kguner/posts/33317.aspx
Friday, October 24, 2003 5:28 PM by Scott Galloway

# re: The Regulator won't be available while I sort this GPL thing out.

That really is a shame it looks like a great tool - luckily I got my copy early.
Hope you get these issues sorted out - there's a ton of products which don't honour GPL at all...anything which includes the #ZipLib for a start!
Come on, surely someone in the community can offer a replacement for the GPL / non-GPL (the ComponentOne) components???
Friday, October 24, 2003 6:55 PM by *

# re: The Regulator won't be available while I sort this GPL thing out.

It's not bizarre at all. It's up to the author to do with his rights whatever he wants to. It is probably more bizarre to use copyrighted components and change the license terms without asking the owner.
Friday, October 24, 2003 6:56 PM by SBC

# re: The Regulator won't be available while I sort this GPL thing out.

I think you have a terrific tool in the making here. Get around this 'Open Sore/GPL' morass and you'll be better for it.
Friday, October 24, 2003 10:35 PM by Kartal Guner

# re: The Regulator won't be available while I sort this GPL thing out.

Please contact the makers of SharpDevelop. Their #ziplib is GPL also but they have the following clause:

As a special exception, the copyright holders of this library give you permission to link this library with independent modules to produce an executable, regardless of the license terms of these independent modules, and to copy and distribute the resulting executable under terms of your choice, provided that you also meet, for each linked independent module, the terms and conditions of the license of that module. An independent module is a module which is not derived from or based on this library. If you modify this library, you may extend this exception to your version of the library, but you are not obligated to do so. If you do not wish to do so, delete this exception statement from your version.
Saturday, October 25, 2003 1:48 AM by Ingo Rammer

# re: The Regulator won't be available while I sort this GPL thing out.

That's why we like the BSD license.

-Ingo
Saturday, October 25, 2003 5:29 AM by Ashutosh Nilkanth

# re: The Regulator is BACK!

Great tool Roy! Some features I think may come handy:

1. Ability to add patterns to RegexLib.com’s database Or maybe have an independent online pattern exchange system for Regulator.

2. A simple performance counter which can tell the time it took to parse the input and probably provide some system resource usage estimates.
Saturday, October 25, 2003 6:39 AM by Scott Galloway

# re: The Regulator is BACK!

Great news Roy, the Syncfusion people are making a lot of friends recently! I agree about the regexplib.com integration...not sure if it has a web service interface to allow searching but that would be really cool.
Saturday, October 25, 2003 6:46 AM by Scott Galloway

# re: The Regulator is BACK!

Umm...just realised where I got the searching idea...already has it...look I just woke up :-)
Saturday, October 25, 2003 10:11 AM by SBC

# re: The Regulator is BACK!

SyncFusion be praised... :-)
Use the GotDotNet space for feedbacks? I mean rather than this weblog.
Saturday, October 25, 2003 11:32 AM by TrackBack

# GPL and Pet Projects

The GPL, in my opinion, is neither messianic nor satanic, it is a tool to be used appropriately, just like every other tool.
Saturday, October 25, 2003 11:45 AM by TrackBack

# GPL and Pet Projects

The GPL, in my opinion, is neither messianic nor satanic, it is a tool to be used appropriately, just like every other tool.
Saturday, October 25, 2003 12:35 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: The Regulator is BACK!

SBC: I agree.
Please post requests here:
http://www.gotdotnet.com/Community/MessageBoard/Thread.aspx?id=157606
Saturday, October 25, 2003 12:36 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: The Regulator is BACK!

BTW - adding patterns is something Darren promised me he'll work on when he gets some free time. Once that's done, I'll get it in ASAP!
Saturday, October 25, 2003 1:08 PM by COL

# re: The letter you wanted to write

I am quite sure that nearly everyone takes it for granted that we are all fluent in at least ONE language.that concept,however,is severely questionable if this muppet is anything to go by!!
Sunday, October 26, 2003 12:28 AM by TrackBack

# Nice regular expression tool (FREE)

Sunday, October 26, 2003 12:53 AM by don

# re: Screensaver from hell

would like to see the screen saver
Sunday, October 26, 2003 6:59 AM by Frans Bouma

# re: A few lessons from IntelliJ IDEA

The one thing that tells me IntelliJ is much better than VS.NET is that it seems that the IDE knows what's inside the editor: it's aware of the meaning of the code, it's not looking at it as ascii characters.

In other words: the IDE views the world in an editor but works with the world inside itself, the editor's contents is a view on that world and the developer alters that world, not the contents of the viewer (the editors contents) although for the developer it seems that the developer is altering texts.

The big advantage of this is that the IDE can be ultra smart and still be fully able to present the developer the code in whatever format he wants and persist that format. I get the feeling in VS.NET this is not the case: the editor looks at the text as text, it doesn't use a set of elements inside that are represented by text in an editor, which results in all kinds of crap, like the lack of serious functionality to alter code inside a texteditor from a macro, using intelligent knowledge (f.e. create a region for properties and one for member variables and add a property in one region and a member which is used by that property in the other. This is clumbsy in VS.NET now, because hte editor isn't aware of what's inside itself: every character is the same. IntelliJ seems to work totally different (no wonder, the MVC pattern is a cornerstone of the Java API).

Whidbey seems to change this a bit, lets hope it will be on par with IDEA.
Sunday, October 26, 2003 9:31 AM by Dave

# re: Leaving for PDC post hailstorm

My personal favorites are the one who detail their packing list. Second to that are those who post about their arrival and how smoggy the weather is.

Exactly what any and all of these have to do with .NET - no clue whatsoever. (BTW, I thought this was why they put up the PDC blog site anyway.) And this is the reason I'll spend my time this week rearranging my RSS subscriptions... specific blogs that are actually relevant (damn, what a concept, post about something that is actually available) and unsubscribing to the main feed that long ago grew too noisy for me.

Roy, your blog is one I'll continue to subscibe to.
Sunday, October 26, 2003 3:06 PM by Dave Burke

# re: Leaving for PDC post hailstorm

I hear ya, Roy. Greetings from Vermont...

Yeah, Dave, I'm still hanging with the main feed, but it isn't pleasant getting two of every "Wow, this is cool but can't talk about it until after the PDC, sorry!" post.

Sunday, October 26, 2003 7:12 PM by Peter Provost

# re: Peter and Douglas do it right (PDC Blogging the way I like it)

It is easier when you are typing right from the floor of the presentation. :)
Sunday, October 26, 2003 7:18 PM by Robert Scoble

# re: Peter and Douglas do it right (PDC Blogging the way I like it)

Dude, we're not allowed to talk about Longhorn until tomorrow morning. That's when that feed will become useful.

And, you just added to the worthless posts. Just thought I'd point that out.

Just turn off the feed until tomorrow. :-)
Sunday, October 26, 2003 7:21 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Peter and Douglas do it right (PDC Blogging the way I like it)

Robert - I can't wait.
And yes, this was a worthless post. You still read it though :)
You know what, thinking about it more, no, it was not worthless, unless you think pointing people at *real* content is a waste of time.
Sunday, October 26, 2003 7:27 PM by Robert Scoble

# re: Peter and Douglas do it right (PDC Blogging the way I like it)

Roy, that's a good point. :-)
Sunday, October 26, 2003 7:46 PM by Kirk Allen Evans

# re: Peter and Douglas do it right (PDC Blogging the way I like it)

For some great conference information, see Drew's revolving post on Don Box's session (http://weblogs.asp.net/dmarsh/posts/33593.aspx). Drew's in the room, blogging about the session continuously.

I think your comments, Roy, were uncalled for. Further, I think it is indicative of the need to remove the main feed for DNWL. Part of being at PDC is meeting all the people that are in the community and posting about it. Sorry if it isn't all technical, but it is still very relevant.
Sunday, October 26, 2003 7:59 PM by Mike Gunderloy

# re: Peter and Douglas do it right (PDC Blogging the way I like it)

Actually, I thought Roy's post was spot on. The already low signal-to-noise ratio in the Microsoft corner of blogdom has plummeted today. Now, I'm a firm defender of people being able to say whatever the heck they want in their own blogs. But today, the world of .NET weblogs is eerily reminiscent of AOL, LiveJournal, Blogger, and other haunts of teenage girls who think the entire world revolves around their dinner dates.

But then, maybe I'm just jealous because I'm not in LA soaking in the 802.11b thought-control field.
Sunday, October 26, 2003 8:04 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Peter and Douglas do it right (PDC Blogging the way I like it)

Kirk: How is one to do with the other? The main feed for DNWL is mostly for .Net content. PDC get togethers and meeting info is exactly what PDCBLoggers is made for. How is my ranting about the fact that the main feed has become *too* polluted got anything to do with removing the feed? How is reading "I'm here! meet me at booth 28" got anything to do with .Net? It belongs somewhere else.

PS: Good link to *real* content. I'll add it.
Sunday, October 26, 2003 8:31 PM by Give it a day

# re: Peter and Douglas do it right (PDC Blogging the way I like it) and the list grows

It's hard to get informative details down and pay attention to the sessions while things are still running. Give it a night and see what people can come up with with a minute to breathe...anyway, I like hearing about other experiences - since as far as I can tell, it's too big to see everything yourself!
Sunday, October 26, 2003 8:34 PM by Anonymous

# re: Peter and Douglas do it right (PDC Blogging the way I like it) and the list grows

Some of our blogs are the only way to reach others here in a sea of 7,000 people so Mike and Roy, there's a particular finger on my hand...yes you know which one it is
Sunday, October 26, 2003 8:41 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Peter and Douglas do it right (PDC Blogging the way I like it) and the list grows

Anon: I'll disregard the finger, because I understand where you're coming from. However, have you though about maybe doing a small *separate* blog for just the PDC and linking to it from your own blog sagin :"PDC details about me and where I'm at will be here.."?
How is that a bad idea?
And next time have the guts to post with your name, and perhaps that will make you stand behind your words.
Sunday, October 26, 2003 8:42 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Peter and Douglas do it right (PDC Blogging the way I like it) and the list grows

Oh, and ther'es also the PDC forums, and community application, IM, c'mon! You're telling me that your blog is the only way to find someone? give me a break.
Sunday, October 26, 2003 10:17 PM by Dave Burke

# re: Peter and Douglas do it right (PDC Blogging the way I like it) and the list grows

Roy, This in part reponds to this post but also to your comment to my separate post. (Thanks!) Yeah, then I got the wrong impression. I agree with everything you are saying as well as far as having clear channels to get the meat if you want it, and that IM could be employed in certain instances. Hey, I've been reading you long enough to know that you're a strictly a no B.S. kind of guy who has a low tolerance for people wasting your time. I hope you can enjoy the show from Israel, Roy, and we'll keep looking for those .PPT links!

Sunday, October 26, 2003 11:22 PM by Kirk Allen Evans

# re: Peter and Douglas do it right (PDC Blogging the way I like it) and the list grows

The people that are blogging about "want to meet up" and "here's who I met" are talking about mostly other bloggers on DNWL or bloggers that everyone knows on DNWL. Sure, blogs are about technical stuff, and somewhat of a personal journal of the event as a whole. Let's face it: DNWL is *not* completely about .NET and technical approaches. Defining it would dillute the purpose of DNWL.

PDCBloggers is an *aggregated* feed, just as the main DNWL page is an *aggregated* feed. I argue... if you don't like the feed, use SharpReader based on the OPML. Pushing people off DNWL is absurd, and discourages others from joining in the community effort.

Candidly, many people here do not use MSN Messenger, and without that as a vehicle, there is very little opportunity here at PDC to find others. I am not holding up a finger, but I respectively disagree about policing the main feed. It simply discourages participation. Even with the community app, there just isn't a vehicle for connecting within 7000 people.

I aggree that the number of posts regarding fires and LAX closings are numerous, but that is what is going on here. Hotels are overcrowded, the LAN is unstable... these are the pains that the early arrivers are dealing with and hope to prepare others for as they arrive tonight and tomorrow.

If we remove the main feed for DNWL, we are forced to rethink what DNWL and blogging in general is about. There are entirely too many posts policing the main feed instead of commenting on indivdual feeds. Give some feedback to people posting "here's the DataGid and sorting" again and again. Provide some relevant feedback to "I just discovered attributes, and here is how I use them inappropriately." DNWL are tehnical, revolving around a technical event (PDC).
Monday, October 27, 2003 2:37 AM by Anonymous

# re: Peter and Douglas do it right (PDC Blogging the way I like it) and the list grows

> You're telling me that your blog is the only way to find someone? give me a break.

No I'm saying we don't owe you a frigging thing. Whine all you want. The conference starts tommorrow not today, fool. Many people did not pay to go to the pre-conference sessions and did other things. I know you want to do your usual whining to get everything free but we don't owe you anything and we can blog on whatever the *** we feel like it just like you do with all your inane posts. Is that clear enough for you?
Monday, October 27, 2003 3:27 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Peter and Douglas do it right (PDC Blogging the way I like it) and the list grows

Anon: For some reason you still continue to hide behind anonymity, leaving me in a dilemma whether I should even answer you, since only a coward yells "f** you" behind anonymous. Still, I'll answer but this is the last post I'll accept that is anonymous AND disrespectful. Yes, I can *whine* all I want. On the other hand, you can blog away as you please about anything and everything, and there's not a single thing I can do about it. This is our playing field and I have no problem with that. If it bothers you that much, just like you tell me to do, "There's not a friggin thing you can do about it" since I'm writing what I believe to be true, and try to have some respect for other people while doing it. Calling someone a fool in response to a valid argument is a retort I would expect from someone not up to par with what I've come to known and love in this community. Do your math.
Monday, October 27, 2003 3:29 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Peter and Douglas do it right (PDC Blogging the way I like it) and the list grows

Also, see my comment to Dave Burk on this issue here:

http://weblogs.asp.net/dburke/posts/33687.aspx#FeedBack
Monday, October 27, 2003 6:35 AM by Scott Galloway

# re: New skin and new book recommendation

Wholeheartedly agree - great book, would've liked to have seen better coverage of multi-threading but what's there isn't too bad (I prefer Juval Lowy's 'Programming .NET components' for Multithreading)!
Monday, October 27, 2003 7:53 AM by SBC

# re: New skin and new book recommendation

Like the new Skin on your weblog. Could you please post some more info about it? (CSS/XSLT, etc).
Monday, October 27, 2003 7:58 AM by TAL

# re: New skin and new book recommendation

like your new look...
Monday, October 27, 2003 8:03 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: New skin and new book recommendation

SBC: it's a skin that has been added to .Text admin interface. It's last in the skin combo in there..
Monday, October 27, 2003 8:04 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: New skin and new book recommendation

Thanks honey! Kisses :)
Monday, October 27, 2003 1:06 PM by Ron Green

# re: Got Proxy? Help me test The Regulator

Not at the PDC.
Behind a proxy.

Email me: rfgreen@dstsystems.com
Monday, October 27, 2003 1:17 PM by Scott Galloway

# re: Got Proxy? Help me test The Regulator

Roy, you can use a public proxy for this...works in the same way see : http://www.publicproxyservers.com/index.html You may have to try a couple, they get pretty busy.
Monday, October 27, 2003 2:00 PM by Tony Pino

# re: WinSupersite RSS feed

Awesome!
Monday, October 27, 2003 5:34 PM by SBC

# re: WinSupersite RSS feed

subscribed... Could you list the RSSes to "listen" to during the PDCs... TIA
Monday, October 27, 2003 6:22 PM by Darren Neimke

# re: Regulator Coming along nicely


No worries Roy! It's a great product by the way :-)
Tuesday, October 28, 2003 6:01 AM by TrackBack

# Creating a generic Site-To-RSS tool

Tuesday, October 28, 2003 6:25 AM by SBC

# re: Got Proxy? Help me test The Regulator

Posted a 'nice to have list' on the GotDotNet workspace.
Tuesday, October 28, 2003 7:02 AM by BT

# re: New skin and new book recommendation

Hi Roy,

I think your new skin looks nice but the hyperlinks are not obvious enough. I just came over to read your post on the Chris Burrows tools list and I found it very difficult to see what was hyperlinked. I think it might be good to underline them or make the font difference slightly more marked.

Cheers,

BT

Tuesday, October 28, 2003 7:46 AM by Darren Neimke

# re: Waiting for the Next RSS Bandit


Roy, I had this *exact* experience about 2 weeks ago: I installed RssBandit and thought "COOL!"; the UI is very nice... alas my experience was similar to yours and I immediately turned back to SharpReader. Let's hope that the performance issues do get fixed :-)
Tuesday, October 28, 2003 8:20 AM by Fabrice

# re: Waiting for the Next RSS Bandit

Or let's hope SharpReader gets those features you expect ;-)
Tuesday, October 28, 2003 8:28 AM by senkwe

# re: Waiting for the Next RSS Bandit

Agreed! I've tried both RSSBandit and FeedDemon and it dawned on me that sometimes simplicity is best. Bandit is chock full of features yet using SharpReader just feels "right". It's fast and intuitive, so what more do I want? :-)
Tuesday, October 28, 2003 9:53 AM by Shannon J Hager

# re: Waiting for the Next RSS Bandit

I've tried at least 3 different versions of RSS Bandit and none of them have worked at all. The first few failed and gave me some strange error (it was a while ago, so I don/t remember the exact error), the latest version chokes on the first feed I tried it with (yours, by the way) but SharpReader has never given me any trouble. I can't really compare the 2 because I can't really say that I've actually been able to use RSS Bandit at all.
Tuesday, October 28, 2003 10:35 AM by Ron Green

# re: Waiting for the Next RSS Bandit

I have to say I had exactly the same experience Roy. I really wanted to use RSS Bandit but it just doesn't work right. I am seriously considering NewsGator.
Tuesday, October 28, 2003 12:02 PM by Bhushan

# re: About coding standards

Coding Standards for ASP.Net
Tuesday, October 28, 2003 12:18 PM by Nino Benvenuti

# re: Got Proxy? Help me test The Regulator

Roy,

I'm being a proxy at my current client; I'd love to help test. ninob <AT> avanade dot_com

Tuesday, October 28, 2003 12:18 PM by Nino

# re: Got Proxy? Help me test The Regulator

*sigh* .. I meant "I'm behind a proxy..."

Fingers.DoWhatBrainTellsYouTo();

Tuesday, October 28, 2003 3:17 PM by Dare Obasanjo

# re: Waiting for the Next RSS Bandit

Thanks for the feedback. I played with the thread pool count in the current build and changed the way downloading comments works to a background task. However there is one of your complaints I don't think is possible to feasibly address.

>Every time I try to use it, and import my 250-300 feed opml into it, it starts choking and the GUI hangs.

I just tried importing 144 feeds (Joshua Allen's list of Microsoft bloggers) into both RSS Bandit & SharpReader and they both ended up being similarly sluggish which is unsurprising given that they are attempting to download almost 150 files at once which is a lot regardless of how many threads you have working in the background. I'm not surprised that the behavior is worse at 250-300 feeds. You probably never notice the fact that SharpReader has similar problems with this because you've never tried to import 250-350 brand new but instead done a "Refresh" on 250-300 feeds which isn't the same thing since a lot of those feeds will probably send 304s instead of requiring downloading.

There is a problem that clicking a category node takes several seconds to show all the items under it. This is one of the consequences of what I'd like to call "Too much code reuse". I'll fix this tonight and the performance should be a lot better.

I'll probably let out a perf improved release tonight or tomorrow morning.

Thanks again for the feedback.
Tuesday, October 28, 2003 3:21 PM by Gyuri

# re: Waiting for the Next RSS Bandit

Well I just tried the latest version RSS Bandit again after a glowing review on another blog... It was just unusable. SharpReader just works, and that's the most important thing.
Tuesday, October 28, 2003 3:47 PM by Paul Gielens

# re: Waiting for the Next RSS Bandit

And I just switched from Sharpreader to RSSBandit and it wend smooth enough. Besides what would hold you from helping to debug?
Tuesday, October 28, 2003 5:20 PM by Ron Green

# re: Waiting for the Next RSS Bandit

I disagree. I have loaded an OPML with 230 feeds into SharpReader without encoutering the same issues. It may not load all the posts very quickly, but I never lose control of the UI. I can click on a category immediately and begin reading while the feeds are refreshing.
Wednesday, October 29, 2003 8:19 AM by Uri

# re: Israel .Net web user group meets today - Design time programming in Vs.Net

please don't take this as a complaint:
how can I know of these meetings in advance?
uri@mivzak.com
Wednesday, October 29, 2003 8:34 AM by Udi Dahan

# re: Israel .Net web user group meets today - Design time programming in Vs.Net

go to
www.microsoft.com/israel/dev/
for a list of all the groups, what will be presented, and when. You can also register on the mailing list
Wednesday, October 29, 2003 6:50 PM by Vazz

# re: Waiting for the Next RSS Bandit

I had similar problems with FeedDemon too.
Wednesday, October 29, 2003 9:08 PM by Steve Hiner

# re: RSS Bandit revamped - your comments appreciated

I've been playing with RSSBandit since the last release (SharpReader is the only aggregator I'd ever used).

To me RSSBandit feels too twitchy, to many refreshes for the tree so it flashes a lot during updates.

But the most annoying thing I've run across is the popup bubbles during feed refresh. When I start RSSBandit I have a ton of the bubbles pop up, when I clear them more pop up, it's quite annoying and I can't find any setting that lets me turn it off. It would be somewhat less annoying if it only opened one bubble and just updated the text but I've found that a full feed refresh forces me to click on the bubble dozens of times to get rid of them all.

I'm running Windows 2k sp4.
Wednesday, October 29, 2003 9:11 PM by Matt Smith

# re: Waiting for the Next RSS Bandit

I was a long-time (3 mths+) user of RSS Bandit and have had to make the switch to Sharp Reader as well. Apart from an annoying message that started coming up whenever I open Bandit (I have posted to the bug tracker at http://www.gotdotnet.com/Community/Workspaces/BugDetails.aspx?bugid=4615), some of my feeds were *never* being updated. If I deleted them and re-added the feed it would update fine. Anyway, I have changed to SharpReader and never looked back. All my feeds are now being updated.
Wednesday, October 29, 2003 10:08 PM by Dare Obasanjo

# re: RSS Bandit revamped - your comments appreciated

Steve,
This was a bug in the previous release (v1.2.0.42) that's fixed in the current release (v1.2.0.43). Hope the new version meets your needs.
Thursday, October 30, 2003 5:30 AM by Thomas Tomiczek

# re: Avalon automated UI Testing framework

Just one word: COOL.

Stuff like this was missing. Integration hooks for testing frameworks. Wonderfull.
Thursday, October 30, 2003 3:07 PM by Ingrid

# re: System.Text.Encoding.Tip

Thanks ! This really solved a similar problem I had with danish characters :-)
Thursday, October 30, 2003 9:43 PM by SBC

# re: Funny and informative "Lap Around Longhorn" video from MSDN TV

I watched this in its entirety.. good video with coding examples..
Friday, October 31, 2003 6:48 AM by Krisztian Gyuris

# re: [New article]: Creating a generic Site-To-RSS tool (site scraping)

I tried your sitefeeder site and it is really nice :)
I had a small addition when I clicked on a feed and then tried to look at the help menu, it did not showed up in full only the first item is visible. If I am not watching the one of the feeds the Help menu works ok.

Cris
Friday, October 31, 2003 9:05 AM by SBC

# re: Introduction to Test-driven development with NUnit and the NUnit-Add-in

Good article Roy... thanks..
Friday, October 31, 2003 5:35 PM by Ryan A. Rinaldi

# re: Got Proxy? Help me test The Regulator

If your still looking for a beta tester, let me know. We have a proxy server at the office.

email@ryanrinaldi.com
Friday, October 31, 2003 5:40 PM by SBC

# re: A dream come true.. almost

What have you been drinking? That must be some fine wine there... I am coming down to Israel... :-)
Friday, October 31, 2003 6:04 PM by SBC

# re: Introduction to Test-driven development with NUnit and the NUnit-Add-in

Not too sure about the timing of the 'Refactoring' - I would think it would be post-initial development (at least, not before the alpha stages). Otherwise, coding may be too constrained. I recall peer-coding reviews where the compiler warning switches were set very high (level-5 in the old MFC/VC++) but this was 'automated' and 'refactoring' can still be a bit subjective...
Saturday, November 01, 2003 6:39 AM by Len Holgate

# re: Nice Blog.

Personally I find the 'right amount' of personal stuff on a blog helps me weigh up the value of the technical information. I find that often you can find out more about how the blogger thinks from his non technical posts and that can help me make decisions about how much weight to put behind their technical opinions. If I were dealing with these people face to face I'd get other clues to help me; with blogs I think you need the personal stuff to let your personality show through a little. The complex bit is getting the mix right.

I like Rory's style too, it's open and honest and doesn't appear to be trying to sell something; unlike some of the 'consultancy blogs' around ;)
Saturday, November 01, 2003 8:24 AM by Omer van Kloeten

# re: And a few lessons from JBuilder

I can agree about the coolness of the possibility of these being integrated in VS.NET, but if you want these features now, "Auto Generated UML diagram of the object model for the current project" can already exists in the form of Rational XDE.NET and "Full integration with JUnit" already exists in the form of the NUnit Addin.
Saturday, November 01, 2003 8:32 AM by Floris den Heijer

# re: Avoiding DB_SEC_E_AUTH_FAILED exception on connection string

I still keep the error even when I did all above. What else can cause this error?
Saturday, November 01, 2003 9:01 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Avoiding DB_SEC_E_AUTH_FAILED exception on connection string

Floris: go to ConnectionStrings.com and try to put in a simpler connectin string form.
Other than that I can't help you. But probably you're just missing a little simple char somewhere..
Saturday, November 01, 2003 8:19 PM by John

# re: Funny and informative "Lap Around Longhorn" video from MSDN TV

Very good episode isn't it. I hope they do more like this.
Sunday, November 02, 2003 7:25 AM by SBC

# re: PDC eye for the cynical guy

Cynical alright... Let's see what he writes when "Whidbey", "Yukon", "Longhorn", etc are generally released (he has to update his books..) ;-)
Sunday, November 02, 2003 8:41 AM by Dave

# re: PDC eye for the cynical guy

Yep, when those things are generally released he may have to eat some of today's words. Problem is, by time these things are released nobody will remember words uttered YEARS before. :P
Sunday, November 02, 2003 12:49 PM by julie lerman

# re: New CLR Profiler version available, and a word to Don box

do take note of John Cavner-Johnson's comment on my post. It does make a lot of sense. I was just being sensitive. I KNOW that Don Box was not really making fun of us, it's just that it sounded so awful the way he said it!
Monday, November 03, 2003 4:32 AM by Scott Galloway

# re: Nice Blog.

Is there actually a way to have personaly stuff not postedc on the front page of weblogs.asp.net? I like personal info when reading a blog but when reading the aggregated content, too much personal content can get annoying (e.g., during the PDC when there were dozens of posts covering travel to the PDC...nice but a bit repetitive)...
Tuesday, November 04, 2003 2:14 PM by Avi

# re: About Roy Osherove

Best of luck to you, Tal and the cat. My daughter is also called Tal :-), Nice, when you're surfing for answers, to find some answers near to home
Tuesday, November 04, 2003 6:37 PM by Chris Stewart

# re: A horrible discovery

100 MB!?!?!
Tuesday, November 04, 2003 6:42 PM by Rob Chartier

# re: A horrible discovery

SharpReader has always been a memory hog, but its to be expected with what its doing. And it grows the longer you use it. Hell it takes a few minutes just to load.

Take a look at some of the other processes in memory, like Explorer.exe. What is it sitting at? I choose to use an alternate shell (geoshell) with alot less overhead (currently under 6mb).
Tuesday, November 04, 2003 7:04 PM by Joe Kaplan

# re: A horrible discovery

One nice thing about RSS Bandit (which also uses lots of memory) is that when you minimize it to the tray, it drops it's working set to the minimum (about 2MB on my machine) but keeps working in the background regardless. When in maximizes again, it only reallocates the memory it needs, so it starts over much smaller.
Tuesday, November 04, 2003 7:07 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: A horrible discovery

joe - that's pretty cool!
and chris - yeah 1-0-0 MB.
Tuesday, November 04, 2003 7:57 PM by James Avery

# re: A horrible discovery

Feeddemon is only about 20MB open, and shrinks to 2MB when in the taskbar. This is the main reason that I switched.

-James
Tuesday, November 04, 2003 9:15 PM by Blair Stephenson

# re: A horrible discovery

Yep, mine was sitting at around 125mb.

I've just sorted out the number of items held and it's down to 83mb.
Tuesday, November 04, 2003 9:26 PM by Steve

# re: A horrible discovery

Here's some info about SharpReader that I discovered using the CLR Profiler:
http://www.furrygoat.com/archives/000563.html#000563

Basically, 58MB of just string allocations, etc.
Tuesday, November 04, 2003 9:42 PM by Nino Benvenuti

# re: A horrible discovery

Yep. That's why I started looking for another RSS reader.. James convinced me to switch to FeedDemon. I really like it..except for one or two minor things. I'm going to re-evaluate RSS Bandit, but FeedDemon is working pretty well for me.

-Nino
Tuesday, November 04, 2003 10:13 PM by Dylan Greene

# re: A horrible discovery

100 megs isn't much... for a Java app. Is this a .NET client issue or a SharpReader issue? I'm using NewsGator, but I don't know how much memory it uses since windows only reports Outlook 2003's memory usage (62 megs currently, with about 100 feeds).
Wednesday, November 05, 2003 1:30 AM by Brian Desmond

# re: A horrible discovery

I generally clear out my saved posts every 15 or 30 days and that will help clear up the memory usage in Sharpreader. I only have about 40 feeds subscribed, but I don't delete posts (have about 5100 right now). Deleting them brings the memory usage down.

I think it has something to do with Sharpreader loading its databases into memory rather than reading them from disk as necessary (just speculating).
Wednesday, November 05, 2003 1:35 AM by AsbjornM

# re: A horrible discovery

Mine uses 400-600MB, well, I have some feeds, and about 74000 posts :) (won't delete).
But it looks like Sharpreader keeps everything in memory, It is very tempting to write an aggregator that uses sql server or something..
Wednesday, November 05, 2003 8:38 AM by Ashutosh Nilkanth

# re: [Tool] The Regulator 1.02a is out

Great job Roy! I was really looking forward to posting patterns to RegExLib DB and also the performance counters. The performance analyzer looks cool. On one occasion, the earlier version of the software hung-up as I tried matching for an invalid pattern on some HTML content but multi-threaded operations are extremely useful in such cases.

Just one small thing: maybe you can round off the counter values in the performance analyzer to 6-8 digits after the decimal. Otherwise, the chart will become very messy with lots of values.
Wednesday, November 05, 2003 8:40 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: [Tool] The Regulator 1.02a is out

Ashutosh: if you post it on the message boards as a request, I'll remember to add it ;)
And thanks for the feedback!
Wednesday, November 05, 2003 10:31 AM by Addy Santo

# re: See you at the Israel VB user group today

If you go say hi to Michal Geva for me! I kind of miss her, she was easily the coolest MS sales rep I have ever worked with :)

Wednesday, November 05, 2003 1:38 PM by Steven Smith

# re: [Tool] The Regulator 1.02a is out

Great work, Roy! I'm glad someone is finally using the web services at RegExLib.com! And thanks, Darren, for your hard work on RegExLib!

Steve
Wednesday, November 05, 2003 4:35 PM by TrackBack

# Regulator v1.02a is Out

Thursday, November 06, 2003 3:11 AM by Robert McLaws

# re: Please, NO SPOILERS

I didn't see any spoilers in the feed.
Thursday, November 06, 2003 3:22 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Please, NO SPOILERS

Robert - Not yet.. but posts with headers like "Matrix review" or "Matrix was great" are posts I'll never really open before I actually see the movie, thus, I can't attest if they are indeed spoilers. This is more of a preventative measure for the poor souls who mistakenly encounter a spoiler post without wanting to :)
Thursday, November 06, 2003 9:08 AM by Darrell

# re: Please, NO SPOILERS

So a title like "Matrix ended with blah blah blah happening was so totally against the given plot line blah blah blah" would not be good? :)
Thursday, November 06, 2003 11:14 AM by Genna

# re: Export and import VS.NET's text editor's color and font settings

Hi, looks very cool, and I find it very useful. But the macro deals only with colors, not fonts. Do you know the way to save/load fonts as well.
Thanks.
Thursday, November 06, 2003 11:25 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Export and import VS.NET's text editor's color and font settings

Genna, there's probably away way. I created a vs.net settings addin.. it's lying somewhere and I need to find it. Not sure if ot changes the fonts as well..
Thursday, November 06, 2003 11:26 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Export and import VS.NET's text editor's color and font settings

Got it! here it is:
http://weblogs.asp.net/rosherove/posts/9732.aspx
Friday, November 07, 2003 6:50 PM by Benjamin Mitchell

# re: A few lessons from IntelliJ IDEA

This is a great piece of work Roy. I'm glad that someone in the Microsoft community is highlighting the innovations in the Java IDE's. I love competition like this when it leads to improvements in developer tools. Like you say, I hope the Visual Studio team are tracking these changes. It looks like Whidbey's refactoring support is a little less than half of what IntelliJ provides, hopefully the Longorn version (Orcas?) will go the rest of the distance.
Saturday, November 08, 2003 11:35 AM by David Carroll

# re: [Tool] The Regulator 1.02a is out

Roy, Thank you for the Regulator. I have finally broken through the mental block on regular expressions. I get it now! Love your blog! Blessings to you.
Saturday, November 08, 2003 5:00 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: [Tool] The Regulator 1.02a is out

David: I'm happy I could help :)
Sunday, November 09, 2003 5:49 AM by SBC

# re: [Tool] - cool (free) news reader

checked it out - it's fast!
Sunday, November 09, 2003 6:05 AM by Frans Bouma

# re: [Tool] - cool (free) news reader

I always use XNews (http://xnews.newsguy.com/ ) (no, it's not an X11 tool ;) )

Works great.

This one however looks great too. Will check it out :)
Talking about newsgroups, I saw your postings in the C# newsgroup, Roy, welcome! :)
Sunday, November 09, 2003 8:17 AM by SBC

# re: Blog: The Software Simplist

http://weblogs.asp.net/sbchatterjee/posts/36583.aspx
Sunday, November 09, 2003 2:34 PM by Chris Martin

# re: [Tool] - cool (free) news reader

I've been an XNews guy for years now. But, I'll give this one a shot too.

Thanks for the link!
Sunday, November 09, 2003 3:32 PM by TrackBack

# Introducing 40tude Dialog

Sunday, November 09, 2003 5:24 PM by Jim

# re: Winforms menu shortcuts not working sometimes? Use ProcessDialogKey()

I've searched far and wide to find this solution. I see how this strategy works, but I can't figure out for the life of me how to call ProcessDialogKey and what to pass to it. When and when Do I call it or initialize it so it actually is called when an arrow key is pressed?
I'm not using derived forms. I'm just trying to catch the arrow keys in a form.

thanks for taking to time to write this and help out.
jim@vod1.net
Sunday, November 09, 2003 5:36 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Winforms menu shortcuts not working sometimes? Use ProcessDialogKey()

Jim. Yes you are using derived forms. In your form, where you try to capture the arrow keys, you are actually deriving form windows.forms.Form. So, the easiest way to get into ProcessDialogKey is this: In the Class tree window find your form. Go to it's base classes node and find "Form". go to that node's base classes node and find "control". You should see the "ProcessDialogKey" method listed there. Right click on it and select "Add override".

That's the "loooong" GUI way. You can easily just copy paste the code form this post inside your form. It will work just the same. No need to initialize it or anything else.
hope this helps..
Sunday, November 09, 2003 6:25 PM by julie lerman

# re: Jumping into newsgroups

Roy, Newsgroups metrics is old news for MVP now. There are a lot of other things that are taken into account. I have hardly been active in newsgroups, yet I was nominated to be an MVP. Don't do something just to become an MVP. That's backwards. Do it because you just can't help yourself.
Sunday, November 09, 2003 6:45 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Jumping into newsgroups

Julie. I was (unsuccefully) trying to be sarcastic. No, I wouldn't do it just because it holds MVP status, but , I do not agree with how MVPs are chosen. You should really know by now that if I do anything in the public .Net area, it's because I "couldn't help it" first.
But, I won't hide the fact that yes, I do have an agenda here. Is it something to be ashamed of? I'm sure most of the current MVPs at least *considered* being an MVP on purpose. And I don't see it as a bad thing. What, is the only way you're allowed to help people is if you are a "true at heart give it all away and ask for nothing jsut because you get to type on the keyboard" kind of person? you're not allowed to have an agenda when doing it? C'mon.
Microsoft wouldn't have made such a thing as an MVP award if it didn't make people want to chime in on the NGs. And it works. Now it's a catch-22 all of a sudden? "You can help in the newsgroups, but the only way you deserve an MVP is if you don't think about it/do something to actively get it"?
what's wrong with a win/win for all? the NGs get good answers from dedicated people that, sure, have an agenda, but wouldn't be doing all this if it weren't for the love they have for what they do, and the MVPs get recogntion for the help they provide other people. what's wrong with that?
THe only thing wrong is that I don't see any other way to get that recognition. a blogging MVP , when I raised this issue a while ago, is almost a 0% chance of happening. Why? all the people who answered me said that the *only* way is through the NGs. That sucks and it should change. Perhaps, Julie, it's easier for past MVPs to get re-elected, otherwise, I bet you that even if I did double the amazing work you are doing in the comunnity, if I didn't have the right connections and I wouldn't post on the NGs, I would *never* get an MVP.
Sunday, November 09, 2003 7:58 PM by SBC

# re: Jumping into newsgroups

perhaps.. a MVP is one who came to the newsgroup for help, got help & is giving back more than he/she received.. :-)
Sunday, November 09, 2003 9:49 PM by Joe Kaplan

# re: Jumping into newsgroups

As an MVP, I can definitely say that it helps to participate in the newsgroups. I got in the way SBC suggested; I started by asking questions and then just decided to hang out and knew a lot of the answers after a while.

I know for a fact that other things besides newsgroup participation are considered. One of my MVP friends got nominated on the basis of a Yahoo mailing list that he administers. Most of the battle is just getting noticed. The newsgroups are easy because they are controlled and actively monitored by MS, so there is a lot of awareness over who is participating. However, I believe we'll see more MVPs based on blogs in the future.

That said, the newsgroups are cool. There is definitely community there (although with less of a "club" feeling that the blog scene and a lot more noise) and there is a lot to be learned as well.

The CLR and Security newsgroups are good ones to check out too.
Sunday, November 09, 2003 10:50 PM by Daniel O'Connell

# re: Jumping into newsgroups

The newsgroups are an interesting place. There is alot of noise(and repeated questions), and you will have to deal with alot more OSS flaming and the like, but the rare good discussion tends to last longer and provide more information that those in the blogsphere.

Also, reading about what people are having problems with helps generate more information that other methods. Alot of the interesting little factoids you'll find are because it was the solution to someone's problem, its simply not possible to find everything on your own.

I personally am active in several different community areas, newsgroups(don't forget the new winfx ones if your interested in longhorn\winfx), developmentor mailing lists, etc. I find most of them to be more useful, on a daily basis, than the blogsphere. It is just too limited a medium for full two way exchange.

Monday, November 10, 2003 8:01 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Jumping into newsgroups

Thanks for the comments guys. I can definitely see that I've been missing on something. Guess I have more learning to do :)
Monday, November 10, 2003 9:37 AM by Tony B

# re: A horrible discovery

Mine takes 32MB (100 feeds, 10000 posts), but drops down to 1MB or less when minimised - No problem at all
Tuesday, November 11, 2003 7:17 AM by Paschal

# re: IRegex - got a better name for my new RegexBlog?

Maybe Royex ;-)
Tuesday, November 11, 2003 8:59 AM by SBC

# re: IRegex - got a better name for my new RegexBlog?

aahh... I was going to say that - 'Royoex' ! Really!
Tuesday, November 11, 2003 9:41 AM by Luke Hutteman

# re: Brumme is alive again, and a small question

You can turn off toast through the feed-properties pane. You can turn "AlertNewItems" on or off for individual feeds or categories. Do it for the root category ("Subscribed Feeds") and it will be turned off for all your feeds (as long as those feeds aren't overriding this setting).
Tuesday, November 11, 2003 9:41 AM by OmegaSupreme

# re: My new RegexBlog

IRegex sounds cool. I might just have one or two questions for you regexp gurus , unfathomable patterns I just cant write.
Tuesday, November 11, 2003 9:46 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Brumme is alive again, and a small question

Luke, Thanks :)
Tuesday, November 11, 2003 11:08 AM by Sebastien Lambla

# re: Multiple==Good

Trackback
http://thetechnologist.is-a-geek.com/blog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=ff8db3b7-f22e-42f5-a989-b54b16ddf464
Wednesday, November 12, 2003 8:50 AM by Darrell

# re: Israel .Net user group meeting today - Advanced debugging techniques

Hey Roy, I'll be right there. Let me hop on a plane and hope the time zones work in my favor. :)
Wednesday, November 12, 2003 9:12 AM by SBC

# re: Writing help is... challenging

As a former C++ developer, I can safely say...'I feel your pain'.. :-)
I'll be happy to help with the help file of The Regulator... let me know..
Wednesday, November 12, 2003 12:33 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Israel .Net user group meeting today - Advanced debugging techniques

I'll be waiting Darrell. :) Don't think I won't show up to any of YOUR group meetings tho!
Wednesday, November 12, 2003 5:53 PM by SBC

# re: Longhorn PDC bits download available for MSDN subscribers

I think I am going to give it a 900mhz Celeron with 512mb RAM to check it out first. What I have read in other blogs - VMWare or Connectix is painfully slow with it...
Wednesday, November 12, 2003 5:55 PM by Steve hiner

# re: Writing help is... challenging

I'm starting to appreciate that technical writing class I had to take in college. I guess that's one benefit of getting a CE degree (that's Civil Engineering, not Computer Engineering).

If I had more free time I'd give it a shot but I'm already working way too much for my wife to tollerate me doing freebie work on the side. Sorry.
Wednesday, November 12, 2003 8:07 PM by leon bambrick

# Technical Writing: breadth first with iteration.


writing, whether technical or creative, always has defects. it never has the elegance of code, it can never be evaluated completely. there are always more ways you can look at it.

so accept that it's going to be bland and imperfect and boring. accept that very few people are going to read it or refer to it. all you have to know is that when people do, they'll be able to get nice simple instructions that will lead them to the answer they are looking for.

use lots of sub headings. sub headings are easy to write. (if you can't even write the subheadings then you're really in trouble) write enough sub headings the thing is practically done. That's your first draft. Print it out. Give yourself a pat on the back.

write very quick notes under each sub heading. print it out and re-read it, judging it only for its truthfulness and its completeness. Do not parse it for grammar, style, sophistication, sexiness or anything else. Where it isn't complete, add mroe notes. Where it isn't truthful, make it truthful. Ugly is fine. Stupid is okay. Boring is expected. Just make it truthful and complete. Now print that out. that's your second draft. You've earnt another pat on the back.

now track down your sub-editor. This is probably your wife/secretary/mother - someone who is not your boss, who loves you unconditionally, who is not as technical as you (they're NOT concerned with the facts or the completeness of what you've written.) Please with them until they agree to read through it with you. They love you unconditionally, so they will agree. They won't hate what you've written, but they'll know which problems of style are the important ones. And once you've read it through with them, you will too. The third draft's the charm. once that's done, send it out into the world. You've wasted enough time already.

cheers
leon bambrick
www16.brinkster.com/messydesk/db/index.asp
Wednesday, November 12, 2003 8:21 PM by Andrew

# re: Web Designer/Graphic Artist/Receptionist

Sometimes the only thing to do is play dumb.

I don't know how the phone at work functions.
I know how to answer it, that is like any phone.
I know how to check the messages, I had a message once someone helped me and I took notes.
I know how to make a call, that is about the only thing that can be done by pushing one button :P

I you call me, but if I am not the person you want to talk to, I cannot transfer you to someone else. "I could try , but I really don't know how it works, so I might hang up, maybe you should call back" - this is the truth, but has only happend once.

I remember my first programming job, I didn't have a phone and I liked it.

p.s.
If I don't count my girlfriend calling, I get an average of about one call a month.
Wednesday, November 12, 2003 11:09 PM by Mads Nissen

# re: The predictable history of a programmer (reloaded)

Officially busted! Although I got to add a lot more, ehm, bragging in mine. Nicely deducted Roy!
Thursday, November 13, 2003 3:55 AM by Frans Bouma

# re: Great SQL tip: @@IDENTITY==bad, scope_identity()==good

scope_identity() is not supported in SqlServer 7. Consider that when using scope_identity() as it can cause code to become non-portable.
Thursday, November 13, 2003 2:31 PM by Manfred Lange

# re: Fun with NUnit - clarification

We are currently considering a modification to the licensing. We want to make sure that you can ship your tests with a non-GPL software, if you want to do so. A possible solution might be that we make the required runtime libraries, e.g. csUnit.dll, LGPL, which is less strict than GPL in terms what you can do with it.
Thursday, November 13, 2003 4:11 PM by the0ther

# re: Great SQL tip: @@IDENTITY==bad, scope_identity()==good

Good grief! What a tip! What other commands do I need to avoid? The plus operator?

Oh well, I'm sending this around to some other people that I know. This'll be new to a lot of folks.
Thursday, November 13, 2003 5:59 PM by SBC

# re: Technical writing - The complete idiot's guide

Technical Writing: depth first with confusion.. :-)
Thanks for the good article - to the point and very true. Technical writing is more difficult as your audience may vary, not so for fiction or even news media these days!
I agree about the 'third draft' - I recall some profs in school stating that if it's not revised in three then give it away for free .. (something like that)..
Friday, November 14, 2003 1:47 PM by adriana

# re: When running 'aspnet_regiis -c' still doesn't fix it...

THANK YOU VERY VERY MUCH
Saturday, November 15, 2003 1:16 AM by Duncan Mackenzie

# re: MSDN chats RSS feed? you got it.

Thanks Roy!
Saturday, November 15, 2003 3:22 AM by John Doe

# re: Windows Server 2003 Rocks

Hmmm.... same problem, same OS with me. I can't seem to get the Direct3D to work. I have a Dell Dimension 8300, 128 MB of NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 video memory, and dual 2.6 Ghz processor w/ hyperthreading.
Saturday, November 15, 2003 9:14 PM by Sebastien Lambla

# re: Help me rename The Regulator

I vote for Regex Commander
Saturday, November 15, 2003 9:14 PM by Sebastien Lambla

# re: Help me rename The Regulator

I vote for Regex Commander!
Saturday, November 15, 2003 10:49 PM by Tony Pino

# re: Help me rename The Regulator

Regex Commander sounds good to me.
Saturday, November 15, 2003 11:15 PM by Dave Burke

# re: Help me rename The Regulator

I always thought "The Regulator" was an outstanding name! Much better than either of those.
Saturday, November 15, 2003 11:20 PM by Chris Martin

# re: Help me rename The Regulator

Reginald? Rexpressions? Declarex? SoundTrap? Trapper? RegTrap?
Saturday, November 15, 2003 11:28 PM by Rich C

# re: Help me rename The Regulator

I don't know if it should change. It's very memorable. Last evening in <a href="http://www.computerzen.com">ScottH</a>'s class, it was the first thing that came to my mind when he was mentioning some good Windows Apps.

Consider the cache you may already have.
Saturday, November 15, 2003 11:39 PM by Phil Weber

# re: Help me rename The Regulator

I have nothing against The Regulator, but since you asked for suggestions...
How about ExpressYourself? Or RegExpress?
Sunday, November 16, 2003 12:01 AM by Allen Edwards

# re: Help me rename The Regulator

PatternMaster?
Sunday, November 16, 2003 1:58 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Help me rename The Regulator

How about "Regex Studio"?
Sunday, November 16, 2003 2:00 AM by Jon Galloway

# re: Help me rename The Regulator

I like "The Regulator". I suppose I could be talked into "The Roygulator".
Sunday, November 16, 2003 2:53 AM by Ashutosh Nilkanth

# re: Help me rename The Regulator

I like "Regulator" (without "The" prefix) better than the other options. Also, how about something like RegExpert or RegXP or RegExcell
Sunday, November 16, 2003 10:40 AM by Wes Haggard

# re: Help me rename The Regulator

I have allows liked "The Regulator", I don't think their is a need to rename.
Sunday, November 16, 2003 10:50 AM by SBC

# re: Help me rename The Regulator

Original is best... 'The Regulator'... IMHO..
Sunday, November 16, 2003 11:14 AM by Oskar Austegard

# re: Oops! Typed Datasets ARE scalable!

How exactly does one go about using a TDS effectively in a different project, given that the DataColumns are marked as internal?

Say I have the folowing solution with three projects:
MySol
* DAL
* Entities
* Web

If I create all my TDS in the Entities project, how will I be able to reference the DataColumn properties from within the DAL or Web project? This appears to me to be a major drawback of using TDS - at least as VS.NET generates them.

Thanks,

Oskar
Sunday, November 16, 2003 2:55 PM by Dennis

# re: Help me rename The Regulator

Regulator is clever. Regex Commander sounds like a Norton product. Regexor sounds like the bad guy in a cartoon.
Sunday, November 16, 2003 6:45 PM by BKC

# re: Help me rename The Regulator

If it were me, I would have named it RegExtreme (the domain is available). But I also like "Regulator".
Sunday, November 16, 2003 6:47 PM by leon bambrick

# re: Help me rename The Regulator

regulator (without the 'The') is easy to remember - unless legal issues force you to change it - let it stay. to replace it with a more 'typical' name like RegExor Commander, or RegXP would certainly add nothing to the product's marketability. Just confuse people who already know about it.

The name is just a handle that has to be easy to hold onto - it doesn't have to explain everything about the product. the names Excel, Word, Windows may all have something to do with the product they front, but they don't of themselves give a full description. just a little tag that can stick in the mind.
Sunday, November 16, 2003 7:47 PM by Adam Kinney

# re: Help me rename The Regulator

I vote for Regasaurus Ex.

RegasaurusEx.com is available and it lends itself to a cool logo. As long as you don't just copy and change the color of the Mozilla logo ;)
Monday, November 17, 2003 2:24 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Help me rename The Regulator

Wow. Thanks for the great feedback guys!
I guess I'll have to reconsider renaming it after all!
Monday, November 17, 2003 2:30 AM by SpiderMan

# re: Help me rename The Regulator

How about the SharpRegx? :-)
Monday, November 17, 2003 4:09 AM by Daniel

# re: Help me rename The Regulator

regaxulatosaurus ? :-)
Monday, November 17, 2003 4:10 AM by daniel

# re: Help me rename The Regulator

regexed ?
Monday, November 17, 2003 7:16 AM by Ole

# re: Help me rename The Regulator

I vote for keeping the Regulator name.
Monday, November 17, 2003 8:27 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Oops! Typed Datasets ARE scalable!

Hi Oskar. These are declared internal because what you really want to use from extrenal components aree the "public" properties that each row exposes whihc are essentially the columns that you are looking for. So why hide the columns themselves? I asked Mike Gunderloy and he came up with a reasonable explanation: To keep that columns access logic in one place. SOunds reasonable to me..
Monday, November 17, 2003 9:25 AM by io

# re: More About Yukon?

i want to know more about yukon
thanks.
Monday, November 17, 2003 9:35 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: More About Yukon?

io:
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/evaluation/yukon.asp
Monday, November 17, 2003 9:37 AM by Daniel

# re: Help me rename The Regulator

What about "r.g.x" ?
Monday, November 17, 2003 9:58 AM by Scalability and typed datasets

# re: Why are typed data tables columns declared "internal"?

It does make sense. I did run into a problem with this today. A somewhat unfortunate database design that I have inherited uses 64-bit integers for primary keys. So I added code to the OnRowChanged event as follows

Because the id column was a primary key it wasn't possible to specify a null value (codegen:nullvalue), so I couldn't use Isidnull().

So I ended up writing code like this:
if (e.Action == DataRowAction.Add) {
DataRow row = e.Row;
try {
long rowid = row["id"];
}
catch { // type miscast imples that the id is still null
row.id = LongRandom.Get();
}

But I agree that there is no good reason to be able to access the underlying columns, since the property accessors provide all the access you need. It is hard to change the behaviour of datasets though, unless you use the ado.net powertoys, which provide a dataset generator with all definitions declared as virtual (so it's easy to override behaviour). You could easily change this code to make the DataColumns public instead of internal. I recommend if you are using ADO.NET typed datasets you use this dataset generator http://www.gotdotnet.com/community/workspaces/workspace.aspx?id=40d3e800-e2af-4220-a079-66552dd2b825. And see also the book chapter to accompany it:

http://www.adoguy.com/content.aspx?id=samplechapter/chapter1
Monday, November 17, 2003 12:17 PM by ingig

# re: VS.Net refactoring Lessons from IntelliJ IDEA (redux)

This is from a Jet brains employee posted on their forum

"Yes, we are working on a tool for .NET. As a first step we plan to release it as a plugin for Visual Studio. Later we plan to provide a full IDE. It's likely that we'll release the plugin on summer 2004 and EAP versions may be available very soon (in a month or so). " Posted: Nov 5, 2003 3:26 PM

The EAP version should be made available at www.intellij.net I would think since the EAP version of the java IDE is there.
Monday, November 17, 2003 1:44 PM by Oskar Austegard

# re: Oops! Typed Datasets ARE scalable!

The probem I have with that is that if you want to bind a grid, say in the presentation layer to a TDS from a different project, you have no access to the column names, like you do from inside the assembly, which means you have to resort to using strings (which get checked at runtime) rather than the lengthy but compiler safe myDS.myDT.myCol.columnname syntax. I have run into some other issues related to this as well, but don't remember them at the moment....
Monday, November 17, 2003 1:56 PM by fgfgf

# re: Explorer Tips and tricks for the keyboard junkie

gfgfgfgfgfgfgf
Monday, November 17, 2003 1:56 PM by fgfgf

# re: Explorer Tips and tricks for the keyboard junkie

u smellllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
Monday, November 17, 2003 2:35 PM by Joshua Allen

# re: Help me rename The Regulator

"Regulator" the Warren G song -- "we're the regulators; we regulate all stealin' around these parts"
Monday, November 17, 2003 2:55 PM by anon

# re: Easy Proxy handling through the ProxyFactory and ProxyInfo classes

cool
thanks
Monday, November 17, 2003 2:58 PM by Oskar Austegard

# re: Why are typed data tables columns declared "internal"?

See my comment at http://weblogs.asp.net/rosherove/posts/6489.aspx#38042

For the record, I have decided to use a modified version of the ADO Guy's dataset generator. I was momentarily contemplating using a CodeSmith template (http://www.ericjsmith.net/codesmith/) instead, but concluded that I wanted to retain the ability to have VS.NET help me build the XSD files.

Oskar
Monday, November 17, 2003 3:08 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Why are typed data tables columns declared "internal"?

Oskar: Good choice. Personally I never had the need to access those internal columns. But the solution you chose is definitely a good alternative.
Tuesday, November 18, 2003 4:09 PM by Chris Frazier

# re: Help me rename The Regulator

Regulators! Mount up.
Wednesday, November 19, 2003 4:04 AM by Andrew

# re: [tool] Total Commander 6.0 is out

FAR from http://www.rarlab.com/ is more convenient choice from my
point of view...
Wednesday, November 19, 2003 7:08 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: [tool] Total Commander 6.0 is out

Andrew: How can you say that? FAR is text based. COmmander is windows based with all the advateges of the text based one but also all the advateges of a windows based file manager
Wednesday, November 19, 2003 7:27 AM by senkwe chanda

# re: A few lessons from IntelliJ IDEA

Woah, those are really cool features :-) Can't those features be added via addins to VS7? Afterall, if MS do it, they'll be killing some poor component vendor somewhere.
Wednesday, November 19, 2003 11:58 AM by Juan Miguel Venturello

# re: [tool] Total Commander 6.0 is out

Eveyone has his favorite.

Mine is http://netez.com/2xExplorer/ which is tightly integrated into the shell, has excellent and fast file viewer and editor, integrated command line parser and a bunch of other features.

Check it out. Its free, stable and the developer is quite active in supporting it.

I could change some things about it but I use it every day in all my computers and like it a lot.
Thursday, November 20, 2003 1:29 AM by leon bambrick

# re: Thanks for your help

Code names are an excellent idea. Who needs pesky version numbers?
Thursday, November 20, 2003 10:50 PM by julie lerman

# re: The Regulator gets its first "real" review

Roy - that is SO cool. And if Mike says "it's the best out there" you can (almost) take that to the bank! Nice job. I guess I better start using it - I just hardly ever do any regex stuff!
Friday, November 21, 2003 8:23 AM by denny

# re: The Letter I should have written back

Hmmmm...... and if they "accept" the letter then .......

Too funny ! :-)
Saturday, November 22, 2003 9:03 AM by SBC

# re: The Regulator gets its first "real" review

It's a great tool & you should be proud for building it!
Monday, November 24, 2003 4:37 AM by jkhjk

# re: InfoPath download link (and a lawsuit waiting to happen)

hjkhjkhjk
Monday, November 24, 2003 6:43 AM by Udi Dahan

# re: I'm going on a two month gig to Norway

Congrats !

Enjoy yourself and don't work too hard.
Monday, November 24, 2003 7:11 AM by Scott Galloway

# re: I'm going on a two month gig to Norway

Congratulations...man it's going to be cold there! I'll be able to have a dig at how warm it is here in Scotland compared to where you are finally :-P
Monday, November 24, 2003 7:18 AM by Paschal

# re: I'm going on a two month gig to Norway

I know well Norway and I'm so jealous ;-) Don't forget to go north over the artic circle, Narvil, Tromso.

Anyway form Israel to Norway it's going to be cold for you !

Monday, November 24, 2003 7:29 AM by Yosi Taguri

# re: I'm going on a two month gig to Norway

have lots of fun
Monday, November 24, 2003 7:50 AM by SBC

# re: I'm going on a two month gig to Norway

Congratualtions & enjoy yourself (we know you will)..It will be winter there so dress very warmly.
Monday, November 24, 2003 8:01 AM by Stef

# re: I'm going on a two month gig to Norway

Don't let yourself get down by the dark, but other than that norway is a great country
Monday, November 24, 2003 8:13 AM by julie lerman

# re: I'm going on a two month gig to Norway

Wow! Congrats Roy. That's very exciting and adventuresome. You'll do great as a contractor/consultant because you live and breath your work. I will email you aside with an introduction to the RD there.
Monday, November 24, 2003 8:28 AM by Frans Bouma

# re: I'm going on a two month gig to Norway

congrats! :) Be prepared for cold, ice and snow though :) (and short days, since it's winter).
Monday, November 24, 2003 9:16 AM by Scott Watermasysk

# re: I'm going on a two month gig to Norway

Congrats. It looks beautiful (and well...cold :)

Have fun.

-Scott
Monday, November 24, 2003 9:24 AM by Richard Bogle

# re: I'm going on a two month gig to Norway

So Michael is the man, you say? ;-) Poor bloke is going to get a deluge of job applications in his inbox!

Don't forget your skiis, dude.
Monday, November 24, 2003 9:58 AM by Morten Abrahamsen

# re: I'm going on a two month gig to Norway

Welcome!

The snow has just landed in the southern parts of Norway, so remember to bring some warm clothes!

And, yes that part of Norway is beautiful. Personally I would mind be relocated to a warmed place this winter :) ...
Monday, November 24, 2003 12:32 PM by Andrew

# re: Introducing: Extensibility Application Block

Hola,
How does this relate to the extensibility/add-in model provided with apps such as VS.Net?
Monday, November 24, 2003 12:35 PM by Rachel Reese

# re: I'm going on a two month gig to Norway

Congrats!! Wish I could be there. :)
Monday, November 24, 2003 12:42 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Introducing: Extensibility Application Block

Andrew: Um, it relates in that it allows you to have the basis for some of the same features (plugins/addins) in your own application. Is that what you meant?
Monday, November 24, 2003 1:26 PM by Sigurdur G. Gunnarsson

# re: Introducing: Extensibility Application Block

Very nice! I'm checking out the first beta and will definately follow further development :)
Monday, November 24, 2003 4:01 PM by Paul Gielens

# re: I'm going on a two month gig to Norway

Fantastic Roy! Enjoy yourself over there.
Monday, November 24, 2003 4:37 PM by Andrew

# re: Introducing: Extensibility Application Block

I guess so.
I don't build WinForms apps and had been under the very vague impresion that you could implement the extesibility/Add-Ins in your own apps with limited sleepless nights.



Tuesday, November 25, 2003 3:13 AM by Alireza

# Transfer data via modem by mscomm32.ocx

hi.
I 'm VB programmer and I write a programm that transfer data via modem but when i want compile it line to line this programm correctly but when i want run it ,it don' work correctly .if you any idea or if you help me reply me.
if you want reply me send my source code for you.
thanks
hysteriya@yahoo.com
Tuesday, November 25, 2003 4:50 AM by Raj

# re: Introduction to Test-driven development with NUnit and the NUnit-Add-in

can I have all the methods in one file so that its easy to understand and use it as a reference while coding.

thank you
Tuesday, November 25, 2003 7:50 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Introduction to Test-driven development with NUnit and the NUnit-Add-in

Raj - I'm not sure what you mean.
Tuesday, November 25, 2003 11:13 AM by Jamison R.

# re: Add run-time functionality to your application by providing a plug-in mechanism

Great article, this is exactly what I need. However, i've downloaded both the Demo and Source, and I have a question.

I'm trying to disect the code, so I can understand it (as opposed to merely using it), and i'm running into problems compiling the source because I don't use VS.Net, I use SharpDevelop and have to compile from commandline.

In the Demo, there is a file called PluginSDK.dll. Does this library contain both IPlugin and IPluginContext interfaces? If so, how exactly do I compile that from the commandline?

Any advice as to how to build this from the commandline would be appreciated.
Tuesday, November 25, 2003 11:23 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Add run-time functionality to your application by providing a plug-in mechanism

Hi Jamison.
I'm not well acquainted with the peculiarities of compiling with the command line. The question to your answer is "yes". The PluginSDK is where the the Interfaces reside.
However, you might be interested in the Extensibility application block that I have just released.
Look here for details:
http://weblogs.asp.net/rosherove/posts/39484.aspx

It contains both source and compiled binaries with a help file.

--Roy
Tuesday, November 25, 2003 11:44 AM by Jamison R.

# re: Add run-time functionality to your application by providing a plug-in mechanism

Thanks for the rapid response. I figured it out, I think. Part of the problem was that I was missing the PluginCollection.cs file. Unless i'm missing something, it's not mentioned in the above article. So anyway, once I figured that out, making the PluginSDK.dll was done like so:

csc /t:library /out:PluginSDK.dll iplugin.cs iplugincontext.cs plugincollection.cs

I replaced the PluginSDK.dll that came with the demo with my newly compiled one, and everything works fine. Curiously enough the dlls are different sizes: The one that came with the demo was 16k, the one I made was 5k. I wonder what VS is adding to the bigger one?

I looked at EAP, and it is above my head right now. I just started learnig C# (OOP for that matter) just a month ago.
Tuesday, November 25, 2003 11:54 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Add run-time functionality to your application by providing a plug-in mechanism

If you wraped your head about doing plugins with this article, you'll have no trouble figuring out EAP. It's the same pricniple and you'll see a lot that you have already seen here.
The only real addition is that instead of you having to look for the plugins yourself, there are base classes that fo this for you ("plugin providers") and you already have a basic pluin SDK with the IPlugin interface only you get mmore support from the interface for GUI stuff (menu caption, type of plugin and so on..)
Tuesday, November 25, 2003 2:34 PM by Avonelle Lovhaug

# re: What is Proximity inter-communication

Ha! I liked this a lot.

It is really amazing sometimes how people can take ordinary things and make them sound important.
Tuesday, November 25, 2003 3:54 PM by Joshua Allen

# re: What is Proximity inter-communication

So cool! I sense a book to be released with best practices in P.I.
Tuesday, November 25, 2003 6:14 PM by leon bambrick

# re: What is Proximity inter-communication

Top work Roy! This technique could be deployed into offices immediately. Has it been patented yet?
Tuesday, November 25, 2003 11:27 PM by Peter Provost

# re: I'm going on a two month gig to Norway

I assume you know it is winter there right now. Norway is an amazingly beautiful place in the summer, but in the winter....

oooh...

c-c-c-c-c-c-cold

and

d-d-d-d-d-d-dark!
Wednesday, November 26, 2003 3:55 AM by Mike

# re: What is Proximity inter-communication

Having read the Paper Prototyping book by Carolyn Snyder (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1558608702/ref=sr_aps_books_1_1/026-5487673-7247637) I don't feel that you've captured the essense of Paper Prototyping at all Roy. There is a lot more to it than simply drawing dialogs and pushing bits of paper around.

Have you actually read the book Roy ?
Wednesday, November 26, 2003 4:18 AM by Udi Dahan

# re: Plugin frameworks in .Net links

Roy,

An interesting entry I came across recently looks at alternative uses of "plugins" as an integral part of the system architecture:

<a href="http://weblogs.asp.net/tatochip/posts/39782.aspx">Using the Provider Model to Modify Application Workflow </a>

I'm still digesting, but it tastes good so far.
Wednesday, November 26, 2003 5:10 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: What is Proximity inter-communication

Nike: No. I did not read the book. All I read was the homepage that I mention in the post. As I've said before I *like* the concept of paper prototyping but that homepage simplt made me wanna write this entry. As it always is with satirical posts, I've highlighted one thing and concentrated on that. I'm sure there is more to it than that, right?
Wednesday, November 26, 2003 7:37 AM by OmegaSupreme

# re: Plugin frameworks in .Net links

I have had to develop an extensible architecture in the past and no doubt will have to in the future. I definatley welcome your Extensibility Application Block and the idea of 'application blocks' in general.

Thanks Roy.
Wednesday, November 26, 2003 11:25 AM by Paul Laudeman

# re: [Review] CodeSmart.Net

Refactoring support in this product would be great! This is definitely a must-have tool and if AXTools and I strongly believe there is a market for refactoring support before VS.NET Whidbey comes out (and even after, if the feature set offers more).
Wednesday, November 26, 2003 11:56 AM by Jeff Gonzalez

# re: [Review] CodeSmart.Net

I have been playing around with this tool since you posted about it. It is pretty dang nice I have to say.

I was wondering if anyone had accomplished the following yet...

I would like to select 1 or more private member variables, and have it generate the property statement for this member variable. I haven't quite been able to figure that one out yet. Overall it is a great tool though.
Wednesday, November 26, 2003 12:06 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: [Review] CodeSmart.Net

Jeff - that's refactoring and no it does not support it (which is what I was bitching about in the post...)
Wednesday, November 26, 2003 12:21 PM by Scott Galloway

# re: [OT] make them sing it!

Or odd and disturbing - I'm undecided which :-)
Wednesday, November 26, 2003 5:18 PM by Matt Berther

# re: [Review] CodeSmart.Net

"Why oh why should I implement such a complex XML file when I can do the same thing in less than 30 seconds by creating a new auto-text entry in CodeSmart?"

If I've read everything correctly, the reason for the XML file in Whidbey is tab support through the fields that you declare.

For example, with CodeSmart.NET, you need to go through and click around or arrow through to modify stuff.

With expansion, you just hit TAB and it takes you to the next field that you need to complete.
Wednesday, November 26, 2003 5:21 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: [Review] CodeSmart.Net

Matt: interesting. And this *feature* should be directly related to making me have to write a complex file because..? What's wrong with having tab-ability with expansion blocks that are *easily* defined? I'm sure they can figure that out somehow. The IntelliJ IDEA guys do it and it's a breeze.
Wednesday, November 26, 2003 9:47 PM by Leon Bambrick

# re: What is Proximity inter-communication

re: Have you actually read the book Roy?

this reminds me of the saying 'you don't have to eat a whole egg to know if it's rotten.'

having said that, I guess both Paper prototyping and Proximity Inter-Communication are artforms that are often neglected.

Roy's not necessarily sticking the knife into Paper prototyping, maybe he's sticking the knife into a world that has lost touch to such an extent that books like Paper Prototyping have become necessary.
Thursday, November 27, 2003 5:00 PM by Omer van Kloeten

# re: Introducing: Extensibility Application Block

Congratulations on the release. :D
Friday, November 28, 2003 2:27 AM by Byron Adams

# re: Introducing: Extensibility Application Block

Would like to see code or EAB that would support shadow copying the plugins so that the plugins could be auto updated and auto reloaded.
Friday, November 28, 2003 10:30 AM by TrackBack

# Coolness

Friday, November 28, 2003 9:19 PM by Matt Berther

# re: [Review] CodeSmart.Net

Roy: I agree that this could be substantially easier... ;)
Friday, November 28, 2003 10:24 PM by Dave Burke

# re: Cool Site: divil.co.uk

Wow. Sure is. Thanks for the link, Roy.
Friday, November 28, 2003 10:26 PM by Dave Burke

# re: Welcome Dino, and a word about MSDN articles

You're absolutely right about feeling closer to Our Man Dino since he began blogging. I feel the same. I don't know how anyone in weblogs.asp.net blogspace doesn't know about Dino Esposito, though! :-)
Saturday, November 29, 2003 12:01 AM by Stefán Jökull

# re: Cool Site: divil.co.uk

I've been following his site for quite some time now and i must say that he keeps getting better and better. Hi's latest control the SandBar blows everything right out of the water and you can't beat free (when developing other freeware apps)!

Cool stuff!
Saturday, November 29, 2003 3:39 AM by Rory

# re: I need to learn how to write a review

"Rory should really be doing something else with his life instead of wasting his writing on on us geeks"

Too, too utterly kind :)

This was a nice thing to come home to after a long drive in the rain, fighting traffic and getting The Finger the whole way...

"I'm not sure how I would react to his disappearing from the blogsphere."

Well, you'd probably just read blogs that provide *good* information instead of the silly stuff I make up.

I might be the comic relief, but I feel like I'm trading it for the good technical information that I'm getting from the rest of you guys...
Saturday, November 29, 2003 8:01 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: I need to learn how to write a review

Rory: If you feel you're substituting comic for tech, try to do both. I personally can't wait to read "Rory On Winforms - Part I" :-)
Saturday, November 29, 2003 9:39 AM by denny

# re: Welcome Dino, and a word about MSDN articles

Yea!!!! Dino !!!! Cool!
Saturday, November 29, 2003 3:11 PM by Rory

# re: I need to learn how to write a review

I've done a little bit of technical writing, but I feel that there are so many people out there who do it so much better than I do that it's been a little tough to get going.

I've been meaning to do something along the lines you mention, though, but won't have time for a good effort until mid December. Maybe something then, eh?

Anyway, thank you *very* much for the compliments. I sometimes need to hear things like this instead of "Hey, Rory - You're a Microsoft apologist dittohead blogger moron." That's OK for a while, but it starts to get to you...

So, thanks :)
Saturday, November 29, 2003 3:42 PM by ARASH

# re: Free Chapter From ADO.NET- Core Reference

SDF
Saturday, November 29, 2003 7:30 PM by SBC

# re: Welcome Dino, and a word about MSDN articles

I thoroughly enjoy his works (books & MSDN articles). Take a look at my Amazon review about his 'Applied XML' book.. :-)
Tuesday, December 02, 2003 4:24 AM by llar

# re: Winforms Data Binding Lessons Learned

Hi,
This is a very useful solution. but i don't get the keydown events fired from datagrid. please help me out?
LLara
Tuesday, December 02, 2003 11:42 PM by Babu

# re: Using XPath to find objects in your object model

Hey buddy.. Rosherove..
Just glazing through your post, "Implementing XmlReader Classes for Non-XML Data Structures and Formats" is written by "Ralf Westphal" and not Dino Esposito. just thought.. i should tell u this! ;-)
Wednesday, December 03, 2003 12:44 PM by Joe

# re: Writing help is... challenging

Thanks for your honesty...and respect. As HP info engineer (what they called tech writers) John Bowie from Colorado says, "Software engineers code for the CPU, but information engineers [read: technical communicators] code for the human mind." And fo us humans, it's not either/or, in/out, 1/0...it's more "it depends."
Another key task, of course, is to know your users. Find out what your users really need, by watching them attempt to do their jobs. Watching users is the best input you can get to determine what to write.
Best of luck!
joe
Joe Sokohl
facetime.blogspot.com
Wednesday, December 03, 2003 10:25 PM by Madyooper

# re: Winforms Data Binding Woes

This is a really good example. But I just have one other question. I know that I can delete rows of the datagrid by using the delete button on my keyboard, but I would like to also place a delete button on the datagrid form itself.

Could you please tell me how to determine which dataview i.e. (tables 1, 2 or 3 ) that the user is currently in on a drill-down datagrid with 3 relations so that I can delete the correct rows from the correct datatables when the user clicks my ‘delete button’.

In other words, how can I determine which row is clicked on which table?
Thursday, December 04, 2003 10:59 PM by Geoff Sauer

# re: Writing help is... challenging

Technical writing isn't a talent that some people are born with, it's a skill with learned expertise (like software development). The more you know, the easier it becomes.

Keep working at it. You'll be fine. In the meantime, look at online resources that can help (like the Tech Comm Library, http://tc.eserver.org/).
Friday, December 05, 2003 7:21 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Winforms Data Binding Woes

I'm afraid I don't know the answer to that one.
And I really don't have time to check right now.
perhaps over the weekend..
Friday, December 05, 2003 6:30 PM by Madyooper

# re: Winforms Data Binding Woes

Ok Roy,

Any help would be greatly appreciated...this has really been a headache for me :)

Thanks again,

Madyooper
Saturday, December 06, 2003 8:34 AM by Patrick Blackman

# re: Introducing: Extensibility Application Block

Very nice, I notice you only make provisions for controls & dialogs what about a library type plugin? for example a plugin to load a dictionary file for spell checking....
Saturday, December 06, 2003 8:46 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Introducing: Extensibility Application Block

This is already possible. You can simply implement an IPlugin Interface and voila. You can do whatever you want. you can create a hidden in memory plugin that reposds to various events using this interface.
Saturday, December 06, 2003 2:09 PM by TorstenR

# re: Cool Site: divil.co.uk

And here (http://www.rssbandit.org/ow.asp?ScreenShots) is a free software that makes use of the cool controls... (and may be the first .NET application using Tim Dawson's SandBar) :-)
Saturday, December 06, 2003 5:38 PM by Scott

# re: Writing help is... challenging

As a technical writer, I share your pain. Writing Help files can be challenging. It not only can be tough trying to deciding how to filter the information you want to include in online Help (just dumping a user manual into a Help format is the lazy way out), but it's also tough to massage that information so that it's not too verbose or too sparse.

It takes time, it takes practice. And, even then, it's not always that easy.
Monday, December 08, 2003 1:17 AM by Patrick Blackman

# re: Introducing: Extensibility Application Block

Thanks,,, will try this...
Tuesday, December 09, 2003 7:37 AM by a teacher and his little red pen...

# re: Interesting research

> Wow....what a beauty.....in future no teacher to mark the
> spelling mistakes with red pen ink.

"the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae"

But still a kewl research...
Wednesday, December 10, 2003 1:09 AM by traceroute

# re: Welcome Dino, and a word about MSDN articles

Welcome Dino! Cool new blog.
Friday, December 12, 2003 1:08 AM by Leon Bambrick

# re: Welcome Dino, and a word about MSDN articles

what's happened to Roy? Has he dropped off the earth?
Saturday, December 13, 2003 2:44 AM by John

# Very nice


Hi,
This is really a nice thing to have. Thanks for the info
Monday, December 15, 2003 7:07 AM by diV@

# re: About coding standards

Good Job ! m hunting for VB.NET/ASP.NET coding standards, HELP APPRECIATED?

div@
Monday, December 15, 2003 2:43 PM by Pranav Method

# re: Filling typed datasets using Data Access Application Block v.2.0

Another method of specifing Table Names, assuming the default name is already specified in the xsd.

ApartmentDataset ds = new ApartmentDataset();
string[] tableNames = new string[ds.Tables.Count];

for (int i = 0; i < ds.Tables.Count; i++)
tableNames[i] = ds.Tables[i].TableName;
Tuesday, December 16, 2003 4:12 AM by Jonne

# re: Service announcement:Still alive, but server is down

Good to hear you're still a live!
Tuesday, December 16, 2003 6:38 PM by Leon Bambrick

# re: Service announcement:Still alive, but server is down

i was worried you'd fallen into a spiderhole.

hope norway is fun.
Wednesday, December 17, 2003 3:24 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Service announcement:Still alive, but server is down

Well, for lack of a better word, a spiderhole it is :) Seriously, I'm deep under for the coming days. Really hope I can continue soon!
Wednesday, December 17, 2003 8:54 AM by Marc Shiker

# re: Service announcement:Still alive, but server is down

Tech support from your wife? Man, you have it made! Where do I get one of those? :) Take care!
Thursday, December 18, 2003 2:14 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Service announcement:Still alive, but server is down

Heh. I agree. Having a .net dev for a wife makes for some pretty geeky dinner conversation around the house :)
Thursday, December 18, 2003 8:46 AM by Oddur Magnusson

# re: My first MSDN article is out: Creating a plugin framework

My product uses a similiar plug in interface.

One thing I see missing in your article is to mention that of the hosting assembly og strongly named, the plug in assemblys most also be strongly named. Caused quite a headache for me when I decided to SN.exe'ize my dlls
Thursday, December 18, 2003 8:49 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: My first MSDN article is out: Creating a plugin framework

Oddur: yes. That is one issue that I did not address in the article. Good thinking!
Thursday, December 18, 2003 12:21 PM by John Lawrence

# re: Homesick, EIF and a session state FAQ

Some of our Speech Application SDK users have experienced some similar issues.

There are some threads on the netspeechsdk newsgroup covering this at:

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&threadm=Oobmx4SkDHA.424%40TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl&rnum=1&prev=/groups%3Fq%3DEnterprise%2BInstrumentation%2Bgroup:microsoft.public.netspeechsdk%2Bgroup:microsoft.public.netspeechsdk%2Bgroup:microsoft.public.netspeechsdk%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26group%3Dmicrosoft.public.netspeechsdk%26selm%3DOobmx4SkDHA.424%2540TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl%26rnum%3D1

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=EIF+group:microsoft.public.netspeechsdk&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&group=microsoft.public.netspeechsdk&selm=5Ny4jOFcDHA.2572%40cpmsftngxa06.phx.gbl&rnum=1

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&threadm=eL73OVUfDHA.1548%40cpmsftngxa06.phx.gbl&rnum=2&prev=/groups%3Fq%3DEIF%2Bgroup:microsoft.public.netspeechsdk%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26group%3Dmicrosoft.public.netspeechsdk%26selm%3DeL73OVUfDHA.1548%2540cpmsftngxa06.phx.gbl%26rnum%3D2
Thursday, December 18, 2003 1:38 PM by Omer van Kloeten

# re: My first MSDN article is out: Creating a plugin framework

Congratulations :)
Thursday, December 18, 2003 1:46 PM by CodeGuy

# re: My first MSDN article is out: Creating a plugin framework

Hi... I don't see a link to download the source code that goes with the article.

(Probably not looking in the right spot.)

Could you please provide a link?
Thursday, December 18, 2003 5:07 PM by Rory

# re: My first MSDN article is out: Creating a plugin framework

Congrats, mister ;) Must be a pretty cool feeling...
Thursday, December 18, 2003 8:23 PM by Jason Perry

# re: My first MSDN article is out: Creating a plugin framework

Hi . . . liked the article. The article mentions downloadable source code and I don't see how to find that. Any ideas???

thanks
Friday, December 19, 2003 2:57 AM by TrackBack

# SiteFeeder

Friday, December 19, 2003 3:45 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: My first MSDN article is out: Creating a plugin framework

Jason: You're right. I don't see it there as well. weird.
However, you can download the source code for this article from here:
http://msdnaa.net/Resources/Display.aspx?ResID=2197
Friday, December 19, 2003 8:27 AM by SBC

# re: Service announcement:Still alive, but server is down

good to hear you again Roy.
Friday, December 19, 2003 9:09 AM by Marc LaFleur

# re: Service announcement: Feedable and Regulator live again, and Norway tips

Those white boards better come with genitalia and an air valve for that much money! Ouch...
Friday, December 19, 2003 10:38 AM by Drew Marsh

# re: Service announcement: Feedable and Regulator live again, and Norway tips

30 *american* dollars for McDonalds!?!?!? :O
Friday, December 19, 2003 12:33 PM by Philip Scott

# re: Service announcement: Feedable and Regulator live again, and Norway tips

I hope for $30 bucks you get a giant bucket of chicken nuggets and some fries with that fancy dijon ketchip.
Friday, December 19, 2003 1:09 PM by Jason Perry

# re: My first MSDN article is out: Creating a plugin framework

thanks Roy, much appreciated.
Saturday, December 20, 2003 12:13 PM by Darrell

# re: A New Source Control system

Although they label it "revolutionary" I don't see any compelling reasons to switch. Certainly some cool stuff though. We use CVSNT at work since we do both .NET and Java, thus we are able to leverage the application knowledge on both platforms (Windows and *nix).

I have been looking at Subversion, which is an open source project billed as "A compelling replacement for CVS." It already has a VS.NET integration project underway, too. http://www.cvsnt.org/wiki/

We shall see!
Saturday, December 20, 2003 1:40 PM by Shannon J Hager

# re: My first MSDN article is out: Creating a plugin framework

Congratulations, Roy! Great article, I look forward to more.
Saturday, December 20, 2003 2:05 PM by Steve

# re: The idiot's guide to O/R mappers

Thanks Roy!
Saturday, December 20, 2003 2:07 PM by Fabrice

# re: A New Source Control system

Correction: there is SCC support.
Saturday, December 20, 2003 2:20 PM by Brian McCallister

# re: The idiot's guide to O/R mappers

I am very interested in a survey of the .NET O/R mapping tools out there. I am quite familiar with Java ones (OJB especially) but... not with .NET.

-Brian
Saturday, December 20, 2003 2:32 PM by Thomas Tomiczek

# re: A New Source Control system

I dont know about you guys, but THIS:

::No VS.Net integration. This is more like the CVS model (edit-merge-continue)

Disqualifies it for me. I want checkouts to be done from within the IDE. I want my "open solution from source control" and stuff like this IN The ide.

Saturday, December 20, 2003 2:42 PM by Shannon J Hager

# re: Problem and solution: Renaming htm file to aspx may cause javascript trouble

the page directive isn't showing up on the post here...
Saturday, December 20, 2003 4:09 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: A New Source Control system

fabrice: where is there scc supprt? in accurev?
Saturday, December 20, 2003 4:54 PM by Panos Theofanopoulos

# re: Promising Outlook

After 1B$ more in this research, MS might discover the usenet and proper quoting
Saturday, December 20, 2003 8:16 PM by Fabrice

# re: Promising Outlook

Reminds me of something...
http://devhawk.net/PermaLink.aspx?guid=f5655ba2-8963-495a-8bad-663ecbc18df2
Saturday, December 20, 2003 11:24 PM by JosephCooney

# re: A New Source Control system

Subversion is all HTTP-based, and is free. I've been using it for about 6 months and have had no troubles with it. It runs cross platform. The shell extension project called TortiseSVN (based on TortiseCVS) is very cool. In general I would prefer shell integration over IDE integration. A SCC provider for subversion is on the way (called subway http://nidaros.homedns.org/subway/) but I haven't seen much progress on it. I offered to help the guy that was working on this but he said it was all C++ (not really my bag) and I would have to sign an NDA from Microsoft. I got scared off. Anyone who is dissatisfied with VSS (anyone _not_ dissatisfied with it) should check out Subversion. Before I used subversion I used CVSNT for about a year. It was fine - it just worked, but I liked Subversion better.

The only feature that I saw in the screen shots that you linked to that I haven't seen before was the stream browser, and just quickly looking at it I wasn't even sure what that did.

I should also point out that my use of these non-VSS version control systems has all been in my home environment (altho I did use CVSNT on site once when there was no other version control system being used) so my repository size has never gotten that large, and I have never run into any contention issues. Under these circumstances even VSS might perform adequately.
Sunday, December 21, 2003 1:53 AM by TrackBack

# C# Cookbook's Regular Expression chapter

Sunday, December 21, 2003 2:16 AM by chadb

# re: A New Source Control system

not to be a biggot -- but a java app? No thanks...
Sunday, December 21, 2003 7:08 AM by SBC

# re: Service announcement: Feedable and Regulator live again, and Norway tips

http://weblogs.asp.net/sbchatterjee/posts/44946.aspx
Monday, December 22, 2003 6:30 AM by a

# re: I'm Available

the links to your resume seem to be broken
Monday, December 22, 2003 8:56 AM by Kelly Summerlin

# re: A New Source Control system

We've been using Accurev for over a month, and I don't want to go back. If you have one or two developers per project, then Accurev isn't for you. Or if you use SourceSafe just for a backup model to allow you to go back to previous versions, then Accurev isn't for you. But if you have 5 or more developers, or lots of projects that share various versions of code, this is absolutely the best product I've ever seen.

Accurev works on entire trees of source code, so the check-in, check-out model is really not needed. You make modifications to a personal stream of code, then you promote those changes up the hiearchy of streams until you get the changes to the build or integration stream. Every developer can have his own stream to make changes. After the changes have been unit tested we promote them to integration where every three weeks we do a build from a milestone stream. It really is quite a revolutionary way of looking at source control. It really doesn't do justice to call it source control as much as it is project code management and versioning system.

As for the integration, I've turned off SCC in VS and things are so much faster now. I use the Accurev interface to do all the promotions. Yes it's a java app, and it's one of the better ones I've worked with (but that's not saying much). The GUI has a few glitches, but one of the nice things about a new app is getting to drive the way it works.
Monday, December 22, 2003 10:19 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: I'm Available

Yes, my machine is now offline at home.. will fix it when able to .. :(
Monday, December 22, 2003 10:07 PM by feifeima

# re: [Tool] Object Model Generator

very good
Tuesday, December 23, 2003 8:21 AM by Anonymous

# re: Resources: how to move data between application tiers

Well, if you ask Frans and Thomas if it doesn't involve an O/R mapper, then the world will come crashing down around you....
Tuesday, December 23, 2003 8:22 AM by Jeff Julian

# re: About the new .Netweblogs features

There were many "mainfeeds" for blogs.gotdotnet.com and they didn't kill the non-MSBloggers. People will chose what bloggers they like, and subscribe to them. I don't subscribe to the main feed because that is just too much noise. I subscribe to the bloggers I like and the bloggers who don't post every five minutes to see who can make it to the top of the list. If you think the MS blogger feed is going to kill your hits, try blogging somewhere else and compare. I am guessing the 50gb of traffic a month isn't all going to a few MS bloggers, but others like yourself. Anyway, it isn't about the amount of audience, but the quality you bring to your audience.
Tuesday, December 23, 2003 9:12 AM by Robert McLaws

# re: Tool: The complete idiot's add-in for signing your assemblies with a strong name

You no longer have to register to download.
Tuesday, December 23, 2003 9:12 AM by AndrewSeven

# re: About the new .Netweblogs features

I still think that the problem is that MS pushed a whole bunch of people from one community to annother.

One community seemed to have something desireable, so they sent everyone there.

This massive influx of members changed the community in a dramatic manner, I think for the worse, but I also think we can all agree that it changed.

In these actions, they destroyed 2 communities, the one on weblogs.asp.net and the one from which all the new bloggers came.

Tuesday, December 23, 2003 9:17 AM by Darrell

# re: About the new .Netweblogs features

"Now I'll have to work harder to get the readability that I'm 'used to'."

Nah, you get assloads of traffic from being on .NET Weblogs. I blog on starting a Richmond (VA, USA) .NET user group, and get no responses. Someone else blogs it here, and get 50 responses in 2 days.

You've got it good here. The people that *really* have to worry about content are the ones are on their own domain that don't crosspost to an aggregation.
Tuesday, December 23, 2003 9:21 AM by Frans Bouma

# re: Tool: The complete idiot's add-in for signing your assemblies with a strong name

Roy, simply follow this n00b guide:
http://weblogs.asp.net/fbouma/archive/2003/12/23/45396.aspx

no plugin required, works in vs.net 2002 too! :)
Tuesday, December 23, 2003 2:49 PM by TrackBack

# A little shout out to my homies

Tuesday, December 23, 2003 11:12 PM by Leon Bambrick

# re: Tool: The complete idiot's add-in for signing your assemblies with a strong name

Hi Royo

I know you're always on the lookout for 'complete idiot' type quides to .net development - so i thought i'd point you at a 'Quick and Dirty Guide to .Net Remoting' that i just put up on my site.

(hope this doesn't look like an example of the dreaded 'comment spam')

any way, it's located here: http://www16.brinkster.com/messydesk/db/QAD_Remoting.asp

best of luck
enjoy the holiday season
Wednesday, December 24, 2003 8:18 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Tool: The complete idiot's add-in for signing your assemblies with a strong name

I removed one of the comments to this post as per request of the author.
Wednesday, December 24, 2003 8:32 AM by Sam Gentile

# re: Tool: The complete idiot's add-in for signing your assemblies with a strong name

I found my friend Keith Brown's article on strong names to be the *best* thing I have read in 3 years on the subject. Check it out http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework/?pull=/library/en-us/dnnetsec/html/strongNames.asp

I blogged it http://samgentile.com/blog/archive/2003/12/12/10883.aspx

HTH
Wednesday, December 24, 2003 8:47 PM by SBC

# re: Good Article: Strong Names and Security in the .NET Framework

what no 'complete idiot's guide to strong names & security' ?
:-)
thanks Roy & Happy Hannukah!
Thursday, December 25, 2003 11:23 AM by TrackBack

# My first stored procedures optimization lesson(and resources)

Thursday, December 25, 2003 11:27 AM by TrackBack

# My First SQL *real* optimization (and some good resources)

Thursday, December 25, 2003 12:59 PM by TrackBack

# H4ppy H0L1d4ys!

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one putting my day(s) off to good use.

My holiday so far has been spent playing with some toys/tools that I haven't previously had time to really sit down and give the effort needed. I have been able to finally check out the Frans' offerings: LLBLGen (the free, open source version and a demo of the Pro version). The Pro version is only a demo, so I couldn't really test it except for on the Northwind database, but it is
Friday, December 26, 2003 10:33 AM by Kyle Cordes

# re: An optimizing experience

Good tips above, nice post.

A source of SQL Server frustration for me has been getting SQL Server to use any kind vaguely good query plan for not-all-that-complex queries (3-5 tables joined), in which several of the tables have millions of records. For some reason, for our particular tables (which have indexes in all the right places), SQL Server really likes to do 10-million-row table scans. It's often required some query rearrangement (and someimes even a much-maligned index hint) to get good results.

I wish there was an option to tell SQL Server "No matter what, never table scan a table with more than a million rows; if you come up with a plan that does that, punt and throw an error message instead, so a DBA can fix it, rather than pound on a production database for 10 minutes straight"

Saturday, December 27, 2003 7:17 AM by TrackBack

# DropLoad

Check out dropload, where you can drop a file for someone else, who receives an email to pick it up. This would be super helpful for when hotmail or your personal email server can't handle the file you're trying to...
Saturday, December 27, 2003 12:59 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: An optimizing experience

Hey Kyle. Yes I bet I didn't even come close to the sort of problems you have been facing. Howevenr this aticle:
http://www.sql-server-performance.com/best_sql_server_performance_tips.asp
has lots of tips on that matter. Highly recommended.
Sunday, December 28, 2003 7:07 AM by Michal

# More links

more links about SQL optimalization
Sunday, December 28, 2003 1:25 PM by TrackBack

# more SQL optimization resources and a bonus tip

Sunday, December 28, 2003 3:07 PM by Darrell

# re: Code: CRUD base classes for unit testing

Sounds good. I'm going to check this out once I get back home. Sounds similar to approaches I have used in the past, but with a few differences (less code differences, too!).
Sunday, December 28, 2003 8:12 PM by Darrell

# re: An optimizing experience

Kyle, there is something similar to what you are asking for. Check out the Query Governor Cost Limit Option for SQL Server configuration: (http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/adminsql/ad_config_73u6.asp).
Sunday, December 28, 2003 8:15 PM by Darrell

# re: An optimizing experience

Kyle,

Joins are also extremely expensive. I don't know what you are doing the joins for (are they lookup tables?), but sometimes it is easier to do several SELECTs from a single table and then combine the results together.
Monday, December 29, 2003 1:00 AM by Joshua Olson

# re: Strip HTML tags from a string using regular expressions

The regex's at the following link may be useful in this case. They are more robust in terms of matching HTML tags than the simple pattern provided earlier.

http://concepts.waetech.com/unclosed_tags/
Monday, December 29, 2003 6:38 AM by Omer van Kloeten

# re: Cool handy site: DropLoad

Then again, you could always use HFS: http://www.rejetto.com/sw/
Monday, December 29, 2003 9:27 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Code: CRUD base classes for unit testing

I'd love to know what you have to say about it Darrel :)
Monday, December 29, 2003 12:03 PM by Darrell

# re: Risk Management

Hehe, I like the statement "what [whoever's name] recommends is probably, well... recommended." :)
Monday, December 29, 2003 2:07 PM by Shannon J Hager

# re: Another article of mine published on MSDN: Search Dynamically for Plug-Ins

Congratulations again, Roy. You planning on keeping up at this pace?
Monday, December 29, 2003 2:15 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Another article of mine published on MSDN: Search Dynamically for Plug-Ins

Hey Shannon. Yes. There's one more planned for publishing :)
Monday, December 29, 2003 2:30 PM by Alexander Zeitler

# re: Another article of mine published on MSDN: Search Dynamically for Plug-Ins

Hi Roy,

great articles on the plug-in stuff and very interesting blog. Keep on the good work ;-)

Alex
Monday, December 29, 2003 2:37 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Another article of mine published on MSDN: Search Dynamically for Plug-Ins

Thanks very much Alex! :)
Tuesday, December 30, 2003 2:39 AM by Paul Gielens

# re: Another article of mine published on MSDN: Search Dynamically for Plug-Ins

Great article series Roy, much appreciated!
Tuesday, December 30, 2003 3:28 AM by TalTal

# re: Another article of mine published on MSDN: Search Dynamically for Plug-Ins

Roy , keep going !!!
and good-luck
proud of you
& love you ...
Tuesday, December 30, 2003 4:57 AM by TrackBack

# Via Roy Osherove: Another article

Via Roy Osherove: Another article of mine published on MSDN: Search Dynamically for Plug-Ins Search Dynamically for Plug-Ins "This article is an extension to my previous article about plug-ins. I encourage you to take a look at that before diving into this article. That said, my main goal in this article is to rid the user of config files. The idea is to make sure that when your application loads, it can look through the .DLL files in its directory, find the ones that contain types supporting the IPlugin interface, and instantiate those plug-ins. No user intervention should be required, other than copying the .DLL file into the application's directory."...
Tuesday, December 30, 2003 6:19 AM by Kalpesh Shah

# re: Another article of mine published on MSDN: Search Dynamically for Plug-Ins

Roy, keep the great work going !!
Tuesday, December 30, 2003 11:05 AM by SBC

# re: Another article of mine published on MSDN: Search Dynamically for Plug-Ins

congrats Roy! Keep'em coming...
Tuesday, December 30, 2003 7:35 PM by Michal

# re: MyRss.com is to Feedable as...

MyRSS.com is very simple. It's not comparable with Feedable.
All magic of automation is in parsing URL and Title from <a href ... /a> tags. Brainless, unusable.

Thursday, January 01, 2004 12:55 PM by Roy Decker

# re: Articles, Articles, Articles!

How do i fix this ? i don't know what it is thank you Roy
Thursday, January 01, 2004 10:26 PM by rob

# re: System.Text.Encoding.Tip

THANKS! I was having the identical problem with french and english and couldn't find anything in the help to indicate a solution.
Friday, January 02, 2004 5:01 AM by vitagen

# re: When running 'aspnet_regiis -c' still doesn't fix it...

Thanks dude, works great.

Additional info: This i think normally happens when you create a new SITE not Virtual Directory apart from the Default Site and the aspnet_client folder cant be referenced unless you copy and paste it to the root of your new SITE.
Friday, January 02, 2004 9:33 AM by Pennywise the Clown

# re: Making the F-lock key on your MS keyboard ON by default

But it only works in winblows xp. In other words, it's useless... :(
Friday, January 02, 2004 11:26 AM by Oskar Austegard

# re: An optimizing experience

Would ISNULL be any faster than COALESCE?
Saturday, January 03, 2004 10:56 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: An optimizing experience

Probably not, since ISNULL() is also a function. The omptimizing rule says that you can't use a cluster search when there is any sort of function on the name of the column.
Saturday, January 03, 2004 7:45 PM by Phil Weber

# re: Moving to RSS Bandit: A simple review

> NO RSS aggregator I've seen yet has been able to do this simple
> task: in the main .Net weblogs feed, show the name of the post
> author\Blog name next to the post title. Is this information simply
> missing from the feed?

It's there, in a <dc:creator> tag. My favorite RSS reader (nntp//rss 0.4 beta, http://www.methodize.org/nntprss/) displays this information in my newsreader's "From" column.
Saturday, January 03, 2004 9:04 PM by G. Andrew Duthie

# re: Some cool links

Please...don't. I know that the temptation to compile links is hard to resist, but out of all the links you compiled, there's only one that anyone who subscribes to the weblogs.asp.net main feed and Scoble wouldn't have seen. At least if you're going to do this, skip putting it on the main feed.

I really enjoy your blog, but I'm just starting to get my feeds under control in NewsGator...the last thing I need is a trend where every fifth post is someone re-compiling all the links I've already seen three or four times. ;-)
Saturday, January 03, 2004 9:10 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Some cool links

Andrew: Noted
I'll check twice before I check off anything to the main feed to see if it's not something that could not have been found otherwise.
Saturday, January 03, 2004 11:53 PM by Steve

# re: Moving to RSS Bandit: A simple review

Has the responsivness of RssBandit improvided since you tried it last? Every time I try it I get fed up with the delays and switch back to SharpReader.
Sunday, January 04, 2004 1:36 AM by Dr Alok Modi MD

# re: LinkedIn

I am curious about this linked in.
I do not have an URL.
but my email is alpalok@hotmail.com

Can i join and what is it all about?
Sunday, January 04, 2004 7:25 AM by TrackBack

# Review of RSS Bandit

A good run down of the features and usability of the RSS Bandit aggregator. I think that this product has a ton of potential. Very interesting is the information that they will include a search folders feature, like are available
Sunday, January 04, 2004 8:50 AM by Frans Bouma

# re: Moving to RSS Bandit: A simple review

My short review:
I installed it. I exported my feeds from sharpreader to an opml file, imported them. Refreshed the feeds.

I clicked on 'weblogs @asp.net' feed (the mainpage feed). No messages shown in the pane, he did load messages. all other feeds are showing, not that one. It's also not that responsive (on my AMD 2600+ with 1GB mem and GF4 ti4600), and together with the inability to simply view a simple feed made me remove it directly after that. Better luck next time.
Sunday, January 04, 2004 11:17 AM by SBC

# re: Good design is easily recognizable. Everywhere.

I'd hate to see what Princeton's rejection letter looks like.. :-)
Sunday, January 04, 2004 11:44 AM by Marc LaFleur

# re: Good design is easily recognizable. Everywhere.

No!

We cannot understand why you would even think to waste our time by sending an application. Thanks for your $50, please go away now.
Sunday, January 04, 2004 12:00 PM by roni

# re: Automatic Data-Relations

Hi

Where can I see your code for "Automatic Data-Relations"
Thanks
Sunday, January 04, 2004 12:47 PM by sfddfsdf

# re: Longhorn PDC bits download available for MSDN subscribers

sdfdfvcvxcvx
Sunday, January 04, 2004 1:42 PM by Jeremy

# RE: Disappointed with RSS Bandit

Interestingly I have been trying out RSS Bandit for the last couple of days and it seems to read my feed ok from home... I'll have to try from work. I have also bought FeedDemon which I really like.
Sunday, January 04, 2004 2:02 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Disappointed with RSS Bandit

Jeremy: I have no idea.... :(
Sunday, January 04, 2004 2:47 PM by Mark Ayers

# Mr

I read your initial gush on the Bandit and felt for you. I had experienced what you did but wanted you to find your own comfort point. Still I fell nomadic in my search for a reader tool. None do yet all I'd like well enough or in the right balance.
Sunday, January 04, 2004 2:53 PM by David Naseby

# re: Disappointed with RSS Bandit

The problems you're describing are very similar to the problems I found with the early RssBandit 1.2.xx series. But Dare and co have cleaned it all up with RssBandit 1.2.0.61 - all the feeds you mentioned parse fine, now. Stick with it and update...
Monday, January 05, 2004 3:13 AM by Steve Maine

# re: Good design is easily recognizable. Everywhere.

...and it comes on a postcard...
Monday, January 05, 2004 8:41 AM by Steve

# re: Disappointed with RSS Bandit

I had the same problems last time I tried it out. As you mentioned I really want to switch to RssBandit, however, every time I do I end up switching back in the matter of a couple hours.
Monday, January 05, 2004 8:58 AM by Chris Sadler

# re: One Cool Menu

I played with the latest SharpLibrary and found some significant problems.

I had conflicts with other controls. This was from one of the authors:

"Thanks for your feedback. I'm not sure what would cause this, the only
thing I can think of is a namespace conflict of some kind. It's a common
obfuscation technique to have single letter namespaces and type names.
On the other hand, I've had other reports of Sharp* tools not playing
well with other controls."

Besides, the Author of the Sharp Library *used* the developers at CodeProject as testors, then dumped all over them.



Chris

Monday, January 05, 2004 7:39 PM by Steve

# re: [OT] cool ad

I am not going to say how long it took me to figure out what was special about this ad....must have been distracted :-)
Tuesday, January 06, 2004 1:22 AM by Salman Yousuf

# re: Avoiding DB_SEC_E_AUTH_FAILED exception on connection string

This has resolved my problem

thankx
Tuesday, January 06, 2004 10:33 AM by John Reyes

# re: Checking for NULL values

Hi there I have this line of code but it seems that it's ignoring the else statement. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

If empRecord.IsNull("Email") Then
empRecord("Email") = "Not Available"
Else
empRecord("Email") = dataReader.GetString(dataReader.GetOrdinal("Email"))
End If
Tuesday, January 06, 2004 2:11 PM by erik

# re: "Could not open in Design view. Quote values differently..." solved!

cool ! I was having this problem too, thank you guys for posting the answer !!




Erik
Tuesday, January 06, 2004 5:45 PM by John

# re: Another article of mine published on MSDN: Search Dynamically for Plug-Ins

Looks like a good article and I'm interested in learning how to do this. I couldn't find the download link for the source. Am I missing something?

Thanks!

John
Wednesday, January 07, 2004 10:17 AM by George

# re: Why I write in Both C# and VB.NET

Is there an easy way to use c# in a vb.net project?
Thursday, January 08, 2004 3:04 AM by Phil Webb

# re: Small cool news

Roy,

have you ever seen Monty Python's Inquisition Sketch. In which words to the effect of:

The three tools of the Spanish Inquisition are . . . [proceeds to enumerate four] . . . The four tools of the Spanish Inquisition are . . . [proceeds to enumerate five] . . . and so on.

Your two cool things turned into five!

Phil Webb
Friday, January 09, 2004 2:26 AM by Tuan Nguyen Trong

# re: Free Full Tech Books

Thank you very much
Friday, January 09, 2004 6:00 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Small cool news

heh. I just noticed that :)
Friday, January 09, 2004 6:19 AM by Trupti

# re: Some debugging tips

Is there a quick way to set a breakpoint at the beginning of every function in a particular file? (i.e. do it with a single command instead of manually setting a breakpoint in every function).

Any help will be appreciated...
Friday, January 09, 2004 6:49 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Some debugging tips

I think doing a macro is your only choice.
look at some of the sample macros provided with vs.net. I know there is one there that clear all breakpoints. perhaps you can do the opposite..
Friday, January 09, 2004 11:54 AM by TrackBack

# Shame on me

Friday, January 09, 2004 12:46 PM by Jim Arnold

# re: Debugging Unit tests using the VS.net debugger

Or install NUnit AddIn, right click and Test with Debugger. I know there are some lurking bugs, but I find it much much easier than flipping to the NUnit GUI.

Jim
Friday, January 09, 2004 12:49 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Debugging Unit tests using the VS.net debugger

Jim: That's a good solution too, but the problem is that , plenty of times, a test will be run after the [setup] method, and might expect some initialized state in private objects of the test fixure.
When you debug using the NUnit Addin, you don't get that. The Setup method never runs, only the method you are currently in runs, which might not give you enough context to debug against.
Friday, January 09, 2004 2:01 PM by Udi Dahan - The Software Simplist

# re: Debugging Unit tests using the VS.net debugger

Roy,

I use the NUnit Addin extensively and I've never run into a case when a test ( obviously marked with a [test] attribute ) runs without the corresponding setup being run first when run in the context of a test.

But, if you call a method (A) marked by [test] from a different test method (B) that is currently being run ( not a good idea from my experience ) then before the call to A, the setup won't run.

Anyway, hope you're enjoying yourself over there in Norway.
Friday, January 09, 2004 2:03 PM by Darrell

# re: Common rants and misconceptions

I agree. I am blessed to have a great job with excellent benefits. My company might not always buy me everything I *think* I am entitled to, but overall I have nothing to complain about. Especially since I have a job...
Friday, January 09, 2004 2:10 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Debugging Unit tests using the VS.net debugger

Hrm. Well gee. I guess I only now found out. For some reason I always figured that the "Test with Debugger" only ran the active procedure without actually running the setup procedure first. Looks like I'm mistaken. huh.
Friday, January 09, 2004 6:26 PM by Kraig Brockschmidt (kraigbr@msn.com)

# re: The OLE syndrom

I can only say that if you want to understand what I wrote, you should read and ponder the whole book rather than relying on your impression of a single passage (shame on you for making blanket assumptions about people you've never met). It's important to read the previous chapter because whatever work I had to do was not "hard" for me at all. It was a complete joy. Whatever credit I can take for the book was my continued willingness to cooperate with a flow of energy. But that's nothing special as far as I'm concerned--it's something that everyone should strive for.

Do I have a problem with praise? No...but I have a real problem with people who try to prop others up on a pedestal (as I wrote in the paragraph following the excerpt quoted here from Chapter 11). This is nothing but an excuse for utter laziness. If someone shows you what you can yourself become, it's an invitation but also a challenge because it shows us what we *aren't*. So unless you want to put out the energy to grow, the only other option is to elevate that person out of reach. If we can make them seem "special" enough, then we can safely write them off as an extraordinary person and continue living in our own ordinary ways.

True humility is neither saying "I can" nor "I can't". Humility is letting go of the "I" altogether and seeing yourself rather as a channel for things to happen though you. Then you can really accomplish anything. But then why draw attention to yourself? If good things happen, draw attention to their goodness.

So honestly, I don't personally identify with any of this Imposter Syndrome stuff. People who know me would NEVER accuse me of any such thing. In fact, I've been accused more often of trying to be seen or trying to promote myself!

In any case, I appreciate your pointing this out because it'll help me clarify that part of the chapter. But do try to be more careful with your assumptions in the future.

Friday, January 09, 2004 6:38 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: The OLE syndrome

Kraig: indeed. If I was wrong then accept my apologies. However, I was merely making a small anecdote. Taken out of context, your sentence reminded me of that post that I have written about the Impostor syndrome that I have felt. The intent was merely to point out that such a sentence is a typical example of how one with this feeling can regard themselves, and yes. I did not read the whole book, but I did read a large chunk of it, however, that sentence was meaningful enough to me to blog about it and share it. It was, in no way to criticize you, but rather to try and share a feeling that I felt when I read it. Again, I apologize. In hindsight, this post looks petty and out of context.
Saturday, January 10, 2004 12:47 AM by James Robertson

# re: IntelliJ IDEA blows my mind again

Have you ever looked at Smalltalk? We've had that kind of behavior in Smalltalk for decades - without any of the restrictions you see in Java. take a look; I think you'll be leasantly surprised
Saturday, January 10, 2004 4:31 AM by Frans Bouma

# re: IntelliJ IDEA blows my mind again

He isn't talking about the language, he's talking about the IDE. IIRC, smalltalk is loosly typed and perhaps he wants a strong typed language, perhaps he likes C# and VB.NET. IntelliJ is indeed one of the most beautiful tools I've ever seen and clearly shows that VS.NET is just lightyears behind. Whidbey will solve a lot, but not all. And that's disturbing.
Saturday, January 10, 2004 4:34 AM by lvovin

# re: IntelliJ IDEA blows my mind again

There are several Smalltalkers in IDEA team. Of course Smalltalk IDE's is one of the inspiration sources for them.
Btw, IDEA doesn't have my fav 'Move to component' refactoring.
Saturday, January 10, 2004 4:40 AM by lvovin

# re: IntelliJ IDEA blows my mind again

Frans, Smalltalk is strongly typed language. Don't confuse strong with static typing.
Saturday, January 10, 2004 4:50 AM by TrackBack

# [Tool] Easier log parsing with Log Parser

Saturday, January 10, 2004 4:58 AM by TrackBack

# re: Log Files into Searchable Data

Saturday, January 10, 2004 5:24 AM by Ashish

# re: Catch ex As Exception When...


How to show the exceptio via messegebox here: HELP

Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
' for Add button of clients bill form
Try
i1 = NumericUpDown2.Value
tot = tot + i1
TextBox13.Text = tot
C1 = DataSet41.Clientbill1.NewClientbill1Row()
C1("Branch_ss") = TextBox1.Text
C1("Name_s") = TextBox2.Text
C1("City_s") = TextBox3.Text
C1("Ref_s") = TextBox4.Text
C1("Billno_s") = TextBox5.Text
C1("Billdate_ss") = TextBox6.Text
C1("Estno_s") = TextBox7.Text
C1("Estdate_s") = TextBox8.Text
C1("Nameofpub_s") = TextBox9.Text
C1("Size_s") = TextBox10.Text
C1("Insertiondate_s") = TextBox11.Text
C1("Totalspace_s") = TextBox12.Text
C1("Rate_s") = NumericUpDown1.Value
C1("Grossamount_s") = NumericUpDown2.Value
C1("Total_s") = TextBox13.Text
DataSet41.Clientbill1.AddClientbill1Row(C1)
'OleDbDataAdapter1.ContinueUpdateOnError = True
' If DataSet41.HasChanges = True Then
' MsgBox("hi")
'OleDbUpdateCommand1.ExecuteNonQuery()
OleDbDataAdapter1.Update(DataSet41)
Catch ex As Exception
'MessageBox()
End Try
'End If

End Sub
Saturday, January 10, 2004 6:17 AM by t

# re: Weekend thoughts and ramblings

roshayush
i do miss you too !!!!
Saturday, January 10, 2004 8:46 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Weekend thoughts and ramblings

Heh. Now everyone knows my nickname :)
Saturday, January 10, 2004 9:05 AM by SBC

# re: Weekend reading: Acm Turing Award Lectures : The First Twenty Years, 1966 to 1985

looks like a good book but the Other Twenty Years (1986-2006) would be more interesting as much was accomplished!
Saturday, January 10, 2004 9:15 AM by Marc LaFleur

# re: Weekend thoughts and ramblings

Well, not you have no choice but to explain where that nickname came from. ;-)
Saturday, January 10, 2004 2:18 PM by Udi Dahan - The Software Simplist

# re: New MSDN article: Turn Your Log Files into Searchable Data Using Regex and the XML Classes

Roy,

You're the man ! One article after another, good work !
Saturday, January 10, 2004 2:59 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: New MSDN article: Turn Your Log Files into Searchable Data Using Regex and the XML Classes

Thanks Udi :)
I think that was the last in the pipeline though. I need to start working on some new ones....
Saturday, January 10, 2004 3:06 PM by Russell Pooley

# re: Another article of mine published on MSDN: Search Dynamically for Plug-Ins

I have implemented a similar solution to this article but I came across one problem. If a third party was to create a plugin for version 1.0.0.0 of our application, if we changed the application version to 1.0.1.0 the plugin would not work. Our current solution is to have configuration files that redirect the assembly binding but I was wondering if you was aware of any other methods without having to use configuration files?
Saturday, January 10, 2004 3:10 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Another article of mine published on MSDN: Search Dynamically for Plug-Ins

Russell:
This is usually the problem with plugin mechanisms. That's why it's usually a good idea to leave the Plugin SDK interfaces in a separate assembly, which should almost never change, and have the plugins developers reference the never changing assembly. Saves lots of headaches.
Of course, it also means that you need to do upfront design of all your plugin interfaces, which is always a good idea.
Saturday, January 10, 2004 3:12 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Another article of mine published on MSDN: Search Dynamically for Plug-Ins

BTW: the source code for all articles should be available now.
Saturday, January 10, 2004 3:16 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Why I write in Both C# and VB.NET

It's not possible. It has to be in a separate project.
Saturday, January 10, 2004 3:17 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Catch ex As Exception When...

just use ex.ToString() or ex.Message in your messagebox.
Saturday, January 10, 2004 4:10 PM by Halstein

# re: Common rants and misconceptions

The mouse squeaks!!! It really does!!! But the joy of getting quoted in a weblog for the first time makes up for the fact that it made me seem like a complaining idiot. :)

Comments to part one:

1. A bad screen makes employees tired and strains their eyes, reducing their ability to perform.
2. and 3. Bad mice and keyboards can create permanent damage to the wrists and hands. If one employee have to take sick leave because of damage to their hands or wrists the cost to the company is much more than it would cost to replace the keyboard and mouse. Think about it: a top of the line keyboard and mouse package costs less than 1000 NOK, but if I am sick for a week that costs more than 6000 NOK. (NOK is Norwegian Kroner for those who were wondering).
4. A bad machine can seriously hurt productivity. I used to use a seriously underpowered machine for what I was doing. I developed software on it that were supposed to run on a dual Xeon server with 1.5GB RAM. My machine only had 256MB Ram. Let me tell you something: when SQL Server 2000 runs out of RAM things start to get SLOOOOW. So there I was, feet on the table and using my mobile phone to read the news on the web while waiting for a test to run on the poor overworked machine since I couldn't surf on the computer while it was working because just opening IE alone took 2-3 minutes.
5. It is in a company's best interest to make sure the employees get better. Although sending employees to PDC can be overkill, but programming courses definately important. But we should all remember that what we programmers get paid for is our knowledge and if we want to stay in the game we have to make sure we are an attractive "product" our employer and future employers want to pay for.
6. If it seriously hinders productivity then it is the company's best interest to improve it. I have myself been on the phone with customers while they wait for 3-4 minutes for a simple page to load. When the system they work with every day is THAT slow, then it is a serious problem. But if the DVD screener to Return of the King takes more than an hour to download, that is NOT a problem (and in some cases that is the real reason some people complain).
7. Of course the employeer should make sure we have the resources to do our work, but as in my comment to number 5, we, the programmers (hmmmm... that actually sounds like some leftish "we, the people" speech), should also make sure we increase our skills. If we are not willing to do that in our spare time as well, then we have chosen the wrong profession... or at least we will remain in the same boring position with the same boring tasks for ever.
8. No comment.
9. If an employee gets asked to do overtime then why not buy the poor employee a pizza, he/she is, as mentioned in number 10, not getting paid for it. :)
10. Hey, isn't the pizza enough!
12. and 13. Either a door or an air conditioner is needed so the employee doesn't die. I'd go for the no door, but with air conditioner approach since then the employee can't leave. If the employee doesn't perform the employer doesn't have to fire her, just turn of the air supply and dispose of her out before she starts to smell. Anyway... I don't think anyone should make me a boss of anything... ever! :)

Seriously, 9-13, there are laws for those (at least in Norway) so they don't really matter in this discussion. Either the employer has to fix it or the workers union moves in for the kill. Simple stuff...

What I am trying to say here (before number 9 at least) is that in some cases it costs less to give the employee what he/she asks for.

Another huge problem is that employees often complain to each other, and never to the boss. In my case I have got a lot of things that other people should have gotten instead. I had one of the best computers in the company and still I got a new one before other people struggeling with much older computers, because I explained the situation (the one were the testing took 5-10 minutes every 5 minutes) to my boss . I recently got offered a new monitor that was just bought, but in that case I said no thanks since I knew other people had been complaining about their monitors, but of course not told the boss. Right now it is just sitting in a box waiting for someone brave to step forward and ask the boss. If no one dares, I guess I'll just take it.

Let me end with a conclusion:
Three things are important in situations like this: Communication, communication and communication.
Saturday, January 10, 2004 4:24 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Common rants and misconceptions

All of the things you say here are true and you won't get any argument from me and not even from your boss that each one of these helps employees do better.
Still, we live in a world with limits, and the reality is that, short of very rich companies with lots of money to spend, most employers can and will do only what is in their power to make employees happy (if they even try at all). This is usually just a subset of the things mentioned in this post.
If there's one thing I'd like to tell a lot of people is "Get over it, you have it good and you don't even know it".
Fact is, I am still the biggest proponent of these things. But today I'm more of a realist and i know that some things, even if really needed, will take time to have\will never happen at all because of the real world situation we live in.
And I also know another things : sometimes, it's not just employers fault. From your comment it's apparent that communication is the lacking thing in your organization.
Why don't you do something about it? If you know of someone who deserves that screen, why not talk to them and convince them to step forward and ask for it? People need to learn to fight for what they believe in, and this is a very important battle.
Saturday, January 10, 2004 4:25 PM by Darrell

# re: Boosting productivity

Someone has quoted a statistic out of context. A single statistic such as this is the best versus the worst individual on a given day with a given technology assignment, etc.. That's like hiring someone straight out of college and having them compete against Don Box on a COM project. Yeah, there would be a 28-1 difference, but that is a shortcoming of the organization and not the individuals. And a factor of 28 is HUGE.

Other facts that are similar (and more applicable) are:
- Best people in general outperform the worst people in general 10:1. Hopefully your organization does not employ the "worst" group, so your statistic might be lower.
- The Best performer is about 2.5 times as productive as a median performer (median is the point at which 50% of the number of developers are above, and 50% are below).
- The 50% that are above the median are 2:1 as productive as the 50% below the median.
[From DeMarco and Lister's Peopleware, p.45]

The last statistic is the most important since almost all significant projects require teams to finish in any reasonable amount of time. But still, there are no tools or other "silver bullets" out there that will as easily double the productivity of your organization. This is one of the primary reasons why PEOPLE are consistently one of the most important contributors to project success in the Standish Group's CHAOS report.
Saturday, January 10, 2004 8:27 PM by Paul Wilson

# re: Boosting productivity

Cool note to self. :)
Saturday, January 10, 2004 11:53 PM by Marc LaFleur

# re: What Good is the Bill of Rights?

For what it is worth, this has gone on for over 30+ years. The article makes it seem like Bush is the only one to have this done.
Sunday, January 11, 2004 4:09 AM by TrackBack

# Share your RSS subscriptions with the world

Sunday, January 11, 2004 5:56 AM by Oleg Tkachenko

# re: New MSDN article: Turn Your Log Files into Searchable Data Using Regex and the XML Classes

Nice one, Roy!
Btw, your approach is not really XML-friendly. Converting into XML file/stream/buffer then loading into DataSet, hmmm, imagine usually huge log file - that's gonna be slow :(
To be fully XML-ish one should expose legacy log as if it's XML. Just like XmlCSVReader expose CSV file as XML one, your log reader could expose log entries as XML constructs.
Then XPath/XSLT/XQuery users would love it and perf won't be hurt.
Sunday, January 11, 2004 3:14 PM by Carl Gundel

# re: IntelliJ IDEA blows my mind again

Frans,

James IS talking about the Smalltalk IDE. Edit and continue is not a feature of the Smalltalk language, but of the IDE, which happens to be written in Smalltalk.

Java does have some nice IDEs. I use Eclipse and it's great, for a Java IDE. It almost makes Java worth using. Eclipse barely begins to do some of the things I can do in Smalltalk, but it's gigantic and slow. Smalltalk does everything Eclipse+Java does and more, but you can run Smalltalk on an old 286 with a couple of megabytes of RAM and it feels snappy. Way back in 1990 I used to keep a copy of Smalltalk on a floppy disk and carry it around with me in my pocket.
Sunday, January 11, 2004 4:05 PM by Andy Foster

# re: "Could not open in Design view. Quote values differently..." solved!


Hi,

Yes, this is a weak bit of the IDE..

In the above example, it may be better to use an image server control and set the Image URL in the page_load event. Only really works if the URL is static, won't work if an application setting is used to populate the ImageURL.

Sunday, January 11, 2004 7:20 PM by Leon Bambrick

# re: Share your RSS subscriptions with the world

Hi Roy - I reckon you've got more than five *regular* readers (ie subscribers) because when you linked to me a few weeks ago (and thanks for that by the way:+) i noticed in my logs that it produced more than five hits.

cheers
Leon
Sunday, January 11, 2004 7:47 PM by Leon Bambrick

# re: Common rants and misconceptions

Well said Roy!

I think there comes a time in your career when you realise that you'd better:

"Be happy that you have a job that you *can* enjoy. Start with that"

No one ever promised that life would be a big fat slice of chocolatey pie with extra cream.

You have to appreciate what you have and work hard to get the best out of it.

Turn your *current* job into your *dream* job.

Not by whingeing and complaining about unimportant things - but by improving your relationships with those you work with - stimulating your mind with interesting independent learning - and working hard to get good results with the customers and coworkers who rely upon you.

A squeaky mouse is *nothing*.
Sunday, January 11, 2004 10:08 PM by J.G. Kurdinov

# You are completely wrong

I'm afraid that you have only explored the peak of the iceberg. As an example you are not considered that the DataSet could be business based and nor DataBase Based. By the way the data access layer is the Database itself with its SP, and not the access to it, that should be in the business layer getting flexibility doing that.
Monday, January 12, 2004 1:49 AM by Paul Gielens

# re: Common rants and misconceptions

Eye opener, though it's not as black and white as you attempt to present to us Roy.
Monday, January 12, 2004 2:39 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Share your RSS subscriptions with the world

Leon. Yeah, I figured. Anyway, since my post I got 5 more on the list...
Monday, January 12, 2004 10:19 AM by SBC

# re: Boosting productivity

I have seen another statistic from one of my Software Eng textbooks - 20% of team carries 80% of the effort required.. (called the 'Pareto Principal').. The trick is to keep the 20% in tune & happy..
Monday, January 12, 2004 10:24 AM by SBC

# re: Common rants and misconceptions

I think 'MKM' - quality Monitor, Kbd & Mouse is crucial. It's where we spent most of the time (in physical contacts). Having a good tech lead/mgr is important - recently, I had one who was clueless beyond his nose (http://weblogs.asp.net/sbchatterjee/archive/2003/11/22/39257.aspx)..
Tuesday, January 13, 2004 2:05 AM by sekhar

# re: "Could not open in Design view. Quote values differently..."

hi,
Any one send me the solution
veera.sekhar@inucom.com
Tuesday, January 13, 2004 2:17 AM by sekhar

# re: "Could not open in Design view. Quote values differently..."


Hi


<asp:TemplateColumn>
<ItemTemplate>
<a href="javascript:edit('<%# DataBinder.Eval(Container.DataItem,"sdone")%>')">
<asp:Image ID="im1" Runat="server" ImageUrl="images/Edit.gif"></asp:Image>
</a>
</ItemTemplate>
</asp:TemplateColumn>


I am not viewing the designing when i was useing this Evaluation expression..

Any one send me the solution...

veera.sekhar@inucom.com
Tuesday, January 13, 2004 2:21 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: "Could not open in Design view. Quote values differently..." solved!

Sekhar, it must be some other piece of code, I can't see anything wrong with it. And Please, don't flood the comments section, will ya?
I would also advise you to try out the various newsgroups out there.
Tuesday, January 13, 2004 2:27 AM by TrackBack

# Log Parser v2.1

Log Parser is a tool available from Microsoft that allows you to run SQL queries against log files and send the information to a SQL Database or other file formats. In this article I describe the capabilities of Log Parser and how you can use it as a set of COM interfaces from your application.
Tuesday, January 13, 2004 9:58 AM by Jeremy

# re: Coding tips and tricks by Eric Gunnerson

Thanks, that's really usefull
Tuesday, January 13, 2004 10:29 AM by Enav

# re: Are you in Israel and reading this?

I'm in Israel and reading this, though I'm just a fan of Roy, and not a .NET developer...
Tuesday, January 13, 2004 11:21 PM by SBC

# re: New MSDN article: Turn Your Log Files into Searchable Data Using Regex and the XML Classes

good stuff Roy.. keep'em coming..
Wednesday, January 14, 2004 3:48 PM by Scott Galloway

# re: Code Complete 2. Good, but not a silver bullet

Roy, I agree, this really isn't ideal for junior developers - if you're a relatively experienced developer though, it can prompt you away from slipping into bad habits. I try to reread Code Complete about once a year - and I have to say, I believe my development style is better for it...
Wednesday, January 14, 2004 4:45 PM by Les Matheson

# re: Code Complete 2. Good, but not a silver bullet

Glad to hear you pointing out that Code Complete isn't the silver bullet -- I've fought so many supposed silver-bullets over 20 years that I've forgotten what half of them were. One day I realized that there is a silver bullet indeed! Its the realization that software is complex, requires much skill, experience, etc., and that there is nothing which shortcuts that fact (although there are many things which help). Once that insight sinks in, people start behaving in sane ways.
Wednesday, January 14, 2004 8:04 PM by SBC

# re: Code Complete 2. Good, but not a silver bullet

I still have my first edition of CC from a decade ago and still learn something from it !
About the 'silver bullet' - wasn't there a famous essay that stated there is *NO* silver bullet in software engineering? (I think it was Cox or Brooks..)
Wednesday, January 14, 2004 9:04 PM by TrackBack

# re: Typed Datasets Are Not Always The Answer

Thursday, January 15, 2004 12:35 AM by Leon Bambrick

# re: Code Complete 2. Good, but not a silver bullet

hi Mister Oshergrove - how are you?

i was reading your blog entry - and i thought 'code complete.. where have i heard of that lately?' then i realised - oh - that's the book that i am resting my elbow on at this very minute!

i've been flicking through it lately - all very wise and informative - but like you say - it's not something you're ready for until you've experienced a few disastrous projects first hand.

the 1993 edition i've got could do with some serious updating. as some of the young whipper snappers around the office would say: "it's soooo Old Skool".

cheers
Thursday, January 15, 2004 4:04 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Typed Datasets Are Not Always The Answer

Kurdinov:
http://weblogs.asp.net/rosherove/articles/6489.aspx
Thursday, January 15, 2004 4:09 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Code Complete 2. Good, but not a silver bullet

Heh. Old school. I like that :)
Thursday, January 15, 2004 6:02 PM by Al

# re: X# video snagged my MS

Pure speculation on my part......people make decisions everyday based on what they see in Microsoft products. Now, in an ever increasing manner people are making decisions on what they see in future Microsoft products (Whidbey, etc.). It would be a bad thing for Microsoft if someone were to see X# and make decisions based on its current state as well as the idea that it may be a product someday when in fact it may not. This scenario is much like Microsoft releasing the product specification for something they've just begun to build. There are lots of things that get cut from products throughout the life cycle for various reasons and it is usually better that folks find out the features that will ship with the product rather than the sky high expectations of the team (or in this case a research group).

I'm sure competition is something that would be a factor as well.
Friday, January 16, 2004 3:10 AM by SA

# re: Code Complete 2. Good, but not a silver bullet

Your blog entry surprised me about code complete. It is really not as dry as people think. It is one of the few books I refer often for testing and developement. One more book in this line is "The practice of Programming" by Kernighan and Pike.
Yours' is one of the few blogs I read daily. Keep up the good work

Thanks
Friday, January 16, 2004 4:41 AM by Hugh Brown

# re: Nunit Addin bliss

So where is it now? The NUnit Addin URL is 404.
Friday, January 16, 2004 4:43 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Nunit Addin bliss

looks like it's here now:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/nunitaddin/
Friday, January 16, 2004 4:43 AM by Paul Bartlett

# re: Code Complete 2. Good, but not a silver bullet

Though many people know Code Complete, Rapid Development (by the same author) is often overlooked. Personally I found it even more useful, I guess from the point of view of a senior developer trying to figure out how project management works (or doesn't), and how to improve things from both sides of the fence.
Friday, January 16, 2004 4:46 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Code Complete 2. Good, but not a silver bullet

Paul. Yes, I've read rapid dev as well and found it actually more useful for my day to day practices as a reference. I actually used it for my first brainstorming exercises at one of my first positions as team lead. It helped a lot.
Friday, January 16, 2004 6:47 AM by Eduardo Melo

# re: Resolving Debugger Problems in VS.NET

I followed the steps to eliminate the error that is Error While trying to run project: Unable to start debugging on the web server. Access id denied.

Can you be quit and gentle to point me to the right direction ?
Friday, January 16, 2004 11:05 AM by Source code to Flowchart

# try this

Sourcecode2Flowchart is a Code Flowchart generator for code flowcharting and visualization.It can generate programming flow chart from code by reverse engineering source code,help programmers to document,visualize and understand code.Its Documentation Generator supports Visio,Word,Excel,PowerPoint and BMP.

It supports C,C++,VC++(Visual C++ .NET),VB(Visual Basic),VBA,Qbasic(quickbasic),VBScript(VBS),ASP, Visual C#(C sharp),Visual Basic .NET(VB.NET),Visual J# .NET,
VC++.NET,ASP.NET,Java,JSP,JavaScript(JScript),Delphi(Object Pascal),PowerBuilder(PowerScript),PHP,Visual FoxPro and Perl programming languages.
Friday, January 16, 2004 11:21 AM by Luke Hutteman

# re: IntelliJ IDEA blows my mind again

"make like internet explorer to blow away this new "Netscape"."

you mean by giving VS.NET away for free and bundling it into Windows? ;-)

As much as I would love VS.NET to incorporate features from IDEA btw, the last thing I want is for JetBrains to be "blown away". We need companies other than Microsoft to provide innovative products and a fresh perspective. Competition is good - it keeps companies on their toes and forces them to keep up.

Btw - JetBrains is working on a VS.NET plugin to bring many of the IDEA features to the C# masses. Considering IDEA itself started off as a JBuilder plugin, this might just evolve into a full-fledged C# IDE at some point...
Friday, January 16, 2004 4:03 PM by AndrewSeven

# re: Clover and unit test patterns

How deep does this rabbit hole go anyway?

Thanks for the links.

Do you know of any good forums/faq lists for nUnit and partuiclarly nUnit Asp?
Friday, January 16, 2004 4:28 PM by Darrell

# re: Unit testing resources

Actually I've been doing lots of NUnitAsp testing recently. I'll post it sometime soon (like Monday).
Friday, January 16, 2004 4:35 PM by AndrewSeven

# re: Unit testing resources

Nice Nice, Very Nice.
Friday, January 16, 2004 10:06 PM by TrackBack

# DataTable and Relational Operators

Saturday, January 17, 2004 1:39 AM by Christophe Lauer

# re: MS Word for OS-X: Nostalgia edition

Well, my guess is that is was meant to be so for some other mysterious reason. Just guessing...
Saturday, January 17, 2004 1:54 PM by TrackBack

# Learning from mistakes: the Don Kihote pattern

Saturday, January 17, 2004 4:46 PM by diffDrummer

# re: Killer IDE macro

Been using this for so many years it startles me when I have to code on someone elses box.
Differences:
visual C++ 6.0
desired open brace position
hotkey: shift [ (which is why it startles me as aboce)

Sub CreateBrackets() 'shift [
ActiveDocument.Selection = "{"
ActiveDocument.Selection.NewLine
ActiveDocument.Selection = "}"
ActiveDocument.Selection.CharLeft
ActiveDocument.Selection.Backspace
ActiveDocument.Selection.LineUp
ActiveDocument.Selection.EndOfLine
End Sub
Saturday, January 17, 2004 11:21 PM by TrackBack

# Tech lead and leadership

Sunday, January 18, 2004 9:29 AM by TrackBack

#

<p>
Before getting into the responses of the blogosphere to my last post, I wanted to reiterate what it was about. The purpose of my post was "assuming that you know how to build a LA, how do you go about migrating to an SOA". Meaning, how do you migrate your existing ( and probably well-founded ) knowledge of LAs to knowledge of SOAs.
</p><p>
Now, I'd like to acknowledge the following posts that referred to my previous post on "How To Do SOA":
</p><p>
My good friend Roy Osherove, as always raining compliments down on me, writes <a href="http://weblogs.asp.net/rosherove/archive/2004/01/18/59743.aspx">"Using SOA on existing N-tier applications"</a>, but I'm afraid that there was a misunderstanding here. "when you need to introduce the SOA theme on an existing N-tier application" is not at all what I was attempting to show. Should you have a working application, do NOT change its architecture unless absolutely necessary. No, "SOA is cool" doesn't count.
</p><p>
I think I should stop a second to make a distinction. The definition of SOA has not yet solidified. The way I see it, there are 2 distinct and complementary views. 1. SOA is about how to integrate different systems. 2. SOA is about how to architect a single system. ( Steve pushes the first view with his post: <a href="http://hyperthink.net/blog/CommentView,guid,ca7bc7ce-3fd6-4106-86fd-9cfb930a2ec6.aspx">"Making the N-Tier to SOA conversion"</a> )
</p><p>
What I was referring to in my previous post was in the light of the second definition. What Roy refers to is more in line with the first. I won't be getting much into how to do the first kind of SOA, because there are big vendors out there that plan to make loads of money based on that definition. I'm more interested in helping Joe Developer use a new(old) paradigm to develop systems which, IMHO, is the most suitable today.
</p><p>
Let me reiterate. SOA is how to architect a system ( according to view 2 above ). You would be best served choosing this architecture before starting to code, than after. Even the Agile camps have a System Metaphor which must(?) be decided at project start which guides them throughout the project lifecycle - of course, it evolves over time.
</p><p>
Both Roy and Steve make valid points about putting a facade over existing parts of a system to expose them a services. In this way, they continue to support existing client code that is already dependent on it. I totally agree !
</p><p>
But, if your starting a new system, wouldn't it be preferable to have all client code access the given functionality in the same way ? Maybe/Yes.
</p><p>
Wouldn't it be that much easier to scale out the system if/when necessary ? Yes.
</p><p>
Wouldn't it make the client code loosely coupled to the functionality ? Yes.
</p><p>
Wouldn't it make the functionality itself more testable ? Yes.
</p><p>
Wouldn't it be that much easier to handle logging, exception management, security, and other cross-cutting concerns ? Definitely.
</p><p>
<pause />
</p><p>
I've reached a conclusion. My next post won't be so much of an example of an implementation of a service. My next post will be about replacing the BL as we know it. I think that once you'll see what the BusinessService looks like in a system with an SOA, things will become that much clearer.
</p><p>
Of course, should you have something you're dying to see next, let me know =)
</p>
Sunday, January 18, 2004 4:40 PM by Udi Dahan - The Software Simplist

# re: Using SOA on existing N-tier applications

Roy,

Your too kind ! However, my intent was slightly different - and can be found here:
http://udidahan.weblogs.us/archives/012770.html
Sunday, January 18, 2004 5:45 PM by Memorabele

# re: Learning from mistakes: the Don Quixote pattern

I wish you lots of succes!
Monday, January 19, 2004 12:07 AM by temp

# re: Three free recipes from "ADO.NET Cookbook"

temp
Monday, January 19, 2004 12:11 AM by Greg Pyatt

# ADSI Hell

Hey Osherove,

ADSI has been a royal pain for me too. It's one of those things that MS doesn't provide adequate tools with which to teach yourself. I mean, how many developers out there are going to has access to a DNS or Exchange server so that the connection strings can be set up properly? Most admins just don't have the time to teach or show a programmer how these things are done.

I remember when ASP first came out what a chore setting up file DSNs and connection strings were. Finally a MVP put up a website with very clear directions on the dozens of different connection string settings for all the databases out there. It was a lifesaver! Someone seriously needs to do the same thing with ADSI, but MS seems to have a wishy-washy relationship with it. Now that .NET is out there, ADSI will get even less attention, which is sort of tough for those of us who love .NET, but have to work in classic ASP.

-GP
Monday, January 19, 2004 11:07 PM by Addy Santo

# re: Learning from mistakes: the Don Quixote pattern


Look up a previous post of mine named "Anti-Patterns"... There are many examples of wrong practices, their effects and possible solutions. You can take comfort in the fact that they have far worse errors there than anything you or I could ever think of :)
Tuesday, January 20, 2004 1:48 AM by TrackBack

# Copyrights for everything!

[The Register>http://www.theregister.com/content/6/34955.html] has now picked up
Tuesday, January 20, 2004 2:08 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Learning from mistakes: the Don Quixote pattern

I actually have the "Anti Patterns" book. Should help out..
Tuesday, January 20, 2004 8:43 AM by James Robertson

# Is SmallTalk a real option?

I was about to post a long comment, but instead posted to my blog. Have a look over here: http://www.cincomsmalltalk.com/blog/blogView?showComments=true&entry=3252040914
Tuesday, January 20, 2004 9:42 AM by TrackBack

# DotNetRocks: Rory Blyth

Tuesday, January 20, 2004 10:58 AM by Ron Jeffries

# re: [OT]Subscription honors

Thanks for the mention! The feeds.scripting.com site is pretty interesting as a way to find interesting new blogs to read via RSS.
-ron jeffries
Tuesday, January 20, 2004 11:55 AM by Darrell

# re: Is SmallTalk a real option?

A quick search on HotJobs.com:
- Number of Smalltalk jobs in the US: 16
- Number of .NET jobs in the US: 956

I'm not saying that it won't help you as a developer, but you probably won't get a job "in it."
Tuesday, January 20, 2004 12:05 PM by Michael Favro

# re: How low can you go?

From yesterday's Seattle Times newspaper:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2001839586_mikerowesoft19m.html

I couldn't believe it when I read it, either. I'm not sure I would have poked the sleeping bear in the first place like Mike. But then I think of all the "free" publicity that he's getting. And whether Microsoft is right or wrong in going after him, they look like the bully and he looks like the poor victim. Even better publicity for Mike!
Tuesday, January 20, 2004 2:02 PM by Randy

# re: Testing BlogJet

I saw this today - GREAT UI! Well integrated... real slick - it's apps like these that would have stopped me from writing my own client if they were out sooner... I just wish they had support for the extended fields that MT offers.
Tuesday, January 20, 2004 4:28 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: New MSDN article: Turn Your Log Files into Searchable Data Using Regex and the XML Classes

Oleg, that's a great idea. I'll see about implementing such a thing.
Still, I like the beauty in the simplicity of this solution..
Tuesday, January 20, 2004 6:59 PM by TrackBack

# A long overdue shout out to my home fries

Wednesday, January 21, 2004 12:09 AM by Rory

# re: .Net Rocks?

"Rory has some great .Net knowledge that wasn't exposed in the interview. Why?"

They actually did try to engage me on technical topics, but I was so nervous that I could hardly see straight, let alone think :)

There were things that I wanted to talk about, and I had planned to bring them up, but my mind went blank during the recording. It was the first time I had ever done an interview like that, and I just sort of did my best under the circumstances.

It also doesn't help that I'm a huge fan of the show (that's not ass kissing, by the way - when the show first came out, I was really happy that there was a community effort to give developers a voice - I loved the format, the ideas, and the people - getting to be on the show was a truly exciting thing for me that I had never expected would actually happen, and I'm very thankful to have had the chance to take part).

Being a big fan made me a bit more nervous than I should have been.

So, yeah - I think that most of your concerns can be addressed by the fact that I was an interview virgin whose brain was going nuts with excitement. The previous two shows had plenty of good technical content, so I don't think the show is headed downhill or anything ;)

Then again, I love the non-technical content on there. I already know that Don Box is a smarty-man, so I wanted to experience a side of him that we don't usually get to see when he's writing/presenting. Same thing with the other developers. I want to know what makes them tick, and when they talk about things *other* than code, I feel like I'm getting a glimpse into a small bit of their worlds outside communion with a PC, which is cool.

I'm not arguing with you, of course :) (I'm using extra smileys to ensure that the proper tone comes across). "It takes all kinds" to make a community, and we are two coders who differ slightly in taste, but I totally understand where you're coming from.

And, yeah - I'm also going to miss Mark... We definitely agree on that.
Wednesday, January 21, 2004 12:42 AM by Rory

# re: .Net Rocks?

"Hey, I love Microsoft technologies, but is it just me or was the show sounding like an orgy of ass kissing from both sides to each other and to Microsoft?"

I just remembered this comment, and wanted to make sure that I addressed it.

What sounded like ass kissing was my *genuine* love of MS dev tools and products.

I've been coding for about 80% of the time I've been on this planet. I've dealt with BASIC, Pascal, C, C++, Objective-C, Java, Python, Assembly, and .NET.

The *truth* is that I've never encountered anything that I've loved so much as .NET, and I've loved many tools. My excitement for this stuff is very real - if it weren't, then I sure wouldn't be doing this whole blogging thing :) If I did the math, I'd probably see that I spend almost all of my time dedicated to this community. Friends and family wonder about where I've gone, and it's not like I don't love *them*. It's just that I get really passionate about this stuff, and want to get other people excited, too.

I can see how it could be mistaken for ass kissing, but I'm seriously *that* interested in this stuff, and I've been having such a great time for the past few months, having had the chance to meet a lot of the people I've quietly worshipped from between book covers. These past few months have given me the chance to help define this totally weird community of which I constitute one small part, and the joy has caused me to say a lot of nice stuff about many of the nice people I've met.

I guess I'm just happy, and it shows :)

I do say the occasional bad thing about MS, but only when I'm being critical for the sake of trying to improve something (as you're doing now).

However, there's a time and place for everything, and I didn't see myself helping out much by stopping the show to grumble for a while.

It's funny - I was thinking about the show earlier today, and was trying to figure out when somebody was going to call my enthusiasm into question. This thought entered my mind: "It's much easier to say something acceptably negative than it is to say something acceptably positive." People don't cut you as much slack for the latter...

Anyway, I'll stop. I'm just writing this stuff because you happen to be someone I respect, and I wanted to "clear my name" so to speak.
Wednesday, January 21, 2004 6:10 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: .Net Rocks?

Ok. I know there was no real ass-kissing taking place. You are all smart thinking people and you do what you love (as do I). But what I meant to say was that the show had too much "I love this I love that aI love you" rather than actual content. Which is a shame. Sure, it's nice to relax once in a while with a totally non technichal interview but even a non technical interview should include questions, not famous quotes. Am I wrong? Yes it's a matter of taste, but hey, for me, with you on the show, it could have been a whole lot better.
Just my 2 cents.
It does not mean I don't read your blog, because I do, and love it. It does not mean I do't like .Net rocks, because I do, and sometimes you want to hear criticism from lovers, IMHO. Better than listening to it from haters..
Anyway, As a .Net rocks show, I did not want to see "Neopoleon on the radio" but wanted to see the real Rory, which sometimes I bet is not that funny but has a serious side. Talking about real issues you had with .Net. Just saying how much everything is wonderful makes for a boring show, to me.
Wednesday, January 21, 2004 9:42 AM by Dave Burke

# re: .Net Rocks?

I don't know, Roy. I think you missed a few minutes of the show! Rory discussed his involvement in non-MS technologies and why he (a wacked, but extremely brainy guy) chose Microsoft. I didn't want to know the long story of his evolution, "just the facts, m'am." It definitely worked for me as a MS developer.

And Rory's discussion of his Compact Framework app, how he "was hoping other parts of his body would go numb (!!)" didn't go into the nuts-and-bolts of building a compact framework app, but it triggered the techie in me to think in CE terms.

The incident of using Mapquest and a laptop at the airport (I forget the particulars) to select an alternative to a cancelled flight was a technical reference, seemed to me.

And it was great to hear Carl re-read that post about WinFS and the Porn Collection was priceless! And darn applicable, too!

I don't want to hear about interfaces or contextobjects or such things in a .NET Rocks show. I'll get that at MSDN, but as was already mentioned, experiencing the human element is particularly beneficial to other barely socially functional nerds like myself who tune in for more than page_load{}.

No, I definitely thought the show was .NET technology sufficient.

Disclaimer: I love Microsoft. I love Carl. I love Rory. :-)

Thanks for your post, Roy.

Wednesday, January 21, 2004 10:34 AM by Shannon J Hager

# re: .Net Rocks?

I was a bit annoyed at the show, too. A couple times, when Rory was getting into some technical-related dialoge, he was interrupted so that the conversation could be steered back towards the comedic entertainment that it seemed like he was there for.
Wednesday, January 21, 2004 11:59 AM by AndrewSeven

# re: The humble programmer

The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offence.
(Edsger Dijkstra)


http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/transcriptions/EWD04xx/EWD498.html

Wednesday, January 21, 2004 12:06 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: The humble programmer

Yep. That's always a great quote :)
Wednesday, January 21, 2004 1:30 PM by Ian Griffiths

# re: The humble programmer

It's fascinating that the last time I saw someone cite the first paragraph you quote there, they were using it to argue about the *deficiencies* of unit testing!

I'm a huge fan of test-driven development - I long since got to the point where I feel wrong if I try to write code before I write a test.

However, I don't believe that this approach addresses the fundamental problem that Dijkstra refers to. Whether you write your tests first or last, if tests are all you have, you have no way of knowing whether your program has problems you simply haven't written tests for.

Dijkstra seems to be talking about constructing proofs of correctness, which is a very different way of building code from test-first development.
Wednesday, January 21, 2004 7:31 PM by jayson knight

# re: X# video snagged my MS

check out this article http://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,4248,1454549,00.asp
Wednesday, January 21, 2004 7:55 PM by Shane King

# re: The humble programmer

As Ian says, you're totally distorting Dijkstra's words.

He says "it [testing] is hopelessly inadequate for showing their [bugs] absence". How you can then go on to conclude that Dijkstra is in support of test driven development is beyond me. You're just hearing what you want to hear if you draw that conclusion.

If anything, Dijkstra seems to be advocating formal methods, which is something that is a 180 degree turn-around from the agile methods most advocates of test driven development believe in.
Wednesday, January 21, 2004 8:10 PM by AndrewSeven

# re: The humble programmer

I've just started the move to test driven, but I notice that I have always done some things in a test-oriented way.

I talk about it at work and I get stranger looks than I did when I started talking about .Net ;)

Build when you expect an error to be sure the error is where you expect it to be.
Call code you expect to fail for the same reason.
Use functions that don't exist yet so I can see what to call them...

I think Dijkstra is just using different terms, he is talking about an itimate realationship between proof(test) and functionality.

There are almost always more tests that will make the functionality fail, but without any tests, you can't be sure it does what you think.

I find it quite interesting how well Dijkstra's ideas resonate with XP aproaches.


Wednesday, January 21, 2004 10:28 PM by Glen Mendoza

# re: Creative writing technique

please post topics regarding basic technique in technical writing like
formal sentences
semi-formal sentences
non-formal sentences
complex definition
Thursday, January 22, 2004 1:03 AM by TrackBack

# BlogJet - Almost really good

Thursday, January 22, 2004 2:39 AM by Brett

# re: Speed up Internet Explorer

I did the internet speed up and it did nothing. I still get 19 to 21kb speed
Thursday, January 22, 2004 4:09 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: The humble programmer

Shane: Distorting? hardly. Dijkstra's message was that tests *before* or *during* the program are *part* of how we should program. The fact that Dijkstra realized that testing will never be enough to help us conclude that there are no bugs does not subtract from the realization that testing *after* the programming is much less useful that before the actual work. Yes, this realization is part of 6 simple rules that Dijkstra portrays in his lecture. The basic theme there is that programs should be limited to intellectually manageable programs. The realizations that testing before coding helps you mentally with creating the program is one of these corner stones.
Thursday, January 22, 2004 4:57 AM by Picard

# re: Avoiding DB_SEC_E_AUTH_FAILED exception on connection string

DB_SEC_E_AUTH_FAILED
---------------------
i am writing in VB.NET

had a Global Variable :
Private sDBLieferanten As String = Server.MapPath("..\~db\" & sDbName)

in my Function i had the same Variable init :
Dim strSQL, strLieferant As String

but i didnt give it a value
that was my Problem
hopes that helps someone

"make it so"
Thursday, January 22, 2004 5:05 AM by Picard

# re: Avoiding DB_SEC_E_AUTH_FAILED exception on connection string

sorry that above was the corrected code in my function
#
Dim strSQL, strLieferant As String
#

the code looked like that before:
#
Dim sDBLieferanten, strSQL, strLieferant As String
#
Thursday, January 22, 2004 6:08 AM by Oleg Tkachenko

# re: Congrats to all new MVPs

Basing on a simple fact you've started blogging last February I bet you are going to be awarded in April batch.
AFAIK one-year of public activity is the most strict rule they do adhere.
Thursday, January 22, 2004 6:45 AM by TrackBack

# Nerds need a

Thursday, January 22, 2004 7:05 AM by Scott Galloway

# re: Should I get a laptop or a tablet?

Yup, I always set my screensize at 1600x1200, have an old Latitude C810 which has been pretty much perfect for dev work for just over a year. I've seen some decent Laptop / Tablet hybrids (on the MSDN show on tablets a few months ago for one) - but I haven't seen one which is as powerful or has as good a screen as I need - yet
Thursday, January 22, 2004 7:06 AM by Matthew Reynolds

# re: Should I get a laptop or a tablet?

Well, I'd buy the most powerful notebook I could, with the biggest, brightest screen that I could by. My gut reaction would be to go with a classic notebook.

Dell's typically have the best screens. Mine does a lovely job at running at 1600x1200.

Matt
Thursday, January 22, 2004 7:32 AM by Scott

# re: 2 BlogJet issues

#2 is not Blog Jet's fault. The metablogapi is very "simple".

However, I maybe as early as this weekend, I hope to address both issues :)

-Scott
Thursday, January 22, 2004 7:38 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: 2 BlogJet issues

Scott: How cool! :) Thanks a million.
Thursday, January 22, 2004 7:40 AM by SBC

# re: Should I get a laptop or a tablet?

TPC.. TPC.. I had a Motion Computing M1300 with 512mb for a project last summer. Great stuff. Make sure you get lots of RAM (>512mb), it makes a lot of difference.
Thursday, January 22, 2004 7:43 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Congrats to all new MVPs

Oleg: I didn't think about that angle. Thanks :)
Thursday, January 22, 2004 7:45 AM by SBC

# re: The humble programmer

I like the comment about knowing the limitation of one's skull.. :-)
I recall recent postings about 'complexity & sophistication' - http://weblogs.asp.net/sbchatterjee/archive/2003/11/09/36583.aspx
Thursday, January 22, 2004 7:53 AM by SBC

# re: .Net Rocks?

I think '.NET Rocks' can do with a rating system - 'stars', 'thumbs-up' or similar. At the end of year, we can have our own Oscars!
Thursday, January 22, 2004 8:00 AM by Christian Weyer

# re: Should I get a laptop or a tablet?

Hm, mixed emotions here. I also, like Matt, love the power, the large things, the big iron (Matt knows I am huge ;-)). I have a DELL INSPIRON 8200, 2 GhZ, 1 GB RAM and a new fast HD - OK, this rocks.
But ... recently I purchased my new Acer TPC. It is the C302 XMi (maybe this exact model number is only available in Europe or Germany, but you get the idea). And it is great! It is a full blown laptop, as a convertible it is also a TPC with a 14" display. Cool. The only downside currently is that the screen resolution is limited to 1024 ... hm, not too good. But I use it excluslively for presentation sop it does not matter for me.
Ah, and its has a DVD burner (for '-' and '+') inside ... and of course it is a Centrino. So that means it has integrated WiFi. Additionally Bluetooth.

My 2 cents.
Thursday, January 22, 2004 8:21 AM by Jay Glynn

# re: Should I get a laptop or a tablet?

Take a look at the Toshiba Protege M200. Best compromise between the two world. It will be my next laptop purchase. The best thing is it's not limited to 1024x768. It has an SXGA (1400x1050) screen.
Thursday, January 22, 2004 8:30 AM by Scott Galloway

# re: 2 BlogJet issues

My biggest issue at present is the lack of a way to access the HTML of what you're posting - can be a real problem sometimes! I did have a problem with the lack of 'Multiple Category' support - but Dimtry says this is going to be in a future version.
Thursday, January 22, 2004 8:38 AM by Tim Marman

# re: Should I get a laptop or a tablet?

Tablet tablet tablet.

As Jay said, get the Toshiba. It packs quite a punch and is fairly compact. Obviously get a convertible and not a slate model if you want to develop.
Thursday, January 22, 2004 8:58 AM by Me

# re: Convert a DataReader into a DataSet

Looks like it's taken word for word from this article published a while ago:
http://www.wwwcoder.com/main/parentid/273/site/2114/68/default.aspx
Thursday, January 22, 2004 9:00 AM by James Robertson

# re: .NET Framework debug symbols

Smalltalk has always allowed that. You can also restart from any point in the stack....
Thursday, January 22, 2004 9:19 AM by AndrewSeven

# re: Convert a DataReader into a DataSet

The dataset will use a reader internaly, so why not examine the logic inside the dataset?

Could a dataAdapter do this directly?
(Using the SqlHelper has reduced my awareness of dataccess classes)
Thursday, January 22, 2004 9:31 AM by Yosi Taguri

# re: Should I get a laptop or a tablet?

When you'll come to Israel and visit the office I'll show you a powerfull TPC you will want for yourself.....
Thursday, January 22, 2004 9:36 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Should I get a laptop or a tablet?

YOsi: Just give me the name of it, why don't you?
Thursday, January 22, 2004 9:53 AM by Teemu Keiski

# re: Convert a DataReader into a DataSet

Just a quick shot (not tested, typed from my head):

public static DataSet ConvertDataReadertoDataSet(IDataReader reader)
{
DataSet ds=new DataSet();
DataTable dataTable=new DataTable();

DataTable schemaTable=reader.GetSchemaTable();

DataRow row;
string columnName;
DataColumn column;

int count=schemaTable.Rows.Count;

for(int i=0;i<count;i++)
{
row=schemaTable.Rows[i];
columnName=(string)row["ColumnName"];
column=new DataColumn(columnName,(Type)row["DataType"]);
dataTable.Columns.Add(column);
}
ds.Tables.Add(dataTable);

object[] values=new object[count];

try
{
dataTable.BeginLoadData();
while(reader.Read())
{
reader.GetValues(values);
dataTable.LoadDataRow(values,true);
}

}
finally
{
dataTable.EndLoadData();
reader.Close();
}

return ds;
}
Thursday, January 22, 2004 10:20 AM by Steve

# re: Should I get a laptop or a tablet?

Make sure you get lots of RAM - as soon as the machine starts swapping to disk performance will die.

If you're doing development then you really need a desktop - the harddisks are significantly faster. Laptops poor dev machines.

S.
Thursday, January 22, 2004 10:25 AM by Rohit

# re: Tech Interview Puzzle Solutions

looking for the vb.net interview qustions please help me out
Thursday, January 22, 2004 10:26 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Tech Interview Puzzle Solutions

Sorry, I can't help :(
Thursday, January 22, 2004 10:56 AM by TrackBack

# But that trick NEVER works

Thursday, January 22, 2004 11:07 AM by Shannon J Hager

# re: Should I get a laptop or a tablet?

If you get a tablet (I would), you should wait until the next version of the OS is released. March, I think? Like many (most?) MS products, the version 1.0 of the Tablet OS is more like v0.9 and the first update will be the real v1.0

Whether you get a tablet or laptop, I would HIGHLY recommend you get a docking station with a keyboard, monitor, and mouse. That way, when you're at your desk, you're using a "real" computer.

Thursday, January 22, 2004 11:08 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Should I get a laptop or a tablet?

Shannon: Well, can't I just buy a tablet and update the OS as the new OS arrived on MSDN?
Thursday, January 22, 2004 11:20 AM by TrackBack

# Rory and his

Thursday, January 22, 2004 11:25 AM by Shannon J Hager

# re: Should I get a laptop or a tablet?

I am sure you could upgrade but I think waiting would be a better option because either the newer versions of the tablets will have better hardware that is better integrated with the new OS or you can buy last year's model cheap because the price will drop when this year's model comes out.

Either way, you win.

I am not yet in a position to buy a tablet but I've been drooling over them for a while now so I read all the info on them that I find. You might hear differently from people who know better than I do, but from what I've read, those who are "in the know" say to wait.
Thursday, January 22, 2004 12:07 PM by Diego Mijelshon

# another approach

Why GetSchemaTable?

Since IDataReader is also IDataRecord, it could be:

static DataSet DataReaderToDataSet(IDataReader reader)
{
DataTable table = new DataTable();
int fieldCount = reader.FieldCount;
for (int i = 0; i < fieldCount; i++)
{
table.Columns.Add(reader.GetName(i), reader.GetFieldType(i));
}
table.BeginLoadData();
object[] values = new object[fieldCount];
while (reader.Read())
{
reader.GetValues(values);
table.LoadDataRow(values, true);
}
table.EndLoadData();
DataSet ds = new DataSet();
ds.Tables.Add(table);
return ds;
}
Thursday, January 22, 2004 12:11 PM by Casey Marshall

# OQO

OQO is about the size of an iPod, has a thumbable keyboard and digital pen interface, etc.

http://www.oqo.com/hardware/basics/

Unf according to the website its not available till fall 2004 :(

Casey
Thursday, January 22, 2004 12:37 PM by Darrell

# re: Unit testing resources

Hey, I posted some best practices and tips for NUnitAsp here (http://dotnetjunkies.com/weblog/darrell.norton/posts/5950.aspx).
Thursday, January 22, 2004 1:01 PM by Carl Franklin

# re: .Net Rocks?

You people should get your own shows! <g>
Thursday, January 22, 2004 1:09 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: .Net Rocks?

Hey Carl. I like your show. Hope you don't mind a little criticism <g>
Thursday, January 22, 2004 2:44 PM by Jamie Cansdale

# re: .NET Framework debug symbols

You can do it like this... Mount the GAC as a drive letter (see http://weblogs.asp.net/nunitaddin/archive/2003/02/27/3136.aspx). Change directory to the assemby you want to step through. Decompile it using ildasm. Recompile it with debug symbols turned on (you may need to delay sign it). It doesn't matter that you don't have Microsoft's key because assemblies in the GAC are pre-checked and assumed good. You are now ready to set a breakpoint in System.il (or whatever) and step into it! Have fun...
Thursday, January 22, 2004 2:52 PM by Stefan Nilsson

# re: Should I get a laptop or a tablet?

Someone posted about this new tablet (Cabriolet) from L computers. It seems to pack a lot of punch. Might be something to consider.

http://www.go-l.com/laptops/index.htm

-S
Thursday, January 22, 2004 3:35 PM by Christopher

# re: .Net Rocks?

I listened to the show while I worked . . . funny enough to keep me interested, not so technical as to distract me. Good bang for my buck . . .

Thursday, January 22, 2004 4:03 PM by G. Andrew Duthie

# re: Should I get a laptop or a tablet?

If I ever get rich and famous, one of the L laptops is definitely on my wish list. :-)
Thursday, January 22, 2004 5:18 PM by Omer van Kloeten

# re: Israel DevDays

Ami Dudu's lecturing about Code Access Security.
Some things you shouldn't miss. :D
Thursday, January 22, 2004 6:10 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: .Net Rocks?

I guess you can't argue with taste, can you? :)
Thursday, January 22, 2004 7:19 PM by julie lerman

# re: .Net Rocks?

sorry - but Carl's comment still has me laughing
Thursday, January 22, 2004 7:42 PM by Josh

# I don't know why there isnt an article about this

I don't remember all the specifics, but enough to get a working version.

Basically, the DbDataAdapter class (which all provider specific DataAdapters derive from) already contains a protected Fill overload that takes an IDataReader as a parameter.

So, create a custom class that derives from DbDataAdapter, and expose that functionality with a public method, as follows:

public class DataReaderAdapter : DbDataAdapter {
public int FillFromReader(DataTable dataTable, IDataReader dataReader){
return this.Fill(dataTable, dataReader);
}
}

(You are also required to override 4 events. I left them out of this example for brevity. My implementation didnt include any code in the events, just the base implementation provided by VS.NET 2003.)

Now, in your code, it is as easy as:

SqlDataReader dr = cmd.ExecuteReader();
DataSet ds = new DataSet();
DataSet dt = new DataTable();
DataReaderAdapter da = new DataReaderAdapter();
da.FillFromReader(dt, dr);
ds.Tables.Add(dt)

Hurray! You will find your dataset now contains a table with all of the data from the datareader. No messing with schemas, loops, etc. Use the functionality already built into the Framework.
Thursday, January 22, 2004 7:56 PM by Udi Dahan - The Software Simplist

# re: Israel DevDays

Ami gave the same lecture at the last C++/C# user group. It was quite good. So, I'll probably be going to the WSE lecture than to see the CAS one again.
Thursday, January 22, 2004 8:01 PM by Leon Bambrick

# re: Congrats to all new MVPs

>one-year of public activity is the most strict rule they do adhere

the last name 'Torvalds' is also not helpful.

hey Roy - saw your comment at dailygrind - good one. i mentioned you on secretGeek today. thought you'd like to know.

cheers :)




Thursday, January 22, 2004 8:10 PM by Leon Bambrick

# re: The humble programmer

classic document. thanks for pointing it out.

Thursday, January 22, 2004 8:18 PM by TrackBack

# .Net rocks

Thursday, January 22, 2004 9:09 PM by Steve Maine

# re: Convert a DataReader into a DataSet

I find that I often want to go the other way (i.e., convert a DataSet into a DataReader). We all know that it's best to use DataReaders when possible for performance reasons, but it's really hard to create a mock data layer with DataReaders (it's very hard to stub them out).

One of the guys on my team came up with a DataSetDataReader, which was an implementation of IDataReader whose underlying stream was a DataSet. This solved our problem -- for unit tests, we could create a DataSet of "dummy" data to represent our mock data layer, wrap a DataSetDataReader around and return it to the business logic layer with noone being the wiser. It worked quite well, and helped us unit test our BL without introducing a dependancy on the database.

I wonder where the code for that got to...
Thursday, January 22, 2004 9:29 PM by Mark Dunn

# re: .Net Rocks?

Roy,

I will certainly miss doing the show. I have too many irons in the fire these days and something had to give. Keep listening and keep that constructive criticism going.

Cheers,

-Mark
Thursday, January 22, 2004 10:09 PM by TrackBack

# Good stuff on DataReader-

Thursday, January 22, 2004 10:09 PM by TrackBack

# Good stuff on DataReader-

Thursday, January 22, 2004 10:45 PM by TrackBack

# Signal-to-Noise #1

Friday, January 23, 2004 1:33 AM by Teemu Keiski

# re: Convert a DataReader into a DataSet

Diego,

ah yes, how obvious, thanks. :-) I though that it was still too complicated.
And for the others, damn that I love reading these blogs, so much good solutions so quickly. :-)

I didn't even realize that DBDataAdapter has that overload for Fill method (can't just remeber everything and yes it was in docs, but can't just read everything :-D ).

Friday, January 23, 2004 2:42 AM by Rory

# re: Reactions

I was talking to Scott Hanselman about this exact phenomenon - He mentioned that he had been posting a lot of great technical content, but that nobody wrote any comments until he mentioned favorite Sci-Fi books, at which point everybody and his mother began commenting.

It *is* a strange thing. Right when you think you have it all figured out, you realize that people are just weird, weird, weird :)
Friday, January 23, 2004 5:02 AM by TrackBack

# Visible Progress

Friday, January 23, 2004 5:03 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Congrats to all new MVPs

Leon: heh :)
Friday, January 23, 2004 5:05 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Convert a DataReader into a DataSet

Steve: hey, if you posted that code somewhere that would be great! Please find it :)
Friday, January 23, 2004 6:15 AM by TrackBack

# Recent App Block - Authorization and Profile

Friday, January 23, 2004 6:20 AM by Scott Galloway

# re: Authorization and Profile Application Block

Looks pretty excellent actually...and a good head start on the Whidbey Profile concepts...
Friday, January 23, 2004 6:57 AM by Johnny Hall

# re: Winform Singleton pattern example

What do you do if you want to have a singleton form, which isn't the main form? e.g. an Options dialog.
Friday, January 23, 2004 7:00 AM by Sudhakar

# re: Winform Singleton pattern example

Infact GOF's Singleton has a flaw in example given in C++ due to it's language limitations. A Singleton instance is suppose to give exactly one instance at anytime and should not be tampered for getting multiple instances.

check out this

http://www.sadeveloper.net/viewarticle.aspx?articleID=77
Friday, January 23, 2004 8:10 AM by SBC

# re: Winform Singleton pattern example

good posting. The article at 'sadeveloper' is a good one - makes a good point about the threading aspects. I am not sure about using the 'sealed', since GoF does specify (if I recall correctly) that one can make it extensible with subclassing.
Friday, January 23, 2004 8:11 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Winform Singleton pattern example

Johnny: This should work for any form.
Friday, January 23, 2004 9:08 AM by rbfigueira

# re: Authorization and Profile Application Block

You get the complete list of patterns & practices here:

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/practices/completelist.asp

;)
Friday, January 23, 2004 9:09 AM by Johnny Hall

# re: Winform Singleton pattern example

I'm with you, I had a play. Ignore my stupidity. I was assuming something from the line:

Application.Run(Form1.Instance)

So I just use OptionsForm.Instance from wherever I want.
Friday, January 23, 2004 9:25 AM by Stefano Demiliani

# re: Winform Singleton pattern example

Thanks to all... so what's the better way? I think Roy solutions could be good...
Friday, January 23, 2004 11:25 AM by Brian Vargas

# re: Good stuff on DataReader->Dataset

I'll take the burden off of Steve for finding the code.

http://blog.ardvaark.net/article.php?story=20040123111610429
Friday, January 23, 2004 11:26 AM by Pete McKinney

# re: Convert a DataReader into a DataSet

Here's some code I recently put together to expose an IDataReader interface from a DataTable. The GetSchemaTable method is pretty incomplete, but it has all the functionality that I've needed from it.

#region references
using System;
using System.Data;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Text;
#endregion

namespace Common.SQL
{
public class DataTableReader : IDataReader
{
private const int NotSet = -1;
private DataTable _table;
private int _currentRow = NotSet;
private DataRow _row;
private bool _closed = false;

public DataTableReader( DataTable table ) {
_table = table;
}

#region IDataReader Members

public int RecordsAffected {
get { return -1; }
}

public bool IsClosed {
get { return _closed; }
}

public bool NextResult() {
Close();
return false;
}

public void Close() {
_closed = true;
_currentRow = NotSet;
_row = null;
_table.Dispose();
}

public bool Read() {
_currentRow++;
if( _currentRow < _table.Rows.Count ) {
_row = _table.Rows[_currentRow];
return true;
}

//passed the end, clean up
Close();
return false;
}

public int Depth {
get {
//we don't have any depth
return 0;
}
}

/// <summary>
/// Note: this makes no real attempt to get all the functionality in there
/// </summary>
/// <returns></returns>
public DataTable GetSchemaTable() {

DataTable schema = new DataTable( "Schema" );
schema.Columns.Add( "ColumnName" );
schema.Columns.Add( "ColumnOrdinal", typeof(int) );
schema.Columns.Add( "ColumnSize", typeof(int) );
schema.Columns.Add( "NumericPrecision", typeof(int) );
schema.Columns.Add( "NumericScale", typeof(int) );
schema.Columns.Add( "DataType", typeof(Type) );
schema.Columns.Add( "ProviderType", typeof(Type) );
schema.Columns.Add( "IsLong", typeof(bool) );
schema.Columns.Add( "AllowDBNull", typeof(bool) );
schema.Columns.Add( "IsReadOnly", typeof(bool) );
schema.Columns.Add( "IsRowVersion", typeof(bool) );
schema.Columns.Add( "IsUnique", typeof(bool) );
schema.Columns.Add( "IsKeyColumn", typeof(bool) );
schema.Columns.Add( "IsAutoIncrement", typeof(bool) );
schema.Columns.Add( "BaseSchemaName" );
schema.Columns.Add( "BaseCatalogName" );
schema.Columns.Add( "BaseTableName" );
schema.Columns.Add( "BaseColumnName" );

foreach( DataColumn col in _table.Columns ) {
DataRow colRow = schema.NewRow();
colRow["ColumnName"] = col.ColumnName;
colRow["ColumnOrdinal"] = col.Ordinal; //col.Ordinal;
colRow["ColumnSize"] = col.MaxLength; //col.ColumnSize;
colRow["NumericPrecision"] = null; //col.NumericPrecision;
colRow["NumericScale"] = null; //col.NumericScale;
colRow["DataType"] = col.DataType;
colRow["ProviderType"] = col.DataType; //col.ProviderType;
colRow["IsLong"] = null; //col.IsLong;
colRow["AllowDBNull"] = col.AllowDBNull;
colRow["IsReadOnly"] = true; //col.IsReadOnly;
colRow["IsRowVersion"] = false; //col.IsRowVersion;
colRow["IsUnique"] = false; //col.IsUnique;
colRow["IsKeyColumn"] = false; //col.IsKeyColumn;
colRow["IsAutoIncrement"] = false; //col.IsAutoIncrement;
colRow["BaseSchemaName"] = null; //col.BaseSchemaName;
colRow["BaseCatalogName"] = null; //col.BaseCatalogName;
colRow["BaseTableName"] = null; //col.BaseTableName;
colRow["BaseColumnName"] = null; //col.BaseColumnName;
schema.Rows.Add( colRow );
}
return schema;
}

#endregion

#region IDisposable Members

public void Dispose() {
Close();
}

#endregion

#region IDataRecord Members

public int GetInt32(int i) {
return Convert.ToInt32( _row );
}

public object this[string name] {
get {
try {
return _row[name];
} catch( ArgumentException err ) {
throw new IndexOutOfRangeException( err.Message, err );
}
}
}

object System.Data.IDataRecord.this[int i] {
get {
return _row[i];
}
}

public object GetValue(int i) {
return _row[i];
}

public bool IsDBNull(int i) {
return _row[i] == DBNull.Value;
}

public long GetBytes(int i, long fieldOffset, byte[] buffer, int bufferoffset, int length) {
throw new ApplicationException( "Not implemented" );
}

public byte GetByte(int i) {
return Convert.ToByte( _row[i] );
}

public Type GetFieldType(int i) {
return _row[i].GetType();
}

public decimal GetDecimal(int i) {
return Convert.ToDecimal( _row[i] );
}

public int GetValues(object[] values) {
int count = Math.Min( values.Length, _row.ItemArray.Length );
for( int i = 0; i < count; i++ )
values[i] = _row[i];

return _row.ItemArray.Length;
}

public string GetName(int i) {
return _table.Columns[i].ColumnName;
}

public int FieldCount {
get {
return _row.ItemArray.Length;
}
}

public long GetInt64(int i) {
return Convert.ToInt64( _row[i] );
}

public double GetDouble(int i) {
return Convert.ToDouble( _row[i] );
}

public bool GetBoolean(int i) {
return Convert.ToBoolean( _row[i] );
}

public Guid GetGuid(int i) {
return (Guid)_row[i];
}

public DateTime GetDateTime(int i) {
return Convert.ToDateTime( _row[i] );
}

public int GetOrdinal(string name) {
return _table.Columns[name].Ordinal;
}

public string GetDataTypeName(int i) {
return _table.Columns[i].DataType.Name;
}

public float GetFloat(int i) {
return (float)Convert.ToDouble( _row[i] );
}

public IDataReader GetData(int i) {
return null;
}

public long GetChars(int i, long fieldoffset, char[] buffer, int bufferoffset, int length) {
char[] chars = _row[i].ToString().ToCharArray( Convert.ToInt32( fieldoffset ), length );
length = Math.Min( chars.Length, length );
for( int j = 0; j < length; j++ )
buffer[j+bufferoffset] = chars[j];
return length;
}

public string GetString(int i) {
return _row[i].ToString();
}

public char GetChar(int i) {
return Convert.ToChar( _row[i] );
}

public short GetInt16(int i) {
return Convert.ToInt16( _row[i] );
}

#endregion
}
}
Friday, January 23, 2004 12:05 PM by stefan

# re: Good stuff on DataReader->Dataset

A Dataset is already a structure with data filled by a DataReader less a few features
Why recreate it?
Friday, January 23, 2004 12:07 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Good stuff on DataReader->Dataset

Stefan: The idea was so that you can easily test a data reader inteface in unit tests. What does a unt test that does not want to connect to the database do what it comes time to test methods that return a data reader? a data reader muct be connected to the database by definition. This is why.
Friday, January 23, 2004 12:19 PM by Patrick Cauldwell

# re: Winform Singleton pattern example

Your second criteria can be a tricky one. I'd agree that in most implementations, what people mean by "Singleton" is one and only one object that never gets destroyed. However, in other systems, "Singleton" just means "at most one", and not necessarily that it won't be destroyed. .NET Remoting is one example. If you use the "Singleton" activation mode for a server activated component, you get "at most one" but not necessarily the same object, and sometimes that might be appropriate.

Sorry, I realize that's not really relevant to WinForms in particular, just a general comment.
Friday, January 23, 2004 12:22 PM by Stuart Laughlin

# re: Winform Singleton pattern example

My two cents are here:
http://www.bistrotech.net/weblog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=db05f620-6dd4-4302-8e48-3fc70aafb0c7
Friday, January 23, 2004 11:20 PM by Rick Childress

# re: .NET Framework debug symbols

Roy,

Once you get the symbols you can step through the asm. I guess this is closest we can get (right now) since I assume the code is JIT'ed before debugging. Still, you get good call stacks.

- Rick
Saturday, January 24, 2004 9:08 PM by SBC

# re: I'm available again

time to write a book buddy.. :-)
Saturday, January 24, 2004 9:50 PM by damon

# re: A New Source Control system

This is a vendor post, and I've donned my flame vest. :-) I'm not sure where the "no support for .NET" came from. We absolutely support the SCC integration. Regarding Java, it is only for the presentation layer. We use straight C for everything else including local filesystem interaction. On Windows, we compile the Java code and Linux will soon follow. We really only use Java for its cross-platform support of Windows look and feel, nothing more.

It is pretty much impossible to put the "why" of AccuRev's revolutionary nature into words or pictures, it has to be seen in action. One poster noted that the Stream Browser was the only thing that seemed different and in fact that is the easiest place to see where we are different. We allow you to reparent whole branches at will via drag and drop. One of the best ways to see this difference is in our about-to-be-released flash demo: http://www.accurev.com/download/accurev_demo.exe

Kelly, thanks for the kind words. Roy, thanks for mentioning us.
Saturday, January 24, 2004 9:53 PM by damon

# re: A New Source Control system

Not used to that url yet. :-) Correct url for the flash is: http://www.accurev.com/download/demo/accurev_demo.exe
Saturday, January 24, 2004 11:14 PM by RandyRants

# re: I'm available again

I did that... wrote a book I mean. What's interesting is that I've made more via Donations for my freeware than I have from the book. Sorta ironic...

Take some time off :)
Sunday, January 25, 2004 8:35 AM by SBC

# re: .Net Roars live

I certainly enjoy reading his blog postings. I hope he doesn't run back after he encounters the New England weather - it's bloody cold here now (-5 with wind chills).
Sunday, January 25, 2004 8:40 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: .Net Roars live

Oy! That's cold. Didn't know you were in New england. (or did I forget? never mind ;) )
Sunday, January 25, 2004 11:49 AM by Rory

# re: .Net Roars live

"I hope he doesn't run back after he encounters the New England weather - it's bloody cold here now (-5 with wind chills)."

It's OK :) I'm packing my sweater and an extra pair of socks (and a portable propane lamp).

And, Roy - You *should* call - I was thinking along those lines, too :)
Sunday, January 25, 2004 1:24 PM by julie lerman

# re: .Net Roars live

Roy FYI on Carl who is an incredibly talented musician on many fronts: http://weblogs.asp.net/jlerman/archive/2003/08/22/24956.aspx
Sunday, January 25, 2004 1:46 PM by Carl Franklin

# re: .Net Roars live

>> (provided Carl doesn't want my head on a stick or something).

Hey now. That's no way to talk. I'd be glad to jam with you. Now, if I could just get you to come HERE because I don't plan to go anywhere near the middle-east anytime soon. :-)

Come to think of it, I'd probably be in more danger hanging out in New York. :-)

Do you have anything recorded? If you have Cool Edit Pro we could make some tracks by long distance editing <g>
Sunday, January 25, 2004 1:47 PM by Carl Franklin

# re: .Net Roars live

Thanks, Julie.

The clementine thing was fun, but this is where most of my stuff is:

http://www.pwop.com

Sunday, January 25, 2004 2:00 PM by SBC

# re: .Net Roars live

yup.. I live in West Hartford, CT, that's about 40mins drive from Carl's place in New London, CT. Carl is the New England High Priest of .NET and see him quite often at our local .NET Dev group meetings (http://weblogs.asp.net/sbchatterjee/archive/2004/01/06/47985.aspx)
Sunday, January 25, 2004 3:44 PM by Martin

# re: I'm available again

Hey!

>>my home server fell due to a power outage, so my personal homepage is not available<<

Maybe time to get serious hosting?

Martin.
Sunday, January 25, 2004 11:28 PM by TrackBack

# Converting Log Files to XML with .NET and Regular Expressions

Monday, January 26, 2004 4:19 AM by Harald

# re: Creating a generic Site-To-RSS tool

The link to the Source is not valid! Is it still possible to download the source?
Regards
Harald
Monday, January 26, 2004 12:21 PM by Tony Nassar

# re: Is SmallTalk a real option?

Well, there have been postings to the extremeprogramming group on Yahoo, recommending learning SmallTalk (over C#!). If you do not *now* know SmallTalk, and you are not *now* part of the SmallTalk community, how would you teach yourself SmallTalk in such a way that it would help you get a job? Perhaps this objection applies to any language one doesn't already know. Still, one has only to type "Smalltalk" into CareerBuilder.com and see how few postings show up; there may indeed be SmallTalk jobs out there, but there are manifestly not that many.
Tuesday, January 27, 2004 5:00 AM by tom smith

# re: A Solid Text Editor

what?
Tuesday, January 27, 2004 5:16 AM by Laurent

# re: Some new blogs and a story of quantity vs. quality

Isnt' it jus a difference in specifications?

Laurent
Tuesday, January 27, 2004 6:21 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Some new blogs and a story of quantity vs. quality

Laurent: difference in specification leads to difference in implementation ;) I think that's the point
Tuesday, January 27, 2004 6:25 AM by Darren Neimke

# re: My article on Microsoft.com!


hehe... np Royo; you should do what I did, take a photo of it!

http://weblogs.asp.net/dneimke/archive/2003/11/16/37796.aspx

:)

Tuesday, January 27, 2004 9:25 AM by SBC

# re: My article on Microsoft.com!

time to write a book buddy.. :-)
Tuesday, January 27, 2004 9:27 AM by Lorenzo Barbieri

# re: My article on Microsoft.com!

If you will write a book, it will be on my wish list!!! :-)
Tuesday, January 27, 2004 11:52 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: My article on Microsoft.com!

A book? hmmm.....
Tuesday, January 27, 2004 10:53 PM by Rory

# re: My article on Microsoft.com!

Wow :) That's pretty sweet.

Wow.

(wow)
Wednesday, January 28, 2004 4:05 AM by annn

# re: UML Tutorial

646456464654
Wednesday, January 28, 2004 4:47 AM by Aspirer

# re: My article on Microsoft.com!

Nicely written, might help me in my system log files too.
Wednesday, January 28, 2004 6:46 AM by SBC

# re: Learning from mistakes: the Don Quixote pattern

http://weblogs.asp.net/sbchatterjee/archive/2004/01/18/59854.aspx
Wednesday, January 28, 2004 8:34 AM by Sujit

# re: Yikes! people sure have problems debugging!

Hi
I have a problem when trying to Debug Asp.Net ( code behind c#). The problem is the line being executed is not the line being highlighted in Debug mode. This happens even with the aspx.cs pages as well as the Class Files ( I mean the Dlls). I have restarted the system,IIS rebuilded the Dlls and added the reference again but no use.
This is not due to reference problem( the dll refered is the latest Version).
Please try to provide a solution at the earliest .
Thanks & Regards
Sujit.J
Wednesday, January 28, 2004 8:38 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Yikes! people sure have problems debugging!

hMM. Seems to me like the pdb file is wrong.
clear all the temp build files including pdb and see what happens when you build again.
Wednesday, January 28, 2004 1:38 PM by PA-CA-USA

# re: Convert a DataReader into a DataSet

'''' PA-CA-USA, 28 January 2004, Include this attribution line if you re-use some
'''' or all of this code, please.
'''' This code has been working well for me for some time now. It handles
'''' multiple result sets from a single reader.
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
Public Shared Function convertSqlDataReaderToDataSet(ByVal reader As SqlDataReader) As DataSet
Dim ds As DataSet = New DataSet()
Dim schema As DataTable
Dim data As DataTable
Dim i As Integer
Dim dr As DataRow
Dim dc As DataColumn
Dim columnName As String

Do
schema = reader.GetSchemaTable()
data = New DataTable()
If Not schema Is Nothing Then
For i = 0 To schema.Rows.Count - 1
dr = schema.Rows(i)
columnName = dr("ColumnName")
If data.Columns.Contains(columnName) Then
columnName = columnName + "_" + i.ToString()
End If
dc = New DataColumn(columnName, CType(dr("DataType"), Type))
data.Columns.Add(dc)
Next

ds.Tables.Add(data)

While reader.Read()
dr = data.NewRow()
For i = 0 To reader.FieldCount - 1
dr(i) = reader.GetValue(i)
Next
data.Rows.Add(dr)
End While
Else
dc = New DataColumn("RowsAffected")
data.Columns.Add(dc)
ds.Tables.Add(data)
dr = data.NewRow()
dr(0) = reader.RecordsAffected
data.Rows.Add(dr)
End If
Loop While reader.NextResult()

reader.Close()

Return ds
End Function
Wednesday, January 28, 2004 10:13 PM by Josh

# re: Disabling Connection Pooling

Thanks. I absolutely need it because when converting databases, the caching really mucks things up.
Thursday, January 29, 2004 2:31 AM by Krishna vardhan

# re: Server.Transfer vs. Response.Redirect

Redirect and Transfer both cause a new page to be processed. But the interaction between the client (web browser) and server (ASP.NET) is different in each situation.

Redirect: A redirect is just a suggestion – it’s like saying to the client “Hey, you might want to look at this”. All you tell the client is the new URL to look at, and if they comply, they do a second request for the new URL.

If you want to pass state from the source page to the new page, you have to pass it either on the URL (such as a database key, or message string), or you can store it in the Session object (caveat: there may be more than one browser window, and they’ll all use the same session object).

Transfer: A transfer happens without the client knowing – it’s the equivalent of a client requesting one page, but being given another. As far as the client knows, they are still visiting the original URL.

Sharing state between pages is much easier using Server.Transfer – you can put values into the Context.Items dictionary, which is similar to Session and Application, except that it lasts only for the current request. (search for HttpContext in MSDN). The page receiving postback can process data, store values in the Context, and then Transfer to a page that uses the values.
Thursday, January 29, 2004 7:59 AM by SBC

# re: Leaving Norway

..sheesh.. you really love your dev machines and its bits.. :-)
Thursday, January 29, 2004 8:49 AM by BTW

# re: Leaving Norway

I hate to ruin an analogy, but I guess most turtles have nothing on their backs...
Thursday, January 29, 2004 11:22 AM by kriekjes

# re: Cool handy site: DropLoad

isz this site still working??
i don't manage to drop files, the server is unreachable??
Thursday, January 29, 2004 12:13 PM by Dwight

# re: Cool handy site: DropLoad

Server looks like it is down on www.dropload.com as of Jan 27th, 2004
Thursday, January 29, 2004 12:39 PM by corey a. bronstein

# re: Broken window theory

can this theory be applied to business (if you let the fundamentals slip, your business model can falter significantly)??
are there any studies?
thanks
corey
corey.bronstein@diageo.com
Friday, January 30, 2004 12:08 AM by dan

# re: A New Source Control system

Streams? Seems like a lot of extra work. We have had great luck with CVSNT, it's a no-brainer. SCC integration and Shell Integration. It has a COM based extension model and reliable atomic transactions. No crazy databases and you branch when you want to.

This new version control system seems to be selling eye-candy more than anything.

Try out CVSNT before anything else.
Friday, January 30, 2004 10:15 AM by Slipknotsic666 (Shane)

# re: Was that a shout out?

A shout out box is a box is just like a guest book on AIM or on Geocities websites. The only difference is that a shout-out box is where guests can sign their name and post a message without going to a whole-nother page to fill the information out. I am looking for a html code for the shout-out box right now. If anyone has any questions or might have the html code for the shout-out box please contact me either on AIM=Anti Shaler420 or E-mail= Slipknotsic666@hotmail.com
Saturday, January 31, 2004 10:40 AM by sotto

# re: A much needed SchemaHelper class

You write that this functionality does exist for sqlconnection ...
could you provide an example?
What i want to achieve is to get a dataset that holds the complete database in memory.
Saturday, January 31, 2004 9:30 PM by TrackBack

# Signal-to-Noise #1

Saturday, January 31, 2004 10:31 PM by srikanth

# re: Cool handy site: DropLoad

server looks to be down
Sunday, February 01, 2004 4:57 AM by Anders V.

# re: "Could not open in Design view. Quote values differently..." solved!

Thanks for this small but important information. Im finally able to get into my design view, though still using Dreamweaver to design.

Best,
Anders
Monday, February 02, 2004 3:03 AM by AMIR WYNE

# re: Server.Transfer vs. Response.Redirect

Server.Transfer() : client is shown as it is on the requesting page only, but the all the content is of the requested page. Data can be persist accros the pages using Context.Item collection, which is one of the best way to transfer data from one page to another keeping the page state alive.

Response.Dedirect() :client know the physical loation (page name and query string as well). Context.Items loses the persisitance when nevigate to destination page
Monday, February 02, 2004 5:19 AM by Scott Galloway

# re: Intellij IDEA version 4.0 release candidate 1

Roy, just read that there's a version of IDEA for C# due on February 10th...posted on my blog about it - could be good! (http://www.mostlylucid.co.uk/posts/782.aspx)
Monday, February 02, 2004 9:38 AM by Dave

# re: Disabling Connection Pooling

I'm disabeling OLE DB connection pooling because I want to get a view wether all our connections are being closed after useage... MS doesn't have OLE DB connection performance counters for this...
Monday, February 02, 2004 10:03 AM by micb

# re: Free ADO.NET book chapter

salut je voudrais voire c'est vieo
Monday, February 02, 2004 10:37 AM by vivek

# re: The VS7 Debugger doesn’t work. What can I do?

Solved:

When you have reinstalled vs.net multiple times, checked all the permissions, and your configuraration file., also check for your if your iis is chaching isapi applications , it is in home directory/configurations in iis.
good luck!!
Monday, February 02, 2004 1:26 PM by ted

# re: My article on Microsoft.com!


Hi,
Good Job..
Tuesday, February 03, 2004 10:19 AM by kevin

# re: When running 'aspnet_regiis -c' still doesn't fix it...

Thanks... This fixed the first of the problems... :-)
Tuesday, February 03, 2004 10:27 AM by dfsdf

# re: System Tweaks & Tricks

ok
Tuesday, February 03, 2004 4:42 PM by Jorge Matos

# re: Scripting .Net

I agree 100%
Tuesday, February 03, 2004 5:57 PM by Some DUde

# re: Oops! Typed Datasets ARE scalable!

So I generate a Typed dataset....in the IDE
Fine
Now How do I subclass it for my custom stuff... Lets aviod the arguments over if this is addressing buisness rule or not.. How To Please..
Override every thing ??


Nevermind the adoguy had the answer already..
class DerivedDataSet : TypedDataSet
{
public void MyFunction()
{
}
}

http://www.adoguy.com
Wednesday, February 04, 2004 6:11 AM by TrackBack

# Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)

Wednesday, February 04, 2004 10:59 PM by TrackBack

# Cool keyboard tip

Thursday, February 05, 2004 12:54 AM by TrackBack

# A better obfuscating ?

Thursday, February 05, 2004 1:09 AM by jaida

# re: [Tool] - cool (free) news reader

i need this for my class thank you
Thursday, February 05, 2004 1:28 AM by Stuart Laughlin

# re: Sign of life

Welcome back!

Shawn A. Van Ness recently pointed out that WindowsKey+b does something similar to this; allows you to tab through Start, QuickLaunch, taskbar, notification area...

Who knew?
Thursday, February 05, 2004 7:30 AM by Moshe Eshel

# re: Mortal coding sin: programming in your mother tongue

Hi,

You are soooo right, it is so hard for me to even understand some times what is written. The first time I encountered this was when my father (yes I'm a second generation coder :) showed me some code he wrote years ago.

It was written in awk (some UNIX script) and it was riddled with variables like Shura (for line), Mila (for word) and more.

Apparently this was more than just easy, it was a coding standard where he worked, that is what was defined for them to work. This is still common practice in companies using COBOL and such where the code base is very old.

personally I think it is cute, but I would never write that way.
Thursday, February 05, 2004 7:34 AM by Steven Livingstone

# re: Mortal coding sin: programming in your mother tongue

I've always thought it would be cool if keywords, variables etc could be in whatever language you wanted, with an external (or perhaps internal along with the Xml comments that already exist) mapping Xml. At design time (say in VS.Net) reads your chosen mapping.

An old Uni prof. was Italian and did a lot of stuff in Italian as you comment. I did Italian for a bit and speak some Spanish so sometimes stuff leaks in there - admittedly it DID confuse people in the physics department when they went to look at it later... especially as coding names are increasingly significant (along with doco of course!). Mapping would be cool for me, but does come with extra work - but there are a few who may like it. Maybe :)

Steven
Thursday, February 05, 2004 7:41 AM by Frans Bouma

# re: Mortal coding sin: programming in your mother tongue

There are problems though. Now, 'Customer' is understandable, but if you're writing an application which is just for your users using teh mother language you have to OR translate everything over (customer, order, invoice, inquiry, whatever) which can be quite a pain, OR you have to keep your mother language for these words.

This can lead to constructions like:
public void AddLakoach(...)
{
}

I'm not all for translating everything to English, it can make the code feel really alienated, especially in comments.
Thursday, February 05, 2004 7:46 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Pasting nicely formatted code into your blog

Steven, np :) I removed the comment.
Comment removed - posted in the wrong place.
Thursday, February 05, 2004 7:52 AM by Stefan Koell

# re: Mortal coding sin: programming in your mother tongue

My suggestion: write code in Klingon ;-)
Thursday, February 05, 2004 7:59 AM by Micael Baerens

# re: Mortal coding sin: programming in your mother tongue

Could not agree more - I'm having to use a database with stored procedures named things like "GetBlanket" (Blanket is the danish word for form)...

It's driving me nuts!
Thursday, February 05, 2004 8:05 AM by Scott Galloway

# re: Pasting nicely formatted code into your blog

Man this is useful...I have had so much trouble with this in the past...never thought of using Word. I used to use http://www.manoli.net/csharpformat/ , but your version is so much easier, thanks again Roy!
Thursday, February 05, 2004 8:33 AM by SBC

# re: .Net Rocks live - review

yup.. Carl did a great one.. and no 'wardrobe malfunctions' either.. :-)
Thursday, February 05, 2004 8:51 AM by Phil Scott

# re: Mortal coding sin: programming in your mother tongue

You know, I've always wondered what code writing entirely by people from another country that would be used in house would look like. I could see C# perhaps being OK to code like that, but VB is so verbose and english based it seems like your brain would have to switch back and forth between languages when typing.

We had an indian CS professor in college who when frustrated would start writing all kinds of garbledy-gook on the chalk board and start talking Hindi. It was pretty messed up.
Thursday, February 05, 2004 9:03 AM by Scott

# re: Mortal coding sin: programming in your mother tongue

Maybe the localization features of .NET could be extended member names as well? ;)
Thursday, February 05, 2004 10:06 AM by Darrell

# re: Mortal coding sin: programming in your mother tongue

Interesting. I know that English is the standard language for international flights, and now appears to be the de facto standard for programming.

What an interesting place this world would be if we all spoke the same language!
Thursday, February 05, 2004 10:34 AM by Daz

# re: Mortal coding sin: programming in your mother tongue

I'm a consultant in a french speaking region and i believe that the client who's paying the bill have the right to decide if we are to code in english or french! After all, he's the one that will have to maintain the application.

One thing is great about coding in another language than english, when i use .NET keyword, it's not conflictual.

Ex. : XmlReader is the type and would be my instance LecteurXml.

Still, if the choice is mine, i would go in english for the shorter names.


Thursday, February 05, 2004 11:17 AM by Xavi

# re: Mortal coding sin: programming in your mother tongue

<roy>
hey, you had to learn English to program , right? might as well use it.
</roy>
I disagree. I fail to see the need for programming in english, unless you know that the project will be somehow internationalized.
Maybe every programmer in Israel speak english; but here in Spain (I suspect in other countries too) you can easily find programmers with little or no knowledge of the english language, and programming in an unknown language is really a pain...
Thursday, February 05, 2004 11:43 AM by Omer van Kloeten

# re: Sign of life

Well, this is disturbing.
It's been the millionth IVBUG convention I asked to be notified of, but haven't...

Would you mind advertising when meetings occur on your weblog or ask someone there to create an RSS feed?
Thursday, February 05, 2004 11:44 AM by Omer van Kloeten

# re: Mortal coding sin: programming in your mother tongue

IMO, You're partially right.
Some of the entity types should remain in Hebrew, mostly because there is no direct translation. For instance, the word Toshav (citizen, civilian, resident, settler, ...) has no direct single word in English and is better off English-ized (ugh, what a word...).

Did you know you can program in the Hebrew alphabet? We're not telling our customers that or they'll want all the variable names in Hebrew... eww...
Thursday, February 05, 2004 12:18 PM by Steve Hiner

# re: Sign of life

Grrrrr.

That keyboard tip only works on XP. :-(

On Win2k it doesn't do anything.
Thursday, February 05, 2004 12:20 PM by Robert McLaws

# re: Pasting nicely formatted code into your blog

You can also open an RTF e-mail in Outlook and accomplish the same result.
Thursday, February 05, 2004 12:23 PM by Mauricio Feijo

# re: Mortal coding sin: programming in your mother tongue

My experience coding and consulting in Brazil and Argentina is that :

1) All programmers read some English. They don't necessarily speak it, but do read some, otherwise, how can they code? All verbs ( commands) are in English. unless the language is assembler ( where the mnemonics are abbreviations of English words) or mumps ( where there are not many words, just letter, ( most initials of English words).

2) Comments, Names of variables, subroutines, classes, etc should be in English. I had to go back once and change all my comments, names and such from Portuguese to English because I sold the code to a store in Buenos Aires, and their developer could not understand Portuguese.

OK, it is possible to work with other languages. it is possible to maintain a code in Hebrew, for example, but it is a pain. So, Why?

The only case I think this is justifiable (?) is when someone is paying you to code in a specific tongue. then, my friend, whatever you say.. show me the money..
Thursday, February 05, 2004 1:02 PM by sds

# re: When running 'aspnet_regiis -c' still doesn't fix it...

dsad
Thursday, February 05, 2004 1:03 PM by Xavi

# re: Mortal coding sin: programming in your mother tongue

Mauricio,
1) That's your experience, not mine. While I agree that most programmers have a rough understanding of english texts, I can think of a dozen of good programmers that can't figure out the purpose of a method just reading the name, they just read the explanation on the spanish MSDN library.

2) If you code can be sold in a foreign country, write it in English (by the way, native spanish speakers that can't read portuguese? Surprising!). But, if you are brazilian, and you are coding, let's say, a new portal for the brazilian public administration, there is no need to do it in english; most programmers in the project will read english more or less, but all of them will be, probably, native portuguese speakers so, what would be harder?
Thursday, February 05, 2004 2:43 PM by TrackBack

# Pay the piper...

Mortal sin #2: Information hoardingIn Roy Osherove's post about MVP newgroups (re: Jason Salas' blog), he had a quote:"Even though MS benefits most when a developer knows how to use its technologies and finds it easy to do, they still...
Thursday, February 05, 2004 2:44 PM by TrackBack

# Roy pipes up on MVP's hoarding information

Thursday, February 05, 2004 3:44 PM by Jason

# re: Learning from mistakes: the Don Quixote pattern

Roy

I read with interest your story as a similar thing happend to me recently. I didn't get fired but I feel that as a result there has been a slight loss of confidence in me. I was tasked with some complex work to do and thought that I had thoroughly read the specifications. Due to the way I sometimes speed read I later realised that there were parts which I skipped over which were considerably complex. This also led me to grossly underestimate the time it would take. One of the problems I had was that in my company I am the so called "resident expert" so there wasn't really anyone to turn to for advice. Granted there are plenty of technical forums but that was not the problem. The difficulty was the design. In retrospect I should have 1. read the spec in detail, 2. spent even more time thinking about the problem in advance (I spent a weekend dwelling on it) and 3. Perhaps overestimated the time frames. I would be interested to hear what others would have done to prevent this happening or how they would have approached this.
Thursday, February 05, 2004 4:15 PM by brion

# re: Empty your recycle bin to shutdown faster

v how do i restore function of empty recycle bin?
Thursday, February 05, 2004 5:10 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Learning from mistakes: the Don Quixote pattern

Jason. Very interesting. I think the most important thing to know is that this sometimes happens to the best of us. The main thing to do when this has already happened is to be brave enough to admit your mistakes to those who have the exectations of you. You need to communicate the problems. In time you will build confidence of your peers in you again, as long as you are totally honest about what you're doing.
As for how to avoid this: Yeah, you need to up your estimation abilities but that takes a good while to measure.Estimate at the start nd see at the end how accurate you were. Do this each and every time and you'll see this ability getting better and better. In any case be prepared to say the first thing you should always say when faced with the "how long" question: "I'll get back to you". Take your time. Don't be too hasty, and yes. Never speed read.
Thursday, February 05, 2004 5:35 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Mortal coding sin: programming in your mother tongue

Granted, there are exceptions to every rule, but for the common stuff, unless you really really have to, stick to english. I think in the end you also make yourself as a developer more accessible to english materials. Its about personal progress as much as it is about a united coding standard that everyone can read. Make yourself do english even if it's hard. It will only get easier and you will be able to see the vast world of english material out there.
Thursday, February 05, 2004 6:04 PM by TrackBack

# Take Outs: The Digital Doggy Bag of Blog Bits for 5 February 2004

Thursday, February 05, 2004 8:43 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Sign of life

Omer. I'll try :) you can also just keep in mind it's the first wednesday of every month. Easier to remember. I just set a recurring outlook appointment in outlook.
Thursday, February 05, 2004 9:39 PM by Robert Scoble

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

Interesting question!

But, there are always going to be exclusive groups that have access to information or experiences that the masses don't have.

I went to Steve Wozniak's superbowl party. Attending was everyone important to Woz. Folks who designed the Macs. etc.

Do I see those kinds of things opening up to the masses? No.

And, yes, it's about scalability. I can only help so many people. So, I help out the ones who have shown that they are willing to help others. Why? Because that scales my own efforts out further than would otherwise happen.
Thursday, February 05, 2004 9:45 PM by Robert McLaws

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

No, non-MVPs are not second class citizens. But how do you differentiate between your available offerings? MVPs get access because we work our butts off supporting THEIR customers. Because we're out there doing what they would otherwise have to do, they give us better resources to make it easier for us to do what we do.

It's not information hoarding. It's keeping the quality of the discussion higher. Look at the quality of the discussion on these weblogs. It has degraded significantly since the influx of Microsoft personnel. It's not just .NET anymore, it's Office and marketing and whatever else. What needs to happen is better communitcation between the varios levels, not giving everyone access to everything.

How may times has the same question about DataBinding been asked on the ASP.NET Forums. Do the movers-and-shakers really need to be having the same discussions over and over again. Nope. We've figured out how to databind, and it's well documented. We're solving other problems and doing other things, and putting together other resources.

What happens currently in your scenario will continue to happen. Can Microsoft afford to make it's employees available to every two-bit developer who can't figure something out? Can it even make them available to higher level developers who are fairly skilled? NO. They rely on RDs, MVPs, and people like us to pass on that information to others as necessary. If my having access to more detailed information makes you made, then I'm sorry. Maybe we should have a forum where developers can talk to MVPs and get answers.
Thursday, February 05, 2004 9:45 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

Robert. What would happen if all the MVPs took your advice and decided they would rather spend their time only in the private lists rather than in the public ones since they "scale best" over there? who would help eveyone else? I'm not asking for an invitation to a party (though it was pretty slick how you managed to namedrop even here), I'm looking for access to information that would help both me and MS attain our goals.
Thursday, February 05, 2004 9:54 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

my last comment was for Scoble. This one if for Robert M. :)
I understand, but I still think that although MVps should get better treatment, the vast majority of devs is not getting the best treatment it can.
I bet you know this, but there are also a lot of skilled and powerful devs out there who learned how to data bind too. They have to use only those newsgroups that MVPs don't use. They have to sift through all the noise. Perhaps if all the MVPs would do their discussions in the public NGs everyone would be better off. You'd get a higher level of discussions and more people would be exposed to more advanced information. Have you considered that one of the reasons people don't like to use the NGs is because all the "good" conversation is happening elsewhere?
Thursday, February 05, 2004 9:56 PM by Phil Weber

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

Roy: If MVPs stop helping the public, then they won't be MVPs for long. That's WHY they're appointed MVPs. The idea is that the MVPs provide assistance to the public, via Web sites, mailing lists, newsgroups, etc., saving Microsoft money on additional tech support personnel. Microsoft, in turn, provides the MVPs with access to "inside" information and resources, which the MVPs are supposed to use to better assist the public. Ideally, everybody wins.
Thursday, February 05, 2004 9:57 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

Yes, There is a lot of stuff that non MVPs should not be exposed to (personal ties with MS, products and alphas and so on) but this is not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about wny info that would be considered a good a valid post on a public NG. And there's lots of it out there.
Thursday, February 05, 2004 9:58 PM by JosephCooney

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

Robert: If "signal to noise" is the only issue then why not make this super-secret MVP-only information read only to the general public and read-write for the inner circle? Presumabley security is not an issues since MVPs (presumably) already have to authenticate themselves to participate anyway. IMHO there is a lifetime of good information on the internet, and plenty of smart people writing about stuff that are NOT MVPs, so it doesn't bother me a great deal either way.
Thursday, February 05, 2004 10:01 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

Phil: agreed. However, consider this: if the information (or the non secret stuff) that MS is sharing with the MVPs is then being shared with users anyway(but who knows if it really does. Maybe no one will ask the right question..) wouldn't it be grand if I could search that information as well?
Here's an idea: make a public readonly searchable archive of the "noisless" newsgroups. This way the MVPs still get the no noise, but everyone can share the knowledge. Does that make any sense? makes better sense to me than the current situation.
Thursday, February 05, 2004 10:01 PM by TrackBack

# We want information, information, information

<i>Who are you? The new number 2... Who is number 1?</i>
Looks like <a href="http://weblogs.asp.net/rosherove/">Roy Osherove</a> is making waves with his comments about <a href="http://weblogs.asp.net/rosherove/archive/2004/02/06/68374.aspx">MVP information hoarding</a>... Having been in the position of being a developer searching for scraps of information on a MS technology that doesn't appear to be documented as well as it could be I know where he's coming from.
Thursday, February 05, 2004 10:02 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

Heh. Joseph, you read my mind :)
Thursday, February 05, 2004 10:06 PM by Robert McLaws

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

Unfortunately Joseph that is not the case. A lot of NDA-type discussions happen there. We get information on things that are months and years down the pipe.\

Remember guys that .NET is still young. The resources are coming into play, you guys just might not know about it yet.
Thursday, February 05, 2004 10:11 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

Robert (M.) hmm. That's too bad. Even the aspAdvice lists? Still, I bet like 50% of the conversation would be considered totally legit for public consumption. Which is a shame IMHO.
Thursday, February 05, 2004 10:34 PM by Phil Weber

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

> Wouldn't it be grand if I could search that information as well?

Roy: You can: Google. ;-) Most MVPs are authors or have blogs. They make their living by sharing what they know. I can't think of any non-NDA information available to MVPs that's not also readily available on the Web.
Thursday, February 05, 2004 10:40 PM by Mike Gunderloy

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

'Scuse me while I get my waders on. It's getting pretty deep in here. The fact that Microsoft provides a couple of preferred support avenues (paid MSDN newsgroups, private MVP discussions) has nothing to do with scalability. It has to do with the fact that Microsoft used to provide free support to developers and it cost them too much money. This was way way back - say, Access 2.0 days. You used to be able to log on to CompuServe and get answers to all of your Access questions, not just from the original MVPs, but from a dozen or so dedicated PSS personnel.

Unfortunately, this was not an economically sustainable model. PSS costs were skyrocketing faster than obscene profits. So, PSS had to find some way to rework its economic model. Hence, no free support for everyone.

And the most brilliant move of this was to discover that people would become Microsoft's unpaid support army if you just gave them access to the inside scoop and let them see Bill G. in person once a year.
Thursday, February 05, 2004 10:42 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

Phil: so if all this information is accessible via google why have these private newsgroups at all? I bet they are not just used for NDA stuff. Maybe, MAYBE some of the MS ones, but the ASPAdvice ones?
Thursday, February 05, 2004 11:05 PM by Alex Lowe

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

I'm sorry Roy but I think you are off here.

The private lists that Jason is referring to rarely talk about things related to .NET (they talk about all kinds of things ranging from funny joke emails to who has the best hardware configuration). There are folks on those lists that encourage the development related discussions be moved to the public lists. Also, any information that is .NET related is often discussed in parallel by most of the same people in public lists (i.e. the person with the question asks on both lists). Finally, the great information on those threads is not hoarded - quite the opposite, the folks on those lists are the people who are answering all of the questions on the public lists so the knowledge is napsterized.

As for the private MVP information, you obviously don't understand the MVP program. The idea is that the MVPs have access to the private information because it a) encourages them to continue to answer thousands of questions and b) it ensures that they have the most accurate information when answering those thousands of questions. You don't know what it takes to run the MVP program so you cannot say that it is a simple as opening it up to everyone. Before I took my job with Microsoft, I was an MVP and was in those private groups. 95% of the discsussions those groups are either a) worthless to most people because they are of the recreation variety or b) folks conferring about a question on a public newsgroup.

As for the paid support, customers want an affordable support venue. The newsgroups give us a viable support offering for customers. As a shareholder, I want Microsoft to do what makes sense economically and what serves the customer. I think offering paid support via the "special" newsgroups is a great way to do that.
Thursday, February 05, 2004 11:12 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

Alex: Thanks for the useful input. I think me and many others don't understand fully how the MVP program works, but reading what jason wrote really made me think this was unfair. Reading all these inputs all you guys have put in makes me rethink my position on this. That's for the MVP groups.
As for the paid newsgroups, I understand the economics of it, but I find it hard to accept for the same reasons I've stated above. Maybe it's just the purist in me but I hate to pay for something Microsoft has a vested interest in just as much as I do if not more. Guess I'll have to learn to live with it, but I don't have to like it :)
Thursday, February 05, 2004 11:13 PM by Phil Weber

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

> Why have these private newsgroups at all?

I can't comment on ASPAdvice, I don't subscribe and know very little about it. The private MS groups really do contain a significant amount of NDA info. They're also a "third place," like a private club, where MVPs and MS representatives can "hang out" without having to deal with the public and always behave professionally.
Thursday, February 05, 2004 11:50 PM by JosephCooney

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

So according to Alex the signal to noise on the private lists is not that great either.....
Friday, February 06, 2004 12:17 AM by Donny Mack

# re: Sign of life

Tip Works on Win2k3 Ent.
Friday, February 06, 2004 12:19 AM by Jason Salas

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

Sorry all...didn't mean to imply that the private lists were MVP-only things...there are actually several people in there without such status.
Friday, February 06, 2004 12:44 AM by Scott Glasgow

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

I think I see what you're getting at Roy, but personally, I don't see MVP status as being anything extra. Sure, you may get some perks, and personally, I think it's just a bad trade off. I see tons of support from people who are not of MVP status who provide very good, and occassionally better, answers to people.

It all comes down to the bottom line. It costs companies money to push their technology one way or another, and while I would love to be on every beta/alpha or sneak peek some companies could provide that interests me, I know it's not possible for them to do so.

Of course, I work for a company where it appears to be unimportant about keeping up on possible benefits or at least looking at new technologies, which basically leaves me to my own private island of trying to ensure I can get in on all the new stuff.

Heck, I keep swearing to myself that if I ever switch jobs that I ensure it includes a paid MSDN subscription just so I can at least come late to the party.

Bottom line is that I share your frustration, if we can really call it that, but things are how they are and it's not like it's anything more than a popularity contest...sort of.

You're a contributor of the community, and perhaps, if it is your desire, you will become an MVP, but I'm not sure that is your real intent. I think you're like me and would like to pick and choose certain things that Microsoft comes up with (among other companies) that you'd like to be in on. If so, I feel your pain. If I am wrong, wad up this post and throw it at Rory (no offense Rory (thought it might help your facial numbness)).

Anyway, keep up your posts Roy.
Friday, February 06, 2004 1:48 AM by Scott

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

RIGHT?!

The whole MVP/weblogs.asp.net/ASPElite/ASPInsiders smacks of elitism. I thought that was left to the Apple, Linux, and Unix people? :)

I posted a short take on the MVP program here while Jason Salas and I were discussing how useful certification is.

http://www.lazycoder.com/article.php?story=200401291020509

http://weblogs.asp.net/jasonsalas/archive/2004/01/30/64376.aspx


$2 summary of my take: Don't worship anyone just because they are an MVP or work for Microsoft or IBM or Apple. Evaluate their work for yourself and decide if you can benefit from it.
Friday, February 06, 2004 1:50 AM by TrackBack

# MyDoom antibodies

Friday, February 06, 2004 1:56 AM by Scott Glasgow

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

Exactly Scott!
Friday, February 06, 2004 5:33 AM by TrackBack

# Microsoft support? Where?

Friday, February 06, 2004 5:43 AM by TrackBack

# MS Developer Support

Friday, February 06, 2004 5:49 AM by TrackBack

# MS Developer Support

Friday, February 06, 2004 5:51 AM by Snorrk

# re: In local news...

I own a T40 and am quite happy. A few notes though..

Get higher resolution:
The screen is 14" and 1024x800 sux for f.ex. Visual Studio programming.

Prepare for wireless problems:
The integrated Intel Wireless 2100 3B adapter has some problems with low-end access points (http://support.intel.com/support/network/wireless/pro2100/sb/cs-006205-prd944.htm). The proposed solution did not work for me and I cannot connect to the AP at my brothers house.

No Windows key:
4 years ago I wouldn't have said it - but I miss the Windows key :)
Get the IBM keyboard customization utility and use it to set the right-side Ctrl-key to act as the Wndows key. It isn't used anyways and I'm getting quite used to using it for Win-R, Win-E, Win-d stuff.

Nothing is perfect and the T40 is a quality machine and I love mine quite much. Although I list the problems above they are minor compared to the defective-chipset = frequent-bluescreen problem I was having with my HP XE4500 and I truly recommand the T-line as sturdy, sleek and sexy ;)
Friday, February 06, 2004 9:05 AM by Patrick Steele

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

As an MVP for the past three years, I'll back up what Alex said: Most of the "private" microsoft lists (*not* ASPAdvice) have either nothing do to with technology or they contain conversations that stray in and out of NDA material -- you can't make that searchable (even in a read-only fasion).

I've never even heard of these "special" ASPAdvice lists, so I can't comment on what they are.

And if you're hearing stuff like "heard it in an internal group", than that person is talking too much. Most likely, thet got access to such an "internal group" because they signed an NDA and agreed not to talk about that stuff. I've heard that people have been booted out of the MVP program for disclosing NDA information. Microsoft doesn't take that lightly.
Friday, February 06, 2004 9:34 AM by Patrick Steele

# re: In local news...

IBM ThinkPad's rock! I've got an A31. Had it little over a year now and I love it. Now the "A" series it not something you'll want if you're looking for portability or sleeknees. It's advertised by IBM as a "portable desktop" -- which is what I wanted. Battery life is only about 2 - 3 hours. But it's got a gorgeous 15" screen running at 1400x1050, a 40GB hard drive at weighs close to 8 lbs (kind of heavy!).

Our internal IT manager swears by IBMs. We even have one here that a salesman accidentally backed over with his SUV. Crushed one side of it and just about destroyed the LCD screen (all cracked) -- but the damn thing booted up!! Only about half of the screen was visible, but we were able to plug a PCMCIA card in and pull the data off (the side that got crunched destroyed the port on the internal network card).

Now he uses it as a prop. When a new employee is getting a laptop he walks in with this damaged one -- before they get a good look at it he stumbles and drops it on the floor (trying to get it to bounce off a desk or chair for maximum shock effect!). Goofy IT humor... :)
Friday, February 06, 2004 9:38 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: In local news...

Patrick: huh, good one. I heard they were rock solid but I didn't know they were *that* solid!
I'm still thinking whether I want the T41p (portable) or the R50p (portable desktop) which is more like what you bought - 15" screen and all. I'm really in a dilemma.
Friday, February 06, 2004 9:54 AM by AndrewSeven

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

In my last Job, I had access to the private (but not MVP) newsgroups ( I probably have access here too).

I was given instructions that said I must use my "real" work email, so I did.

I posted a couple questions and guess what I got... spam, lots of spam.

I spend a lot of time on aspmessageboard , I answer questions about asp.Net, a lot of questions.
Most of them are simple, and require more typing than thinking.
People ask the same questions again and again, it would be nice to able to link to definitive answers on official newsgroups than linking back to my own posts.


Friday, February 06, 2004 10:03 AM by Casey Marshall

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

That is why I prefer open technologies and open (not to be confused with shared) source whenever possible. There is none of that elistism and information hoarding. As long as an open project is well-maintained, you can share in the wealth of information.

Microsoft still doesn't get this completely, and until they do, I think are missing out on potential mindshare and marketshare.
Friday, February 06, 2004 10:29 AM by Lorenzo Barbieri

# re: Doing Test Driven Development with no DLLs

Very useful tip, thanks!!!
Friday, February 06, 2004 11:45 AM by Alex Lowe

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

I've added a post to my blog because I'd love to get constructive feedback on what Microsoft can do better to support developers. Please read the post and leave feedback.

http://blogs.msdn.com/alowe/archive/2004/02/06/68735.aspx

Thanks!
Friday, February 06, 2004 11:55 AM by subramony

# could not instantiate the resource processor

I get the following error while building the application
Friday, February 06, 2004 12:17 PM by Randy

# re: In local news...

I've got a T41/1.6GHz with SVGA+. I've been pretty happy with it - I upgraded from a Sony Z1A/1.3GHz - with a couple of issues. I bought a new HD for it (a 60GB version of the 40GB that it shipped with) and installed XP from scratch: some of the IBM drivers have issues, most noticibly the Batterymizer, WiFi stuff, and HD protection software. While I was getting crashes often when coming out of standby, once I tweak these or removed them, I've had no crashes.

On the flip side of that IBM has send me parts to try to trouble shoot this problem: I'd call them as late as 5pm and have the part shipped to me by 11am the next morning - 18 hour turn around time! On top of that, the design of the T40/41 is simple awsome - parts are easy to swap out and interchange and upgrade. Once the crashes were sorted out this has become one of the best notebooks I've ever had.

And of course, if you're used to having a Windows key on the keyboard, you can remap other keys to get back that fucntionality - IBM gives you a utility or you can use a remapper (like the one I wrote).
Friday, February 06, 2004 12:18 PM by Patrick Cauldwell

# re: Doing Test Driven Development with no DLLs

What I've had pretty good luck with is just including all my test (NUnit) classes in the assembly that I'm testing, without a separate project. I put them all in a subdirectory called "test", then in the formal build, I just don't include the contents of the "test" directory in the build for a release build.
Unfortunately, there's no good way to do that inside VS.NET, since I haven't been able to find any way to include different sets of files per build configuration.
But if you're using an external build tool like NAnt, it saves a lot of hassle creating extra projects, and you don't have to worry so much about references in you test classes.
Friday, February 06, 2004 12:42 PM by Frans Bouma

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

Roy: spot on.

Alex: I've written a blog after reading your post. I think Microsoft in general doesn't understand what support really means. It doesn't mean releasing docs or examples. It also means that you understand what the quality of the product you sold to those developers really is, and if there are bugs, you should patch them and supply the developers, who are customers!, with that patch, a.s.a.p.

Microsoft doesnt' do that. It doesn't release patches for vs.net nor .NET. Why? Because we, developers, then are more eager to buy the next version? If that's not the reason what is?
Friday, February 06, 2004 12:50 PM by Frans Bouma

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

Scoble says: "And, yes, it's about scalability. I can only help so many people. So, I help out the ones who have shown that they are willing to help others. Why? Because that scales my own efforts out further than would otherwise happen."
Erm, I help and have helped people in newsgroups for over 10 years, I never have been rewarded for that, nor do I have to. Do I get invited for those discussions? No. Do I want to? Why not, seems interesting. Am I qualified? If I'm not qualified enough, 50% of the MVP's isn't, low estimated.

Furthermore: a deep technical discussion doesn't require an access policy, because the majority of people don't understand what's going on anyway.

Also, the C# newsgroup (the public one) for example has often very tough discussions, where you have to know your facts to participate in. Like the const discussion last week. The group is not filtered, still these discussions pop up. In other words: you don't need a group of rewarded people to have a good discussion.

The question thus is: why are there privately held discussions about topics non-rewarded people would like to participate in as well? Don't sell me the dreaded "but non-rewarded people are not capable enough"-goo because that's nonsense of course, because it would otherwise imply that the best people are rewarded and who's non-rewarded is not good enough!
Friday, February 06, 2004 1:25 PM by Alex

# re: In local news...

A few years ago, I owned an IBM Laptop and I swore never to buy another one. Last year i bought an Acer Travelmate 801LCi and just have to say: I love it ;-)
The resulotion of 1400 x 1050 is very good for working with VS.NET. The battery runs 5 h at least and the performance is quite good (and i only have the 1,3 ghz version), also i boosted my ram up to 768 mb.
(be careful: the memory expansion slot is still used when being shipped with 512mb, the only thing i disliked).

just my 2 cents - keep on bloggin' ;-)

Alex
Friday, February 06, 2004 1:57 PM by jeff

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

Regardless of who is qualified to PARTICIPATE in a discussion, I think everyone is ENTITLED to READ those discussions. It's precisely the policy I've used in non-developer forums that I've run, and it benefits everyone while maintaining quality. Granted, some of that has to do with moderating such "open" forums, but people in certain circles hate to be moderated.
Friday, February 06, 2004 3:23 PM by Udi Dahan - The Software Simplist

# re: Doing Test Driven Development with no DLLs

Patrick,

When putting the tests in the same assembly as the "unit" that your testing is risky. You are no longer treating it as a black box. This may start affecting the design of your tests.

All in all, I'd say not to put the tests in the same assembly as the code under test, unless you have an incontravertible reason to do so.
Friday, February 06, 2004 3:33 PM by Udi Dahan - The Software Simplist

# re: Lessons learned from IVBUG

Roy,

Without constructive criticism, no one can hope to improve, and that's why I am thankful for everything you say. Other comments I received were to the tune of "you walked around the room too much" or "why didn't you walk around more". I appreciate everything you have to say, and hope that you will continue to "dish it out" =)

That said, I did make my point early on - where to put the caching code, and why. Anybody can read the docs and find out which config file to change and how in order to turn of encryption. Most people won't know if "server" or "client" code should be responsible for the data in the cache. More so, even fewer will know who should control what get's cached, and how to do that.

Also, as you recall, the use of the CAB - when it was introduced - was exactly the same as the original caching code. Everything else was controlled by config files. That was the underlying theme - when you work correctly, it becomes trivial to swap out implementations. This is due to the rich abilities of the CAB to control it's behaviour at runtime via config files.

All in all, I think it went rather well - don't you ?
Friday, February 06, 2004 3:50 PM by Justin Lovell

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

Hello all,

Soon as most cannot answer to the private lists at ASPAdvice.com, let me answer some. There is no signal to noise threads... period. Most of the discussions are about site (ASP Alliance) upgrades and bug reports.

Out of the six months that I have been subscribed to those private lists, only one "juicy" .NET topic (and documents) came across my inbox. However, rest assure that the discussion about those documents are for the best practices to be released to the public... they are not going to stay over there, private and locked away from the rest of the world.

Some work still requires to be completed on this document and I feel that it would blow some of your minds... be patient, everything that is discussed over there is and will always be prevailed to the rest of the world.

Thanks,
Justin Lovell
Friday, February 06, 2004 4:17 PM by Udi Dahan - The Software Simplist

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

To tell the truth, I've never encountered a technical problem that I couldn't google my way through it.

However, when it comes to getting information on how to correctly use a technology ( as opposed to work it ) I find there to be precious little info out there. Just as an analogy:

Everybody and their brother has stuff on the internet about how a car works. Put the key in the ignition, turn it forwards, and the car turns on. Backwards, off. Here's how to work the windshield wipers. Open the trunk here. etc, etc, etc... OK, so I know how to work a car. So, I hop in, turn on the ignition and start driving. I make it alright for a block or two, and then I get into traffic. Crap, didn't run into any information on REAL driving, changing lanes, merging, etc. Hell, I can't drive worth shit - all I know is how to work the car.

My point is, enough technical mumbo jumbo is already out there. Show me how to really USE the technology, in REAL world scenarios. Yes, I know that that's much harder. But it's also MUCH more valuable.

IMO, this info doesn't exist even in the "private" areas. Its exists only in the minds of people who have been driving a while with the new cars.

My 2 cents - I want what's in their heads !
Friday, February 06, 2004 4:22 PM by Jason Salas

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

I'd also like to point out that I forgot to mention that the content to which I was referring in my original thread wasn't exactly MS development-specific, but technical in consumer products, like plasma TVs and such. It's interesting to see people talk about things other than programming and have insight on them...but at the same time, they're conversations I'm sure the vast majority of people would ratrher do without.
Saturday, February 07, 2004 8:28 AM by Richard Hsu

# re: Introduction To Regular Expressions

Very well written. Expresso seems to be a very good tool.

I was looking for a super fast super short primer to RegEx and your article certainly fits that.

I'll post a link to this on our local User Group.
Saturday, February 07, 2004 9:20 AM by Oleg Tkachenko

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

In a ideal world all information is free, but in this real world there is such thing as NDA.
Private MVP newsgroups are not about user support. They are for discussing MVP deals and NDAed stuff. It's too naive to think they could be open.
Saturday, February 07, 2004 12:20 PM by Chudi Nnyamh

# re: LinkedIn

I want to join.
Saturday, February 07, 2004 3:28 PM by Eoin Hoban

# re: LinkedIn

I have learned about this service via. news media, sounds really awsome way to net work
my e-mail is eamonn@teraknor.net
I would be honored to be invited in

thx.
'e
Saturday, February 07, 2004 6:59 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Lessons learned from IVBUG

Udi. Yes it went really well. I just wish there had been more of a real world demo of the use. For example, how to share a chache between two applications.
Saturday, February 07, 2004 8:33 PM by S Bradley

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

Elitism? We don't talk about support topics in private MVP groups we talk about Janet Jackson's boobs and sushi. If the info is not NDA, I share it dude.

http://www.msmvps.com/bradley was set up to share all the technical knowledge that I get.
Saturday, February 07, 2004 8:49 PM by S Bradley

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

"People ask the same questions again and again, it would be nice to able to link to definitive answers on official newsgroups than linking back to my own posts. "

Really, the official documents that you need to link to are KB articles, white papers and such. Actually the public newsgroups are probably more "official" than any "partner" or MVP newsgroup.

Your RSS scrape program is cool, I don't know why you aren't an MVP. Do you know
that MVPs can recommend other potential MVPs too? You are obviously noticed by Scoble and by people at MSDN. Talk to them.

Being an MVP means that you typically give back to a community more than you get. I know I do. And honestly, I still have to be a newsgroup junkie to stay up on things. Being an MVP doesn't necessary mean that the left hand of Microsoft talks any better with the right hand of Microsoft.

http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;mvpaward&style=toc
Sunday, February 08, 2004 1:59 AM by Some Anonymous Coward

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

YAH ROY!!!!

Information should be free!!!!


Give us your credit card number! And your billing address. Oh, and don't forget your mothers maiden name....
Sunday, February 08, 2004 2:06 AM by Another Anonymous Coward

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

"Can it even make them available to higher level developers who are fairly skilled? NO. They rely on RDs, MVPs, and people like us to pass on that information to others as necessary. "

Not exactly, at least with regard to MVPs. They rely on people like us to pass the information along. Now, if people like us do pass information along, and help other people, then people like us become recipients of the MVP award. But, after that, we aren't relied upon as MVPs, we are still relied upon as people like us. If we stop doing it, we're still an MVP... at least for the year of the award. If we stop sharing information, then we aren't worthy of being an mvp. It's not about MVP, it's about community, and sharing information within the community. MVP is just the award we get for doing it. It should neither be a prod to make us do it, nor should it be the reason we want to do it. We want to do it because we *want* to do it. We want to help. We want to share information, we want other people to be smart too.
Sunday, February 08, 2004 3:45 AM by TrackBack

# Setting the record straight on MVP newsgroups

Sunday, February 08, 2004 9:17 AM by Karl Levinson

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

You couldn't be more wrong about the MVP program etc.

First, most MVPs really aren't given access to as much private information as you think. Those private training sessions and newsgroups you mention mostly discuss publicly available information. You want to be invited to one of the private training sessions? When's the last time you or your affiliated organizations invited the general public to one of your training sessions? Can you imagine what would happen if you did?

Second, MVPs are chosen specifically because of the volume and quality of information they disseminate to the general public... no information hording going on there.

Third, you seem to be objecting to the existence of Microsoft fee-based support for developers. Of course support has to be fee-based. Anything else would be absurd. The term "developers" covers a wide range of people of varying skill. If Microsoft provided free support for all of them, the quality and response times of the support would be awful, and you'd never use it. In most cases the support consists of people who have read the publicly available documentation, so the fee is an "I didn't RTFM" fee. If you don't like fee-based support, you can use the free newsgroups, where you'll almost always receive an answer, whether there's a guarantee or not. Where's the problem? You take your chances with free support, or if you need better support, you kick in a donation to cover the salaries of the people that are helping you.

You can feel free to point out other companies who are doing tech support or information sharing cheaper and better than Microsoft, if there are any. Microsoft takes the knowledge base used by MS fee support technicians and put it on the web for free in their knowledgebase. Compare companies like, say, Checkpoint, where you have to pay a yearly fee to even search the knowledge base web page or get bug fixes, or other companies that don't even provide a free newsgroup, let alone spend money identifying and encouraging the more helpful volunteers to keep coming back.
Sunday, February 08, 2004 12:46 PM by Julie D. Formby

# re: LinkedIn

Greetings kind people! I have two questions please:
What is the address of the North Carolina Geneaolgical Society?
Where is the immigrant MICHEAL FORMBY buried at in Virgina? (address and name of cemetery?)Death date 1710. Let me know if you would like to exchange information on FORMBY OR STOKLEY. Kind regards, Julie D. Formby creativeact@hotmial.com
Sunday, February 08, 2004 3:01 PM by S Bradley

# re: Setting the record straight on MVP newsgroups

The process to get hotfixes is stupid. I call an 800, I press option 4, I talk to a person, give them a kb number, they bundle up the web site link and password and there's my patch. That's a waste of time.

They say they do this to track the patch but I've had patches that were pulled back off because they BSOD'd boxes and I was NEVER contacted that they were potentially problem patches.

Why can't there be a web site that I used the hated passport for and get the patch. During the time of MSblast I could not call and get patches that I needed.

It breaks my heart when a person comes into the newsgroup and says "I've been working with this issue for hours" and in two seconds I'm saying .... honey... call PSS and get this patch. It's a known issue but you have to call and get the fix.

Then, you don't know how many times I have to argue with people that it's a free process.

kbalertz.com isn't good enough.
the KB page on MS isn't good enough

I want a master web page that lists KBs AS THEY COME OUT so I can see the issues.

I use a RSS newsreader that hooks into a web page on Thundermain.com that sees new downloads on the MS download site. Every single time there's a new download, I get a feed [Roy does the same in is Feedable code page... it's really really cool]

I want the same for KB articles. Plop Roy down with the KB guys at MS and make them Feedable.

As Picard would say... "Make it so."
Sunday, February 08, 2004 3:26 PM by 123aspx

# re: Expresso up to version 1.2 already

Hi Roy,
Love this tool... If you are interested, here are some suggestions that would even make it even cooler than it is (not that I'm complaining, but if you grant me my wish.... ;-) )

1. Have language buttons on the tool bar. So I can automatically see the regex in C# (without going to Tools | View C# Code )

2. Have tabbed sample input data. This way I can have 4 or 5 different pieces of text I can use for testing. I just select the tab of text i want to test

3. Have a button that automatically copies the generated regex .NET code to the clipboard

4. when you show the builder, have it automatically import the regex you are working on to the Regular Express text box.

5. when you tab across different builder tabs, have it keep the same regex in the box

6. when building, and you make changes (using builder options -- checkboxes, radio buttons.. ) have it make the changes right where the cursor is, instead of overwriting the entire expression and starting from scratch

again, i'm not complaining... just sending my wishes. ;-)

Cheers!
Dave

Sunday, February 08, 2004 3:56 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Expresso up to version 1.2 already

Thanks for the comments, but I didn't build this tool.
However, I did build a different tool, called "The Regulator".
See here:
http://royo.is-a-geek.com/regulator
Sunday, February 08, 2004 4:41 PM by Eric Vogel

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

My most current post was, Cell Phone Advise. I wanted to get peer comments on a few Verizon phones I was looking at.

This is where my info is posted:
www.mvps.org/ecvogel
My mailing list with more FAQ's www.computertalkshop.com
My Blog www.msmvps.com/shelluser - Note this is not something I update all the time.
I belong to other mailing lists that I help in..
I You will even see me in the public newsgroups.

Thank you,
Eric Vogel
Sunday, February 08, 2004 5:34 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

Eric. Thanks for the ....spam?
Sunday, February 08, 2004 6:45 PM by TrackBack

# Take Outs: The Digital Doggy Bag of Blog Bits for 6,7 and 8 February 2004

Doing things the hard way with RSS Bandit leads to some interesting statistics; Stuff for my Boss and co-workers; SOA and Joe Developer -- Phillip gets it right (again); Bits on Reporting Services; Wake up and smell RSS.NET; htmlArea (drool); InfoPath duh; McD's
Sunday, February 08, 2004 7:31 PM by TrackBack

# Setting the record straight on MVP newsgroups

Sunday, February 08, 2004 9:08 PM by Kirk Allen Evans

# re: Mortal coding sin: programming in your mother tongue

I actually like that challenge in newsgroups, when I answer posts where the poster uses variable names from another culture. It helps reinforce the concept that the variable name means absolutely nothing, it is only a convenience to the coder. At least, that helps me sleep at night, considering I continually bite my tongue when my clients insist on (inconsistently) using Hungarian conventions throughout their code. Die, "m_strCustName", die!
Monday, February 09, 2004 8:18 AM by TrackBack

# DataReader to DataTable Happy Ending

DataReader to DataTable Happy Ending
Monday, February 09, 2004 8:28 AM by Jeff Cochran

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

It's hard to disprove any of the comments in the article without allowing the author unfettered access to the private groups complained about, so I won't bother trying. Most of the comments appear as "sour grapes" anyway. There's a club to which the author doesn't belong, so there must be something secretive and sinister in its very existence.

But there's also a measure of truth in the article. There *are* pieces of information discussed in the private groups which may be applicable to public disclosure. Eventually, the relevant technical bits and pieces are disclosed, but the general "chatter" never is. And while it's not covered by NDA, it isn't really relevant to the general public either.

Some of the information in the groups and mailing lists is clearly covered by NDA. I'm sorry, but I signed the NDA and I won't be passing the info along. Even if it happens to leak out somewhere else. Some of the information may be borderline, such as technical discussions about upcoming patches or security fixes. Controlled releases of this information is appropriate.

Some information is discussed in the private groups simply because of the noise ratio. These groups allow MVP's access to Microsoft insiders, and we take difficult problems to the developers as appropriate, and when the discussion is complete we post the fixes or work arounds for the public. The general public doesn't belong in the discussion, but they aren't denied the needed information either.

But let's face it, we are an exclusive group. We got in by providing accurate help for various Microsoft technologies in a public forum, and in return we have been granted priveleged access to Microsoft resources. The general public can pay for such access, we earned it through our prior actions. There are perks for being in this club, and responsibilities as well. Outsiders will always have an opinion of us which varies from the truth. Some of the outsiders will bash the program due to their opinions. Most will accept the situation and be grateful that it eventually results in a resolution of their technical issues. A few will eventually be invited to join the ranks of the MVP.

The MVP's I personally know aren't in it for the perks, or exclusive access. In fact, if there were no MVP program at all, we'd still be out there helping people solve their problems. We'd just have more limited resources at our disposal to do so.

Jeff Cochran
Windows Server - IIS MVP
Monday, February 09, 2004 1:51 PM by Omer van Kloeten

# re: Israel User Group news

You rule :)

Unfortunately, I won't be coming to either DevDays or the meeting on Wednesday... Hard work, yknow... :/
Monday, February 09, 2004 2:53 PM by Michal

# re: 1 year of blogging

Congratulation! And thanks for blogging.
Monday, February 09, 2004 3:00 PM by MarcJ

# re: Checking for NULL values

One clean way to handle NULL values is to not bother checking for them, just convert them on the fly:

myString = Convert.ToString(myDataField("SomeString"))
myInteger = Convert.ToInt32(myDataField("SomeInteger"))

and so on.
Monday, February 09, 2004 4:27 PM by sarah

# re: Interesting research

OMG THAT IS HEAVY!!!! I NVEER EEVN TOHUGHT AOBUT TAHT
Tuesday, February 10, 2004 4:24 AM by Paul Bartlett

# re: 1 year of blogging

Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear Roy's blog,
Happy birthday to you!
Tuesday, February 10, 2004 7:49 AM by stefan demetz

# re: SQL Injection prevented using OO techniqes

http://dotnetjunkies.com/WebLog/stefandemetz/archive/2004/02/06/6748.aspx
Tuesday, February 10, 2004 9:23 AM by Slash

# Nice App, but...

Nice Application, but your plugin can't be unloaded. Consider using AppDomains and Remoting instead.
Tuesday, February 10, 2004 12:32 PM by Mark

# re: When running 'aspnet_regiis -c' still doesn't fix it...

This happens to me on a public websit only wjhen I log in a the user of the workstaion running XP Pro SP1. It just started and doesn't occur when I log in as myself. Both the user and I have full admin priviledges on this computer. It also is NOT running IIS ??????
Tuesday, February 10, 2004 12:57 PM by Paschal

# re: Community Application Blocks? nah

Roy totally agree with you. In a sense, the Mozilla example is a good one. Look at the number of versions they have, because the project is not manage by some authority.
I like the Application blocks, because as you mention it, it give me a good professional and reliable solution to some basic tasks. I can't deal anymore without the DAB, and thanks for the info I was not aware of a version 3.
Tuesday, February 10, 2004 1:20 PM by M. Keith Warren

# re: Community Application Blocks? nah

I think the majority of people who look at the app blocks just download them and use them as a reference for the 'proper' way to do something. This being true, the value is seriously damaged if it is the work of the community.

Oh yeah, and most people in the MS dev community actually want to make money for our work - so this idea that Redmond has that the 'community' will become some OSS hybrid is just flat wrong.
Tuesday, February 10, 2004 1:38 PM by Scott

# re: Community Application Blocks? nah

M. Keith: Yeah because something like a DAL is so groundbreaking, so monumental in it's undertaking, so innovative that you HAVE to charge for it.

http://www.lazycoder.com/article.php?story=20040210133241358.
Tuesday, February 10, 2004 1:38 PM by Bnaya Eshet

# re: Community Application Blocks? nah

I agree
Tuesday, February 10, 2004 2:00 PM by Bnaya Eshet

# re: The Best Unit Test framework in town

:)
Tuesday, February 10, 2004 2:14 PM by Shannon J Hager

# re: Community Application Blocks? nah

Roy, from what I've seen and heard, your assumptions as stated above simply aren't correct. I have seen tons of complaints that MS hasn't followed it's own best practices in their app blocks, that they don't maintain them, they don't add features that are required for them to become really useful, etc, etc, etc. I think every reason you state for wanting MS to keep control (except for the brand recognition and assumed accountability) are things that I have seen posted elsewhere that are lacking in the blocks.
Tuesday, February 10, 2004 2:18 PM by Shannon J Hager

# re: Community Application Blocks? nah

Sorry do post again already, but note that the post immediately under this post on the weblogs.asp.net main feed is an example of what I am saying. The block in question there has bugs and the poster has fixed them but since it is not a community project, he is the only person who has that corrected working version and the rest of us will have to fix the bugs ourselves.
Tuesday, February 10, 2004 2:30 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Community Application Blocks? nah

Shannon: If MS is slacking on the blocks, would a community effort do any better? MS has some serious thinking to do in this regard, but in the end, if *they* are not fully accountable for the application blocks, those community developed blocks will be nothing but well known code snippets.
If MS can't dedicate people to the blocks it itself has been creating, that is a problem in itself. It does not mean that they need to transfer over to the community.It just means that MS needs to pick up the slack in this regard and make our lives a little easier. Just like the application blocks are supposed to do.
Tuesday, February 10, 2004 4:41 PM by Shannon J Hager

# re: Community Application Blocks? nah

Companies exist to make money. Communities exist to help each other out and make everyone's lives easier. Don't confuse the two. What is the number one excuse MS uses when people complain about the sorry state of their free products? Money. Why would you expect them to put valuable resources on free projects like this? I'm not asking why you WANT them to, I want them to as much as you do and for the same reasons, but I know my history better than that. I know MS better than that.

Show me a single open sourced project that MS has released that didn't require the community to make it worth using. The ASP.Net Starter Kits were mediocre at best and insulting to some of us. The fact is that MS does NOT take responsibility for these free almost working blocks and applications, they use the "free and open source" excuse as the reason they don't bother to fix the problems. That is a clear indication of what needs to be done. So your choices are to make the corrections for yourself and have everyone else do the same or to pool resources and make the corrections available to everyone.

To expect MS to act differently than they ever have in the past is little more than wishful thinking. When they release an updated DAL block, I'll be as happy as you to see that I am wrong but I'm not holding my breath.
Tuesday, February 10, 2004 5:38 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Community Application Blocks? nah

Shannon: So what you're saying is basically "These blocks are *already* nothing but well known code snippets". If that's true, you're right. No one will help us but ourselves. Trouble is I don't think we have the capability to do this by ourselves to the degree of "perfection" that is required from something as essential and widely used as an application block. In truth, even if we did start this up, it would be one big mess and it won't go anywhere. I refer you again to DAAB v.3 to see how it might look after a few months.
On the other hand, I don't think this is true (what you said).At least not entriely.
Jesse posted a really good retort on this subject which also captures some of my thoughts:
http://weblogs.asp.net/jezell/archive/2004/02/10/70828.aspx
Tuesday, February 10, 2004 6:51 PM by Marc Wallace

# re: An optimizing experience

I've been finding weird behaviour around isnull() and coalesce(), in terms of query optimization.

In one case, replacing all my coalesce() calls with isnull() dropped a 2hr+ query down to 10secs. However, in another case, it had the opposite effect.

And it does look like SQL server treats the two differently, almost as if isnull() is more of a builtin function.
Tuesday, February 10, 2004 11:58 PM by ims

# re: From VB6 to VB.Net - important webcasts

eaddsadadasd
Wednesday, February 11, 2004 3:05 AM by Shannon J Hager

# re: Community Application Blocks? nah

1. Do you think that the official MS version of the DAL block has progressed farther and/or better than the GDN version?
2. Do you think MS will be releasing more than 1 version of a block per framework release?
3. Do you think MS will even be releasing service packs, updates or hotfixes at all for the blocks?

If you answered "yes" to any of the above questions, then you have a point. Otherwise it is all just wishful thinking. If simply saying "Microsoft really should do ______" had any bearing on reality, the world would be a much different place, wouldn't it?
Wednesday, February 11, 2004 1:47 PM by Omer van Kloeten

# re: Watch me speak at IVCUG: Regex and Plugins

Thanks for the tip!
I'll try my best to be there... :)
Wednesday, February 11, 2004 9:52 PM by s.hillman@earthlink.net

# re: MSN Messenger upgrade blocks Trillian

i want to up grade msn free
Thursday, February 12, 2004 1:04 AM by Mike Griffin

# re: how do you make your .NET application scriptable?

MyGeneration, our app is a .NET code generator that allows you to write script in VBScript or JScript
Thursday, February 12, 2004 1:39 AM by andre

# re: Cool handy site: DropLoad

We're back! Sorry, server probs. We're on a better server now.
Thursday, February 12, 2004 1:18 PM by Eric Gunnerson

# re: Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding

Roy,

I've been involved a bit with some internal discussions related to this, and I'd like to share my perspective. Note that it's *my* perspective, and not necessarily the official MS line (if, in fact, such a line exists...)

There are really three classes of discussion you are talking about. There are internal MS aliases, there are private newsgroups for people with support contracts, and there are private MVP newsgroups.

The internal MS aliases do have some information that is of general interest, and in the ideal world, many of those discussions could be in a more public forum. The hard part is separating the stuff that could be public from the stuff that shouldn't be public, because of IP concerns, or because it's not presented in a way that we would like to have public (the way we talk internally is sometimes not clear enough or nice enough). We do have to figure out a way to fix this, because the internal aliases tend to take "expert time" that we should be spending where everybody can benefit. I should note, however, that some of the things showing up on external blogs are not coming from our established aliases, but from smaller discussions, either in email or in person, so at least in that case, we're getting some unique information out. But not well enough, yet.

The private newsgroups for people with support contracts is there for customers who want a guarantee that their concerns are addressed. While I think we should improve our free support, the resources required for a guaranteed response currently mean that we have to charge for it.

As for discussions with the MVPs, some of the thing we talk with MVPs about are NDA topics, and others are MVPs learning from each other.

I understand your frustration at not having a place to turn if you can't figure something out through the usual channels, and that is something we're working on.

Eric
Thursday, February 12, 2004 9:06 PM by TrackBack

# .net debugging resources

Friday, February 13, 2004 4:49 AM by Stratovarius

# re: Visual Studio .NET Shortcut Key Guide

Thanks a million.
Friday, February 13, 2004 6:16 AM by Rutger

# re: Winforms Data Binding Lessons Learned

Thank you,

Please get a job at Microsoft...
Friday, February 13, 2004 9:27 AM by Darrell

# re: New Israeli User Group: Agile Development. What do you think?

Hey Roy, a talk on Refactoring would be ok, but it's just like TDD... you have to do it to understand it. Recently at my .NET user group, WeProgram.NET, a colleague of mine and I presented TDD in a very hands-on fashion, and we are doing the same with Refactoring in March!

I know we see all the speakers from INETA or local experts come and give talks, and we sit and watch and listen and think that is how it should be done. But when do you really understand what they were saying? Right, when you get home and play with the code! So why not do that during the meeting? You can usually get half the people to bring laptops, and the other half can pair up (pair programming? XP? in a user group meeting? Yep!).

Just a suggestion. Most professional speakers don't like the idea, but people with a teaching background usually do. This also doesn't work if you are demonstrating new technologies, like the ever-present yet oh-so-far-away Longhorn.
Friday, February 13, 2004 9:51 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: New Israeli User Group: Agile Development. What do you think?

Darrell: Sounds interesting. I'll put the idea in my back burner for a while see if I can make it work somehow. I think most the users don't have laptops tho, and it would require special preparation on their side. Also, the group takes place in offices which make it much harder to help developers by sitting next to them. It's built like a small movie theater. Not much room to move around each and every one.
Maybe move it to a different place.. I don't know.
Friday, February 13, 2004 10:09 AM by Omer van Kloeten

# re: New Israeli User Group: Agile Development. What do you think?

The note you made about too many user groups is right.
I can hardly find the way to convience my managers to let me go to user group meetings instead of working as it is... :/
Friday, February 13, 2004 10:16 AM by TrackBack

# Formatting COde in Your Blog

Roy Osherove wrote a quick MS Word macro that allows you to take your VS.NET code and paste it as good-looking, formatted code into your blog...
Friday, February 13, 2004 11:14 AM by Udi Dahan - The Software Simplist

# re: New Israeli User Group: Agile Development. What do you think?

I've thought about the order of the agile lectures and I've come to some conclusions:

It only makes sense to do a presentation on refactoring after the talk on unit tests - it looks like its going to happen that way, so that's good.

It only makes sense to do the presentation on TDD after refactoring. I mean, TDD is in essence:

1. Write "unit" test
2. Write the simplest code possible to get it to pass
3. Refactor the code
4. Repeat

This is currently scheduled to happen.

I'm worried that people won't really grok the TDD without having some time to mull through unit testing and refactoring, each one separately.

On the other hand, this currently is planned to take place in the VB user group, with meetings at a month apart, so, although far from ideal, I don't think the expectations should be that high to begin with.

I'll talk to you about this later, Roy, OK ?
Friday, February 13, 2004 2:52 PM by Udi Dahan - The Software Simplist

# re: New Israeli User Group: Agile Development. What do you think?

Correction:

The second one should read: "Is NOT currently scheduled to happen."
Friday, February 13, 2004 8:33 PM by TrackBack

# Visual Studio Styler - Ready for Download

Saturday, February 14, 2004 2:02 AM by TrackBack

# [Tool] Cool Font\Colors add-in for VS.NET

Saturday, February 14, 2004 3:57 AM by chaitanya

# re: Free WMI book chapter

no comment
Saturday, February 14, 2004 4:00 AM by TrackBack

# [Tool] Cool Font\Colors add-in for VS.NET

Saturday, February 14, 2004 6:49 AM by 1337

# re: IntelliJ IDEA blows my mind again

.not blows chunks
Saturday, February 14, 2004 7:18 AM by SBC

# re: MVP Recommendation: James Crowley

I like the following -
"You're 19?
i'm afraid so"

That guy certainly deserves kudos and the MVP..
Saturday, February 14, 2004 8:20 AM by TrackBack

# The Vault is free for single users

Saturday, February 14, 2004 1:33 PM by Darrell

# re: [Tool] The long awaited Resharper - is VB.Net left behind again?

The funny thing is the first company to add refactoring support for VB will probably be Microsoft. And even though we are screaming at them that they are "dumbing it down", it will probably still be better than all these C# only tools.

And since I have to switch back and forth between the two languages (VB and C#), then I am not going to use a refactoring tool that only works for one, and ideally would have the same naming conventions, which MS won't have.
Saturday, February 14, 2004 3:58 PM by Jason Olson

# re: [Tool] Cool Font\Colors add-in for VS.NET

Thanks Roy. If it wasn't for your original add-in though, I probably would have not thought of this at all. Keep up the great work. Love you blog!
Saturday, February 14, 2004 4:14 PM by Dmitry Jemerov (JetBrains)

# re: [Tool] The long awaited Resharper - is VB.Net left behind again?

I don't know the exact timeline for VB.NET support in Resharper (I'll have to check with the developers of Resharper), but I can tell you for sure that the architecture of Resharper does allow support for multiple languages, and it will eventually support VB.NET and other .NET languages.
Saturday, February 14, 2004 5:25 PM by Happy

# re: When running 'aspnet_regiis -c' still doesn't fix it...

Works like a charm!
Saturday, February 14, 2004 6:51 PM by senkwe

# re: [Tool] The long awaited Resharper - is VB.Net left behind again?

Hi Roy, you say "the first company that adds refactoring support to VB.Net will make lots of money". I'm not sure about that myself. Where I am, (South Africa) most of the VB .NET devs I know are former VB6 programmers. I can say with confidence that the type of refactoring you're talking about is mostly alien to them. They are just now getting to grips with Object Oriented Programming and almost to a man they don't see the point. I can't say I blame them coz they always seemed to get the job done pretty damned well and on time with VB6. Trust me, as a software tester at one point, it was bloody frustrating trying to break their code :-) The systems that were built when I was junior at my first company are still standing to this day and running pretty smoothly I hear. So refactoring?? OOP?? Blaaah! :-D
Saturday, February 14, 2004 9:49 PM by kk

# re: Was that a shout out?

tewst
Sunday, February 15, 2004 7:36 AM by Yura2000

# re: New Israeli User Group: Agile Development. What do you think?

Hi Roy
There my short thoughts about subject:
1.Refactoring - nice idea. One thing - I'd like to see really good warrior of the .NET or/and software development and not those, who knows to create long speeches without understand what subject is about... IMO number of such speakers(not warriors) increases exponentially, unfortunately.

2.User group -your obstacles are right. And here applicable the same as in the first paragraph.
Sunday, February 15, 2004 8:03 AM by David Cumps

# re: "How do I open a weblog here?"

ScottW is a very busy guy :)
When I asked first I didn't get an answer at first either, but now I got it. He's the way to go to get a blog here. I'm guessing he gets a lot of mails every day ;)
Sunday, February 15, 2004 8:03 AM by TrackBack

# Take Outs: The Digital Doggy Bag of Blog Bits for 15 February 2004

Blog:3;Dev:6;Rant:4;RS:2;SQL:3;WTF:6;WILY:4;Writing:1;XML:4
Line of the day:
Sunday, February 15, 2004 8:10 AM by Yura2000

# re: "How do I open a weblog here?"

Hi!
There is one more!
Sunday, February 15, 2004 8:29 AM by Michael Hensen

# re: "How do I open a weblog here?"

Joining the party..
Sunday, February 15, 2004 9:39 AM by James Crowley

# re: MVP Recommendation: James Crowley

thanks for your support guys - just so long as Developer fusion remains vaguely useful to people, then I'm happy! :) (and apologies for all the typos in the conversation that was listed - I didn't know it was going to be placed online at the time!)
Sunday, February 15, 2004 10:11 AM by Randy

# re: "How do I open a weblog here?"

Actually, I'd be curious to see how my blog writer would play with .Text... wonder if there's a test blog I could point to...
Sunday, February 15, 2004 10:42 AM by TrackBack

# Devdays what Devdays ?

Sunday, February 15, 2004 11:26 AM by TrackBack

# Different part of the world means a different DevDays...apparently......

Sunday, February 15, 2004 1:45 PM by Tim Marman

# re: "How do I open a weblog here?"

.Text is open source, so you can download it and install locally or on a webserver somewhere.

And yes, Scott's the guy to ask, but he *IS* busy, so be patient!

Now that it is open source, someone will, I'm sure, eventually write a "blog request" screen that he just has to click yes/no to instead of manually setting it up.

:)
Sunday, February 15, 2004 3:29 PM by Brian LeRoux

# re: "How do I open a weblog here?"

I was wondering that too-- can't blame a guy for being busy. The .TEXT code alone must be a time sucker.
Sunday, February 15, 2004 3:38 PM by TrackBack

# Different part of the world means a different DevDays...apparently......

Sunday, February 15, 2004 6:02 PM by Alex Lowe

# re: Small Israeli DevDays rants

Unfortunately, I'm sure the difference is the $99 a person that the attendees are paying in the United States. It is unfortunate that they did not have the same offer at the Israeli DevDays, however. I will pass your feedback on to the folks that are responsible for your subsidiary.
Sunday, February 15, 2004 9:00 PM by Ryan A. Rinaldi

# re: "How do I open a weblog here?"

If your friends are serious about blogging, they could always ask me. I run blogs.geekdojo.net and while not as popular as weblogs.asp.net, we get pretty decent readership.

Have them contact me through my blog if they are interested.
Sunday, February 15, 2004 9:58 PM by Randy

# re: "How do I open a weblog here?"

Yes, it's open source, but you need ASP.NET and SQL Server configured - the former is easy, the latter is not. I'd much rather hit a test page and see if my writer can work with it OK... much much easier that having to install SQL Server and configuring it properly.
Monday, February 16, 2004 12:08 AM by Addy Santo

# There is no spoon


I think MS Israel prefer to concentrate on the major events such as TechEd Israel - I missed the last one (as you know) but in 2002 they brought in David Chappel for the keynote and a few additional experts from Europe for the sessions... It rocked. DevDays is pocket change compared to that :)
Monday, February 16, 2004 3:26 PM by :p

# re: Cool IDE Shortcut

so very basic it's lame
Monday, February 16, 2004 5:32 PM by jules

# re: Snow in Jerusalem - Beautiful pictures

what beautiful pictures...! i heard it has snowed there again last week! we are going to israel in may i'm glad it won't snow then! it snows here all winter so we ar sick of the white stuff!
Monday, February 16, 2004 5:44 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Snow in Jerusalem - Beautiful pictures

Jules: contact me through the weblog - maybe we'll get together for a beer!
Monday, February 16, 2004 10:10 PM by TrackBack

# Adding Scripting Support to .net Applications

Tuesday, February 17, 2004 1:54 AM by Sijin Joseph

# re: Make your .Net application support scripting - the practical way

Great info, i was wondering if this was possible in .Net but never got the time to look into it. BTW do you know if there exists a managed solution to add scripting capabilities to your .Net application.
Tuesday, February 17, 2004 2:11 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Make your .Net application support scripting - the practical way

Yes. I mention one in the article. Alintex Script.
Tuesday, February 17, 2004 2:42 AM by Alex

# re: [Article] Make your .Net application support scripting - the practical way

hi roy,
the link to the article points to your harddisk ;-)

Alex
Tuesday, February 17, 2004 2:43 AM by Alex

# re: [Article] Make your .Net application support scripting - the practical way

me again - seems that my rss reader has a bug....
it works

Alex
Tuesday, February 17, 2004 3:41 AM by Juan M. Servera

# re: Make your .Net application support scripting - the practical way

Check the Microsoft.Vsa namespace. .Net provides its own classes for scripting C#, VB.Net and J#, but there are some "design leaks" as .Net was not designed to unload assemblies, you will find more info at msdn site.
Tuesday, February 17, 2004 3:50 AM by Stefano Demiliani

# re: Make your .Net application support scripting - the practical way

Good article Roy :)
Tuesday, February 17, 2004 4:07 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Make your .Net application support scripting - the practical way

Juan: yes, I've looked at that namespace but decided that the MS Script was easier to use. I forgot to mention it the article but I've added it now. Thanks for the tip :)
Tuesday, February 17, 2004 4:15 AM by R

# re: [Article] Make your .Net application support scripting - the practical way


Thanks for the article, it's very useful.
Tuesday, February 17, 2004 4:37 AM by TrackBack

# Community application blocks revisited - with a twist

Tuesday, February 17, 2004 5:52 AM by Alex

# re: Book of the month

hi again - also worth reading:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0201844532/qid=1077015110//ref=pd_ka_1/102-5086237-8577763?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

regards

Alex
Tuesday, February 17, 2004 8:18 AM by Hamza GOLYERI

# re: Make your .Net application support scripting - the practical way

Great introduction to the subject. Here are two other great articals about .NET scripting:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/02/08/VisualStudioforApplications/

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnclinic/html/scripting06112001.asp
Tuesday, February 17, 2004 9:02 AM by Eric Willeke

# re: [Article] Make your .Net application support scripting - the practical way

Not a comment about your article, which I will go read in a moment, but a comment in support of the way you posted it.

I _really_ like the format you used to put your article out there for RSS readers: Short personal comment, link, abstract. Keeps the feed short, very well organised, very clear what you're posting, keeps me from having to follow links for content that's not appropriate to my current reading. I think more content needs to be posted this way!
Tuesday, February 17, 2004 9:05 AM by Addy Santo

# re: Make your .Net application support scripting - the practical way


Yo,

Great article!! Keep in mind however that lots of the "cool" developers out there would rather cut off their right hand than go back to the VBScript environment after 2+ years of managed code development. That is one of my main pain points while working with InfoPath.

I suggest going the long way and allowing for managed code.... a part II to this article perhaps? :)

Tuesday, February 17, 2004 11:39 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: [Article] Make your .Net application support scripting - the practical way

Eric, thanks. That's the first time anyone complimented me on posting style <p>
Tuesday, February 17, 2004 11:59 AM by Darrell

# re: Community application blocks revisited - with a twist

I also think that having the community around will bring up ideas for application blocks that MS might not have considered. But when they see one really taking off (Application Updater, anyone?) they will take it over and give it the ol' MS effort.
Tuesday, February 17, 2004 12:17 PM by JDM

# re: Community application blocks revisited - with a twist

Really? I can't see how the fact that they'll only be created some instead of all invalidates any of your concerns for the ones they're not created.
Tuesday, February 17, 2004 12:24 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Community application blocks revisited - with a twist

JDM: no, some of the concerns are still valid, mainly the one of quality control. But some of them were relieved. For example, I was having trouble figuring out why MS wants to drop application blocks and remove responsibility on their creation from itself. That has been addressed.
All in all, if MS will continue with the same effort, but the community will be *adding* to these efforts(instead of replacing them) I can see how there would be motivation top move forward on this.
The issues of quality control are tough ones, but can be worked out if addressed properly. (at least that's what I hope)
Tuesday, February 17, 2004 3:44 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Make your .Net application support scripting - a practical approach

Santo: you'd be right, only the scripting is for the clients\users, not the developers. And it's MUCH much easier doing stuff in VBscript that starting to import .Net namespaces. Easy wins for client usability in my eyes.
Tuesday, February 17, 2004 4:26 PM by Randy

# re: [Article] Make your .Net application support scripting - the practical way

I'll have to read this when I'm not tracking 40 blogs, but there IS a bug in the RSS feed link for the article... don't be surprised if you find SharpMT to be script-able it this tickles me the right way :)
Tuesday, February 17, 2004 5:12 PM by David Cumps

# re: We Are Morons: a quick look at the Win2k source

Nice review. Now if anyone has the time, I've heared alot about the linux kernel contains plenty of profanity as well, but I didn't have the time to check this once, would be interesting thou, as some sore of comparision :)
Tuesday, February 17, 2004 5:54 PM by Darrell

# re: SQL relations considered harmful?

Domains
Each column in a table holds data of a single data type and length, specified when the column is created or altered. The data type and length may be specified explicitly, e.g. CHARACTER(20) or INTEGER(5), or through the use of domains, which can give more precise control over the data that will be accepted in the column.

A domain definition consists of a data type and length specification with optional check conditions and a default value. Data which falls outside the constraints defined by the check conditions is not accepted in a column which is defined using the domain.

A column defined using a domain for which a default value is defined will automatically receive that value if row data is entered without a value being explicitly specified for the column.

I got this from here (http://developer.mimer.com/documentation/latest_html/Mimer_SQL_Engine_DocSet/Mimer_Concepts15.html).
Tuesday, February 17, 2004 5:59 PM by Damian

# re: SQL relations considered harmful?

What David was talking about is not that relations are bad (far, far, far from it if you know Dave) but creating a lookup table that has an identity column to enforce a couple of seldom changing values isn't a relational best practice.

This of course, is the subject of years of arguments, and will continue to be :)

Read this http://www.sqlteam.com/item.asp?ItemID=2599 and the attached comments for a flame fest ^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H err, thorough treatment of each side.


Tuesday, February 17, 2004 6:01 PM by Darrell

# re: SQL relations considered harmful?

Oh, and he wasn't trading a check constraint for a relation, he removed the lookup table and enforced the permissible column values with a check constraint. That's ok if you only have a few values (as in his example, M/F/U). Lookup tables are good for more values and when the user wants to change them all the time.

He does push a composite primary key, which has its pros and cons. I hate them since they can usually be updated, which can cascade changes throughout your database if things go wrong. After I killed a database that way, I don't do it anymore. A database also takes much more of a performance hit if joining on tables with composite keys (depending on size).

An alternative I prefer is to have an identity primary key with a unique index on the four columns in his example. This gives me the performance I need, the ease of use I want, and the business rule enforcement necessary. A little more work, but not much.
Tuesday, February 17, 2004 7:06 PM by Udi Dahan - The Software Simplist

# re: SQL relations considered harmful?

Darell,

I too have gone the identity + unique index route, and haven't looked back. I guess that when it comes to lookup tables, my first choice IS to have one, seeing as my users over time ( rather short periods of time actually ) add more and more values. In cases where I have M/F type things that really aren't gonna change much, then I use check constrainsts there.
Tuesday, February 17, 2004 7:25 PM by Paul Wilson

# re: SQL relations considered harmful?

Anyone working in the medical field can attest that even simple things like gender are not so obvious. I've seen standards that define 5 or 6 gender codes, and there's nothing like different medical facilities insisting on their own set of gender codes before they will buy your software. I'm just using this as a silly example of how even the simplest of cases is not so simple afterall, so I very much appreciate lookup tables based on experience in the real world over the technical wisdom of the academic.
Tuesday, February 17, 2004 7:29 PM by Gigi

# re: The VS7 Debugger doesn’t work. What can I do?

Thank you so much! This site is great. I got all my problem solved from your guides.

Tuesday, February 17, 2004 7:39 PM by TrackBack

# re: Microsoft Data Access Application Block BUG!

Tuesday, February 17, 2004 8:44 PM by DavidM

# re: SQL relations considered harmful?

Darell,

Yourself and Udi are the exception and not the rule. At least you have identified the real key and enforced it. The table in question did not have any RI against it so adding a Identity as a surrogate key was pointless. Actually, the whole point was the fallacy of an Identity columns as a "real" key as well as the total confusion most developers make between types and relations.

I just wrote an exntension to that post where I address the whole lookup/domain issue. http://weblogs.sqlteam.com/davidm/archive/2004/02/18/907.aspx

And Paul, the medical systems I have been involved with had every possible chromosomal difference in them for gender.. I took that up with the medical board at the time and the values where nicely debated and laid out. A bit of leg work goes a long way to making a good database....
Tuesday, February 17, 2004 9:01 PM by TrackBack

# Data Access Application Block Version 3

Wednesday, February 18, 2004 2:46 AM by Eyal Grundstein

# re: Are you in Israel and reading this?

Nice little blog you got going mate
Wednesday, February 18, 2004 4:14 AM by dileep

# re: Windows Forms Programming in C# Sample Chapter

good
Wednesday, February 18, 2004 5:04 AM by Ian

# re: Stuff to know about the Data Application Block

Why shouldnt you use the DAAB for COM+? By COM+ you do mean Enterprise Services, yeah?
Wednesday, February 18, 2004 6:42 AM by SBC

# re: We Are Morons: a quick look at the Win2k source

hhmm.. most of my coding are for clients and if they read profane prose then...
Wednesday, February 18, 2004 7:37 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Stuff to know about the Data Application Block

Ian. Stupid of me to write that. I was purely speculating. I remember reading it somewhere but writing this down made no sense until I can back this up.
Sorry.
Wednesday, February 18, 2004 7:52 AM by Anonymous

# re: VS.Net multi language bug - 2.5 years and still going strong?

Ummm, because the folks at Microsoft don't use VS.NET for anything but the simplest demo projects and C# is the preferred language in the house... Hmmm... Wonder why? Really.
Wednesday, February 18, 2004 8:49 AM by no

# re: Intellij IDEA version 4.0 release candidate 1

Gooday,
Short Question: Does hotswap debugging in Intellij Idea 4.0 work with Java Tiger features like "for(int I : list)." too? Thanks, KF
Wednesday, February 18, 2004 8:51 AM by R

# re: Make your .Net application support scripting - a practical approach


Just playing about with your example .. if my script is JScript and I call the following ...

Form.Left += 200;
Form.Left += 100;

It bombs out .. if I change it to

Form.Left += 200;
2+2;
Form.Left += 100;

Moral of the story ... be careful..
Wednesday, February 18, 2004 9:20 AM by Randy Charles Morin

# re: Create More Readable Code By Interface Prefixes

Great Idea!
Wednesday, February 18, 2004 9:36 AM by Michael Dorfman

# re: Stuff to know about the Data Application Block

But the DAAB 3.0 is not officially supported by Microsoft, right? This is one of the "Community Supported" bluebricks you were speaking of, correct?
Wednesday, February 18, 2004 9:38 AM by Rolando

# DAAB and COM+

check the comments of this blog post :
http://blogs.msdn.com/rjacobs/archive/2004/02/09/70355.aspx

or this newsgroup thread
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&selm=7bf4a1f4.0402111338.6f9e44a4%40posting.google.com
Wednesday, February 18, 2004 9:43 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Stuff to know about the Data Application Block

Michael: I'm not sure if the community edition is supported, but It's good enough for me as is.
Wednesday, February 18, 2004 9:45 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Stuff to know about the Data Application Block

Rolando: yes. That's where I read it :)
Wednesday, February 18, 2004 11:54 AM by Mathew Nolton

# re: Stuff to know about the Data Application Block

I used the first version of this and wrote a version that looked like it but connected with Oracle (had to write my own parameter search)...the whole time i did this i screamed why doesn't it support other providers.....now it does (v2 as well i believe). my prayers are answered.
-Mathew Nolton
Wednesday, February 18, 2004 1:27 PM by R

# re: Make your .Net application support scripting - a practical approach


As an addendum to my previous post, this does not seem to happen on non-gui elements. Doing AddObject() to bind our ORM objects allows us to call as frequently as we like :

c = currentCase.GetCaseDetails();
d = currentCase.Refresh();

works fine.
Wednesday, February 18, 2004 1:47 PM by HIHJD

# ROCKS ON THE EARTH

I HAVE A TEST ON ROCKS , CAN YOU HELP ME!!!!!1
Wednesday, February 18, 2004 2:22 PM by TrackBack

# .NET Happenings #6

Wednesday, February 18, 2004 2:59 PM by Bertrand Le Roy

# And yet another whacky application of the script control... Sharing session between ASP and ASP.NET

I wrote this paper about one year ago about using the script control to share session between ASP and ASP.NET. Well, it goes far beyond sharing session, and provides a new way to migrate from ASP to ASP.NET.
Read this:
<a href="http://www.dotnetguru.org/us/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=16&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0">http://www.dotnetguru.org/us/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=16&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0</a>
Wednesday, February 18, 2004 5:15 PM by Rich

# re: [Tool] The long awaited Resharper - is VB.Net left behind again?

Why use VB.NET anyway? Not trying to be a smart ass but it seems that most people are going the C# route. Isn't VB.NET just a stop gap that MS put in place to pacify VB6 developers.
Wednesday, February 18, 2004 6:50 PM by Fabrice

# Tools

Some tools: http://sharptoolbox.madgeek.com/Pages/Category3527b0ec-36ac-4066-8d8d-635a8d28103c.aspx
Wednesday, February 18, 2004 8:51 PM by Tallion

# re: A Little Macro To Automate Creating Connection Strings

works great in vb.net. Thanks!
Thursday, February 19, 2004 2:26 AM by TrackBack

# My Worst Database Experience Ever

My Worst Database Experience Ever
Thursday, February 19, 2004 2:28 AM by Udi Dahan - The Software Simplist

# re: Israeli .Net Bloggers

We should do a blogger dinner, or something
Thursday, February 19, 2004 3:24 AM by c enders

# re: Make your .Net application support scripting - a practical approach

Concept sounds nice but I failed to run it.

Problems

Step 1
The script control didn't show up on the COM tab. Instead I had to browse for it
c:\winnt\system32\mscript.ocx.
Also is it the Microsoft Scripting, Scriplet or ScriptControl ?

Step 2
Put a VB line
Dim myScript as new MSScriptControl.ScriptControlClass

Step 3
Didn't realize "script" was an object.
The textbox line fail to compile because of
Option Strict On disallows implicit converions from 'System.Object' to 'String'
After fixing it compiles when.

Running it causes an unhandled exception
COM object with CLSID (...} is either not valid or not registered

After typing on the command prompt Regsvr32 msscript.ocx it finally ran

Entering 2+2 and execute

Unhandled exception
The operation could not be completed because the script engine has not been initialized to a valid language

After putting in the form load
myScript.Language = "VBScript"

it finally worked.

So put the complete code in it.

But the concept is nice. Have you thought about making test scripts with it ?

CE





Thursday, February 19, 2004 4:03 AM by Omer van Kloeten

# re: Israeli .Net Bloggers

Hehe, I can just see the morning after when everyone has a post titled "Israeli Blogger Dinner Last Night"...

Could be nice :)
Thursday, February 19, 2004 6:35 AM by oleg@tkachenko.com (Oleg Tkachenko)

# RE: Israeli .Net Bloggers

Well, you can list me there too.
Thursday, February 19, 2004 6:59 AM by Mauricio Feijo

# re: Get your resource kit (and disregard the kit name)

Roy, is the link to ASP.NET resource kit broken or it is just down?
Thanks
-Mauricio Feijo
Thursday, February 19, 2004 7:07 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Get your resource kit (and disregard the kit name)

oops. Seems to be some sort of the problem with the linking control or something, ANyway, the "Available for download" now links to the actual download site..
Thursday, February 19, 2004 8:12 AM by Luciano Evaristo Guerche

# RE: Israeli .Net Bloggers

Udi Dahan
http://udidahan.weblogs.us/index.rdf

--
Luciano Evaristo Guerche
Jacarei, SP, Brazil
Thursday, February 19, 2004 9:01 AM by vinnie tripodi

# re: Mortal sin: A non-relational relational database.

Why does everyone beat on us old Cobol guys? What does Cobol have to do with designing a relational database?
Thursday, February 19, 2004 9:32 AM by Anonymous

# re: Mortal sin: A non-relational relational database.

You can't export or imort databases easily with dts, when relations are defiened in the database. This gave me one hell of a bad time! The Database is the wrong place for documentation.
Thursday, February 19, 2004 9:34 AM by Scott Galloway

# re: Mortal sin: A non-relational relational database.

Yeah, a bit mean on the COBOL guys...also worth remembering that they're probably all loaded after the whole Y2K debacle - never hurts to have rich friends! Anyway, my next biggest DB issue (after yours which is THE biggy) is incorrect / poor use of indexes...grr...it doesn't matter how smart your query is or how good your relations are, if your indexes are crap / non-existent, the performance will suck!
Thursday, February 19, 2004 9:34 AM by t

# re: Mortal sin: A non-relational relational database.

reasons to have DB without relations :
1 . if you have a replications of youre DB sometimes you need to have DB without relations .
2. it works faster without relations
Thursday, February 19, 2004 9:40 AM by Yura2000

# re: Mortal sin: A non-relational relational database.

Hi Roy,
Ocasionally I am using not normalized DataBases .
And such cases are exactly when you have super cumbersome logic and huge amout of records.
From the second side you requested aftest perforamnce for reports, ubpdates etc. and hundreds hits in minute for your web application.
And more, I spoke about DB thet was normalized in the early life's stages.
Thursday, February 19, 2004 9:42 AM by Yura2000

# re: Mortal sin: A non-relational relational database.

//After code review :-))
Hi Roy,
Ocasionally I am using not normalized DataBases .
And such cases are exactly when you have super cumbersome logic and huge amout of records.
From the second side you requested for fastest perforamnce for reports, updates etc. and hundreds hits in minute for your web application.
And more, I spoke about DB that was normalized in the early life's stages.
Thursday, February 19, 2004 11:10 AM by Thomas Tomiczek

# re: Mortal sin: Just "Doit"

::Learn what Refactoring means.

Wrong.

Learn what PROGRAMMING is in the first place :-)

Wholy shit - your storeis are as bad as mine if I ever publish them.
Thursday, February 19, 2004 11:10 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Mortal sin: A non-relational relational database.

Of course sometimes you HAVE to remove relations. I'm not talking about the exceptions to the rule here. I'm talking about people not implementing the rule when the can and SHOULD implement it.
Thursday, February 19, 2004 12:11 PM by Rich

# re: Mortal sin: A non-relational relational database.

This is a little confusing. If the database has a single table and the table has a single column, then it has a relation. It sounds like you are really talking about relational integrity, i.e., the relationships between relations (tables).
Thursday, February 19, 2004 12:58 PM by Steve

# RE: Mortal sin: Just "Doit"

I completely agree. A more appropriate name like DoItNow would do wonders ;-) In all seriousness reading this stuff makes me cringe. I've been bitten way to many times by the "creative programming" of others.
Thursday, February 19, 2004 3:09 PM by Luciano Evaristo Guerche

# RE: Weekend off

Where are you going to? Eilat? I have been there twice. It is a wonderful place.

--
Luciano Evaristo Guerche
Jacarei, SP, Brazil
Thursday, February 19, 2004 3:59 PM by Udi Dahan - The Software Simplist

# re: Mortal sin: Just "Doit"

I like "Execute()" - I promptly rename it "ExecuteMe()" =)
Thursday, February 19, 2004 6:12 PM by TrackBack

# Take Outs: The Digital Doggy Bag of Blog Bits for 18th and 19th February 2004

Take Outs: The Digital Doggy Bag of Blog Bits for 18th and 19th February 2004
Thursday, February 19, 2004 9:37 PM by TrackBack

# Moron1, Moron2, Moron3

Thursday, February 19, 2004 9:37 PM by TrackBack

# Moron1, Moron2, Moron3

Thursday, February 19, 2004 10:28 PM by TrackBack

# Still in Love With VBScript and JScript?

Thursday, February 19, 2004 10:31 PM by TrackBack

# Still in Love With VBScript and JScript?

Thursday, February 19, 2004 11:59 PM by Addy Santo

# re: Israeli .Net Bloggers

Yo Roy, it is YURI not URI G.
Friday, February 20, 2004 2:40 AM by Hamza GOLYERI

# re: Mortal sin: Just "Doit"

> Can you guess how many serial killers got started the day they had to maintain such code?

I'm one of them. I had to maintain a critical (COBOLish) C++ program which includes a +15000 lines of .cpp file and that includes a +2000 lines of function (no I don't want to call it a function: it is just shit). I'm afraid to touch it because after almost one year I could not understand yet what it is really doing. Every time I started to read it I forget the beginning of it when a reach the end. I really don't understand how this program really works. It must be a miracle. Calling people who write these kind of code “engineers” or “programmers” is reviling real programmers and engineers.
Friday, February 20, 2004 3:29 AM by yuri90

# re: Mortal sin: Just "Doit"

I am currently maintaining an application that follows along the same lines.. "copy and paste inheritance" is what I call it.. instead of inheriting functionality from a base class, you copy it to every method of every class that might need that functionality.. end result 2 million lines of code that doesn't do much except throw up bugs.

There is an up-side.. for every bit of functionality I have to add, the codebase gets 2000 lines smaller :-)

Refactoring is a wonderful thing!

By the time I am finished this release, it might vbe down to as little as 150,000 lines of code. There's my silver lining, even if it is only me that recognises it.
Friday, February 20, 2004 5:14 AM by Michael Dorfman

# re: Mortal sin: A non-relational relational database.

Roy *is* speaking about relational integrity, and a database without it isn't really a relational database. In order for a "single column table" to be a table (in a relational sense) the single-column has to be defined as a primary key, with a unique constraint. The fact that SQL Server allows you to do otherwise is the root of the problem. It's all too easy in SQL to create a "table" with no primary key, or omit a foreign key constraint, and before you know it you are writing funky business logic to enforce rules that should be in the database. Or, more likely, finding weird bugs because you forgot to write the funky business logic.
Friday, February 20, 2004 5:20 AM by Michael Dorfman

# re: Mortal sin: Just "Doit"

Great post.

Too often, programmers forget that code is meant to be read by humans, not by machines. The machine would be perfectly happy to have us write IL in binary,

Methods called "Doit" are a clear separator between the hobby programmer and the professional. Or, should be.
Friday, February 20, 2004 8:09 AM by TrackBack

# My personal DB hell

Friday, February 20, 2004 9:16 AM by Thomas

# re: Problem and solution: Renaming htm file to aspx may cause javascript trouble

Thanks !!!!

codepage="1252" solves my problem with javascript in *.aspx page
Friday, February 20, 2004 1:54 PM by JosephCooney

# re: Make your .Net application support scripting - a practical approach

In a similar vein - Tim Dawson has an article on using .NET languages (VB.NET, C#) to make your application scriptable http://www.divil.co.uk/net/articles/plugins/scripting.asp
Friday, February 20, 2004 2:50 PM by Ken Robertson

# re: Mortal sin: Just "Doit"

Another annoying thing is two versions of a function that essentially do the same thing a different way. In the system I took over, there is a function AddParameter and SetParameter. AddParameter is more verbose, but problematic. Both are used everywhere, but they can't be used together in the same function.

They (the lazy contractors that designed this) also have exact same function in multiple places with different names. A custom number formatting function in one page is called "FormatNumber", while in another place it has it again, this time called "MyFormatNumber".

I think these guys hadn't heard of "re-use" a whole lot.
Saturday, February 21, 2004 11:39 AM by paul

# re: Seal clubbing - the game (almost)

kill t seal;
Saturday, February 21, 2004 9:38 PM by Tone Engel

# TonesNotes let's you post directly from Word.

You could also try an add-in for Word XP or Word 2003 that let's you post directly from word. No cutting and pasting. All of Words formatting power (tables, code formatting) and a one click post to your .Text powered blog.

With a minor mod to .Text it also handles embedded images (with or without thumbnails) with no extra work. One click, the images go, the post goes, and you get an archived copy saved locally that you can edit and repost at any time.

Enough of a shameless plug. The code is still at an alpha level, but I'm anxious for some brave souls who want to give it a try!

http://workspaces.gotdotnet.com/TonesNotes
Sunday, February 22, 2004 11:42 AM by Darrell

# re: More Lookup table techniques

Not quite answering your question, but Richard quotes:

"That said, table joins to get the string back when you only have the ID are orders of magnitude more expensive. The only time they would be compared is when you are checking a constraint (i.e., on INSERT or UPDATE). You are much more likely to SELECT them and be forced into using a table join to look up your value by its ID."

Joins are very expensive. If you are doing a join to find out all customers that are male is BAD. If I used a lookup table with a relation, I would do a "Select @genderID = GenderID from GENDERTABLE" and then "Select CustomerName from Customers WHERE GenderID = @genderID". The two selects will almost always be faster than a join.

Of course, the benefits of lookup tables for more than a few values are nice. Richard says that he uses SELECT DISTINCT on the column. For large tables this is almost always BAD. There is a huge amount of extra processing involved with a select distinct.

The key to figuring things out like this is to become very knowledgeable (IKnowledgeable?) on how queries work in a particular database. This means figuring out how things work INTERNALLY. It takes a while to figure this stuff out. That's why so few developers do it right. And of course, it takes time that you could be spending on other things like XML, or OOP,or Indigo, etc.
Sunday, February 22, 2004 4:43 PM by Udi Dahan - The Software Simplist

# re: .Net user group review: BizTalk rules engine

What worries me is how the rules engine is supposed to fit into an overall architecture. From what I saw, it is, at best, very problematic.
Sunday, February 22, 2004 4:47 PM by Ian Leff

# re: Iterating over collections - As simple as possible, but no simpler.

how about

for each whateverthehecktheobjectsareinmycollection as object in Customers
...
next
Sunday, February 22, 2004 8:29 PM by TrackBack

# About FOREACH iterating

About FOREACH iterating
Sunday, February 22, 2004 9:07 PM by Darrell

# re: Pair Programming analysis - illuminating!

"The Menlo Institute" - ugh. Looking at the rest of the site made my skin crawl... please be careful in what you take away from there (like nothing else!).
Sunday, February 22, 2004 11:49 PM by Richard Tallent

# re: More Lookup table techniques

Response to Darrell: a SELECT DISTINCT on an *indexed* column only requires traversing the B-Tree, a trivial action that does not even require looking into the data pages.

Thus, for an indexed column, a SELECT DISTINCT on 10,000,000 rows should be just as fast as on 1,000 with the same distinct values. You can proove that the Index Scan and aggregation is all that is necessary by using the SQL Query Analyzer.
Sunday, February 22, 2004 11:54 PM by Hamid

# re: Pair Programming analysis - illuminating!

Pair programming works and is an incredibly efficient means of software development. I wrote about it in one of my blogs as well...http://blogs.axosoft.com/hamids/archive/2004/02/13/147.aspx
Monday, February 23, 2004 2:07 AM by Hans

# re: Speed up Internet Explorer

Thier ar two ways I know that speed up internet explorer.
1. Add or change the DWORD strings in the register MaxConnectionsPerServer and MaxConnectionsPerl_OServer you will find or have to add them in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings
standard it is set on 2 increase it to 6 and don't forget to select the decimal setting.

2.Close all browser windows open the register en goto HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RemoteComputer\NameSpace thier you will find {D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}
delet it close the register en start up your browser.
Monday, February 23, 2004 7:01 AM by Mike A

# re: A Power-Point mystery

How about making an option in PowerPoint to switch off Windows Messenger while the slide show is in progress?

Nothing more embarassing than your partner popping up "Hi Sexy" or something right in the middle of a serious presentation :-)
Monday, February 23, 2004 7:24 AM by Jackie Goldstein

# re: The Regulator featured on RegexLib.com

Cool Roy !

Congrats...

JAckie
Monday, February 23, 2004 10:12 AM by TrackBack

# 66% Evil, seems about right...

<a href="http://homokaasu.org/gematriculator/?referer" target="_blank"><img src="http://homokaasu.org/pics/g/e66.jpg" width="175" height="80" alt="This site is certified 66% EVIL by the Gematriculator" /></a>

Er, I blame <a href="http://weblogs.asp.net/rosherove/archive/2004/02/23/78692.aspx">him</a>, <a href="http://www.sellsbrothers.com/news/showTopic.aspx?ixTopic=1143">him</a> and <a href="http://radio.weblogs.com/0001011/2004/02/22.html#a6629">hiiim</a>, oh and that little voice inside my head...
Monday, February 23, 2004 12:23 PM by Jason Mauss

# re: Asp.Net slider control?

Roy - check out the "2k3 Slider" widget at http://www.stedy.com
Monday, February 23, 2004 11:58 PM by Mike W

# re: A Power-Point mystery

Regarding the continue current, yes absolutly.

And regarding the comment on Messenger? Messenger, the current one( 6.1.0207), has an option unter Tools /Options/ Personal to not have alerts occur when running presentations full screen. The same option will show you busy when doing the same. clever.

Mike
Tuesday, February 24, 2004 1:11 AM by Omri Gazitt

# re: Israeli .Net Bloggers

count me in
Tuesday, February 24, 2004 3:44 AM by TrackBack

# I told you this blog is good :-)

Tuesday, February 24, 2004 4:33 AM by nkn,n,,,n

# re: How to Pass A Microsoft Interview - SDE/T Edition

m,.m
Tuesday, February 24, 2004 4:43 AM by Rory

# re: [Book] Extreme programming adventures in C#

"Overall I'd recommend it if you havn't had any XP experience and want to see what all the fuss is about."

That's definitely me :)

Sounds good. I'm probably going to pick it up...
Tuesday, February 24, 2004 5:12 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Weekend off

No. Not Eilat. But that's where TechEd is going to be :)
Tuesday, February 24, 2004 5:57 AM by Dominic

# re: VS.Net multi language bug - 2.5 years and still going strong?

Roy I hope your getting the message... look at all the guys rushing to reply here.

Instead, there are hundreds of guys from Microsoft blogging about everything except for REAL issues.
Tuesday, February 24, 2004 11:03 AM by Fabrice

# re: Getting a little closer to SOA

Thanks for the plug, Roy.
Looks like this post is not syndicated in the main feed though. Does this mean I'm off-topic? ;-)
Tuesday, February 24, 2004 11:06 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Getting a little closer to SOA

No, it means I don't want to repeat stuff already in the main feed.
:) (DRY, remember?)
Tuesday, February 24, 2004 11:28 AM by Fabrice

# re: Getting a little closer to SOA

lol :))
I didn't see it as a repeat probably because I was paying attention to your opinion and not just to the link. And I would say that your opinion is a "piece of knowledge" on itself :-)
Tuesday, February 24, 2004 1:20 PM by kriekjes

# re: Cool handy site: DropLoad

well i tried the new server, but the person to whom i've sent the file didn't receive anything!!!!!
Tuesday, February 24, 2004 9:07 PM by John Decker

# re: Googlism

John Decker is an all star athelete.
Tuesday, February 24, 2004 9:32 PM by terry

# re: Seal clubbing - the game (almost)

ijktuyufiryhufkdewhfdshdhduhdhdhdhidfdfdsfd
Tuesday, February 24, 2004 11:30 PM by TrackBack

# I told you this blog is good :-)

Wednesday, February 25, 2004 11:21 AM by Jeff

# re: VS.Net refactoring Lessons from IntelliJ IDEA (redux)

If you want refectoring in .net check out

http://www.xtreme-simplicity.net/CSharpRefactory.html

I found this tool a few days ago and seems to work well.
Wednesday, February 25, 2004 12:35 PM by Syl

# re: "Could not open in Design view. Quote values differently..." solved!

I have the same problem of shekar:

<body onload='javascript: footerFocus('<% = viewState.Item("footerFocus") %>')'>

or

<body onload="javascript: footerFocus('<% = viewState.Item("footerFocus") %>')">

doesn't allow me to show the design mode...

If someone have a solution...
Wednesday, February 25, 2004 7:44 PM by Dave Wanta

# re: Thanks for the System.Web.Mail FAQ, Dave

Thanks for the kind words. I enjoy reading your blog.

Cheers!
Dave
Wednesday, February 25, 2004 8:17 PM by Bill Booth

# re: Thanks for the System.Web.Mail FAQ, Dave

+1 He has some great stuff.
Thursday, February 26, 2004 1:02 AM by Bnaya Eshet

# re: ILdotNet - Israel's .Net User Group Information Center

Bless you :)
Thursday, February 26, 2004 1:49 AM by Yura2000

# re: ILdotNet - Israel's .Net User Group Information Center

Great!
I sent you email!!!
Thursday, February 26, 2004 1:55 AM by Memi Lavi

# re: ILdotNet - Israel's .Net User Group Information Center

Great job, Roy!
Thursday, February 26, 2004 5:44 AM by Omer van Kloeten

# re: ILdotNet - Israel's .Net User Group Information Center

*bow* You rule... :D

I think this could be a great site with a few more features, which could expand it to becoming a bit more than an aggregator for user groups in Israel.
I, for one, would love to see a feed that is dedicated to all Israeli .NET webloggers, whether they use .TEXT, dasBlog, LiveJournal, or anything else that can be ripped into a main feed...
Thursday, February 26, 2004 6:36 AM by karthik

# vb.net interview questions

vb.net interview qustions please help me out
Thursday, February 26, 2004 11:16 AM by Pika

# re: When running 'aspnet_regiis -c' still doesn't fix it...

do you mean copy and paste "aspnet_client" folder in my "C:\Inetpub\wwwroot" into "C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\VirtualDirectory"? If that's is, I can't get by this problem...
Thursday, February 26, 2004 1:03 PM by Kris

# re: When running 'aspnet_regiis -c' still doesn't fix it...

Thanks a million
Thursday, February 26, 2004 8:59 PM by TrackBack

# re: Welcome to the Scripting Guys' First Blog

Friday, February 27, 2004 12:57 PM by ghghgh

# re: Automatically Create DataRelations Based On OleDB Schema

public static void InferRelations( DataSet ds, System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnection cn )
{
System.Data.OleDb.OleDbDataAdapter adp = new System.Data.OleDb.OleDbDataAdapter("", cn);
//we can put restrictions on the data we want to recieve
Object[] restrictions = new Object[] {null, null, null, null};
//this is the Foreign key data we need to create relations
DataTable schemaTable = cn.GetOleDbSchemaTable(System.Data.OleDb.OleDbSchemaGuid.Foreign_Keys, restrictions);

//go through all the foreign keys displayed

foreach(DataRow row in schemaTable.Rows)
{
string strTable = row["PK_TABLE_NAME"].ToString();
string strChild = row["FK_TABLE_NAME"].ToString();
string strParentColName = row["PK_COLUMN_NAME"].ToString();
string strChildColName = row["FK_COLUMN_NAME"].ToString();

// the relation name that will be created.
string strRelationName = strTable + "_" + strParentColName + "_" + strChild + "_" + strChildColName;

// create any non existing tables along with key information
CreateAndfFillSchema(ds, adp, strTable);
CreateAndfFillSchema(ds, adp, strChild);
try
{
DataColumn PrimaryColumn = ds.Tables[strTable].Columns[strParentColName];
DataColumn ChildColumn = ds.Tables[strChild].Columns[strChildColName];
ds.Relations.Add(strRelationName, PrimaryColumn, ChildColumn);
}
catch( Exception )
{
//well get here if there's already such as relation, but we want to continue anyway.
}
}
}

private static void CreateAndfFillSchema( System.Data.DataSet ds, System.Data.OleDb.OleDbDataAdapter adp, string TableName)
{
if( ! ds.Tables.Contains(TableName) )
{
adp.SelectCommand.CommandText = "SELECT * FROM " + TableName;
adp.FillSchema(ds, SchemaType.Source, TableName);
}
}
Friday, February 27, 2004 2:28 PM by jon

# re: Cool handy site: DropLoad

kriekjes - was the file over 50mb? We dont accept files over 50mb and really dont give back an intelligent error at this time for that (real paying jobs keep me too busy as it is).

Also, we get a whole lot of mail blocked by whitelist spam tools that require approval. I'm not gonna go fill out a webform so people can send people files so try to add to whitelist in advance :)

If you continue to have problems drop me a line at jon at dropload dot com.
Saturday, February 28, 2004 6:35 PM by Island

# re: Late bound wrapper to MS Word object

Is this thread live ? The link to http://www.dotnetdog.com/archives/MSWordWrapper.zip
is inactive. Any suggestions ?


Mark
Saturday, February 28, 2004 6:53 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Late bound wrapper to MS Word object

uhh.. nope. sorry,.
Saturday, February 28, 2004 8:52 PM by wally

# re: "Could not open in Design view. Quote values differently..." solved!

Just get rid of quotes eclosing javascript, like this

<body onload=javascript: footerFocus('<% = viewState.Item("footerFocus") %>')>
Saturday, February 28, 2004 8:55 PM by wally

# re: "Could not open in Design view. Quote values differently..." solved!

A little addition. Also get rid of all the spaces.
Saturday, February 28, 2004 10:21 PM by brittany

# re: Pure simplicity

how long do u leave on the pumpkin face mask
Sunday, February 29, 2004 12:47 PM by reza

# re: C++ for programmers

hello.
i am mohammad reza abbasi.
i love programing with c++ and c++.net but i havenot a computer best for this work.
also i have not a book reference for this program.i am very poor.

Sunday, February 29, 2004 12:48 PM by reza

# re: C++ for programmers

hello.
i am mohammad reza abbasi.
i love programing with c++ and c++.net but i havenot a computer best for this work.
also i have not a book reference for this program.i am very poor.

Sunday, February 29, 2004 6:08 PM by Aaron Robson

# re: Problem And Solution: "Login failes for some users on a DotNetNuke based portal"

I had a similar issue - was solved by implementing a p3p policy for the site, which then allows user to have a higher security setting in ie, but still accepts cookies.
Involves some code Response.Writing a compact policy to each response IIRC.
Monday, March 01, 2004 2:38 AM by Yuri Gorobets

# re: Problem And Solution: "Login failes for some users on a DotNetNuke based portal"

Hi,
One more solutions is to add this site(and not his alias) to the list of trusted sites in IE.
Monday, March 01, 2004 3:29 AM by Rooc

# re: A macro to automatically attach to aspnet_wp.exe

Weird but it only works once every session. When I start it a second time it does all the loop stuff but doesn't actually attach to the process

(By the way I'm using it on a windows2003 machine and search for the w3wp.exe process.)

gr Rooc
Monday, March 01, 2004 5:08 AM by Anil Kumar Gupta

# re: About coding standards

Hi
I have urgent need for the asp.net coding standards and any automated tool to check the confirmance.
Regards...
Anil Gupta
Monday, March 01, 2004 12:05 PM by Elwin Ardririanto

# re: Scripting .Net

Yes, I'm aggree with you, I think Microsoft forget to bring their lightweight activeX script control into .Net version. But have you try to reuse the old existing microsoft ActiveX script control inside the .Net Visual Studio. It works just normal, and I can still exposing any object instance from inside my .Net Application, and off course VBScript and JScript are still the only language that I can use not the ideal VB.NET.

Actually I've try to make my own scripting control for .NET, but still it is quite difficult to implement since when the script code is compiled then it can no longer be changed with other script and give it to recompile again.

Can you help me
Monday, March 01, 2004 12:32 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Scripting .Net

Elwin:Thanks. Check this article I wrote. It takes your way of implementation to an extreme.
Monday, March 01, 2004 12:34 PM by Claudio Barca

# re: Blue Bricks

Hello,
how-to set Credentials to proxy access with Application Updater?

Many thank's

Claudio Barca
claudio.barca@sistinf.it
Monday, March 01, 2004 1:38 PM by Concerned Citizen

# re: Problem And Solution: "Login failes for some users on a DotNetNuke based portal"

It's sad that certain sites are poorly written and force users to lower their security. This then allows other sites to exploit the lower security and users then blame Microsoft instead of the offending sites.
Tuesday, March 02, 2004 7:46 AM by lennart

# re: Medieval Times

poop
Tuesday, March 02, 2004 7:54 AM by Mark

# re: Longhorn PDC bits download available for MSDN subscribers

Where i get Longhorn??
Tuesday, March 02, 2004 7:26 PM by stefan demetz

# re: Community Application Blocks? nah

http://dotnetjunkies.com/WebLog/stefandemetz/archive/2004/02/24/7870.aspx
Wednesday, March 03, 2004 1:41 PM by test

# re: NET Compact Framework 1.0 Redistributable

what is this?
Wednesday, March 03, 2004 7:37 PM by Kat

# re: Winforms Data Binding Lessons Learned

Unfortunately this solution only works when your displayed sort order matches your tables primary key.

ie: If my customer table has a pk called "ID" but the navigational order for the client is by "Name" (and supports duplicate entries) then this solution fails since there is no way to map the binding position returned in a dataview sorted by ID to the binding position of the table (or another dataview) sorted by NAME.

This has bee a source of great frustration for me since the .NET platform seems to have no mechanism for moving the binding position of a table to the location of a datarow returned in a [datatable].rows.find().

The only workaround I've come up with is to create a hidden combobox called lbGetIndexOf whose datasource is bound to the table and whose display and valumenbers are bound to the tables primary key. I can then sync the binding position by doing a:

bm.position = lbGetIndexOf.FindStringExact(key)
Wednesday, March 03, 2004 7:38 PM by Kat

# re: Winforms Data Binding Lessons Learned

err: thats a hidden LISTBOX not combobox - although either control would work
Wednesday, March 03, 2004 8:22 PM by Arsinal

# re: Was that a shout out?

join my forums
http://www.xelation.net/forums

Wednesday, March 03, 2004 8:23 PM by Arsinal

# re: Was that a shout out?

hjkjhkhjkhjkhj


http://www.xelation.net/forums

Thursday, March 04, 2004 5:49 AM by Miguel Fernandez

# re: Free Web charting control: WebChart

Please send me the web charting for a personal page.
Thursday, March 04, 2004 11:55 AM by g

# re: Checking for NULL values

fg
Thursday, March 04, 2004 1:01 PM by Darrell

# re: New Job

Congratulations!
Thursday, March 04, 2004 1:02 PM by Darrell

# re: Application Security through Active Directory and ADAM

I have a list of all 14 here http://dotnetjunkies.com/WebLog/darrell.norton/archive/2004/03/04/8415.aspx
Thursday, March 04, 2004 1:13 PM by Steve Maine

# re: New Job

Sounds like a pretty good gig. Congrats!
Thursday, March 04, 2004 2:07 PM by Vazz

# RE: New Job

Congratulations!
Thursday, March 04, 2004 2:56 PM by Paschal

# re: New Job

Congrats, Roy. by the way your company's website have a link for English readers, but it's going to hebrew.
Thursday, March 04, 2004 2:59 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: New Job

Hey Paschal, yeah, it does!
here's a link for english readers:
http://mtc.magen.com/MagenMTC/EN/AboutUs/
Thursday, March 04, 2004 6:52 PM by Shannon J Hager

# re: New Job

Congrats on the job, Roy.
Thursday, March 04, 2004 9:04 PM by Jorge

# re: Strip HTML tags from a string using regular expressions

I'm not sure if this topic is still of interest, but I thought I'd share my findings and hopefully address Paschal's need to keep certain tags. I am using the following regular expression to selectively strip potentially malicious tags from HTML text.

string output = Regex.Replace(input, @"</?(?i:script|embed|object|frameset|frame|iframe|meta|link|style)(.|\n)*?>", "");

This expression doesn't suffer from some of the side effects of using the first expression (such as changing "5 < 8 and 3 > 1" to "5 1") and provides the added benefit of being case insensitive (?i:). And you can easily add/remove tag names that you want/don't want to strip.
Thursday, March 04, 2004 11:28 PM by Addy Santo

# re: New Job

mazal tov dude!
Friday, March 05, 2004 8:07 AM by SBC

# re: New Job

g'luck with your new job.. that'll stop you jumping out of airplanes.. :-)
Friday, March 05, 2004 9:49 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: New Job

Thanks all, I appreciate it :)
Friday, March 05, 2004 4:48 PM by Jonas

# re: Introduction To Regular Expressions

Great article. I was also looking for a good and thorough introduction to RegEx and finally found this. Thanks and keep up the good job!
Friday, March 05, 2004 8:57 PM by trannam

# re: Scheduling games

gjgfhfh
Saturday, March 06, 2004 12:44 AM by Jon Galloway

# re: Interesting stuff I missed this week

Great summary... except... ARGH! It reminds me of how cruelly NUnitASP treated me this week! I wanted to like it so much, but I fought with it for hours and kept getting stack overflows in System.XML! Haven't as yet seen it work - not for lack of debugging - even stepping through the assembly. And I'd forgotten about it until now. I'll go cry myself to sleep...
Saturday, March 06, 2004 8:10 AM by gilad g

# re: Developers.org.il - The Israeli developers site

Looks great :)
Saturday, March 06, 2004 11:13 AM by Chris Bilson

# re: Interesting stuff I missed this week

Will you be my geek aggregator?

You must read most of the same stuff I do. This list has all the interesting things I didn't have time to check out this week either. You just saved me half an hour digging around through my aggregator looking for this stuff. Maybe I should just read your blog from now on. Thanks!
Sunday, March 07, 2004 4:56 AM by Oleg Tkachenko

# re: New Job

Congrats, Roy! See what blogging can open to you :) So never stop blogging.
Sunday, March 07, 2004 3:19 PM by ads

# re: Was that a shout out?

asdsad
Monday, March 08, 2004 6:03 AM by TrackBack

# Regular Expressions = Pain?

Monday, March 08, 2004 6:20 AM by TrackBack

# ReSharper

ReSharper
Monday, March 08, 2004 6:20 AM by TrackBack

# ReSharper

ReSharper
Monday, March 08, 2004 8:10 AM by amir

# re: Avoiding DB_SEC_E_AUTH_FAILED exception on connection string

i have something as simple as >>
Dim strcon As String = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=/ain.mdb;User Id=admin;Password=;"

but am still getting the DB_SEC_E_AUTH_FAILED exception
what can be wrong?
Monday, March 08, 2004 6:43 PM by TrackBack

# .NET Happenings #13

Tuesday, March 09, 2004 10:52 AM by Memi Lavi

# re: New Job

Congrats and Good Luck!
Tuesday, March 09, 2004 1:59 PM by Tom W.

# re: [Tip]:MemoryStream.GetBuffer() vs. MemoryStream.ToArray()

Also, GetBuffer() will pad the back end of the byte[] with "\0", depending on the size of the serialized target.
Tuesday, March 09, 2004 2:02 PM by j

# re: When running 'aspnet_regiis -c' still doesn't fix it...

Also, I was driven insane by this. Turns out, my menu webcontrol was used server.transfer tp switch pages. I changed it to response.redirect and no missing validation message! go figure.
Tuesday, March 09, 2004 2:54 PM by Memi Lavi

# re: Asp.Net slider control?

Hey Roy.

We've developed a nice slider control for our framework, with client & server events. Unfortunately, I can't share it with you since it's the intellectual property of EDS, but if you would like to buy it, drop me a line and I'll do my best to help you get a good price.
Tuesday, March 09, 2004 3:10 PM by Memi Lavi

# re: More Lookup table techniques

I think there are few problems with this approach.
First, what will happen if the table does not contain the desired value? For instance, on the first record of the table, there will be no value allowed! (This problem is raised in the original post, but I don't think the solution offered there (dummy records) is acceptable).
Second, from the system administrator point of view this is gonna be a nightmare. If, for instance, he decides to add a value to a lookup table (say, supported operating systems) - how is he going to do that in this configuration?

What we do generally is this: As a rule of thumb, every lookup table is cached (remember we are dealing with .NET here). each time a record is retrieved from the database which contains a value (int) that should be translated (to string, usually), the translation is performed in the closest-to-the-presentation-layer location. For example, we have a special DropDownList server control, which accepts the name of the cached lookup, and display the right items from it.
The reason for this is that the string value is actually not required by the application logic, but only by the end user, which prefer (for some unknown reason) to see "Male" rather than "1". So why grab this unnecessary item all the way from the database in the first place?
Wednesday, March 10, 2004 3:09 AM by Min Kwan Park

# re: The VS7 Debugger doesn’t work. What can I do?

Up to date link of my document is http://weblogs.asp.net/mkpark/articles/86872.aspx
Wednesday, March 10, 2004 10:35 AM by denny

# re: Logging block: RTFM

Hey Roy, you know what bugs me about that.... 2.0 is not a "supported release"
so how can we deploy the block to a customers system with unsupported alpha/beta code??

I am thinking of contacting someone at ms to ask them about that....

any ideas? any info you have on this?
Wednesday, March 10, 2004 2:24 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Logging block: RTFM

Hm.... how about Ron Jacobs?
He has a blog on blogs.msdn.com
Wednesday, March 10, 2004 3:09 PM by Martin Spedding

# re: Mortal Sin: Translating technical terms

Hi,

your blog entry reminded me one from Clemens Vasters

http://staff.newtelligence.net/clemensv/PermaLink.aspx?guid=135

Wednesday, March 10, 2004 3:39 PM by TrackBack

# Take Outs for 10 March 2004

You have been Taken Out! Thanks for the good post.
Wednesday, March 10, 2004 5:09 PM by Metodi

# re: Asp.Net slider control?

Memi Lavi,

how to get in touch with you regarding the slider control?
Wednesday, March 10, 2004 5:11 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Asp.Net slider control?

weblogs.asp.net/memi -
there's a "contact" link there.
Wednesday, March 10, 2004 5:13 PM by denny

# re: Mortal Sin: Translating technical terms

Actualy that sound kins of kool in a goofy way

Platoon has an Organ of Type Necklace

Hey the class has a member of type string Ok.....
Wednesday, March 10, 2004 5:32 PM by Peter Hornby

# re: Mortal Sin: Translating technical terms

Many years ago, when I worked in field support in England, I had an English colleague who had orginally trained as a chef in France. He'd decided that the pay and prospects weren't up to much, and, still in France, had become a computer person, later joining my company. This meant, of course, that he learned his computing terminology in French. I found it strange, and momentarily disorienting, to hear him talk about "charging a file", before realising that what was going on in his head was "charger un fichier", and he'd never learned the equivalent English word "to load". There were other instances of this kind, and we laughed about it.

Pete
Laguna Beach/CA
Wednesday, March 10, 2004 6:57 PM by Shane King

# re: Mortal Sin: Translating technical terms

At least you're clued in to the fact that they're talking gibberish when they're from a non-English speaking background.

Native English speakers who don't know what they're talking about tend to know the right words but don't have a clue about what they're actually saying, which is oh so much worse, as they're actually able to fool some people into thinking they're technically adept! :)
Wednesday, March 10, 2004 7:02 PM by Andreas Häber

# re: Calling managed functions from unmanaged code

If you really need to work with functions using a different calling convention then there is a little neat trick you can use: http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=ew6mLkV6BHA.1932%40tkmsftngp03

Happily there will be support for doing this in C# in the next or vNextNext :) Looking forward to that.. it's a little pain to ildasm/perl/ilasm post-build.
Wednesday, March 10, 2004 7:23 PM by denny

# re: Logging block: RTFM

found abit here:
http://www.gotdotnet.com/Community/MessageBoard/Thread.aspx?id=162085&Page=1#203049

a named Doug says:

A project I am working on uses the Logging Application Block in
production code without the wse 2.0 installed. Simply do not install
the LAB components Microsoft.ApplicationBlocks.Logging.WseCustomFilters.RequestTracingFilter.dll
and Microsoft.ApplicationBlocks.Logging.WseCustomFilters.MeteringOutputFilter.dll.
The functionality that is not available is (as the names suggest)
request tracing and metering for web services.

Our company could not take the risk of having production code on
unsupported software (wse 2.0 tech preview).

Otherwise, the LAB works fine without these components.

This may or may not help in your situation.
=================

so if we only need the ief and logging but not the web service bits it should work ok.

Have not tested it myself but it sounds right...
Thursday, March 11, 2004 3:39 AM by Yuri Gorobets

# re: Calling managed functions from unmanaged code

God Bless You, dude!!!
Keep the right direction :-)
Thursday, March 11, 2004 9:13 AM by Paul Schaeflein

# re: Tool: IPCheck - Monitor your web server online status

It's not free, but only $19US

http://www.dkgas.com/webuptime.htm
Thursday, March 11, 2004 9:37 AM by Hernan

# re: Crypto for everyone

Thank's Roy.
I hope it helps you (as well as many others) and I'd love to hear you feedback.

Enjoy it!
Thursday, March 11, 2004 2:53 PM by Humberto Oliveira

# re: Practical Parsing Using Groups in Regular Expressions

Hi,

I really enjoyed your articles. They were very elucidative to me. I am facing a situation similiar to your article at MSDN (Turn Your Log Files into Searchable Data Using Regex and the XML Classes). Your solution seems to suit very well my needs except for the fact that the field in my log files are not separated by tabs, but they have fix lengths and space characters between them. Here is a sample:

FIRST PRES. PURCHASE ORIG 61 8 1,126.89 DR 1,126.89 DR 840-USD 21.25 CR 840-USD

I have the schema for the file and I know the exact location of the fields in the line(starting column and lenght). Can I use a regular expression to separate all the fields based on their positions? If not, do you suggest a different approach?

Thanks,

Humberto Oliveira
Thursday, March 11, 2004 4:08 PM by Udi Dahan - The Software Simplist

# re: Crypto for everyone

Roy, congrats on the 1000th post !
Thursday, March 11, 2004 7:02 PM by TrackBack

# Take Outs for 11 March 2004.

You have been Taken Out. Thank you the post.
Saturday, March 13, 2004 2:13 PM by Memi Lavi

# re: IrfanVIew - simpler, faster, and FREE

Downloaded. Installed. Enjoyed.

Thanks for the tip!
Saturday, March 13, 2004 6:58 PM by Addy Santo

# re: 1001 posts

Now it is official - YOU TALK TOO MUCH :)
Saturday, March 13, 2004 9:32 PM by David Cottrill

# re: Why is RSS adoption so low? Here's why.

"There are some RSS directory sources out there, but its still hard to find them. Compare this with the built-in news group searching features found in all newsreaders and youre starting to see how this is a not so easy task for a newcomer."

I agree wholeheartedly. The first weblog directory site that releases an API for aggregator developers (thereby enabling them to include a decent search function) will gain huge mindshare, and will aid the adoption of RSS in the process. Feedster, Technorati, are you reading this?
Saturday, March 13, 2004 9:33 PM by ElreyRonald

# re: IrfanVIew - simpler, faster, and FREE

I've been using it for a long time! What I found useful is its batch conversion of my digicam pictures into smaller sizes for my website albums! Comes which sharpening too. Works fast.
Sunday, March 14, 2004 1:46 AM by Avner Kashtan

# re: IrfanVIew - simpler, faster, and FREE

Indeed. Even with the whole set of plugins installed, it's still ultra-quick and does everything you want and (just as important) nothing more.

An annoying thing in WindowsXP is its insistence on adding the Preview action to image files to link them to XP's built-in Image Viewer - which is decent, but no more. The problem is that IrfanView knows how to set the Open action to itself, but Preview remains the default action. Some manual action in the Folder Options is necessary, which is always a drag.
Sunday, March 14, 2004 9:41 AM by Taka

# re: Why is RSS adoption so low? Here's why.

Syndic8 already offers an API - we use it as part of Awasu :-)

Non-techies are a group of people we have specifically set out to cater for so we've put a lot of time into the installer and online help and support. We also present them with "channel packs", that is, sets of channels in various areas of interest to help them get started.

But I'd have to agree that the hardest thing is persuading people the value of it and to give it a go. Even techies :rolleyes: :-)
Sunday, March 14, 2004 11:39 PM by Nanda Kumar

# ASP.net , In debugging, Every time ,It is asking to attach debug process, What I should do Permanent debug attach process

What I should do Permanent debug attach process while debugging?
Monday, March 15, 2004 8:06 AM by ashish

# re: "Could not open in Design view. Quote values differently..." solved!

but what is the solution
Monday, March 15, 2004 9:51 AM by TrackBack

# re: The VS7.X Debugger doesn't work, What can I do?

Monday, March 15, 2004 6:39 PM by Matt

# re: IrfanVIew - simpler, faster, and FREE

I've used a number of different photo managers over the past years, including JASC, Adobe, ACDSystems and Irfan. Irfan is great as a free image viewer/converter on my work PC, but I must say that my new favorite is Adobe's Photo Album 2.0 package. The three things that I like most:
- It uses the EXIF standard to capture notes and to organize images. With EXIF, you can create web albums that pull the image info (notes, date, etc.) without the need for a separate data source (DB, XML, or proprietary).
- It has a really neat calendar inferface. You can look at a month view and see a thumb nail on each day that you have pictures from.
- Best part, it integrates with HotMail so now, my wife can send her own pictures from Photo Album and have them resized and attached to HotMail without any help from me!

Of course, I had been using JASC products for a long time so I bought their album product at Christmas without giving Adobe Photo Album much of a preview. Once I gave it a real try, it was a no-brainer.
Monday, March 15, 2004 8:26 PM by James Robertson

# re: Why is RSS adoption so low? Here's why.

Roy,
This is why BottomFeeder has feed building wizards for:

Amazon
Feedster
Blogdigger
Google
Headline News Service
Yahoo News Service

and does auto-discovery to syndic8

Works very nicely....
Tuesday, March 16, 2004 2:32 AM by me

# re: Seal clubbing - the game (almost)

Seal clubbers are sick, sad people!!
Tuesday, March 16, 2004 3:37 PM by TrackBack

# Simple Plug-in Architecture

Tuesday, March 16, 2004 3:37 PM by TrackBack

# Simple Plug-in Architecture

Tuesday, March 16, 2004 3:37 PM by TrackBack

# Simple Plug-in Architecture

Tuesday, March 16, 2004 3:45 PM by TrackBack

# Scripting Goodies

Tuesday, March 16, 2004 3:45 PM by TrackBack

# Scripting Goodies

Tuesday, March 16, 2004 4:34 PM by TrackBack

# Simple Plug-in Architecture

Tuesday, March 16, 2004 4:34 PM by TrackBack

# Scripting Goodies

Tuesday, March 16, 2004 4:47 PM by mahmood khalid

# re: Practical Parsing Using Groups in Regular Expressions

i need my match.
Tuesday, March 16, 2004 7:13 PM by TrackBack

# Take Outs for 16 March

You have been Taken Out! Thanks for the post.
Tuesday, March 16, 2004 10:48 PM by Eli

# re: See me speak at IVCUG about Regex and .Net Plug-ins

Wanted to hear you... Looks as if I won't have the time for...
(After spending all night on SMTP & POP3 protocols)
Wednesday, March 17, 2004 2:38 AM by Memi Lavi

# re: See me speak at IVCUG about Regex and .Net Plug-ins

Good luck, and sorry for not being there to hear you...
Wednesday, March 17, 2004 8:50 AM by alon

# re: See me speak at IVCUG about Regex and .Net Plug-ins

Cool! Are you going to start with the plug-ins or regex?
Wednesday, March 17, 2004 9:56 AM by Kalyan Krishna

# re: About Reflector, Encoding, And an Article Error

First of all thanks a lot for this piece of code, as its just what I was looking for.

Unfortunately I am able to get only 4096 bytes of data from the MemoryBuffer object.

Is there any way to get around that limitation?

Any help is deeply appreciated.
Wednesday, March 17, 2004 2:38 PM by Minh T. Nguyen

# re: About the new .Netweblogs features

For those who host their blogs on their own domains and need to get listed on a non-Microsoft .NET developers blog, they can go to:

http://www.enderminh.com/netdev

I just started that aggregator blog site, so don't know how well it will work out yet.
Minh.
Wednesday, March 17, 2004 5:10 PM by Omer van Kloeten

# re: My talk went very well. You missed out :)

Sorry I couldn't be there. Had to leave early today so that included not coming to the meeting...
You know how schedules get. :/
Wednesday, March 17, 2004 5:25 PM by amir

# re: My talk went very well. You missed out :)

Hi Roy,

I saw you and it was a very good lecture.

"With the Regex lecture, start out with a demo of parsing the log file and then dive into the rest of the material"

sounds OK, especially to those who have no idea what regex is.


"The plugin lecture went too deep. THe part about passing EditorContext to the plugin was a bit too much to handle"

I don't think so. I think that the people at the group want to understand what is going on in your code, not just to see something works without understanding it.

p.s.:
I also asked at the lecture:
where can I found a version that runs on framework 1.0 ? I found only version that runs on 1.1
Wednesday, March 17, 2004 7:47 PM by SBC

# re: Me? rip to shreds?

you must have scared them Roy. See.. no reply posting but this one..
:-)
Thursday, March 18, 2004 2:27 AM by Ilan Assayag

# re: My talk went very well. You missed out :)

Hi Roy,

I think your lecture was great. Both subject will probably become very helpful for me very soon, and it gave me a good starting point.
I do agree that starting the Regex lecture with a demo might make it easier on people who don't know anything about it (although I didn't feel the need for it, because I had at least some idea of what it is and the basics of how it works).

Keep on the good work!

Ilan
Thursday, March 18, 2004 3:21 AM by Yuri Gorobets

# re: My talk went very well. You missed out :)

Hi ,
It went very nice and smoothly.
For me I'd like for introducing more advanced using of Regex, but it is my personal wish. Not sure good for me is good for anyone :-)
Thursday, March 18, 2004 5:20 AM by oleg@tkachenko.com (Oleg Tkachenko)

# RE: Me? rip to shreds?

Customer class implicitly inherits Troll class, just like all others inherit Object.
Thursday, March 18, 2004 5:49 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: My talk went very well. You missed out :)

Thanks for the feedback guys :)
Thursday, March 18, 2004 5:49 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Me? rip to shreds?

Oleg: lol
Thursday, March 18, 2004 9:06 AM by Oren

# re: My talk went very well. You missed out :)

i am kind'a new in the area of programming, and i must say that
the second part (plug-ins) helped me a lot in covering a few gaps i had
about implementing reflection classes and run time discovery of types.
great job Roy!
Thursday, March 18, 2004 9:18 AM by Darrell

# re: Unit testing and test driven resources

I think it is excellent. I know from experience, having given a TDD presentation twice and seeing it several more times. People really get into it when they have code on their hands!
Thursday, March 18, 2004 10:28 AM by Rory

# re: TP?

Yeah :)

It's a pretty weird thing. I don't know if people in other countries "TP," but it's fairly common here in the states...
Thursday, March 18, 2004 11:02 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Unit testing and test driven resources

ok. So how do you actually make do when you can't provide a machine to attendees?
any special workarounds or tricks to help build confidence in the process?
Thursday, March 18, 2004 11:29 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: My talk went very well. You missed out :)

there's a config hack you can do to make it run on .net 1.0:
<configuration>

<startup>

<supportedRuntime version="v1.0.3705"/>

</startup>

Thursday, March 18, 2004 12:13 PM by Uriel

# re: My talk went very well. You missed out :)

Hi Roy,

It was a great lecture, and covered useful topics.
Especially the second part about the plugins and custom SDKs which is an area I'm not experienced with at all. You provided me with a good jump start.

Looking forward for your next ones :-)

BTW, I started reading your blog and found it very interesting.
Few weeks ago you wrote about the "Lookout" Outlook search add-in - it is a great tool and highly recommended.
Thursday, March 18, 2004 12:22 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: My talk went very well. You missed out :)

Uriel - thanks! Hopefully, more will join reading this blog.
Thursday, March 18, 2004 1:19 PM by Darren Neimke

# re: Comments in Regular Expressions

Thanks again for the mention Roy. Did you see this entry:

http://blogs.regexadvice.com/dneimke/archive/2004/03/17/792.aspx

I didn't really know that until I picked it up by reading the Rotor source code the other day! :-)
Thursday, March 18, 2004 1:21 PM by Darren Neimke

# re: RegexLib's web service pays off big time.

Thankyou for the mention Roy and yes the integration of the web searches from within The Regulator is great; I've been using them a lot myself lately!

Cheers,
- Darren
Thursday, March 18, 2004 1:27 PM by Randy

# re: TP?

And funny... when Rory first said I thought "ThinkPad".

Actually, seeing as Chris is in Microsoft, he should be more worried about what they do to his office while he's on vacation... legendary office pranks seem to come at such times!
Thursday, March 18, 2004 1:51 PM by denny

# re: A New Paradigm: "Continuations"?

Hi Roy!

Funny but about 2-3 years back... right when asp.net was in beta I did an app that was very much like what you are describing.....

it was classic asp.

it used a database table to store an xml document that was the "Form" the user filled in.
another table set has the "statemap" of next,back and maped it to a button menu
( some buttons maped to more than one page/form)
the "User state" was stored in another table set .... parent table was "the order" child tables were "Data from a page"

whole boatload of msxml processing code in the asp version that might be a lot less if I port this to .net

basicly it had one form that every screen did a postback to like .net
and on the server side it found the "template" in the database and then looked for a matching xml data document and dumped the data into the form and then pushed it back to the user....

when the user hit the "Next" or "Jump" buttons the server did a for-each-var loop and built an xml doc and then posted it back to the database.

on entry to the system it used a client side cookie with an id number to see if you had an "In Progress" order to re-start
and if you did it would take you back to the last page you had open....

it workes very well, fast, minmal server siade state.

what I did not get funded to do was write the "forms editor" to update the control tables with the xml.

if anyone is interested in how I did this etc... send a msg. to denny at my domain
Figuerres.com

Thursday, March 18, 2004 2:03 PM by Jesse Ezell

# re: A New Paradigm: "Continuations"?

There is a .NET version of Prevalence, which is mentioned in the article as the foundation for many of these apps. So, you could easily support this with .NET.
Thursday, March 18, 2004 2:41 PM by Matt Warren

# re: Real Geeks

Dude, that was my post, not Mitch's.
Thursday, March 18, 2004 3:14 PM by David Naseby

# re: A New Paradigm: "Continuations"?

Prevalence is not the foundation of Continuation-based web servers - not even Prevayler is. Continuations are sort of like goto's with context. The only languages I know of for continuation support are Scheme, SML NJ, Smalltalk (now Avi Bryant has written them in), and Ruby, although there may be more.

The theory of continuations is kind of hard to wrap your head around, but the practice of writing web apps in Seaside (Avi Bryant's smalltalk Continuation-based framework) is incredibly simple.
Thursday, March 18, 2004 5:01 PM by anonymous coward

# re: A New Paradigm: "Continuations"?

scheme, ST, SML/NJ, ruby , unlambda and a rhino (javascript) fork.
But there is a continuation based system even for CLISP.

I suggest you to take a look at the code for borges (I believe ruby is the most clear for casual readers beetween all this languages.)
Thursday, March 18, 2004 5:07 PM by Richard Tallent

# re: A New Paradigm: "Continuations"?

Not exactly the way I've heard it described before, but a good goal. More:

http://www.tallent.us/CommentView.aspx?guid=23695cd8-957b-41c6-be3e-4e121c5565b8
Thursday, March 18, 2004 5:12 PM by Amir

# re: My talk went very well. You missed out :)

about the "config hack you can do to make it run on .net 1.0":

I tried to add an app.config file, and to add these lines, but it didn't work.
I also checked all the other config and xml file, and I couldn't find where to add thosoe lines.

What should I do ?
Thursday, March 18, 2004 5:27 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: My talk went very well. You missed out :)

Amir: what exactly are you trying to run?
Thursday, March 18, 2004 5:52 PM by Amir

# re: My talk went very well. You missed out :)

The Regulator.exe file
Thursday, March 18, 2004 6:54 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: My talk went very well. You missed out :)

Amir: try downloading this zip file, and put the config file in the directory with the regulator exe.
I hope it works :)
http://royo.is-a-geek.com/regulator.exe.zip

tell me if it does work, and I'll publish it officially.
Thursday, March 18, 2004 7:05 PM by Josh

# re: DevDays grab-bag should be improved

If there is no admission price in Israel, I would guess that is a pretty clear explanation. You don't think it makes sense for people that pay ($99 USD) get something that you do not?
I agree, you probably should get access to the source code, but you can't really argue for the DVD with lecture videos. I wouldn't be surprised if the source code eventually shows up on MSDN or Vertigo's website. I'd post it, but they would probably get mad at me.
Thursday, March 18, 2004 7:22 PM by JosephCooney

# re: The amazing CLR runtime re-appearing trick

Are they being protected by Windows File Protection?
Thursday, March 18, 2004 7:23 PM by JosephCooney

# re: The amazing CLR runtime re-appearing trick

Sorry, to clarify - is mscorlib.dll being protected by WFP? This could explain this behavior.
Thursday, March 18, 2004 7:31 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: The amazing CLR runtime re-appearing trick

Joseph: *gulp* silly me. It is indeed WFP that is restoring that file automatically out of System32\dllCache.
There's a great article that describes what WFP is and how to configure it.
Thanks for the heads up!
Thursday, March 18, 2004 8:41 PM by Dave

# re: The amazing CLR runtime re-appearing trick

Are you sure it's WFP that's restoring the file, as that usually kicks in straight away (if you sit and watch the the folder the file comes back).

It could be the msi based installation repairing itself.
Thursday, March 18, 2004 8:47 PM by Matt Warren

# re: The amazing CLR runtime re-appearing trick

You are all wrong. It is little elves.
Thursday, March 18, 2004 8:51 PM by Brian Desmond

# re: CodeRush vs. CodeSmart

I used CodeSMART when i used VB6, I've had some stability issues with CodeSMART for VS.Net. I currently use CodeRush, and I love it. CodeSMART has a lot of handy utilities, but, it doesn't have the template engine that CodeRush has.
Thursday, March 18, 2004 11:05 PM by JosephCooney

# re: The amazing CLR runtime re-appearing trick

Elves? No - The CLR loves you Roy, and wants you to be happy.
Friday, March 19, 2004 3:14 AM by Amir

# re: My talk went very well. You missed out :)

Now it works fine.

Thanks !
Friday, March 19, 2004 3:23 AM by LeeB

# re: The amazing CLR runtime re-appearing trick

If it was WFP then presumably this would repair NET1.0 as well since WFP is a core Windows service?
Friday, March 19, 2004 4:57 AM by Martin Liversage

# re: The amazing CLR runtime re-appearing trick

I don't know if mscorlib.dll is protected by WFP, but either you are seeing WFP kicking in or it is Windows Installer that repairs your installation.

Windows Installer is actually quite amazing in that respect, but being a developer I have been bitten by this behaviour a few times. I remember once where we were in the late testing phases and all our software was installed by Windows Installer as we would ship it. The testers found a bug and to in order to fix it I had to create a special instrumented DLL. I was in a hurry so instead of building a new installer I stuffed the new DLL on a floppy, whizzed into the test lab, dragged the new DLL on top of the old one in Explorer and started the app when, doooh... Windows Installer started and "repaired" my application overwriting my instrumented DLL with the original DLL. In theory I knew that this would happen, but seeing the "magic" being done at a stressed moment was a fun experience since it was both nice and annoying at the same time. Actually, we could delete the complete app, and as long as the shortcut was in place Windows Installer would install and repair the application. The app was off course published using AD so the shortcut was always there. Windows Installer is your friend.
Friday, March 19, 2004 9:09 AM by AndrewSeven

# re: The amazing CLR runtime re-appearing trick

I demoed this functionality (WFP) with Guy Barrette at DevDays 99 here in Montreal.

We had tried the demo a couple times with notepad.exe.

When we got on stage to do the demo, the file was getting restored so fast that it seemed as though we were not really saying ok to the delete file prompt.

So we started deleting other files ... people were impressed. :)
Friday, March 19, 2004 10:43 AM by Darrell

# re: A New Paradigm: "Continuations"?

Technically all you really need to do is save the cumulative state in viewstate. Not that I am recommending this, but it's not that complex an idea or application to do.

Is it great that someone has written a framework to do it? Yes.

I'll just stick with the UIP. I haven't had a problem with the Back button on the UIP.
Friday, March 19, 2004 2:34 PM by Christian Romney

# re: Is sharing information in a blog wrong for your company? An ethical dilemma

If you found information on the web, even after 1.5 hours of searching on company time, the right thing to do is to let others know about it. This is the only way you can give back to the community that has given to you.
Friday, March 19, 2004 3:45 PM by Mani Swaminathan

# re: The amazing CLR runtime re-appearing trick

It does not work!!

i got the following error (my program was compiled for debug!!)

The error message was

Failed to delay load library mscorb.dll (Win32 error: 2)

This program can no longer run and will now terminate

PS:
Btw i used to work with Addy Santo!!
Friday, March 19, 2004 11:15 PM by Paul

# re: A New Paradigm: "Continuations"?

Continuations in Ruby, Lisp, Smalltalk, etc... let you specify a code to execute after you function has executed. Something to do instead of 'return'...

Continuations in web development (ala Seaside most recently) are a bit different but use the same metaphor. I'd almost compare them to the new iterator support in the next rev of C# - the 'yield' statement. Continuations in web development let you write code like this.

Get state from user
lookup all cities for state
let user select city
lookup all locations in city
ask user for location

So in smalltalk or other dynamic languages this means you are writing a work flow with a single bit of code, as opposed to ASP.NET where you write your code on a postback by postback basis. In .NET the example would look like

if state = 0 {
Get State from user
set state = 1
}
if state = 1 {
Lookup all cities for state
set state = 2
}

and on. so mostly it's about a simpler developer experience. The downside to these are that it's all session managed. Either you put it in the URL and have fugly URL's or you put it in a cookie and can't run the same app twice from different windows of the same browser (cookies are shared).

If you know smalltalk - snag a copy of squeak and seaside - it's kind of fun!

Friday, March 19, 2004 11:23 PM by desidotnet

# re: Searching Borland and MS newsgroups even if your firewall won't let you use a newsreader.

google's newsgroup search is much better and more powerful. it allows to such selected sub newsgroups.
Saturday, March 20, 2004 8:46 AM by Phil Weber

# re: DevDays grab-bag should be improved

Didn't you get a free copy of "Writing Secure Code"? We didn't get that!
Saturday, March 20, 2004 10:38 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: DevDays grab-bag should be improved

Phil: yep. We got that, and that's great, but all the other stuff, including the source codes and lectures... sure was missing.
I just wish everyone would get the same stuff.
Saturday, March 20, 2004 11:45 AM by Steven E. Newton

# re: Test Driven Development enters mainstream following MSDN Magazine article

It was Ward Cunningham of the Three Extremos who joined Microsoft Research. Kent Beck is still consulting.
Saturday, March 20, 2004 12:36 PM by ??

# re: Stupid Query Analyzer tricks - a working analog clock

???
Saturday, March 20, 2004 2:28 PM by Udi Dahan - The Software Simplist

# re: Test Driven Development enters mainstream following MSDN Magazine article

TDD is a huge step in the right direction, but it's not enough. XP practices come in to pick up the slack where TDD lacks. See my post here: http://udidahan.weblogs.us/archives/017367.html
Sunday, March 21, 2004 6:10 AM by Duane aka Ditch from sqlteam.com

# re: Stupid Query Analyzer tricks - a working analog clock

yep. Some people have too much time on their hands

Nice Pun!


Sunday, March 21, 2004 12:04 PM by Mun

# re: Stupid Query Analyzer tricks - a working analog clock

Way too much time indeed, though it is kinda cool :-)
Sunday, March 21, 2004 12:24 PM by TrackBack

# Take Outs for 21 March 2004.

Take Outs for 21 March 2004.
Sunday, March 21, 2004 1:09 PM by Guy Sofer

# re: Is sharing information in a blog wrong for your company? An ethical dilemma

Hi Row,

I read your blog once in a while - and I find it helpful. The RegExp series were excellent. I could not be in your pres but I keep track your links on the issue
BTY - good luck in your new job:-)

Regard your feedback to my question - its actually a serious answer - 10x, but - I'm sure u agree that you could omit the dramatic phrase: deep & complex …

I'm sure there r other new blogger/s that ask this question

Guy
Sunday, March 21, 2004 2:09 PM by Tom Mallard

# re: Filling typed datasets using Data Access Application Block v.2.0

FWIW, newbie reading "Filling typed datasets...", just had gotten this to work as a global method for pages to use in a querystring, same idea as your helper. I'm migrating a portal from classic asp to c#.net, original asp code was organized this way, makes mapping functions to c# way easier than I expected since most were methods.

using System;

namespace yourNamespace {
/// <summary>
///
/// </summary>
public class uurl {
public uurl() { }
public string main(){
return getUURL();
}
public string getUURL() {
Random oRandom = new Random();
double dblRandom = oRandom.NextDouble();
double invRandom = 1/(dblRandom + 3.9);
DateTime oDateTime = DateTime.Now;
string strDateTime = oDateTime.ToString();
bool bGetToss = Convert.ToBoolean(System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Application["getToss"]);
int ms = oDateTime.Millisecond;
int invMS = 1/ms;
string strUURL = System.Web.HttpUtility.UrlEncode(strDateTime + "|" + bGetToss.ToString() + "|" + invRandom.ToString() + "|" + dblRandom.ToString() + "|" + ms + 1/ms + "|");
if(strUURL != "" || strUURL != null){
return strUURL.ToString();
}else{
return "default.IeekIEosLMdmwPOkowqUIFDUIuds9938ck83736ckd";
}
}
}
}

Then on a page:

yourNamespace.uurl oUURL = new yourNamespace.uurl();
this.strUURL = oUURL.getUURL().ToString();

good stuff, yum, yum,

kutgw,

newbie tom
Sunday, March 21, 2004 4:35 PM by TrackBack

# Test Driven Development with NUnit

After having it appear again on my "technology radar" this weekend, I've finally decided to give Test Driven Development (TDD) a try with NUnit. I'm using my SharePointFav application as the guinea pig. So far, I'm finding it quite helpful....
Sunday, March 21, 2004 7:48 PM by Darrell

# re: Article: Troubleshooting Stored Procedure Recompilation

"You don't have to DROP temp tables at the end of the sproc. They will be dropped automatically when the sproc finishes."

- As long as they were created within that proc.
Monday, March 22, 2004 7:36 AM by TrackBack

# VS7 debugging fun

Monday, March 22, 2004 7:36 AM by TrackBack

# VS7 debugging fun

Monday, March 22, 2004 7:44 AM by gangstah

# re: Cool IDE Shortcut

as a .net newbie, I'm learning to love you. HATE the mixed case code.

have good and get give.
Monday, March 22, 2004 1:31 PM by Minh T. Nguyen

# re: GotDotNet is friggin broken

I emailed Betsy Aoki (the MSDN community program manager) who emailed me back saying that they are facing some hardware issues and that they are working on this.

Quote:

"Last week, the problem seemed less severe but this time it looks like hardware failure, and not a result of the workspaces upgrade or anything else [...] we do have backups and our ops teams are working to resolve this, so you will see Gotdotnet come back up. It’s just going to take some time to fix. "

Minh T. Nguyen.
Monday, March 22, 2004 4:14 PM by Peter Provost

# re: GotDotNet is friggin broken

My suggestion would be to follow Dare and get off of GDN workspaces. There are a number of better Open Source communities out there. Check one of them out.
Monday, March 22, 2004 5:09 PM by denny

# re: GotDotNet is friggin broken

Hmmm......

/me wonders:

and they run gdn on what? one server? what about a web farm so that one server having a hardware problem is not taking the whole site down?
Monday, March 22, 2004 5:50 PM by JosephCooney

# re: GotDotNet is friggin broken

My user samples were off-line last night too. They seem to be OK now tho.
Monday, March 22, 2004 7:00 PM by Ryan Rinaldi

# re: New look for Technorati

FYI: your link to technorati is broke. :(
Monday, March 22, 2004 7:53 PM by SBC

# re: Download Slides & code from my Regex and Plugins presentation

thanks Roy.. quite soon I'll be coaching some developers on the joys of RegEx so it'll be useful.. :-)
Tuesday, March 23, 2004 2:18 AM by Duane aka Ditch from sqlteam.com

# re: Stupid Query Analyzer tricks - a working analog clock

Some of us just manage our time well!
Tuesday, March 23, 2004 8:06 AM by TrackBack

# DataReader to DataTable sample code

DataReader to DataTable sample code
Tuesday, March 23, 2004 10:25 AM by TrackBack

# The Knowledge Base is your friend

The Knowledge Base is your friend
Tuesday, March 23, 2004 4:56 PM by Dejan Vesic

# re: IrfanVIew - simpler, faster, and FREE


I can strongly recommend XnView (http://www.xnview.com) - completely free, with great conversion engine (can be used via scripts or command-line, as nconvert.exe) and with decent amount of picture editing actions.

Try it, you won't be disappointed.

Regards,
Dejan
Wednesday, March 24, 2004 12:03 AM by lvermeulen

# re: [Tool] The long awaited Resharper - is VB.Net left behind again?

Just recieved an email about one today (supports both VB and VC# but not unfortunately C++) www.devexpress.com/coderush not sure how it compares yet but there is an evaluation.
Wednesday, March 24, 2004 1:53 AM by Mani

# re: Issue and solution: Web custom control not showing in designer with "Security Error" tooltip

Hi,
i have a similar problem.. in the designer i get a error creating control..but at runtime, i get the desired output.. there are no security reasons behind this... can u help
Wednesday, March 24, 2004 9:52 AM by rainwood

# re: Typed Dataset Q&A

I have created a typed dataset with all records of a table.
At runtime I want to filter that dataset.
Using merge with a untyped dataset won't work.

can you give me a hand?
Wednesday, March 24, 2004 12:19 PM by TrackBack

# The Regulator moves to SourceForge, slowly but surely

Wednesday, March 24, 2004 12:39 PM by Armando

# re: DataReader.HasRows

I have changed my framework version to 1.1 but it's the same, the HasRows propiety does not exist.
Any comment about it.
Thursday, March 25, 2004 4:21 AM by Frans Bouma

# re: The Regulator moves to SourceForge, slowly but surely

isn't the CVS crap bugging you? I had a lib at SF a couple of years ago, but checking in / out the code in SF's CVS crap was a pain.
Thursday, March 25, 2004 5:24 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: The Regulator moves to SourceForge, slowly but surely

Since I'm not using CVS, it's not bothering me :)
I don't share any source there. Just the binary releases.
Thursday, March 25, 2004 5:43 AM by TrackBack

# Roy Osherove on building a plug in architecture for your application

Thursday, March 25, 2004 5:44 AM by TrackBack

# Roy Osherove on adding scripting support to your .NET application

Thursday, March 25, 2004 5:47 AM by TrackBack

# Roy Osherove on building a plug in architecture for your application

Thursday, March 25, 2004 5:54 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: CodeRush vs. CodeSmart

Yes it does!
Thursday, March 25, 2004 6:53 PM by .

# re: How CodeRush pissed me off

this isn't a comparison. this is a msg posted after a bad day
Friday, March 26, 2004 1:00 AM by hawk

# re: Source Colorizer Web Service

I wont to join whit you to learning j2me
Friday, March 26, 2004 3:22 AM by Who cares?

# re: How CodeRush pissed me off

Oh boy, another Very Basic-y not getting the power and features of CodeRush - well, be happy with CodeSmart and just leave us alone, will ya?
Friday, March 26, 2004 3:39 AM by Mark Spitz

# re: Introduction To Regular Expressions

Wow, two years ago I had been searching for some info to use regular expressions in my ASP-Code. That time damn many hours were wasted until usable and mostly important understandable data was found. Now I wanted to refresh the old knowledge and this article is an almost fool-proof introduction to a fascinating area of coding.

Fantastic work. I'd like it would easier to find more of these valuable articles.
Friday, March 26, 2004 6:51 AM by Jason

# re: Seal clubbing - the game (almost)

there are no seals it is a penguin!

aren't you a little oldto be watching 'The Goonies'?
Saturday, March 27, 2004 2:12 AM by Dave Buckner

# re: Real Geeks

Sounds like something my wife would say! Even the packers.
Saturday, March 27, 2004 11:02 AM by Paul Seabury

# re: Calling managed functions from unmanaged code

Is there any way you can post a small trivial example of the first Q&A post? We are currently having problems with some (strangely not all though) delegate callbacks when we mix managed/unmanaged code. This is how we have been doing it in sorta-psuedo-code.

Say our managed Forms app has a function

private void AddListViewItem(ListViewItem * lvi)
{
...
}

and we declare/create a delegate...

public __delegate void AddDelegate(ListViewItem * lvi);
AddDelegate * myAD;
myAD = new AddDelegate(this,AddListViewItem);

Now we can pass a pointer to this class to our unmanaged classes using the <gcroot> mechanism, and then call the delegate.

Object * [] o = {listViewItem1};
_parent->Invoke(_parent->myAD,o);



This works flawlessly in some cases, calling back in on the correct thread etc., but in other cases we get constant exceptions of the "The Application has requested that the runtime terminate it in an unusual way...". Is there something obviously wrong with this? MSDN suggests this as the only way to insure thread safety (and prevent crashes other weird behavior) with Forms controls.

Thanks,

Paul M. Seabury
Saturday, March 27, 2004 12:33 PM by David Scott

# re: How CodeRush pissed me off

I wrote a VS.NET macro that will provide the functionality of the Selection Expansion feature. If you are interested you can find it at http://www.idiotproof.org/DasBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=84a07b84-6023-4b36-a9a6-641845d84459
Saturday, March 27, 2004 1:25 PM by TrackBack

# VS-Styler :Toggle and save your VS.Net font and color settings instantly

Saturday, March 27, 2004 4:27 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Calling managed functions from unmanaged code

I don't have a valid example to show you. But you should try using CLR spy to see what kind of interop trouble you're getting into.
CLR spy is free:
http://www.gotdotnet.com/Community/UserSamples/Details.aspx?SampleGuid=c7b955c7-231a-406c-9fa5-ad09ef3bb37f
Saturday, March 27, 2004 7:44 PM by Rory

# re: Big Fish

I'm there with you - Some movies just reduce me to a useless puddle of sniffles.

"Well, count me in as one of those “action-fighiting-jackie chan kicking- matrix sniffins-X-men loving” freaks form now on. That way I can easily hide my quick-cry feature from those I care about."

Hey :) Don't turn your back on a good cry. Some people will think you're a sissy, but few things on this planet feel better than getting teary every so often, so who cares what everybody else thinks...

Also, I haven't seen Big Fish yet, but I could tell from the previews that I'd probably lose it in the theater, so I'm waiting for it to come out on DVD :) (OK - truth is that I haven't had time to see it, but I *am* going to (and I was serious when I said I could tell that it was a tear jerker)).
Saturday, March 27, 2004 8:10 PM by Steve Maine

# re: The problem with Multi-Cast Delegates

If you wanted to implement delegate chaining, you could type your methods as returning void and accumulate the return values in a ref parameter.
Saturday, March 27, 2004 11:20 PM by Jason Olson

# re: VS-Styler :Toggle and save your VS.Net font and color settings instantly

Once again, thanks for the link Roy! I really appreciate it :).
Sunday, March 28, 2004 3:40 AM by senkwe

# re: Very good intro article to Test Driven Development, but lots more needed

James Newkirk co-authored that article. He's mentioned before in newsgroup postings that he's not a fan of mock objects. I'm looking forward to his book for any alternative methods.
Sunday, March 28, 2004 8:03 AM by Avner Kashtan

# re: Troubled comments in XML documents

Huh. That's nothing.
Try creating an HTML file containing no less than 96 (!) consecutive dashes, setting the encoding to Hebrew (1255) and opening it in IE6 (non-SP1). Wait 2 seconds. Crash. Repeat.

Silliest bug I've ever seen.
Sunday, March 28, 2004 11:21 AM by oleg@tkachenko.com (Oleg Tkachenko)

# RE: Troubled comments in XML documents

Yeah, that's a nasty one. In fact that's just "--" that's forbidden in comments.
Also CDATA sections can't contain characters.

But that's not a bugs, that's behaviour by design to make XML parsing easier.
Sunday, March 28, 2004 12:13 PM by Duncan Godwin

# re: The problem with Multi-Cast Delegates

You can using the GetInvocationList on the delegate, and get the reslt for each. Have a look at:

if( completed != null ) {
foreach( WorkCompleted wc in completed.GetInvocationList() ) {
int grade = wc();
Console.WriteLine("Worker grade= " + grade);
}
}

Sourced from http://www.sellsbrothers.com/writing/default.aspx?content=delegates.htm / Harvesting the Results.
Sunday, March 28, 2004 1:09 PM by TrackBack

# re: Book: Test Driven Development in Microsoft .Net

Sunday, March 28, 2004 5:58 PM by Ron Green

# re: I think I found my book of the month

I just got it Friday.
Sunday, March 28, 2004 6:42 PM by Paul Speranza

# re: I think I found my book of the month

Hey Roy,

I just got this book the other day and I am on chapter 5. I was looking for some ideas for NUnit and so far the book looks good. I am mainly looking to see if I am missing anything about NUnit so that I can get better with it. Obviously I want to learn more about TDD also. So far I like it.

I also bought Extreme Programming adventures in C# from MS Press with the TDDbook. I am kind of reading them both at the same time since they are related. The XP book is excellent. I started with the TDD book but just happend to read the intro to the XP book and the author, Ron Jeffries, just hooked me right away. I can't put the XP book down!

I am always looking for ways to improve my coding habits. I hope that between these two books I will have the same religious experience I had after I read Code Complete.
Sunday, March 28, 2004 9:52 PM by Darrell

# re: Low defect rates are not a myth

From the post: "recorded exactly one bug against their system" I guess it depends on what the definition of "record a bug" is. Sometimes someone can writeup a "user story" to change the desired behavior. Thus, no bug.

I'm not knocking the quality aspect of XP, but there are no industry standard definitions of bugs. And recategorizing things to make them not bugs is common.

For an analogy with retailers and ordering metrics, there are actual *standards* that define what a "perfect order" is. You meet all the requirements for a perfect order, and you can count it. Otherwise, you can't. Period.
Sunday, March 28, 2004 10:26 PM by Mike Gunderloy

# re: Another day, another contest. Wanna help?

Come up with a decent contest and I'm good for a copy of <a href="http://www.codertodeveloper.com/>Coder to Developer</a>
Monday, March 29, 2004 3:25 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Another day, another contest. Wanna help?

Cool Mike. Thanks!
Monday, March 29, 2004 3:27 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Low defect rates are not a myth

Darrell: sure, I was just using this "1 per year" as an extreme example. Obviously the world isn't *that* wonderful, but Fowler lists some more realistic stuff in there too. I still love those numbers.
Monday, March 29, 2004 8:46 AM by Mark Miller

# re: How CodeRush pissed me off

Hi Roy,

First of all, I want to say how impressed I am with your passion for CodeSmart. It's a great thing to be excited about a tool that improves your life.

I would like to respond to two issues raised in your message.

First, you expressed concern about CodeSmart not appearing in our feature comparison. We omitted CodeSmart because it did not have the buzz that Visual Assist X and Resharper did. CodeSmart was a candidate for inclusion, but so were others, including Visual SlickEdit, CodeObject Premium, CodeWright, CodePatterns.NET, CodeObject, CodeBox, Studio Complete, CodeReview, CodeSwap, etc. In the near future when we dedicate resources to updating the feature comparison matrix, it is likely that CodeSmart will appear in that list.

Second, I wanted to clear up some potential confusion. No where on our site do we claim that CodeRush is the only tool to include code templates. We do say that "CodeRush is the only programmer's tool to ship with an extensive code template library." This statement is true. The CodeRush template library is *extensive* (huge in breadth and depth). Most tools offering code templates include a small handful of simple templates. The burden then falls on the customer to determine and fill-in the missing pieces. Most developers don't spend every waking moment thinking about ways to improve their productivity, but we do. The CodeRush templates provide a strong foundation upon which teams and individuals can build and extend to fulfill changing needs. The content is accessible, consistent, sophisticated, and quite efficient.

I offer the following section of the CodeRush User Guide as proof:

Create\Code Templates\Member Declarations

This will provide a peek at a small but important cross-section of the entire template library.

Finally, I wanted to add that I think being a fan of a developer tool is a great thing, and we fully support our customers who use other third-party tools with CodeRush. The very nature of CodeRush's visual extensibility architecture is a testament to that philosophy. We think there is nothing cooler than a new dev tool idea with a great implementation, and that's why we made it so easy to extend Visual Studio with CodeRush. This is also why we have made the core CodeRush engine and the plug-in wizards free to all developers. Of course, we feel this way not only for plug-ins that work with CodeRush, but also for products made by our competitors.

Ultimately, it's about increasing productivity, and we have great respect for anyone who is working hard to do that.

Best regards,

Mark Miller - Developer Express
Monday, March 29, 2004 11:42 AM by TrackBack

# Very good contest news, and an apology to Mark Miller

Monday, March 29, 2004 12:16 PM by Ohad

# re: The problem with Multi-Cast Delegates

One thing you need to remember is that the order of invocation is not guaranteed by Microsoft and can be changed in future version of .net i.e. the internal implementation can be changed.
Monday, March 29, 2004 1:59 PM by Dumky

# More details on events vs. delegates

http://blog.monstuff.com/archives/000040.html
Three main differences:
- events can be included in interfaces,
- events can only be invoked by the containing class,
- events' signatures are constrained (depends on language and CLS compliance).

Events also add a pair of customizable methods "add" and "remove" similar to properties ("get" and "set").

Monday, March 29, 2004 4:11 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Delegates & Events - A short Q&A

Dumky: excellent!
I'll go have a read asap.
Looks like there's always more to learn :)
Monday, March 29, 2004 4:13 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: The problem with Multi-Cast Delegates

Oahd: yep. I should have included that.
Duncan: yep, I can, but that was not my point. my point was that if someone wanted to, this could not be avoided by the class designer.
Monday, March 29, 2004 8:13 PM by Randy H.

# re: A Biztalk 2004 riddle - Catching an exception from a web service

Roy, I have not worked extensively with BT2004 so I'm not really sure where to start on this one. I have some contact info from the BizTalk team somewhere, I might be able to hook you up with someone that I met a while back. Let me take a look and if I have something useful I'll e-mail you.
Tuesday, March 30, 2004 12:36 AM by jayson knight

# re: Some engineer jokes

good stuff there
Tuesday, March 30, 2004 12:38 AM by Omer van Kloeten

# re: Very good contest news, and an apology to Mark Miller

Cool! Any hints on what the prizes are? :)

I'd go for code challanges. "Make the most effecient, platform independant code for X" are always good.
Best looking WinForms control could be nice. Source might pose a problem, so maybe just screenshots of them...
Tuesday, March 30, 2004 3:12 AM by DotNetJunkie

# re: Creating a generic Site-To-RSS tool

Very nice. I've been googling all day trying to find just such a starting point for doing something similar. This should prove to save me quite a bit of time.

My boss is insiting that I build a tool that will turn any HTML document into an RSS feed. I'm not sure how I will accomplish that though. There are just too many possibilities, at first glance it would seem one would need artificial intelligence. When I told him that, he said "take a look at myRSS, they do it so you should be able to." Sure enough, on the surface it would seem that pretty much any web page can be converted into an RSS feed at myRSS. How they do it, I know not. But I would love to learn how.
Tuesday, March 30, 2004 4:48 AM by Paul Bartlett

# re: A Biztalk 2004 riddle - Catching an exception from a web service

Are you sure it's "your friend"? ;)
Tuesday, March 30, 2004 5:43 AM by TrackBack

# Paste properly formatted code into your blog

Tuesday, March 30, 2004 5:43 AM by TrackBack

# Paste properly formatted code into your blog

Tuesday, March 30, 2004 10:46 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: A Biztalk 2004 riddle - Catching an exception from a web service

Paul: heh
Yep. I have no problem saying I don't know something.
Tuesday, March 30, 2004 11:00 AM by Maxim V. Karpov

# re: A Biztalk 2004 riddle - Catching an exception from a web service

it is not possible to know everything!
Tuesday, March 30, 2004 12:38 PM by denny

# re: [Cool tool] SQLCheck - FREE SQL server performance monitor/screen saver

Hmmm.... looks cool but it wont login to my local server....
I'll ask them... but no diags, the app does not seem to write any text log....
the error is the std. "make sure you have the right account info"
Tuesday, March 30, 2004 1:15 PM by TrackBack

# Oops! Typed Datasets ARE scalable!

Tuesday, March 30, 2004 3:27 PM by TrackBack

# [Cool tool] SQLCheck - FREE SQL server performance monitor/screen saver

Tuesday, March 30, 2004 3:28 PM by TrackBack

# [Cool tool] SQLCheck - FREE SQL server performance monitor/screen saver

Tuesday, March 30, 2004 3:36 PM by Andrew Watt

# re: A Biztalk 2004 riddle - Catching an exception from a web service

Roy,

Try Scott Woodgate. I think his email is ScottWoo@microsoft.com. Failing that contact him via http://blogs.msdn.com/scottwoo/contact.aspx.

I hope that helps.

Andrew Watt
Tuesday, March 30, 2004 4:02 PM by Chad

# re: When Regular Expressions Attack

DateTime.Parse()
Tuesday, March 30, 2004 4:50 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: [Cool tool] SQLCheck - FREE SQL server performance monitor/screen saver

Denny: weird. works just fine here.
maybe you're using SQL authentication instead of windows, or the opposite...
Tuesday, March 30, 2004 4:50 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: A Biztalk 2004 riddle - Catching an exception from a web service

Thanks Andrew :)
Tuesday, March 30, 2004 7:20 PM by Joe Klug

# re: A Biztalk 2004 riddle - Catching an exception from a web service

Look at the rety count in the send port configuration. By default it's set to 3 retries at 5 minute intervals. BizTalk will log exceptions in the application event log or in HAT until the number of retries is exhausted. Once this happens the exception will be passed back to the orchestration.

Hope this helps,

Joe
Tuesday, March 30, 2004 7:57 PM by Scott Woodgate

# re: A Biztalk 2004 riddle - Catching an exception from a web service

FYI Joe is the program manager for Web Services at Microsoft. Hopefully this helps you. Scott.
Wednesday, March 31, 2004 6:38 AM by Greg Pyatt

# re: VS.Net Database Projects - learn to use them (Sample chapter included)

Book name? Publisher? Author? Should I have to go looking through the pdf to find this? Didn't they teach you to quote your sources in school? Naughty. No cookie for you.
Wednesday, March 31, 2004 7:36 AM by Ian Griffiths

# re: VS.Net Database Projects - learn to use them (Sample chapter included)

Maybe I missed something, but I don't see how you make a create script that reconstructs the data as well as the schema.

I can see how to export the database structure, but there doesn't seem to be any option for exporting data in the create scripts. I only see the "Export Data..." menu option, which (a) is seperate from create scripts and (b) appears only to be available one table at a time.
Wednesday, March 31, 2004 8:46 AM by Darrell

# re: VS.Net Database Projects - learn to use them (Sample chapter included)

Ian - you have to export data 1 table at a time because it exports to a file that is then used by the SQL Server bcp utility to import the data. But once you have exported the data, you can create command scripts that will create the database, create the schema, and import the data.
Wednesday, March 31, 2004 10:17 AM by ok

# re: InfoPath download link (and a lawsuit waiting to happen)

ok
Wednesday, March 31, 2004 11:33 AM by Ivan Hawkes

# re: App.Config Magic

Hi Ritish,

You probably know this by now...

Version 1.1. of the .NET environment will delete your app.config file each time you compile the code. Instead, add a file called app.config to your project and this will be copied in each time to the debug/release folders.
Wednesday, March 31, 2004 11:35 AM by Stef@n

# re: System.Text.Encoding.Tip

Thank you very much! It works perfect with Greeks also!!!
Wednesday, March 31, 2004 11:46 AM by TrackBack

# Engineer Jokes!

Wednesday, March 31, 2004 12:12 PM by Lawrence Oluyede

# re: Scripting .Net on MSDN-AA

cool article, but maybe it's better to use scripting languages (perl, ruby, python) to write scripts ;-)
Wednesday, March 31, 2004 2:41 PM by TrackBack

# Thanks a lot, Roy (by yag)

Wednesday, March 31, 2004 6:20 PM by Darren Neimke

# re: When Regular Expressions Attack

A couple of other Regulator features which made this easier:

- Ability to hide panels to view more of the pattern pane
- Ability to adjust the Font size of the pattern document

Wednesday, March 31, 2004 8:27 PM by TrackBack

# Thanks a lot, Roy (by yag)

Wednesday, March 31, 2004 10:31 PM by Dimensionless

# re: Scripting .Net on MSDN-AA

If you quit wasting your time blogging you could. And why the heck aren't you a MVP? There are more idiots who are ASP.net MVP than people who actually know what they are doing, like you.
Wednesday, March 31, 2004 11:41 PM by TrackBack

#

Thursday, April 01, 2004 3:07 AM by Jackie Goldstein

# re: VS.Net Database Projects - learn to use them (Sample chapter included)

Greg - Since I happen to know the author of that pretty well :-), here is a link to the book on Amazon:

http://tinyurl.com/6bna

Take Care,
Jackie Goldstein
Author of "Database Access with Visual Basic .NET"

Thursday, April 01, 2004 6:46 AM by Mark Christian

# re: Looking for a good Knowledge base management solution

http://www.411asp.net/home/webapps/knowledg
Thursday, April 01, 2004 7:01 AM by Moshe Eshel

# re: Israel slowly discovers RSS

Not only is it in hebrew, it is also impossible to see it from outside Israel without paying... :(

Another thing, they may have put an article on RSS, but ynet is not going to ever offer free RSS feed from it's site - maybe they will be willing to offer a paid one - they are really into making money :)

Other than that it is a nice article, I noticed that all news services in Israel are about a month to 6 behind in publishing technology articles. I seem to remember an article about RSS aggregators somewhere a few months ago.
Thursday, April 01, 2004 7:03 AM by David Evans

# re: Looking for a good Knowledge base management solution

This is a really good solution and the price is right additionally you can get the source code: InstantKB.NET @ http://kb.instantasp.co.uk/default.aspx
Thursday, April 01, 2004 7:18 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Israel slowly discovers RSS

Moshe: really? I'd love to read that article.
Thursday, April 01, 2004 7:20 AM by Moshe Eshel

# Here you go

http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-2861296,00.html

This was published on 20.01.04 (a simple search for "Newsgator") they also ignored Sharpreader then :(
Thursday, April 01, 2004 7:24 AM by Moshe Eshel

# And even before that

An article that the new one seems to be a copy of
http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/1,7340,L-2858430,00.html
Thursday, April 01, 2004 7:26 AM by Moshe Eshel

# Oops Sorry for the spam

You can delete the comments above if you want, I just noticed that the article I gave you is the same one you published :)
But it was published three months ago
Thursday, April 01, 2004 8:46 AM by Ido Samuelson

# re: Looking for a good Knowledge base management solution

Sharepoint portal server 2003 is a good choise. You will enjoy the benefit of .NET coding, Microsoft UI (which is the best user friendly around), and ...
Do I really need to say more?
Thursday, April 01, 2004 9:57 AM by Omer van Kloeten

# re: Israel slowly discovers RSS

Now all we need is for them to actually start using it on their own site.
Thursday, April 01, 2004 10:00 AM by Yosi Taguri

# re: "Database Access with Visual Basic .NET" is the book chapter I was pointing to

Jackie is also giving a talk about data access in the coming TechEd: http://www.microsoft.com/israel/teched
Thursday, April 01, 2004 2:37 PM by Darrell

# re: Is TextAmerica good enough for a desktop contest?

Can the description include a link? If people really wanted to show off something that you can't see well, maybe they could post a link to their blog or somewhere that will host a full-size image?
Thursday, April 01, 2004 3:11 PM by AndrewSeven

# re: Is TextAmerica good enough for a desktop contest?

Just to confirm, does your friend really type like that?
Is it query or some Dvorak layout?


http://weblogs.asp.net/andrewseven/articles/Ramblings.aspx
Thursday, April 01, 2004 3:31 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Is TextAmerica good enough for a desktop contest?

Darrell: yes, it can.
Andrew: yes he actually types pretty fast on that sucker. in 2 languages!
Thursday, April 01, 2004 3:52 PM by Funny

# re: [way OT]College blogs

Now this is funny...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2997803537
Thursday, April 01, 2004 7:20 PM by Avner Kashtan

# re: Is TextAmerica good enough for a desktop contest?

Andrew: It's a normal Qwerty-layout keyboard, only with most of the keys removed, and some strategically misplaced. :)

I've grown a somewhat symbiotic relationship with that keyboard. It doesn't have any of those new-fangled Windows keys, but hey - when you can load the task manager (CTRL-SHIFT-ESC) using a single karate-chop on the side of the keyboard, you know you've found the keyboard for you. :)
Thursday, April 01, 2004 7:52 PM by Damian

# re: Is TextAmerica good enough for a desktop contest?

Here is a thought, why not use nGallery ? It's developed by people in the weblogs.asp.net community so it might be a nice way to showcase it to a few more people.
Friday, April 02, 2004 2:32 AM by Girish

# re: Introduction To Regular Expressions

Too good dude! Just exactly what i was looking for! Thanx a bunch!
Friday, April 02, 2004 8:01 AM by Nitin Koshy

# re: Searching Borland and MS newsgroups even if your firewall won't let you use a newsreader.

Nope, google did NOT return results of posts earlier than 2years, whereas www.tamaracka.com does!!
Friday, April 02, 2004 9:15 AM by paulo costa

# re: "Could not open in Design view. Quote values differently..." solved!

i people thanks!!!!!! it's so stupid and i lost so time..lol
Friday, April 02, 2004 9:43 AM by TrackBack

# [NotSo]DailyBytes.Add(

Friday, April 02, 2004 9:44 AM by TrackBack

# [NotSo]DailyBytes.Add(

Friday, April 02, 2004 10:25 AM by TA

# re: Is TextAmerica good enough for a desktop contest?

http://mydesk.textamerica.com
Friday, April 02, 2004 2:45 PM by TrackBack

# re: Posting source code...any clues?

Friday, April 02, 2004 7:13 PM by William Earl

# re: Looking for a good Knowledge base management solution

Project Forum is a self contained (no IIS) wiki-like program that we've used for knowledge base management. Depending upon your scale, might be a good fit.
Friday, April 02, 2004 7:14 PM by William Earl

# re: Looking for a good Knowledge base management solution

URL for Project Forum is www.projectforum.com
Friday, April 02, 2004 10:08 PM by G. Andrew Duthie

# re: MVP Summit pointers, and a shout out to James Robertson

Roy,

One thing to keep in mind re: blogging is that much of what is discussed will be under NDA. So while we may be able to blog about who we see and talk to, and social stuff, anything really newsworthy will probably be off-limits to blogging.

Sorry.
Friday, April 02, 2004 10:25 PM by KraGiE

# re: How CodeRush pissed me off

Woah. Mark Miller did an OWNED on you! yeah, I got coderush, and I'm lovin' it. CodeSmart could be better, but as for now, CodeRush is my dev add on of choice.

I haven't had it long either. Just a week, and now I can't live w/o it. I saw it at VSLive on Mark Miller's box when he went over Operator Overloads.
Saturday, April 03, 2004 12:30 PM by Scott Galloway

# re: True Binary Serialization and Compression of Datasets

Shame he doesn't provide the SourceCode - still pretty easy to do yourself...
Saturday, April 03, 2004 1:56 PM by RohanD

# re: Small, Spiffy, Freeware utilities

I wrote a similar utility using .NET a while ago. It's called Go and you can get it from http://workspaces.gotdotnet.com/go. It doesn't have a GUI and is intended for us who prefer the command-line or the Run dialog.
Saturday, April 03, 2004 2:21 PM by mah

# re: A .Net LDAP library + article

It is inside mono (www.go-mono.com). You might have to do a make of mono to grab it out of there.
Saturday, April 03, 2004 4:05 PM by Isaac Gouy

# re: From Java Generics to questioning assumptions

"Can anyone explain the difference?"

We can find a meaning for "dynamic typing"!
Better still say "dynamic (type) checking" because that's what we're talking about - type-checking.

If that's unclear then say "run-time type-checking" and "compile-time type-checking" because that's what we're talking about - when do we do type-checking.


*Type safety* is usually what we care about, see:
"Type Systems" Handbook of Computer Science and Engineering, Chapter 103. CRC Press, 1997.
Chapter download: http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/cardelli97type.html


"Loose typing"?
Seems like someone really confused something with loose-coupling, heaven only knows what they mean.
Saturday, April 03, 2004 4:09 PM by Isaac Gouy

# re: From Java Generics to questioning assumptions

Beware the convert!

'you're going to have to question yourself and the “facts”'
Self assessments of performance are notoriously inaccurate. The only way to get the “facts” is to continually measure how long it takes to do stuff - then you have a baseline to compare different techniques.
Sunday, April 04, 2004 12:11 AM by Brian Vargas

# re: Another book of the month, and what's up with ApplicationException?

I wrote a little rant on .NET exceptions a while ago. You can read it on my blog if you'd like, but the jist of the last paragraph is that the .NET exception hierarchy is exceptionally poor, and Microsoft just needs to fix it. With all the lessons they have learned from Java when creating .NET, they seemed to have simply ignored a good exception hierarchy.

Sorry for the pun. :-)

http://blog.ardvaark.net/article.php?story=20040115003043215

Brian
Sunday, April 04, 2004 3:17 AM by TrackBack

# MSDN Subscriber Downloads gets an RSS feed

Sunday, April 04, 2004 3:39 AM by TrackBack

# RSS Feed for MSDN Subscriber

Sunday, April 04, 2004 3:40 AM by TrackBack

# RSS Feed for MSDN Subscriber

Sunday, April 04, 2004 3:43 AM by TrackBack

# RSS Feed for MSDN Subscriber

Sunday, April 04, 2004 7:58 PM by Antonio Gallardo

# re: A New Paradigm: "Continuations"?

Hi:

Take a loos at Apache Cocoon FlowEngine:

http://cocoon.apache.org/2.1/userdocs/flow/index.html

Currently in the CVS is a JavaFlow implementation. Groovy Flow Engine implementation will be soon.
Monday, April 05, 2004 6:56 AM by Srinivas

# re: The VS7 Debugger doesn’t work. What can I do?

Was able to rectify my debugger problem in less than 4 minutes after reading this article.
Monday, April 05, 2004 9:39 AM by Bnaya Eshet

# re: Oops! Typed Datasets ARE scalable!

Hi
I do not share your concern about the layers thing
If you give a closer look at the DNA diagram you will find
the Business Entity declaration.
Those Entities meant to be state-full and move through the tiers.
DataSet or Typed DataSet is one of the classic Business Entities.
You shouldn’t be worry about them if you dealing with smart client
and if you dealing with web client they always can be serialized to XML.

Any way I do not like the current implementation of Typed DataSet but
I do like their idea.
Monday, April 05, 2004 12:43 PM by Oskar Austegard

# re: Another book of the month, and what's up with ApplicationException?

Roy, you ought to copy your review to Amazon - they currently have no reviews for the book...
Tuesday, April 06, 2004 7:18 AM by SBC

# re: The next Regulator is gonna rock (with your help)

Hey Royo.. may be you should commercialize 'The Regulator' and make a few bucks..
(I'll buy)..
:-)
Tuesday, April 06, 2004 8:48 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: The next Regulator is gonna rock (with your help)

SBC: I don't think that's gonna happen. However, there *is* a "donate" link inside the software for anyone who wishes to do so....
Tuesday, April 06, 2004 12:24 PM by Omer van Kloeten

# re: The next Regulator is gonna rock (with your help)

Still waiting for your email... ;)
Tuesday, April 06, 2004 5:58 PM by Ramesh Arimilli

# re: ASP.NET Encoding Tip from Scott Hanselman

Hi Scott.
I am facing the same problem. Can you tell me which lines do I need to change in web.config.

thanks
Ramesh
Tuesday, April 06, 2004 6:29 PM by Clint

# re: The next Regulator is gonna rock (with your help)

Plugins will be nice. I wish I knew how to build a decent plugin architecture. Some day I will! You seem to be quite the expert on reflection and plugin architectures.
Tuesday, April 06, 2004 8:36 PM by Clint

# re: Good AppDomain FAQ

Thanks for pointing this out. I finally figured out how to call methods from other assemblies in the .Net CF from information in the FAQ.
Wednesday, April 07, 2004 4:18 AM by Andy Evans

# re: "Could not open in Design view. Quote values differently..." solved!

Thanks guys! the single quote thing has just made my day :)
Wednesday, April 07, 2004 7:55 AM by wqeqw

# re: Calling webservices asynchronously - 2 possible ways

qweqweqweq
Wednesday, April 07, 2004 5:26 PM by jicoloni

# re: IrfanVIew - simpler, faster, and FREE

ppppijjj
Wednesday, April 07, 2004 5:27 PM by jicoloni

# re: IrfanVIew - simpler, faster, and FREE

hi everyone
Thursday, April 08, 2004 6:16 AM by SBC

# re: The next Regulator is gonna rock (with your help)

..appreciate your 'Regulator'.. an Amazon gift certificate is on its way..
keep up the terrific work & thanks!
Thursday, April 08, 2004 9:45 AM by wvuco

# re: Registration-free COM interop

this doesn't work.
Thursday, April 08, 2004 4:18 PM by Weston M. Binford III

# re: Book of the month for April

Is there a sample chapter available anywhere? It appears that the new books on the MSPress web site do not include sample chapters. Have they done away with them?

-Weston
Thursday, April 08, 2004 4:58 PM by Weston M. Binford III

# re: Book of the month for April

I found a sample chapter here (watch for URL wrap):

http://www.gotdotnet.com/Community/Workspaces/viewuploads.aspx?id=348dd896-50b5-42b8-8ff6-9621bd4feff9

Thursday, April 08, 2004 5:36 PM by Robert Andersson

# re: Strip HTML tags from a string using regular expressions

No technique offered will suffer perfectly valid (x)html such as:
<div title=">">...</div>

Just pointing it out, no time crafting a good regex now :)
Friday, April 09, 2004 9:07 AM by Gareth

# re: My phone manners need work

I'm glad it isn't just me. My wife doesn't even bother anymore, and this seems to have extended to at home! You're not alone :)
Saturday, April 10, 2004 9:10 AM by Omer van Kloeten

# re: CodeDOM adventures and oddities

Thanks for the kind words. By the way, I'm actually 21. ;)
Saturday, April 10, 2004 2:03 PM by Omer van Kloeten

# re: The Regulator 2.0 is out

Congratz :)
Saturday, April 10, 2004 2:16 PM by OmegaSupreme

# re: The Regulator 2.0 is out

w00t, thanks Roy.
Saturday, April 10, 2004 2:33 PM by Paul Gielens

# re: The Regulator 2.0 is out

Thnx Roy, appreciating your hard work!
Saturday, April 10, 2004 3:19 PM by Frans Bouma

# re: The Regulator 2.0 is out

Congratulations, Roy, with this new milestone for your excellent tool! :)
Sunday, April 11, 2004 6:11 AM by TrackBack

# Regulator 2.0 beta is out

Sunday, April 11, 2004 11:25 AM by rami

# re: Free ADO.NET book chapter

hi , i hope to send to me free ADO.NET chapter
Sunday, April 11, 2004 2:23 PM by TrackBack

# The Firm bends some rules, and Roy isn't too happy about it...

Sunday, April 11, 2004 5:38 PM by SBC

# re: The Regulator 2.0 is out

congrats Roy.. a job well done...
Sunday, April 11, 2004 8:21 PM by G. Andrew Duthie

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

If being an MVP were merely a popularity contest, you'd be one by now.

I don't know the whole story behind Rory getting invited, but I can tell you this...the MVP summit (or at least parts of it) is not strictly limited to MVPs. There are parts where press are invited (and given his position with .NET Rocks, Rory counts there), and there are other exceptions that are made.

But the most important point is that the MVP Summit (and in fact the MVP program itself) is Microsoft's. If they want to invite non-MVPs to the summit, it's their decision to make...they're footing the bill. No one lost out because of Rory's presence, and I know a number of people whose experience was enriched by his being there. I understand where you're coming from, but I just don't see any benefit to anyone in engaging in this kind of "what's Microsoft thinking" discussion. You're absolutely right that it makes you look envious, it probably will make Rory feel worse (when I would argue that he has absolutely nothing to feel bad about in the first place), and it does other MVPs like Frans who missed the summit no good whatsoever. IMO, it would be best to let stuff like this go.

Sunday, April 11, 2004 8:45 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

"they want to invite non-MVPs to the summit, it's their decision to make...they're footing the bill"
Well, Gee thanks! Microsoft is getting from the MVP summit no less than what it is giving. The summit is about sharing - its not MS helping the community, is more like MS and the community help each other. If the ground rules are not respected at one side, why should the other respect them? Could I give myself an exception and go there just because I felt I deserve to? no. The forces are not even. Hence, since the community MS hosts has to stick by MS rules, it would only be appropriate that MS, as the maker of these rules, Will uphold them, or no respect for them or any joy of actually being an MVP will be achieved.

"and I know a number of people whose experience was enriched by his being there"
Like I said, he's a great guy. I know plenty of guys who would have been great to talk to with great stories. Yet they are strangely not there.

"it probably will make Rory feel worse "
It shouldn't. This isn't about him. It's about how MS handles the event.

"and it does other MVPs like Frans who missed the summit no good whatsoever"
If they felt the same than this post just became more relevant because MS should know that there are unhappy MVPs out there.
If they don't feel the same I'd love to hear why.
It does do good by raising this issue in public. Conversation leads to improvement.
What good is a government without opposition?
Sunday, April 11, 2004 9:19 PM by Rory

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

Roy -

"I’m going to ask the Microsoft community leaders a question and I bet I’m not the only one who was asking himself that: 'What the f**k??.'"

The one thing I'd like to say in defense of MS is that there doesn't seem to be an MVP category for people like me, and that might be why I was allowed to go to the summit without actually being an MVP.

Someone on my site suggested that there ought to be an evangelism MVP award. I totally agree, but it doesn't currently exist. Maybe my presence at the summit was an indication that some people inside of MS think that it *should* exist.

However, take all of this with a grain of salt. I certainly don't want to try to speak for anyone at MS, and I don't know their thoughts on the matter. This is just a guess.

It makes some sense, though. Microsoft, in terms of the MVP program anyway, is *very* product/technology focused. The people who are getting the awards are the ones who are, for example, answering "tough" questions about Excel in forums and newsgroups. Stuff like that.

Then, take me for example: I gave up a pretty damn good income to be able to blog more and co-host .NET Rocks. As of today, I've basically netted $0 this year, and, I'm sorry to say, that's only a slight exaggeration. There really *should* be some kind of recognition of the contribution that a loud-mouthed jerk such as myself makes to the community :) I'm not saying that anybody owes me anything, but the truth is that I've chosen armchair evangelism over a six-figure income - I'm *paying* to do this. When I spoke in Hartford, and when I spoke in Boston, I paid for everything. I parted with dough for the privilege of "spreading the word." I believe in this stuff, and it's starting to cost me a pretty penny. The least I could get in return is three lousy letters: M - V - P.

For that reason, I'm glad you brought this up. It might stir up some noise of the "Maybe we need an MVP category for people like Rory" sort. There are chest beaters and horn blowers out there who, like me, have probably done a decent job of getting people interested/entertained/excited about Microsoft, but who have received less recognition than someone who knew how to get the visitor count Frontpage control working.

Anyway, all that said, I'm happy that I got to go. I don't know why I was let in, but I suspect that it's for something similar to the reasons I've presented here.

One more thing...

"Well, maybe you shouldn’t have accepted. If it made you feel uneasy, maybe you should have taken it as a sign."

There's no way I'd say "no."

I'm an atheist who believes that you only get *one* shot at life. I don't believe in an afterlife, reincarnation, or anything similar.

When the invitation came along, I looked at it from that point of view. I knew, from not being an MVP, and not knowing what would be going on in my life six months from now, that I could either take it or leave it, and possibly never see the offer again.

So, I took it :) I don't regret it at all, either. I realize that it's a little controversial, but that's never really stopped me from doing anything.
Sunday, April 11, 2004 9:32 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

Rory:
"So, I took it :) I don't regret it at all, either"
You shouldn't. You should also dismiss any feelings of guilt which you may have had (and posted about?). I would probably take the same opportunity.
I only wrote that because you seemed to feel bad about doing this.

My gripe is about bending the rules. As for an MVP: There is no Blogging MVP as well. Should there be? probably. DO I think I deserve it, sure. Was there any way I could have gotten in? no.

As for evangelism: AFAIK, you've only been at this for like 2 months at .Net Rocks? Your blog is not much different than a lot of blogs over at DotNetJunkies.com or weblogs.aspnet - people who love .Net. Oh, yours is much funnier, has comics and has been getting HIGH ratings because you're a sharp, witty clever guy. But still, I wouldn't call this pure evangelism because only at .Net Rocks I could define it as something like that.
Sunday, April 11, 2004 9:35 PM by Mike Gunderloy

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

Beyond being product/technology focused, MVP is focused on *particular* products/technologies. Not every product gets MVPs (and as an outsider at this point, I have no idea who decides which products rate MVPs). But I have mail here saying "If [product X] had MVPs, you would be one".

All of which just goes to emphasize the arbitrary nature of the beast. But, it's Microsoft's party, they can invite who they want to.
Sunday, April 11, 2004 9:47 PM by Rory

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

Roy -

"As for evangelism: AFAIK, you've only been at this for like 2 months at .Net Rocks?"

I would actually say that my involvement with such things as user groups, the nerd dinners, the blog, and some forums would totally count as armchair evangelism.

It isn't "pure" as you put it, but then *good* evangelism *isn't*. It can't be. If it were pure, it would sound contrived. It would sound like marketing dreamt it up.

I personally believe that having one MS-oriented post out of every five comics/images/stories/whatever actually does *more* than if I were to make every last post about MS. The entertaining stuff is sort of like payment to the readers for listening to my opinions about tech, and it seems to work (while providing me with a hell of a lot of fun stuff to do).

But, yeah - you're right. I've only been doing .NET Rocks for a couple months now, but to count that as my only real contribution is to disregard everything I did that initially got me onboard with .NET Rocks in the first place. If I hadn't been making a lot of noise about MS tech, then Carl never would have noticed, and I never would have been on the show, which means that I wouldn't be co-hosting it right now.

Not only that, but getting on the show has done much less for my numbers than most people probably think. I've probably had a total of about a thousand referrals from things that are .NET Rocks related. The much larger chunks of traffic have come from posts about Chris Sells' XML conference, the PDC, and general opinion pieces. It's actually safe to say that most of my readers have come from Chris Sells, Box, DonXML, Spolsky, Scoble, Hanselman, ChrisA, and a few others along with some larger community sites - none of which had anything to do with .NET Rocks. The .NET Rocks thing itself has made a relatively *small* impact on my overall popularity. It's fun as hell, and a lot of people are downloading the show, but they aren't necessarily "crossing over" and reading my blog in addition to listening to the show.

So, I would argue that if my contribution to the community were to be measured in terms of .NET Rocks, then maybe I *shouldn't* have been at the summit because it's true that I haven't been doing it too long.

However, it's the roughly 200,000 words I've written on my blog that make me think otherwise.

Sorry about the tangent - I realize that this isn't the point of your post, but I felt that I was being misrepresented there.
Sunday, April 11, 2004 10:17 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

I removed my last two comments (both 1 liners)because I didn't formalize my thougts well enough.
Rory:
How is what you described any different than blogs like Darrell Norton, myself and many others? Does that mean we should all be called evangelists?
BTW: there is a General .Net MVP award.
Sunday, April 11, 2004 10:43 PM by Darrell

# re: The Regulator 2.0 is out

Congratulations!
Sunday, April 11, 2004 10:51 PM by GuyIncognito

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

the only way this dispute can be resolved is for both parties to engage in a tickle fight wearing nothing but bras and panties

the winner gets the coveted mvp lapel pin

there should be a celebrity referee...
Sunday, April 11, 2004 11:09 PM by Susan Bradley

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

Roy, I shouldn't get in the middle of this... but.. hey... I'm a woman and we do. I saw that post of Rory's and went.... 'oh dear'.

I am a MVP. And I came up for the weekend to welcome new MVPs and then due to work constraints I went back home and then looked for emails and blogs from those who were there. When I saw Rory's post it honestly concerned me. While we can argue that Rory belonged to be there, to be an MVP for what he has done [as we can for what YOU do, Roy] at the end of the day, Rory is not an MVP and this was supposed to be an event for MVPs only.

I don't blame Rory for saying "yes", I too just felt a little weird reading his post.

If non MVPs are invited, where do you draw the line at invitees? And who makes recommendations for who's invited.

I agree with Roy on this one. I know of deserving folk in my community. Why not invite them too?

And Andrew, the press was only there for lunch on day 2 and excluded from all other venues. If Rory signed an NDA agreement and was there the entire three days, and went to parties and what not, then he was treated as a MVP. [Seattle PI guy came in for one luncheon meeting and was escorted back out and I didn't see blog photos of him dancing anywhere ;-) http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/microsoft/archives/002559.html

It's just where do you draw the line and who's the one drawing it, that's all. If you are going to include Non-MVPs to the MVP summit, then don't call it a MVP summit.

And just a heads up.... most MVPs that I know absolutely postively will hurl at the word "Evangelist". :-) We don't get the MVP award for being an "Evangelist", we get it for helping people. For being Community leaders.

http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[LN];mvpawardintro

"MVP status is awarded to the most active online community “gurus” for their technical expertise, voluntary willingness to share their experience and commitment to helping others realize their potential within Microsoft technical communities"
Sunday, April 11, 2004 11:12 PM by Susan Bradley

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[LN];mvpawardintro

Sorry that link breaks

http://shorterlink.com/?R4533I

Try that one
Monday, April 12, 2004 12:29 AM by Edneeis

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

"Then, take me for example: I gave up a pretty damn good income to be able to blog more and co-host .NET Rocks. As of today, I've basically netted $0 this year, and, I'm sorry to say, that's only a slight exaggeration. There really *should* be some kind of recognition of the contribution that a loud-mouthed jerk such as myself makes to the community :) I'm not saying that anybody owes me anything, but the truth is that I've chosen armchair evangelism over a six-figure income - I'm *paying* to do this. When I spoke in Hartford, and when I spoke in Boston, I paid for everything. I parted with dough for the privilege of "spreading the word." I believe in this stuff, and it's starting to cost me a pretty penny. The least I could get in return is three lousy letters: M - V - P. "

I know you said 'I'm not saying that anybody owes me anything' but you sort of are with 'The least I could get in return is three lousy letters: M - V - P.'. Also giving up money was your choice and I don't think the only reason you did it was for the betterment of the community. Now having said that I'm thankful you did make the choice.
Monday, April 12, 2004 12:57 AM by Scott

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

If at any point someone feels that Microsoft OWES them something, I'd suggest they put in their application at Microsoft. You can start here: http://www.microsoft.com/careers/default.mspx

Monday, April 12, 2004 1:12 AM by Scott

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

BTW, I made the "Evangelist MVP" suggestion. I'm not an MVP and I couldn't care less.

I mean, why not an MVP for .NET evangelism? They have an MVP award for XBox?! Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?! How are they a "Technical guru". "No dude, it's X-X-A THEN down.". C'mon now. "Digital Media MVP"?!

Don't try to say that making a .NET Evangelist award would sully the good name of MVP or lessen it's value. People should put an intrinsic value on the MVP award based on their knowledge of the person that gets it and what they got it for, not based on who else has it.
Monday, April 12, 2004 3:32 AM by TrackBack

# To MVP or not MVP...What is the Question?

To MVP or not MVP...What is the Question?
Monday, April 12, 2004 4:00 AM by AT

# White people only ??

I've an question - what is this MVP award about ?? Do you spend all your time in newsgroups/blogs/seminars/writing books to be simply recognised as MVP ??

I think nope.

What is this MVP Summit about ? To talk and exchange ideas or simply sit and watch each other and consume drinks ?

Will you accept one more intelligent guy in your closed circle ?? Or you will wait while somebody from Microsoft award him badge with M.V.P. letters ? What's wrong if Microsoft already decided to allow him to come without magic letters ?

Just for a record. Let's go away from Rory person. What in case if poor average-level coder will apper on MVP summit without valid badge ? Will you kill him to not allow steal any information ? Or you will share all the info you have so he will benefit.

So ? What is this MVP program about ?
Closed circle with ability to get a free MSDN Universal and several bucks on MSMarket store OR award to most valuable persons in sharing technical information ?


P.S> Just for a record as fight-back.
I preffer some "MVP"s (thanks God - only a few, most are trully respectable people) forget about Microsoft newsgroups existance. Why ? Becouse they usualy give useless and wrong answers on hard questions. They are able to answer only on simple questions like a Microsoft Corp. URL or latest service pack version etc...
They do this to be "recognised" as top newsgroup posters and keep their MVP status. I preffer they keep silence if they do not know answer instead of spending my and other people time to prove/check their answer is lame.
Monday, April 12, 2004 4:44 AM by Yosi Taguri

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

All I can say is
"Just you Wait" ;)
Monday, April 12, 2004 4:49 AM by TrackBack

# Dear Roy...

Monday, April 12, 2004 4:49 AM by TrackBack

# Dear Roy...

Monday, April 12, 2004 5:19 AM by Pete Beech

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

AT, I'll agree with that - certain MVPs answers are absolute rubbish, and totally false. I've just started answering questions on the newsgroups, and when I do answer, I try to stick at it if I can, until I can solve the problem - and I doubt this will ever get recognised because I will never have the same volume of different distinct responses - but I find it more helpful to the community, and more rewarding for me, then some of these 'MVP's one line meaningless 'answers'. (And I must stress this is only some MVPs - the majority are very good)
Monday, April 12, 2004 5:39 AM by Frans Bouma

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

"Frans Bouma received his MVP a bit too late to attend, so he didn’t. And guess what, I think Frans’ being there would have made a lot more sense. I wonder what he felt reading Rory’s post on this."
I haven't read his post nor the comments yet, however I look at it this way: there will always be MVP's who have more knowledge than other MVP's. If I look at myself, I really don't think I have the same amount of knowledge about C# as for example Jon Skeet.

Because there are not a lot of MVP's out there, it's a great honour to get the award (I think it is :)). If every 1 out of 3 developers is an MVP, it gets a somewhat degraded value, but I don't think we'll ever reach that amount of MVP's. Because of the great value of the award, I'm not upset that I wasn't in Seattle, there will be hopefully a next time next year. It's the award that matters: the recognition that what a person has done for others is valuable for those others.

About non-MVP's being at the summit: well, nice for Rory that he could get in, but being at a summit doesn't make him an MVP :), just like it is not required to be an MVP to be incredibly valuable for other people. You know you help a lot of people with your blog and tools, Roy. I think that's what matters :)
Monday, April 12, 2004 6:16 AM by Robin Good

# re: [New article]: Creating a generic Site-To-RSS tool (site scraping)

Though I highly respect and honour your ethical approach to RSS scraping, let me mention that RSS scraping can ALSO greatly increase a site reach and visibility, including the consequent traffic, market value and even credibility it may gain in cyberspace.

I would think that it is a fair bet approaching RSS scraping by always first contacting the site webmaster/owner and explaining the reasons and interests for doing so. Obviously if you are scraping a site for personal reasons (to keep trac of its changes), you are certainly going out of your way to do something that can be easily done much effectively with dedicated tools, and without a need to have an RSS feed.
(Free and paid service/tools like Copernic Tracker, Watchthatpage offer a simple and very effective way to track any web site for changes of any kind).

Therefore is your intention is syndicating through RSS, please do not restrain yourself on this front, while informing the site owner of your intentions and goals.

Having more re-usable RSS-based content out there can only be a beneficial thing, as the more we are able to convert Internet content to it, the more we will able to brea free of mainstream corporate controlled media and to start really appreciating the value of a growing number of people who will select, aggregate, filter, and combine the best news and content out there in specific categories of interest.

This is the emerging role of the "newsmaster", and the work you have done here in providing an extra route for such professional to increase its abilities, can only be greeted with sincere kudos and thanks from those who can see the above and who are willing to start investing in this direction early in the game.

Many thanks Roy, and keep up the good work!

Monday, April 12, 2004 6:22 AM by Frans Bouma

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

"Then, take me for example: I gave up a pretty damn good income to be able to blog more and co-host .NET Rocks. As of today, I've basically netted $0 this year, and, I'm sorry to say, that's only a slight exaggeration. There really *should* be some kind of recognition of the contribution that a loud-mouthed jerk such as myself makes to the community :)"
Suuurree :) You gave up a 6 figure income (in italian lire's? ;)) to spread 'the word' and pay every expense from your own pocket.

Well, as you practise 'armchair evangelism' as you call it, perhaps MS could provide a nice, confortable seat for you :)
Monday, April 12, 2004 7:25 AM by DonXML Demsak (donAT_NO_SPAM_donxml.com)

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

I was hoping someone else would mention this, so that I didn't have to chime in on this ridiculous post, but Regional Directors (who do not have to be MVPs) were invited to the summit, and Rory was invited under the RD program. On the bottom of everyone's badge was their designation (MVP, Microsoft, RD) and Rory's was RD. So he was never pretending to be an MVP.

DonXML Demsak
Monday, April 12, 2004 7:26 AM by Bnaya Eshet

# re: Add Plugins to Your App 2: Search dynamically for plugins without Config Files

you forgot to say that the Royo.PluggableApp.PluginFinder class mast inherit MarshalByRefObject
in order to be operate under different AppDomain

:)

([Serialization] won't do the work because it will deserialize into the main AppDomain)
Monday, April 12, 2004 7:39 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

Don: "ridiculous " ? when the HELL did Rory become an RD?
Monday, April 12, 2004 7:42 AM by AT

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

DonXML: Do I missing something ?

http://www.microsoftregionaldirectors.com/Public/rdFind.aspx

Or web-site can have outdated information ?

There is no Rory.
Monday, April 12, 2004 8:53 AM by Darrell

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

I was going to write a post, but Susan Bradley above said it best. Now for the new comments since then:

As for Rory going as an RD versus MVP, he was still accorded the full privileges of being an RD without being one. Again, where does one draw the line? Taken to its logical conclusion, tt ceases to be an MVP+RD summit and an "I know someone who can get me in" summit. Sorry, but I think that tarnishes the MVP and/or RD brand.

Now for the other side. If I was in Rory's shoes, I would have gone too. I would probably have been more discreet about it, but then digital cameras abound and someone would have made the connection sooner or later.

If I was whomever made the decision at Microsoft, I would probably not have extended the invitation. This is not a slam on Rory. I would be concerned with the perception of impropriety which is obviously in full force right now.

Should .NET (or Microsoft in general) evangelists have some sort of award? YES! But that is neither the MVP award nor the RD designation, unless the current definitions of those change. And even then, changes like this are not retroactive.
Monday, April 12, 2004 9:10 AM by Rory

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

Frans -

"Suuurree :) You gave up a 6 figure income (in italian lire's? ;)) to spread 'the word' and pay every expense from your own pocket."

I didn't say that was *why* I did it. I just said that that's *what* I did. The distinction is important.

Right now, trying to figure out how I'm going to make rent this month, believe me: I'm questioning the intelligence of my actions.

And, no :) It was in lire...

It also wasn't the main point. It was just a detail. However, I don't really care for the implication that I'm lying, so thought I'd address it.
Monday, April 12, 2004 9:17 AM by Rory

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

Edneeis -

"I know you said 'I'm not saying that anybody owes me anything' but you sort of are with 'The least I could get in return is three lousy letters: M - V - P.'. Also giving up money was your choice and I don't think the only reason you did it was for the betterment of the community. Now having said that I'm thankful you did make the choice."

Note that I didn't say anybody *owed* me MVP status.

And, yeah: Giving up the money *was* my choice. I never indicated otherwise, nor did I ever argue that the *only* reason for doing it was the "betterment of the community." Frankly, I'm having a good time. The communication is funner than hell, and I've had the chance to meet some freakishly interesting people. I have that defective gene that makes people want to shout their opinions out at the top of their lungs around the clock, and the blog/.NET Rocks/whatever have been really great for helping me out there.

As a 26 year old with no children and no mortgage to worry about, interesting people are, at least right now, worth more to me than a high income. I'm not going to make a choice like the one I did unless I'm going to get *something* out of it - there are no sefless acts. What I've gotten so far has been a certain amount of satisfaction. It isn't paying the bills, but I'm happier than I've been in years.
Monday, April 12, 2004 9:26 AM by donAT NOSPAMdonxml.com (DonXML Demsak)

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

I never said Rory was an RD, I said he was invited under the RD program. There is a big difference.

We can not know all the facts, so why make a judgment based solely on the little we know. Someone high enough up in Microsoft approved bringing Rory to Redmond the week of the Summit. They authorized it, Rory decided that it was worth his time to go to Redmond, and that is good enough for me. Once you get use to the idea of NDAs (and with it, the idea that you can't know everything you want to know), you will understand that people can't always disclose all the why's and how's. Also, one of the rules of a NDA is that you are not allowed to even say that you are under a NDA. So you will not get any info out of Rory, or anyone who knows, on why he was there.
Monday, April 12, 2004 9:27 AM by Rory

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

Darrell -

"Now for the other side. If I was in Rory's shoes, I would have gone too. I would probably have been more discreet about it, but then digital cameras abound and someone would have made the connection sooner or later."

I actually *was* very discreet about it. Eventually, though, after speaking to quite a few real MVPs, I got some honest answers: They didn't care. So, when it was all over and I was feeling "accepted," I thought I'd go ahead and blog about it. I mean, it was a great experience, and it was something I wanted to talk about. Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut - that's dawning on me now. I expected one or two emails along the lines of, "You cheapened my experience at the summit (even though I didn't know you were there)" to which I would have responded politely, but nothing like this.
Monday, April 12, 2004 9:29 AM by Rory

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

Don -

"So you will not get any info out of Rory, or anyone who knows, on why he was there."

Especially since even *I* don't know how I got there... It was just as much a surprise to me as it was anybody else :|
Monday, April 12, 2004 9:51 AM by GuyIncognito

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

does this mean no tickle fight?
Monday, April 12, 2004 9:57 AM by AT

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

Rory, do not bother thinking too much about other people opinions.
There is the same number of opinions as people. Someone will cry "Why Not Me ?", others will support you. While most will simply don't care.

You did nothing wrong. Even more - I wish Microsoft invite people at events like this to increase ideas pool and make "equal opportunity" for everybody to get/share info.
This way MVP program will be able to get fresh blood. As well current MVPs will think first about people - and only then about status.

P.S> Take a look on active alpha/beta participants - they are unknown to wide community but they do big job impoving Microsoft products. Possibly impact from beta participants are bigger compared to MVPs, as they work full-time in real-world scenarios and have direct connections with Microsoft development teams.
There is NO ANY event like this one for them. They do their job silently ;o)
Monday, April 12, 2004 10:25 AM by Partially Unpartial

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

Just a comment from a bystander who is in no way in this community (though I watch it with content, it's like a regular days of our lives-episode).

I have to say that this being my future profession (what you're al l doing) I'm a bit afraid. I thought the "programmers sphere" was a relaxed environment, free from petty envy and battles over titles, status and advantages. I guess I was wrong, it's a regular school playground (or exec-level playground.)

Meh... and I have to say I'm glad for Rorys sake. He had a good time and I haven't seen anyone actually at the event complaining yet.
Monday, April 12, 2004 10:40 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

Partially un partial: actually, at least one MVP has written a comment on this post that she was not really OK with it. And I bet there are some more who just don't want to get in the middle of this.
Monday, April 12, 2004 11:00 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

Another MVP who had a problem with this was Ted Neward:
http://www.neward.net/ted/weblog/index.jsp?date=20040412#1081759335554

And Dare Obsanjo seems to generally agree to the notion of"no no-MVPs at an MVP event" as well:

http://www.25hoursaday.com/weblog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=0860c5c6-cd2c-471b-88c1-285fd0332c42
Monday, April 12, 2004 11:08 AM by TrackBack

# Lets share and create value...with everyone...

Lets share and create value...with everyone...
Monday, April 12, 2004 11:38 AM by TrackBack

# When geeks fight...

[Note: I wanted to stay out of this, because this whole thing is just idiotic. However, since everyone seems to have a take, here's mine...] Well, once again, Roy seems to have gotten his panties in a bunch. This time,...
Monday, April 12, 2004 11:49 AM by diggit

# re: DotNet vs. Smalltalk

As a two-year smalltalker recently switched to .NET I could ony confirm how much pain is it to program, after Smalltalk. You can add several items to an ArrayList with AddRange but you can't remove several items from it with RemoveRange. You don't have any Set collection but you have three slightly different Dictionaries. There is even a collection that isn't marked as implementing ICollection (while really implementing all its members) - StringDictionary. And there are collections that don't implement some methods of IList they formally "implement" (f.e. arrays don't implement Add but are IList).
The whole namespace system.collections is just plain stupid or at least confusing.
Monday, April 12, 2004 1:57 PM by l.m. orchard

# re: Creating a generic Site-To-RSS tool

I think how myRSS works in the general case is by just lifting all the links from a page and producing a feed.
Monday, April 12, 2004 3:29 PM by J. Eddie Gulley

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

What a loser. Get over yourself.
Monday, April 12, 2004 4:14 PM by Demon

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

Should Rory have gone? Vote now:
http://vote.sparklit.com/web_poll.spark/828670
Monday, April 12, 2004 4:21 PM by Dave Goldstein

# re: DotNet vs. Smalltalk

Oh, I concur!

Off the top of my head...
- Remove silently returns if the member is not present, but does not bother to tell you (by return value) if the element was found
- IList is not a "list" but an indexable collection
- No linked list, lack of many "basic" collection types

I actually wrote down a series of these, and sent them to various .NET team bloggers, don't know if they cared or maybe corrected any of the evils in the new generic collections.

Monday, April 12, 2004 5:06 PM by Sergey

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

First of all let me say I'm not an MVP or RD or whatever else. I do have MCSD but I got it for the sole purpose of getting a job.
This goes out to Ron and his supporters. It's amusing to read this thread, you sound like a bunch of kids fighting for some attention. What differentiate you from kids is that you don't speak your mind openly but instead try to disguise your true feelings behind senseless mumbo-jumbo and two faced arguments. Behind all that lies a true nature of your motivation – envy and fame. You try so hard to get noticed and when a guy next to you gets more attention than you all hell breaks loose. Why not just admit what you are after?
You said you respect Rori and to show your respect you argue that he is not good enough to be invited (although you cover up that fact by generalizing about MS policies)? And Rori, somehow you feel the need to defend yourself. Why? Ignore the haters and be proud, you like fame and you got a lucky break that others didn’t.
And for those who suggested creating new MVP title for evangelism and such – I also want to say: “What the f**k?” How does it fit into a concept of Most Valuable Professional? How are you going to provide a value to me? Are you going to help me when I don’t know how to solve a problem? No, you are going to attend PDC, TechEd, blogging dinner (or another social whoring event) and then blog about it. Thanks a lot in advance I’m looking forward to your invaluable help.
To Partially Unpartial: relax; most of us are not like that. Unfortunately these people are usually louder then the rest, after a while you will either join them or ignore them.
Monday, April 12, 2004 6:02 PM by Softwaremaker

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

I am surprised and disturbed by the "noise" generated by the so-called MVPs.

MVP = Microsoft Valuable Professionals, not best .NET Coder, not best Community leader.

As with all MVP awards, they are all recognized based on intangibles. They help and contribute to the community. And they should all be so gracious to let the so called "Non-MVP" share in the enrichment everyone should so deserved.

Now, if you are gonna ask, why not everyone there, then ? This is a question only MS can answer as they are the host. Remember, we are all guests in their event and we all shld behave like one. As hosts, they can invite anyone they want and see fit and they see fit Rory should attend. If I ran that event, I would invite him too.

I am particularly disturbed by this as this strikes a parallel experience I had in my "younger" days where employers would not even look at me because I dont have a "Computer-Science" Degree. I cant even begin to tell you that so many of my "Computer-Science" peer grads are now economists, businessmen. So if they can do it, why cant a "Economics" grad like me cross over successfully ? Over these years of hard work, I have successfully moved over and am doing good at what I am doing in the IT world. I am sure you all know there are so many top-notch-blue-chip trainers, authors, consultants who are not "Computer-Science" grads but they can beat any average "Computer-Science" grad hands-down with passion and determination.

Remember, stop being so superficial, its all just an appointment. There is no need to put so much weight on it. Yeah, granted, its nice to have. Its MS way of recognizing you BUT we shouldnt use that as deadweight to impose on other people who may not have the misfortune. None of us have the right to.

This is the ticky-tacky squabble SUN Developers have with MS Developers. The vendors love them...creates the flame that fans the fire. The last thing we need is to have even internal groups fighting within the MS Developer camps, be it MSCD, MCSE, MCDBA, MVP, RD, etc etc

Just my 2c worth. Respect is what we must give everyone on this earth as their own individual with their strengths and weaknesses. No one has the right to judge anyone. Well, we try not to, anyways ;)
Monday, April 12, 2004 6:04 PM by Softwaremaker

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

<Quote>Remember, stop being so superficial, its all just an appointment. There is no need to put so much weight on it. Yeah, granted, its nice to have. Its MS way of recognizing you BUT we shouldnt use that as deadweight to impose on other people who may not have the misfortune. None of us have the right to.<Quote>

Should be corrected

<Correct>
Remember, stop being so superficial, its all just an appointment. There is no need to put so much weight on it. Yeah, granted, its nice to have. Its MS way of recognizing you BUT we shouldnt use that as deadweight to impose on other people who may not have the FORTUNE. None of us have the right to.
</Correct>
Monday, April 12, 2004 6:06 PM by Chance Gillespie

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

Yes, I’m getting a little emotional about this… yes I plan to crash the nearest "exclusive" Microsoft event I can find and be sure to write “MVP” across my ass before I moon the highest ranking ‘secret handshake club’ member I can find (they will be dragging my ass out of there screaming(my mouth will be screaming, not my ass))… yes I take this field seriously which is why I’m completely disgusted by your elitist attitude, and yes, you have got to be the biggest jackass I've 'virtually' encountered in this little creative community I so much adore. You’re attitude is exactly what we don’t need. I’m not special, you aren’t special, pick a random MVP out there; not special. They are people recognized for their contribution to the community (which we should all be appreciative of, yes). A community in which Rory’s contributions have been recognized, even without the sacred branding. I can’t believe I’m even writing about this man, this is ludicrous, but this kind of shit should not happen. I should not have to express my defense of a well respective community member attending a community gathering of which he has not been officially inducted simply because someone who is a part of our (notice my use of the word ‘our’.. (both intentional an appropriate)) bizarre, freaked-out class of planetary inhabitants thinks it should be an exclusive club. This shit isn’t right. My attitude? I really care about coding. I love the kind of people it breeds. You seem to be the exception to that. I think you should not be aloud to make any further comments about coding because this is an exclusive club of people who DON’T have their head up their ass and your presences bothers me. Hey, you know what, I’m wrong… it’s not really my place to say that. You are welcome here, even though you don’t want anyone else to join the party (sarcasm meter peaking)… gghhgHGGHHGGHGhghg… I’m livid to the point that I’m having trouble composing a comprehensible sentence so I should just end it here, sorry :)
Monday, April 12, 2004 6:44 PM by David Cumps

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

And then people complain about the youth of today... *sigh*
Monday, April 12, 2004 6:51 PM by Chance Gillespie

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

"And then people complain about the youth of today... *sigh*"

yup, I'm sure many of us (myself included) are the youth of yesterday :)
Monday, April 12, 2004 7:34 PM by Chance Gillespie

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

"[Note: I wanted to stay out of this, because this whole thing is just idiotic. However, since everyone seems to have a take, here's mine...] Well, once again, Roy seems to have gotten his panties in a bunch. This time,..."

You know, to a certain degree, I understand why it’s idiotic. It is a bit out of hand but there really is a fundamental point to this whole uproar that is extremely important. We will continue to have the John Carmacks, Anders Hejlsbergs, Dennis Ritchie and <insert your favorite software engineering personality here> in the field but most of us amount to exactly jack shit in the grand scheme of things. What we do have is the ability to contribute what we can, however modest, and hope that it’s found useful or inspiring to current/future developers. The MVP is intended as recognition of an individuals contributions. Recognition by Microsoft for those who have contributed positively to the community. It’s a badge to be proud of but it’s not an elite club. Microsoft extending an invitation to Rory (even though he does not officially carry the tag) was an expression of that appreciation. I can’t begin to express how disgusted I am that anyone would even be the slightest bit upset that this ‘special gathering’ was somehow tainted by his presence. I have a huge amount of respect for many a person in our field, but at the same time I’m ashamed that this sort of bigotry and self righteous pride is found at every turn. The person I am going to listen to is the person who understands that he is no different that I, and I no different them him (is that grammatically correct? I speak in semicolons :) )

Point being, get off your soap box (Roy) and contribute something useful and positive to the community instead of crying that the kid you didn’t invite your birthday party is playing with your friends.
Monday, April 12, 2004 10:21 PM by Rory

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

Chance -

"I can’t begin to express how disgusted I am that anyone would even be the slightest bit upset that this ‘special gathering’ was somehow tainted by his presence..."

Well, you didn't see me dancing during karaoke :)

All the same, thanks for the support. Today's been a crappy day, and hearing a few words in support is very nice.
Monday, April 12, 2004 10:54 PM by Chance Gillespie

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

My third post to this. Get me to talk and you can’t get me to shut the hell up :)

I want to retract a comment from my first post. I got home today and the first thing I did was start catching up on some blogs. By the time I got through reading everything that was posted I was absolutely seething with anger. The jackass comment I made was uncalled for and out of line. I apologize for that. However, I stand by my opinions about your overall attitude towards the event (we can’t leave everything smelling all rosy. Where’s the fun in that? :) ).

This will all blow over in short order I’m sure. We can all put our heads back down and start banging out code again until the next controversy rears its head :)
Monday, April 12, 2004 11:17 PM by TrackBack

# The morning after the night before...and please give the value back to the MVP label.

Tuesday, April 13, 2004 12:09 AM by Moek Ion

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

I dont know why anyone would want to be an MVP... Look at all the bozo's they have as ASP.Net MVP's... Only about 20% deserve it, and 80% just know someone... the whole program reeks of BS and it already has been cheapened to the point of "who the hell cares"... I mean, it is sooo well known that the program is screwed that if I was awarded MVP I wouldn't even tell anyone. The whole thing is a damn joke, and people just want the free MSDN. Thats about it...

Moek
Tuesday, April 13, 2004 12:38 AM by Chance Gillespie

# re: The day after

Excellent follow-up to the whole situation. I certainly was one of the people who flew off the handle after reading all the posts and I do apologize if I was a bit too harsh.

See, we can all be happy in the end. I feel like dancing naked around a fire while chanting and beating the ground with a really big stick. :)
Tuesday, April 13, 2004 12:40 AM by Scott

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

mmmmmmmmm, free MSDN. It just rolls off the tongue doesn't it. freeeeeeeeeeeeeeee as in beer.
Tuesday, April 13, 2004 1:06 AM by Chance Gillespie

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

Rory

"Well, you didn't see me dancing during karaoke :) "

I did check out the pictures though. Certainly looks like something I would do after I got a few drinks in me (and the lunacy would worsen as the alcohol continued to flow). If you’re ever in the Columbus/Dayton/Cincinnati OH area I’ll have to buy you a drink or 6. I’m sure with our combined shenanigans we could get kicked out of a few bars. Great fun.

Egads, that last paragraph sounds a little bit stalkers-ish doesn’t it? (you’re my friend Rory, come drink with me. You know you want to. Drink with me I said!! I know where you live Rory!! ;) ). Don’t worry, you’re not going to see me peering out from behind a building every time you walk to your car or come home and find me riffling through your underwear drawer :)

Tuesday, April 13, 2004 1:27 AM by TrackBack

# Mobility... of information

Ray Ozzie, CEO of Groove Networks, rarely posts to his blog these days.
Tuesday, April 13, 2004 2:07 AM by Scott

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

Chance and Rory sitting in a tree.

P-r-o-g-rami-n-g
Tuesday, April 13, 2004 2:26 AM by TrackBack

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

Tuesday, April 13, 2004 3:02 AM by TrackBack

# Assert.AreEqual(Productivity.CurrentValue == Productivity.MinValue);

Tuesday, April 13, 2004 3:46 AM by Yuri Gorobets

# re: The day after

Hi,
I do not really think MVP title worth something.
Why? There are enough MVP's without any knowledge and enough not MVPs
with greatest value as MS environment developers.
So, what the f***k? :-)
Do you really think this kind of award means something?

OK, all these things depend on your targets :-)
Tuesday, April 13, 2004 4:06 AM by senkwe

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

It's good to speak ones mind, but you have to consider the consequences. Roy aren't you worried that if you now get MVP status, people are going to roll their eyes and (rightly or wrongly) think it was your whingeing that got you in? For what it's worth, you probably deserve it, but it'll be somewhat diluted by this little outburst.
Tuesday, April 13, 2004 4:17 AM by C. J.

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad


I doubt that very many MVP (who are all extremely competent professionals) really cares if MS invites people who don't have technically that coveted title. I mean what kind of insecure dweeb gets mad because MS recognizes that somebody else is also worth inviting to an event. Is any MVP's self-image so weak that they feel threatened by the MVP becoming slight (very slightly) less prestigious? If the number of non-MVPs were large (and thus tended to destroy any sense of community) then it would be a problem, but a small number of "special guests" is a problem? I just don't see it.

C. J.
Tuesday, April 13, 2004 5:47 AM by Ido Samuelson

# re: A much needed SchemaHelper class

You could of let the helper get a connection thus having it support any kind of db

Great idea!

It fits great to my dbHelper that auto-generage insert,update,delete statments.

Tuesday, April 13, 2004 7:51 AM by TrackBack

# MVP's and the

Tuesday, April 13, 2004 9:17 AM by AndrewSeven

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

When it comes to MS technology, the most valuable player we have was here all last week.

He was not off at a conference, but our RD was...

Tuesday, April 13, 2004 9:18 AM by AndrewSeven

# re: The day after

When it comes to MS technology, the most valuable player we have was here all last week.

He was not off at a conference, but our RD was...

Tuesday, April 13, 2004 9:26 AM by armand

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

Last time it was "Mortal sin #2: Information hoarding" [1] where you bitched and moaned about not having access to the MVP private newsgroups and now Rory was invited to the party, he was I.N.V.I.T.E.D., and not you and again you throw your toys. At this rate even if you were considered for MVP status, i'm not sure whoever's in a position to award these title's would award one to you, your negative attitude towards the MVP program would certainly not help so I think you're shooting yourself in the foot here dude.
rory's making a positive contribution to the community in general and that was recognised, hell, i'm sure most of the mvp's that was there enjoyed having him as a GUEST.

this whole thing is stupid, you're not a mvp, so why start this whole thing in the 1st place??

[1] http://weblogs.asp.net/rosherove/archive/2004/02/06/68374.aspx

your articles are good, keep that up.
Tuesday, April 13, 2004 11:09 AM by RorySupporter

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

Rory does more for MS than a negative bastard like you ever could Roy. Nobody likes a holier-than-thou, jealous critic. Shut up. I can't even begin to express how much you suck and should just be quiet and keep your stupid opinion to yourself. Fortunately this is a free country and you're allowed to express your opinion. So are Celine Dion fans. Doesn't mean they are not freaking retarded.

Morals of this story:
<1> You suck
<2> SHUT UP.
<3> DEAR GOD YOU SUCK.
Tuesday, April 13, 2004 1:48 PM by Steve

# RE: Test Driven Development with Microsoft .NET - seems to be a good one

Thanks Roy!
Tuesday, April 13, 2004 2:55 PM by TrackBack

# The last you'll hear from me on the subject...

Tuesday, April 13, 2004 6:05 PM by Sumeet

# re: Asp.Net slider control?

Guys i want a slider control. If anybody knows how to program one or from where I can buy one then please let me know.
Thanks,
Sumeet
Tuesday, April 13, 2004 8:08 PM by hung

# re: .Net user group review: BizTalk rules engine

I know that xlang schedule 2004 needs some account to run under.
I use a domain account that has admin right to the domain.
Now, I have an orchestration in biztalk 2004 calling some web service.
If I use anonymous authentication for the web service virtual directory, the orchestration works fine.

If I use windows authentication (that should authentication the admin account I run Xlang under), the orchestration failed!!! The event logs specially said the error is due to the web service virtual directory permission.

Do you know why? Logically, my set up should work, but it does not.

Thanks,
Hung
Tuesday, April 13, 2004 10:12 PM by Dave

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

As a recovering Linux bigot now discovering the wonders of .NET, I was almost getting used to the camaraderie and professionalism of the Microsoft developer community. Those vitriolic, anti-Microsoft open-source programmers were starting to seem like losers. I badly needed a dose of reality.

So, Roy, I want to thank you for reminding me that .NET people can be petty and childish too, just like open-source people. Your jealous whining was just the thing to remind me that, no matter where you go, every barrel has its share of bad apples.
Tuesday, April 13, 2004 10:43 PM by William Ryan

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

This is the most out of hand thing I've ever seen. There were tons of Non MVP's at the summit, many of whom kept the beer flowing. But the part I don't get is this: I'm an MVP. I feel like I've done a good amount of work to get there. If I hosted my own party, Rory wouldn't be there b/c I don't know him at the moment and I have less money than Bill G does so I'd be hard pressed to flip the bill for him. However, I didn't host anything. I was an invitee. MS could have told me to take a hike even though I'm an MVP. There's nothing written that said MS is legally obliged to allow me to attend. As such, they can invite whoever they want. How did that Hurt me? How has that diminished the MVP program? I just don't see it.
Tuesday, April 13, 2004 11:45 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

Just letting you know that as far as I'm concerned this thing is over:
http://neopoleon.com/blog/posts/5482.aspx
I'm not going to respond on this thread anymore, I've made my thoughts pretty clear.
Wednesday, April 14, 2004 4:54 AM by Mischa Kroon

# re: The day after

Respect ! Nicely done...
Wednesday, April 14, 2004 9:51 AM by Ben Hagadorn

# re: Data Binding Woes - A Simple Solution

Awesome! This code really saved me a bunch of time and aggravation. Thanks for the help.
Wednesday, April 14, 2004 11:38 AM by Mike Gunderloy

# re: Connection pools and user identity, and a DAAB v. 3 mystery

Voice fade: When I was teaching classes (8 hours/day x 5 days in a row), I would ask the venue staff to bring me a pitch of water with NO ICE at the start of each day, and a lemon. (Usually I'd have to send back two or three pitchers with ice before they got the idea). Squeeze the lemon into the water, and sip through the day. I usually went through 2-3 pitchers per day.

In addition to keeping your voice going, this has the benefit of reminding you to give the students bathroom breaks.
Wednesday, April 14, 2004 11:45 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Connection pools and a DAAB v. 3 mystery

Nice one Mike! Thanks.
Wednesday, April 14, 2004 11:48 AM by rohit

# re: MSDN VB blog section

i am searching for the help file for v.b. 6.0 , my system is teling me this file is not available
Wednesday, April 14, 2004 12:25 PM by Julie Lerman

# re: Nice blog

Roy - his name is not quite as funny - it's Casey not Chasey :-)
Wednesday, April 14, 2004 12:31 PM by konamiman

# re: Why I write in Both C# and VB.NET

I know both languages also. I prefer C# because I do not like having to write tons of useless words like Property, Function, Sub, Overloads, Next, Dim, all the EndXXX, etc. Besides I can break my code statements in several lines without having to use "_" nor any other special character, I love it! But it is also true that I miss some more intellisense in the C# editor.
Wednesday, April 14, 2004 2:17 PM by Addy Santo

# re: Connection pools and a DAAB v. 3 mystery

On voice fades:

I used to teach computers in the army, so I was talking 12 hours a day. Things which helped me out:

- Practice!! You will get used to it. The strain isn't the vocal cords as much as it is on the lungs. Think of it as exercise....

- Don't talk in a monotone. Being monotonic isn't only very boring, but it is also more tiring for the voice.

- During breaks, take a few slow,deep breaths. It helps your lungs just like stretching can help your shoulders during long debugging sessions :)
Wednesday, April 14, 2004 4:07 PM by John Lanpheer

# re: Data Binding Woes - A Simple Solution

This requires your displayed data to be displayed in that sorted order, doesn't it? What if your data is displayed in a grid with several columns that can be sorted upon?
Wednesday, April 14, 2004 4:47 PM by Chris Frazier

# re: Connection pools and a DAAB v. 3 mystery

There is an oracle provider using the OracleClient namespace in the messageboard section of DAABv3.0 last time I checked. I haven't found one using ODP.NET, however.
Wednesday, April 14, 2004 5:21 PM by Tomer Gabel

# re: Connection pools and a DAAB v. 3 mystery

The afforementioned guy was me, and I was also the one to bring up the two questions you mentioned. I was just about to go sifting through Google to find out the answers when I figured you might already have, turns out you saved me a bit of time. So thanks again! :-)

Wednesday, April 14, 2004 5:25 PM by Tomer Gabel

# re: Connection pools and a DAAB v. 3 mystery

Oh, by the way, my site is currently down (looking for a host). You can reach me at tomerg at bigmail dot co dot il.
Wednesday, April 14, 2004 7:03 PM by Neil

# re: Nice blog

His name is pretty funny because my company's proxy thinks it’s a pr0n site.
Wednesday, April 14, 2004 8:05 PM by TrackBack

# Well Formatted Blog, Can't Directly Copy from MS Word

Wednesday, April 14, 2004 11:27 PM by Charit Arora

# re: Showing the "Browse For Folder" dialog

Add System.Design.dll to your refrences. That should do teh trick.
Thursday, April 15, 2004 1:54 AM by Paul Gielens

# re: Nice blog

His comments on the whole Rory escapade are hilarious :D Hitting the nail.
Thursday, April 15, 2004 3:04 AM by Damian

# re: Problems downloading The Regulator?

Some Sourceforge mirrors are sometimes a little slack in syncing.

Maybe tell them to try a different mirror
Thursday, April 15, 2004 4:12 AM by matthew

# re: Problems downloading The Regulator?

i had this problem ,tried a different mirror and it was fine.

thx
Thursday, April 15, 2004 7:04 AM by Samuel

# re: Problems downloading The Regulator?

nice blog....greeting from Singapore
Thursday, April 15, 2004 9:29 AM by OmegaSupreme

# re: Problems downloading The Regulator?

No problems downlloading it but one or two bugs detected.

The regulator often removes elements from the document pane.

For example if i start with the regex :

ViewState\((.*?)\)

then click match

the last bracket disapears

ViewState\((.*?)\

Also noted a for problems when escaping \[ square brackets.

Overall though the new version does most definately rock.

Thursday, April 15, 2004 9:34 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Problems downloading The Regulator?

Thanks for the Feedback OS. I'll take it into account.
Would be better to note it in the Sourceforge site though, so I don't lose track of these though.
But I appreciate any input, given anywhere..
Thursday, April 15, 2004 10:33 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Problems downloading The Regulator?

Yeah, I checked. seems to be a problem with the text editor control.
only happens if you type the last bracket and then hit "match" without moving the text cursor.
weird.
Thursday, April 15, 2004 1:48 PM by Randy (Wrinkle-Free)

# re: The art of folding

Actually I came across this a while back on BigWhiteGuy.com - I think it's out of Taiwan, actually, but wherever it's from, it works really well.
Thursday, April 15, 2004 2:24 PM by Darrell

# re: Misunderstanding timestamp

The reason timestamp is binary is for speed. Timestamps are made to allow version comparisons to be as fast as possible. Unfortunate name though!
Thursday, April 15, 2004 2:32 PM by Greg

# re: Misunderstanding timestamp

Triggers have usually worked well in my projects...

I like that no matter HOW the row is updated (someone using Access/Query Analyzer, an App SP, etc, etc) the trigger fires and my ChangedDTTM and ChangedBy columns get updated...

But in the end, it's really about what you and your team are comfortable with and can support...

I've also looked at TimeStamps. One thing that tipped me off that it's a "version vehicle" is that in someplace's in the BOL MS states that RowVersion is an alias for the TimeStamp datatype...
Thursday, April 15, 2004 2:43 PM by Drew Marsh

# re: Getting creative with the windows sound recorder

Now *that* was f'n awesome. :)
Thursday, April 15, 2004 6:32 PM by Robert Brown

# re: Misunderstanding timestamp

"triggers are something I try to avoid, so let's ignore that possibility"

Roy, why avoid triggers? It seems to me that a trigger is the best way to deliver exactly what you need!

There's very little difference between a trigger and a stored proc. You seem happy to use one, but not the other.
Thursday, April 15, 2004 7:01 PM by Marc LaFleur

# re: Misunderstanding timestamp

Triggers are risky unless you /really/ know what you are doing. They seem simply if you have been pulling DBA duty for years, but for the occasional DBA they can lead to spaghetti faster than an Italian chef on meth.
Thursday, April 15, 2004 8:22 PM by secretGeek

# re: Misunderstanding timestamp

good and helpful blog entry!

Thursday, April 15, 2004 9:02 PM by Shannon J Hager

# re: Misunderstanding timestamp

Been there, done that. Didn't have a blog at the time... I filed it under "fire the guy who named that".
Friday, April 16, 2004 1:38 AM by ravi

# re: Free Book: Software Testing and Internationalization

good
Friday, April 16, 2004 12:41 PM by James Crowley

# re: Problems downloading The Regulator?

Roy - the download seems to be working fine for me now - it must have been a problem with the mirror I was using.

Cheers
Friday, April 16, 2004 3:23 PM by Mark

# re: A .Net LDAP library + article

You can also find it at novell forge:
http://forge.novell.com/modules/xfmod/project/?ldapcsharp
Sunday, April 18, 2004 2:10 AM by Bill French

# re: Why is RSS adoption so low? Here's why.

I agree - the options for seamless access and utilization of RSS content by non-technical information workers is almost non-existent.

We've experimented with using Microsoft Office Research Services for delivering a rich search experience for RSS content sources. We do this by creating virtual RSS respositories (SmartSpaces) that also provide transformations to MOSTL (Smart Tags) and ORS (Office Research Services). Users simply subscribe to a research service through any Microsoft Office 2003 application and then begin to "discover" information that flows through the RSS collection for which the service is based.

I believe RSS will achieve rapid adoption at approximately the point in time when we stop calling it RSS. ;-)

--bf
Sunday, April 18, 2004 6:58 AM by secretGeek

# re: Misunderstanding timestamp

Hi Roy

Just wanted to write and apologise to you, because i just realised that over the last several months i've continually mispelled your surname as 'oshergrove' instead of 'osherove'. no idea how i came up with the extra letters... but i've cleared them out of my cache now.

cheers
Leon
Sunday, April 18, 2004 10:40 PM by roccolocko

# Get information of software installed

I would like to know if its posible to get the information of software installed on my PC, I have a code in vb .NET to get the installed software or programs, but i dont know how to get information about these. Like product-key, disk space, instalation date, etc, etc...
I dont know if you could help me with this...
Thanks
Monday, April 19, 2004 9:04 AM by Per

# re: Misunderstanding timestamp

Roy -- maybe I'm saying the same thing as you when you said:

"I can either get the date as part of a stored procedure parameter and set it every update, or I can just set it on updates and inserts automatically inside the stored procedure using “GETDATE()” functionality in SQL."

We use GETDATE as a default value on our DataModified columns
(which are like standard footers on most tables)
So -- anytime you touch that row, GETDATE() fires...is this
what you describe above?
Monday, April 19, 2004 9:06 AM by veni

# re: A Biztalk 2004 riddle - Catching an exception from a web service

Biztalk 2004-Is there a way to mention the retry count for a dynamic send port.?
We have this option is static port.But my requirement is i need to set this value in a dynamic port
Monday, April 19, 2004 10:41 AM by Eric Engler

# re: Connection pools and a DAAB v. 3 mystery

There's a beta release of DAAB 3.1 that includes Oracle support using the MS Oracle provider.
http://www.gotdotnet.com/Community/Workspaces/viewuploads.aspx?id=c20d12b0-af52-402b-9b7c-aaeb21d1f431
Monday, April 19, 2004 8:40 PM by Sundaramoorthy Pandranki

# re: The VS7 Debugger doesn’t work. What can I do?

Tried everything suggested here,but,nothing worked for me( was not lucky and wasted time).Added the asp.net application as a trusted site in IE.Worked.Hope it helps somebody out there.

Sundar
sundarmp1@hotmail.com
Monday, April 19, 2004 10:10 PM by Maxim V. Karpov

# re: Connection pools and a DAAB v. 3 mystery

Mike,
I am glad you enjoy my post of DAAB. I spend some time researching and making sure that I can write code that will migrate from ADO.NET 1.x to ADO 2.x model.

Thanks for mentioning the blog :)

Maxim

[www.ipattern.com do you?]
Tuesday, April 20, 2004 10:29 AM by TrackBack

# SlickRun to define

Tuesday, April 20, 2004 2:14 PM by Amir

# re: VS.Net refactoring Lessons from IntelliJ IDEA (redux)

Well... From the people that brought you IDEA comes Resharper... An add in to C# studio... Check it out...
Tuesday, April 20, 2004 3:26 PM by Lauri Travis

# re: Getting creative with the windows sound recorder

This is too cool! I think this guy has too much time on his hands! :)
Tuesday, April 20, 2004 4:55 PM by Frans Bouma

# re: The Regulator v. 2.01 - now with Intellisense

Really kick @ss!! :)

Congrats with this great tool :)
Tuesday, April 20, 2004 5:27 PM by SBC

# re: The Regulator v. 2.01 - now with Intellisense

yowza... that's a terrific set of new features..!
Tuesday, April 20, 2004 5:40 PM by Udi Dahan - The Software Simplist

# re: The Regulator v. 2.01 - now with Intellisense

Where DO you find the time :)
Tuesday, April 20, 2004 6:07 PM by Til

# re: Asp.Net slider control?

I'm trying out a javascript slider using an asp page (from http://www.howtocreate.co.uk/jslibs/). See my sample at http://www.surveyity.com/slide/default.asp.

The java is in http://www.surveyity.com/slide/slider.js

Wednesday, April 21, 2004 1:14 AM by TrackBack

# Useful sounding WMI tool

Wednesday, April 21, 2004 1:39 AM by TrackBack

# Generate Strongly Typed WMI Classes

Wednesday, April 21, 2004 1:41 AM by TrackBack

# Regulator (Regular Expression Editor) Updated

Wednesday, April 21, 2004 2:30 AM by Oleg Tkachenko

# re: Hardcore XML blog

Thanks for the plug!
Wednesday, April 21, 2004 3:12 AM by Paul Gielens

# re: Hardcore XML blog

I’m preparing for an XML, in process and control systems based on S88/S95 (shop floor control and enterprise resource planning) course I’ll be presenting this July. Oleg and Daniel both have great things to say about XML 1.0/2.0 and are welcome additions to the already impressive information flow about Xml in .NET. Roy I suggest you have a look at Mvp.Xml :D
Wednesday, April 21, 2004 6:20 AM by ranad

# re: When friends show off

hi guys, iam writing to you this email from \dubai, i just want to thank you all for this great show, i wish it wond end, i have all the episodes on dvd except the last 3 eposides from season ten,
i love you all especially matt, joey,
Wednesday, April 21, 2004 8:49 AM by Oskar Austegard

# re: The Regulator v. 2.01 - now with Intellisense

The intellisense is a GREAT addition. One request though: could a shortcut key (Ctrl+Space or Ctrl+J...) be added to allow showing intellisense options for the current carret position in an existing expression? Would be very beneficial when editing...
Wednesday, April 21, 2004 9:17 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: The Regulator v. 2.01 - now with Intellisense

Noted :)
Wednesday, April 21, 2004 9:55 AM by marko rangel

# re: Ack! My DataTable magically grew a new data column. Here's why.

Great discovery!

Though I think you meant "the table suddenly contains 5 columns(!)." instead of "the table suddenly contains 5 tables(!)."
Wednesday, April 21, 2004 10:18 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Ack! My DataTable magically grew a new data column. Here's why.

oops!
Thanks :)
Wednesday, April 21, 2004 11:08 AM by TrackBack

# Simple and addicting game

Wednesday, April 21, 2004 11:44 AM by Til

# re: Asp.Net slider control?

Concerning the above slider:

function stopFunction(sliderPosition) {
//do something with the position of the slider
//window.alert( 'The final position is ' + Math.round( 100 * sliderPosition ) + '%' );
document.survey.Q1.value=Math.round( 100000 * sliderPosition);
}

This javascript function saves the value of the slider to Q1


This asp code prints the value of Q1 on the return trip from the server via the submit button.
<%
if Request.Form("Q1")<>"" then
response.write "<h1>Your last response was <font color='Red'><b>" & Request.Form("Q1") & "</b></font></h1>"
end if
%>

Wednesday, April 21, 2004 12:49 PM by Darrell

# re: Ack! My DataTable magically grew a new data column. Here's why.

Yep, soon as I can get a little free time. Things are hectic here; but it shouldn't be for too long. :)
Wednesday, April 21, 2004 12:52 PM by Melvin Lee

# re: Ack! My DataTable magically grew a new data column. Here's why.

Can you share the unit testing code from this demo? I'm learning TDD and it would be helpful to see how other with more experience on this topic do TDD
Wednesday, April 21, 2004 1:05 PM by TrackBack

# Welcome to the Developer PowerToys

Wednesday, April 21, 2004 3:10 PM by TrackBack

# You may now call me

Wednesday, April 21, 2004 5:17 PM by TrackBack

# re: MSDN Webcast: Writing Add-ins for Visual Studio

Wednesday, April 21, 2004 6:23 PM by jledgard

# re: [Coding Contest] Most Useful/Innovative VS.Net Add-in/Macro (and some huge prizes)

This is a pretty cool idea. Is there anything, prizes, support, etc the VS team could provide for this? Are boxes signed by the extensibility team interesting? Let me know.
josh
Wednesday, April 21, 2004 6:50 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: [Coding Contest] Most Useful/Innovative VS.Net Add-in/Macro (and some huge prizes)

Josh: Expect an email form me real soon :) Through your blog contact link.
Wednesday, April 21, 2004 10:08 PM by TrackBack

# VS.NET Add-in contest

Wednesday, April 21, 2004 11:34 PM by TrackBack

# VS.NET Add-in contest

Thursday, April 22, 2004 12:28 AM by muse

# re: About Roy Osherove

Excellent! Your site is one of my frequent sneaks and I hope to hear deeper insights on technology and life from you.
Tough neighbourhood you're in.
Thursday, April 22, 2004 1:12 AM by Jon Galloway

# re: Simple and addicting game

No! Physics flashback! This game is an illustration of Maxwell's Demon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell's_demon). Tougher version here: http://ajs.net/maxwell.htm

This was a thought experiment Maxwell came up with to try to refute the second law of thermodynamics - the law which says that entropy in a system will always increase.

When you're playing the game, you're decreasing the entropy of the system by causing a heat differential which is increasing the potential energy of the system. It's just an illusion, though, because you're burning tons of calories cursing at the screen when a red ball slips past.

Did I just take all the fun out of the game?
Thursday, April 22, 2004 2:08 AM by Pennywise is useless

# re: Making the F-lock key on your MS keyboard ON by default

If you don't like it then why in the world did you buy a Microsoft keyboard? Like a typhical linux user, nothing but useless complaints and nothing more.
Thursday, April 22, 2004 6:17 AM by TrackBack

# Coolest Add-In Coding Contest

Thursday, April 22, 2004 6:19 AM by TrackBack

# Write an Add-In; Win Cool Prizes

Thursday, April 22, 2004 7:01 AM by oleg@tkachenko.com (Oleg Tkachenko)

# RE: [Coding Contest] Most Useful/Innovative VS.Net Add-in/Macro (and some huge prizes)

Just happens I'm writing a killer (IMHO) add-in for VS.NET! Hope I will be able to deliver first beta next month. Btw, should it be open source and why do you need the sources?
Thursday, April 22, 2004 7:49 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: [Coding Contest] Most Useful/Innovative VS.Net Add-in/Macro (and some huge prizes)

Oleg: cool.
Yes, it should be open source. I want the sources because the whole point of this is to share and learn information and code that can bebefit others, while making the world a cooler place at the same time :)
Thursday, April 22, 2004 8:12 AM by TrackBack

# VS .NET Comp - are you worthy?

Thursday, April 22, 2004 8:13 AM by TrackBack

# VS.NET Comp - are you worthy?

Thursday, April 22, 2004 10:07 AM by senkwe

# re: [Coding Contest] Most Useful/Innovative VS.Net Add-in/Macro (and some huge prizes)

Roy, by "the end of next month" you mean the closing date is 5th June 2004?
Thursday, April 22, 2004 11:26 AM by Jonathan Payne

# re: [Coding Contest] Most Useful/Innovative VS.Net Add-in/Macro (and some huge prizes)

Is there any chance you could extend the rules to allow C++ add-ins (of the non-managed flavour). Some of us Luddites 'enjoy' doing all that tricky COM stuff by hand!

I will submit a really cool add-in if you do.... :-)

Jonathan
Thursday, April 22, 2004 11:29 AM by TrackBack

# Contest

Thursday, April 22, 2004 11:53 AM by Omer van Kloeten

# re: [Coding Contest] Most Useful/Innovative VS.Net Add-in/Macro (and some huge prizes)

Any way you'd accept The Object Model Generator's Visual Studio addin? :D
Thursday, April 22, 2004 12:04 PM by jmservera

# re: Connection pools and a DAAB v. 3 mystery

Voice: check www.vocalcoach.com for the "Complete Breathing" and "Complete Warmup" CDs.
Thursday, April 22, 2004 12:48 PM by Patrick Cauldwell

# re: The Regulator v. 2.01 - now with Intellisense

The intellisense rocks. Way to go Roy! I use the Regulator all the time now. Thanks for the hard work.
Thursday, April 22, 2004 1:50 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: [Coding Contest] Most Useful/Innovative VS.Net Add-in/Macro (and some huge prizes)

Senkwe: I mean submission closes at the end of the 5th month (31.5.04)
Jonathan: I have no idea if you're kidding or not. Still, only managed code allowed. Sorry.
Omer: Yeah. That could use an add-in. Remember - new code, and that is one.
Thursday, April 22, 2004 3:46 PM by Eric Garza

# re: "Could not open in Design view. Quote values differently..." solved!

You can also use Response.Write to output whatever is needed (you might need to double the quotes in some cases).

<%
Response.Write("<body onload='javascript: footerFocus('" & viewState.Item("footerFocus") & "')'>")
%>
Thursday, April 22, 2004 4:27 PM by Jonathan Payne

# re: [Coding Contest] Most Useful/Innovative VS.Net Add-in/Macro (and some huge prizes)

Nah, I wasn't kidding! Its just I have a new add-in I have started in C++ and I was wondering if I could bend the rules to enter it for your competition. Oh well.

Jonathan
Thursday, April 22, 2004 6:17 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: [Coding Contest] Most Useful/Innovative VS.Net Add-in/Macro (and some huge prizes)

Jonathan: well - If its cool it should be added to the powertoys blog:
http://blogs.msdn.com/jledgard/archive/2004/04/21/117628.aspx
Thursday, April 22, 2004 6:50 PM by h khalifa

# problem with windows media player

i have cd having wmv files made in windows xp. i cant see that files in computer having windows 98.
Thursday, April 22, 2004 7:54 PM by Lorenzo Barbieri

# re: Blogsphere viral marketing

I prefer receiving a free copy of a program and promote it, instead of receiving 1000s spam e-mails... :-)
I wonder how much his google rating has increased today!
Thursday, April 22, 2004 8:01 PM by Steve Maine

# re: VB.Net is diverging from C#. That can't be bad, or can it?

I don't think the "My" namespace is a VB lanaguage addition per se. I think it's a set of classes that are part of the VB.NET library. However, those classes are implemented in managed code so I don't see a reason why you couldn't call into the "My" namespace from within a C# app. I would think it would just be a matter of setting a reference to Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll, add 'using' statements for the appropriate namespaces and be off and running.

It might look a bit funny to see
using Microsoft.VisualBasic;

at the top of a .cs file, but it seems like it would be worth it for the added productivity of the "My" namespace!
Thursday, April 22, 2004 8:10 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: VB.Net is diverging from C#. That can't be bad, or can it?

Steve: Now - why didn't I think of that? that's probably how that'll work, I hope. Which would make most of my post irrelevant *bangs head on table*
:)
Thursday, April 22, 2004 9:49 PM by Dotnetjunky

# re: [Coding Contest] Most Useful/Innovative VS.Net Add-in/Macro (and some huge prizes)

Hi,

is this contest open to everybody in the world or only US citizens ?
Friday, April 23, 2004 12:05 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: [Coding Contest] Most Useful/Innovative VS.Net Add-in/Macro (and some huge prizes)

This contest is open to EVERYONE, anywhere.
Friday, April 23, 2004 2:53 AM by a

# re: Checking for NULL values

if (cstr(rs3(1)) is null) then
a= 0
Response.Write a
end if
Friday, April 23, 2004 3:28 AM by Robert W. McLaws

# re: VB.Net is diverging from C#. That can't be bad, or can it?

Different languages are supposed to have different features. Microsoft made the move to differentiate in Whidbey, and Orcas will be even more RAD than it is now. What if every language was a cookie cutter port of the other one? What would be the point?
Friday, April 23, 2004 4:39 AM by Jackie Goldstein

# re: VB.Net is diverging from C#. That can't be bad, or can it?

Roy, Steve,

Actually - you are both correct. The My classes are managed classes from a .NET assembly, so are usable from C#. However, "MY" is a VB keyword. In C# you'd have to declare/instantiate the "My" objects explicitly and continue from there.

Roy, your original post presents an interesting point, although I don't think that the goal with .NET is to allow developers to seamlessly switch from language to language - then why bother with different languages if they are SO similar ? The real benefit of .NET is the seamless multi-langauge code integration (i.e. cross-langauge calling, inheritance, debugging, etc.). Even more important, for VB developers, is that palying field has been levelled - since it is a single run-time and set of framework classes, there is no functionality that is unavailable to VB developers.

Of course, the playing field is really levelled (and is getting more uneven) - we will always be able to do many things much faster and easier in VB !! :-)


Friday, April 23, 2004 4:42 AM by Mike Woodhouse

# re: VB.Net is diverging from C#. That can't be bad, or can it?

I think that one of the following may be applicable. Of course, there are doubtless many other possibilities but it's too early in the morning for my poor brain to deal with more than two.

1 MS thought that homogenising the languages would draw the broadest audience to .NET in the quickest time. Interestingly, many VB folks didn't like VB.NET and a goodly number of C++ folks were similarly dismissive of C#. Looking at it from a long history of VB involvement, I'd suggest that a lot of professional VB developers have jumped tracks to C#, possibly because it's less likely that they'll get caught out by similarities.
If MS had added the features needed to include scripting languages then they'd have had a broad audience indeed.

2 MS planned to diverge languages' capabilities as the product developed, knowing that getting buy-in from the (millions of) casual VB developers was going to take more simplimafication (and edit-and-continue) than was desirable in the 1.0 or 1.1 versions. So now VB.NET's heading back to RAD-land. Or at least it's acquiring more of the RAD-ish capabilities that "classic" VB has.
Friday, April 23, 2004 4:47 AM by Scott Cropley

# re: Disabling Connection Pooling

IN order to drop a database, all connections must be closed. As part of application set-up and maintenance, I frequently need to drop databases. You can't drop and recreate a merge subscription if connections are holding it open.
Friday, April 23, 2004 5:26 AM by Gavin Joyce

# re: Blogsphere viral marketing

Yeah, it has worked very well. I sent out about 30 copies to bloggers on weblogs.asp.net and 6 of them have mentioned the product in their blog so far.
Friday, April 23, 2004 6:28 AM by Stijn Gysemans

# re: VB.Net is diverging from C#. That can't be bad, or can it?

I've been programming in vb.net for almost 2 years now. I think I'll switch from vb.net to c# because the way they treat us is not acceptable: we can't use the normal API (or so they think) so they develop a new keywoard for make is simpler...
Friday, April 23, 2004 6:35 AM by Rudi Larno

# re: VB.Net is diverging from C#. That can't be bad, or can it?

I do see some akwardness in this too. VB is indeed being targeted as the more RAD language and C# as the more code-oriented language for developers.

But why not have all the extra tools and features be as language independant as possible, then the programmer can have the best plethora of tools, whatever language they have chosen.

* the 'My' classes should not be in the Visual Basic namespace, but should be named language independant.
* VB can have a My keyword that is a shortcut to these classes, like C# has the using keyword to provide a shortcut to the Dispose pattern.
* Refactoring is important for any language, not just C#
* Edit-n-continue is also a platform feature, so why only in VB?

Really, I can see that from a marketing pov, some tools can be more prominent in one language than another, but most tools should be, as the platform itself, language independant.

Friday, April 23, 2004 7:21 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: VB.Net is diverging from C#. That can't be bad, or can it?

I do see the point in each language getting its own uniqueness, but I remember the fact that you could move easily between languages as one of the most touted features in .Net.
If that's not the cause anymore, than, sure. It all makes sense, but this is indeed something to consider.
Here's a real-life example: There is not simple "IsNumeric()" function in C#. There is one in VB. A VBer wanting to use that in C# would have a pretty hard time and there are lots of more complicated alternatives (double.TryParse()??).
Sure, its possible to reference the Visual Basic assembly, but not very intuitive and it takes a long time to realize that's the easiest,simplest and fastest way to go.
Now, just imagine how hard a move it would be if you're used to "My" to do lots of your regular work.
Is Importing the VisualBasic namespace your first and only choice to be able to work in the "almost" same speed or knowing the object model as you did as a VBer?
Is that natural?
Friday, April 23, 2004 7:43 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Ack! My DataTable magically grew a new data column. Here's why.

Melvin: I've asked Darrell to do so - it's his code.
Friday, April 23, 2004 8:01 AM by TrackBack

# New and Notable 49

Friday, April 23, 2004 9:06 AM by Lyle Dodge

# re: VB.Net is diverging from C#. That can't be bad, or can it?

In all my c# coding, i have often just imported the vb runtime library and used Information.IsNumeric(), etc. all of your goodies are there. I don't see the point in writing my own isnumeric routines in c# just to be a purist if I can use the vb functions.
Friday, April 23, 2004 9:11 AM by Guardian 777

# re: Non MVPs at the MVP summit - looks bad, smells bad

Well, I went as well, and I'm certainly not an MVP or press. I didn't hear anyone kicking up a stink about me.
What's the big deal?
Friday, April 23, 2004 9:22 AM by Chris J. Breisch

# re: Connection pools and a DAAB v. 3 mystery

If someone wants to write an ODP Helper, I'll be glad to include it in the 3.1 release. I don't have the resources at the moment to mess with it myself. If you need help wirting a helper, I'm currently working on a HOWTO for this. It probably won't make it into the next 3.1 beta, but you can contact me directly at cjbreisch@yahoo.com if you have any questions. Looking at the code for the other helpers will probably tell you everything you need to know, though.

Thanks for mentioning this and the beta on your blog!
Friday, April 23, 2004 10:33 AM by Jackie Goldstein

# re: VB.Net is diverging from C#. That can't be bad, or can it?

Stijn,

There is nothing at all preventing you from using the raw API or objects in VB. There will just be an additional way of coding the same functionality that is easier and faster.

Friday, April 23, 2004 11:17 AM by TrackBack

# The My namespace and C#

Some of it will work, some of it won't.
Friday, April 23, 2004 11:33 AM by TrackBack

# What Add-ins would you like to see in the contest?

Friday, April 23, 2004 11:35 AM by TrackBack

# [Coding Contest] Most Useful/Innovative VS.Net Add-in/Macro (and some huge prizes)

Friday, April 23, 2004 12:21 PM by HumanCompiler

# re: VB.Net is diverging from C#. That can't be bad, or can it?

Roy, this problem already exists today (oops, it was mentioned by someone else already) with some of the things like IsNumeric that already exist in VB, but not C#, but can be referenced, it's just that now it'll be even worse ;)

Also, they've already actually done some of what you're saying (put it in the Framework). The biggest one being strongly typed resources. That was originally just in the My Classes (as far as I knew from seeing it at last year's summit), but has now been moved into the Framework for everyone to use. Things like the cool new IO stuff like reading and writing to a text file in one line of code is in the Framework and C# can access it without any other assemblies. The My Classes just have it wrapped up to fit in its organizational groupings.

Really though, I think that this stuff doesn't really cause a problem because if a user starts on VB and uses that, I think that's where s/he should stay. There really aren't any "good" reasons to switch back and forth unless you're a writer or someone that needs to do both (usually a more advanced developer anyway who will know the ins and outs of both languages). "Most" people shouldn't need to. Find the language that works and use it and don't worry about the other. That's my opinion anyway and I'm sticking to it :P
Friday, April 23, 2004 1:04 PM by Eric

# re: [Coding Contest] Most Useful/Innovative VS.Net Add-in/Macro (and some huge prizes)

If I write a "wrapper" to host Regulator in a VS.NET window, would that count ? :)

Eric
Friday, April 23, 2004 1:19 PM by jledgard

# re: [Coding Contest] Most Useful/Innovative VS.Net Add-in/Macro (and some huge prizes)

Posted to the powertoys blog like this??? http://blogs.msdn.com/powertoys/archive/2004/04/23/119009.aspx

:-)

Friday, April 23, 2004 1:53 PM by Craig Wagner

# re: Unit Test Your .NET Data Access Layer: Where are the Mocks?

I recently started with a new organization that is using NUnit. They have a data access component that was home-grown, and a mock object for unit testing. However, it seems very clumsy for several reasons:

- The data access component should really consist of static members only. There is no client-specific state that needs to be maintained. However, the mock object changes that so I must create AND PASS AROUND the object. Now my application design is manged because of the requirements of testing.

- The mock object responds to the SEQUENCE OF CALLS. If I refactor my object such that the sequence of calls changes, my tests break. That strikes me as stupid, at least in the case of retrievals. I spent two days debugging the tests because they were now inserting data into the mock component in the wrong sequence.
Friday, April 23, 2004 2:03 PM by ori

# re: VB.Net is diverging from C#. That can't be bad, or can it?

something really bothers me concerning this argument-
do u know if c# developer is payed more then vb.net developer
(assuming their experience level is equal).

do u have any statistics about any salary differences
or any information about the number of vb.net developers
comparing to c# (worldwide) ?

i used to develop in vb6 and migrated to vb.net, but i feel that
i need to study c# as well, just because i am afraid that some

companies prefer c# as their favorite language.

what do you guys think?
Friday, April 23, 2004 2:12 PM by Eric

# re: [Coding Contest] Most Useful/Innovative VS.Net Add-in/Macro (and some huge prizes)

Can a person submit more than 1 add-in or macro?

Later,

Eric
Friday, April 23, 2004 5:41 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: [Coding Contest] Most Useful/Innovative VS.Net Add-in/Macro (and some huge prizes)

Eric: Wrappers don't count :)
Also, YOu can submit any number of add-ins or macros. The more the marrier.
Friday, April 23, 2004 6:36 PM by Mike Schinkel

# re: [Coding Contest] Most Useful/Innovative VS.Net Add-in/Macro (and some huge prizes)

Add an XDN Professional Membership for each winner!

http://blogs.xtras.net/mikes/PermaLink,guid,cce356a5-a863-4fe9-a4fb-eff40ebeb255.aspx
Friday, April 23, 2004 8:37 PM by Omer van Kloeten

# re: Hands on Test Driven Development - class resources needed

Sounds like a great idea. :)
I'd love to attend, should circumstances permit.
Saturday, April 24, 2004 12:27 AM by Clint

# re: What Add-ins would you like to see in the contest?

My suggestion:
Name: Code Highlighter/Formatter
Description: Let's say you're programming, and you know you are writing some test code, something that you know will need to be changed, something that should be deleted eventually, etc... Well it would be cool if there was an add-in where you could define different code highlight/format categories like Test Code, Debug Code, Temp Code and then assign them each a different color, font type, or font format (bold, italics, etc). You would just highlight some code, right click, and pick from the menu Code Highlighter>Test Code and then it would change all the highlighted code to that specific font color/format. Then you'd never forget about the code because it would be obvious if it is in a different format than normal code. I make this mistake to often where I put a comment by some test code or temp code to remove it but then forget to until weeks later, if ever.
Saturday, April 24, 2004 3:56 AM by prem

# re: A Power-Point mystery

this is good
Saturday, April 24, 2004 12:21 PM by McLamb

# re: A big bug in Google

I found another bug you could post, no clue what causes it. It happens when doing a search on my site, http://mclamb.us

Theres this search http://www.google.com/search?q=mclamb.us&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&start=0&sa=N which displays 4 pages, but when you goto page 2 http://www.google.com/search?q=mclamb.us&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&start=10&sa=N it says theres only 3 pages total. I search this everyday waiting for my site to get listed but it doesn't. Could it be on the mysterious last page?
Saturday, April 24, 2004 3:42 PM by Steve Hiner

# re: What Add-ins would you like to see in the contest?

I'd love to code this myself but I know from past experience that I won't take the time to do it, especially considering it's not really useful.

Name: Runtime Visualizer
Description: Piture the visualizers in Windows Media Player but for code. You could base the visualizer changes on attributes of the code like the WMP visualizers use frequency and volumn. The visualizer could respond to things like allocation frequency, total memory allocated, GC frequency, number of local variables, etc.
Saturday, April 24, 2004 3:59 PM by Memi Lavi

# re: Hands on Test Driven Development - class resources needed

Count me in. Great idea!
Sunday, April 25, 2004 12:03 AM by TrackBack

# VS.NET AddIn-Macro Coding Contest

Sunday, April 25, 2004 12:23 AM by TrackBack

#

Sunday, April 25, 2004 12:25 AM by TrackBack

# Test Driven Development Workshop is a go!

Sunday, April 25, 2004 4:02 AM by TrackBack

# Testing VisualBlogger

Sunday, April 25, 2004 4:21 AM by Yuri Gorobets

# re: Hands on Test Driven Development - class resources needed

Hi dude!
I will!
Sunday, April 25, 2004 4:21 AM by Yuri Gorobets

# re: Hands on Test Driven Development - class resources needed

Hi dude!
I will!
Sunday, April 25, 2004 6:03 AM by Shmulik Primes

# re: Hands on Test Driven Development - class resources needed

Me 2!
Sunday, April 25, 2004 12:48 PM by TrackBack

# 1st prize just got a whole lot bigger

Sunday, April 25, 2004 12:57 PM by TrackBack

# 1st prize just got a whole lot bigger

Sunday, April 25, 2004 12:57 PM by TrackBack

# What Add-ins would you like to see in the contest?

Sunday, April 25, 2004 2:49 PM by Jenny, UK

# re: The Imposter Syndrome: Feeling Like A Fraud

God yeah, I feel like that all the time! I keep thinking that what I am doing is so easy that it is really not that great or that much of an achievement and because it is so easy I am not so intelligent...etc...etc It's not easy - I am in my second year of a Joint BA in Classics and Spanish and I feel like this about my study of literature. Literature is one of my talents and because I find it easy and get good marks I keep thinking that my work doesn't deserve it and I am going to get a low mark one day when a tutor realises what a bluffer I have been!!! Nutty huh!!! It's awful because I am in a constant state of anxiety feeling not good enough and having no faith in myself or what I do. My self esteem is at rock bottom. Anyone else feel same?
Monday, April 26, 2004 4:03 AM by joga reddy

# re: Server.Transfer vs. Response.Redirect

Server.Transfer vs. Response.Redirect
A user sent me this blurb out of Wrox's ASP 3.0 Programmer's Reference regarding the differences between Server.Transfer and Response.Redirect:

The current page's context is also passed to the target page or resource. This includes the values of all the variables in all the intrinsic ASP objects, such as the collections of the Request, Response, and Session objects, and all their properties. The Application object context is also transferred, even if the page is within a different virtual application. The current transaction context is also passed to the new page, allowing it to take part seamlessly in any current transaction.

Meanwhile, the browser's address bar still shows the original URL, and the Back, Forward, and Refresh buttons work normally. When we use client-side redirection, especially with an HTML meta tag, this usually isn't the case.

However, the values of any script variables or object references that were created or set within the first page are not available within the new page.

One other major difference is that because Server.Transfer doesn't require the client to request another page, it can be faster in some cases, depending on what you're doing.
Monday, April 26, 2004 5:05 AM by ABO

# re: What Add-ins would you like to see in the contest?

How about something that monitors build time, stores it and allows me to view the build time over time.

These statistics could be used to:
* ask the boss for an hardware upgrade :)
* Watch how the build time increases over time
Monday, April 26, 2004 7:16 AM by TrackBack

# Write an Add-In or a Macro and Win!

Monday, April 26, 2004 7:28 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: What Add-ins would you like to see in the contest?

Allow me to chat with a coleague of mine from inside VS.Net, including shared code editing.
Monday, April 26, 2004 7:28 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: What Add-ins would you like to see in the contest?

Export my pre and post build events to an MSBuild/NAnt project
Monday, April 26, 2004 7:29 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: What Add-ins would you like to see in the contest?

"Blog This Code" functionality
Monday, April 26, 2004 2:20 PM by Eric

# re: 1st prize just got a whole lot bigger

Roy,
Rather than making each prize bigger and better as new stuff is added, maybe you could offer a couple of more spots (4th and 5th). This would allow for more "winners" and might increase the participation... i.e. if there are more chances to win, maybe more people would enter.

Later,

Eric
Monday, April 26, 2004 2:31 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: 1st prize just got a whole lot bigger

Eric: I was thinking about it, but here's what I came up with:
If the first and 2nd prizes are so big and cool, it will give more motivation for people to do their best work, and most robust work.
Also - if I have 5 prizes and only 3 entries - I'd look like a jackass ;)
Monday, April 26, 2004 3:52 PM by James Robertson

# Smalltalk glasses

<p>Roy<br/> I added a comment on my blog that points to what I've done. In terms of how a plugin is loaded - it's a parcel (VisualWorks Smalltalk-speak). A parcel is kind of like a Java JAR file, except that:</p> * The code can be for arbitrary classes * The code can change arbitrary methods in any object in the system <p>As to reflection - well, Smalltalk (and Lisp, of course) pretty much invented reflection. The capabilities go well beyond what's possible in C# or Java (or any CLR/JVM based language, for that matter). A good example of what's possible is to consider what you can accomplish with #doesNotUnderstand:</p> <p>In Smalltalk, a message that is not understood ends up generating a MessageNotUnderstood exception. However, any object can implement a #doesNotUnderstand: method, and then handle that situation locally. It's not something you do every day - but it does make proxies trivial to implement. We don't need a vendor framework for proxy operations; they are effectively free....</p>
Monday, April 26, 2004 4:14 PM by Isaac Gouy

# re: Smalltalk glasses

Smalltalk: a Reflective Language '96
http://www2.parc.com/csl/groups/sda/projects/reflection96/docs/rivard/rivard.html


(Method Wrappers rather than #doesNotUnderstand
ftp://www.laputan.org/pub/foote/brant.pdf
)
Monday, April 26, 2004 6:27 PM by AndrewSeven

# re: Less is more, but more is more

If less is more, just think how much less "more" will be.
Tuesday, April 27, 2004 12:46 AM by Rich Hanson

# re: Combobox binding trouble - with a solution

Thanks! I was going nuts with this! I'm looking at my code over and over and over, I'm looking at examples, everything seems right! I too had the sorted = true!

Thanks a million!
Tuesday, April 27, 2004 2:13 AM by TrackBack

# VS Add-inn Idea : The Disposer!

Tuesday, April 27, 2004 4:57 AM by Adrian Cockburn

# re: What Add-ins would you like to see in the contest?

I'd like to see an XPath Visualizer included for viewing xml files. Currently when viewing xml files you see tabs for Xml and Data, an extra tab for XPath where i could query the xml document would be nice :)
Tuesday, April 27, 2004 5:11 AM by El Rápido

# re: "Could not open in Design view. Quote values differently..." solved!

Still weird that I had to replace " with ' while the code example came from the web....makes you wonder how the creator managed it....oh well, problem solved....
Tuesday, April 27, 2004 11:01 AM by Tay

# re: Windows Server 2003 Rocks

what is the difference between standard, enterprise and web edition?
Tuesday, April 27, 2004 11:08 AM by bruno lefou

# re: The Star Wars - Kid Gets An Upgrade

For the latest upgrade of Star Wars Kid go on www.brunolefou.com
Tuesday, April 27, 2004 2:10 PM by christina radeva

# re: When friends show off

F.R.I.E.N.D.S is my favourite show.And I was really sad when I understood that it's gonna end.After having watched each episode at least twice, I can allege that friends really succeeded to touch my heart.THEY really managed to become MY friends.I love their charm,their humor,their experiences,I love them.And the only thing I know for sure is that I'm gonna miss them:(((
Tuesday, April 27, 2004 5:40 PM by Eric

# re: [Coding Contest] Most Useful/Innovative VS.Net Add-in/Macro (and some huge prizes)

Can an Add-In use a 3rd party control if it is freely available to anyone (i.e. open source, freeware, gpl, etc.)?

Thanks,

Eric
Tuesday, April 27, 2004 10:01 PM by df

# re: Real Progress Bars in Web Application

df
Tuesday, April 27, 2004 11:52 PM by Dave Lowe

# re: Showing the "Browse For Folder" dialog

Also make sure you are running v1.1 of the .NET Framework.
Wednesday, April 28, 2004 2:29 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: [Coding Contest] Most Useful/Innovative VS.Net Add-in/Macro (and some huge prizes)

Eric: no problem.
Wednesday, April 28, 2004 7:32 AM by Michael Dorfman

# re: Less is more, but more is more

On the other hand, "There's no success like failure, and failure's no success at all."
Wednesday, April 28, 2004 4:40 PM by Amir

# re: The Regulator v. 2.01 - now with Intellisense

Does it works on Framework 1.0 ?
Wednesday, April 28, 2004 7:59 PM by Eric

# re: What Add-ins would you like to see in the contest?

Adrian,
Could you send me an email so that we can "chat" about this?

Thanks,

Eric

eric_brunsen@msn.com
Thursday, April 29, 2004 12:34 AM by secretGeek

# Trrrrrack Back: Some Suggested Add-Ins for Visual Studio.Net

About thirty suggestions. I make no guarantee that these things have not already been implemented:

http://www.secretgeek.net/addins.asp
Thursday, April 29, 2004 1:50 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: The Regulator v. 2.01 - now with Intellisense

yes. there's a .net 1.0 version in there.
Thursday, April 29, 2004 9:44 AM by DarrenS

# re: Easy Proxy handling through the ProxyFactory and ProxyInfo classes

Thanks. This worked perfectly!!
Thursday, April 29, 2004 1:57 PM by mariam

# re: Passport identity change

i want change my passport
Thursday, April 29, 2004 2:21 PM by TrackBack

# The blogsphere generosity wave - Viral Marketing

Thursday, April 29, 2004 2:21 PM by TrackBack

# The blogsphere generosity wave - Viral Marketing

Thursday, April 29, 2004 4:32 PM by TrackBack

# Unblock Attachment in Outlook

Thursday, April 29, 2004 5:38 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Smalltalk glasses

Thanks for the input!
Thursday, April 29, 2004 5:44 PM by Ben

# re: Unblocking an attachment blocked by outlook

Opening .exe Attachments with the Outlook E-mail Security Update and Outlook 2002 - http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/esecup/getexe.htm

Thursday, April 29, 2004 6:46 PM by Jose

# re: Unblocking an attachment blocked by outlook

Here is another:

http://www.slovaktech.com/attachmentoptions.htm
Thursday, April 29, 2004 6:54 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Unblocking an attachment blocked by outlook

Jose: Yep! that's the one I was referring to. Thanks!
Thursday, April 29, 2004 7:16 PM by TrackBack

# Even better notepad.exe

Thursday, April 29, 2004 7:44 PM by Dave Burke

# re: Unblocking an attachment blocked by outlook

I'm glad you have a large readership, Roy. Those URLs are the ticket. Actually, in the two hours I spent investigating this, I did come across the slipstick page, but I didn't want to have to go into the registry. Since the URLs are posted on your blog, I figure its okay to go ahead and do it. :-) btw, I tried the forward--yesterday and again today--both from Outlook 2003 and OE, and darn if I can get it to work. The attachment is gone, gone, gone on receipt. Thanks for posting on this.
Thursday, April 29, 2004 7:53 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Unblocking an attachment blocked by outlook

Dave. Weird. I remember it working for me. Must be some sort of new service pack or something of the sort... oh well. I'd advise you to just install the freeware add-in from SLovakTech. WOrked for me flawlessly and for the company I worked for at the time too.
Thursday, April 29, 2004 7:59 PM by HumanCompiler

# re: Why is VS.Net Add-in architecture so overly complicated?

I don't know this for a fact, but I believe I've heard/read/made up in my own mind/etc that the fact that Office is still COM is why VS.NET is as well, because all the menuing and all that I believe is directly taken from Office. I could be wrong, but that's my guess and I'm sticking to it!

My next thought was, hhhmmm...maybe performance? But then that gets you thinking...what does that say about managed code? :P

Where's Josh on this one? :P
Thursday, April 29, 2004 7:59 PM by AndrewSeven

# re: Why is VS.Net Add-in architecture so overly complicated?

For quite some time I have thought that it has to do with reuse, that a lot of VS.Net is not written in .Net or managed code.

I think DTE is an example...

Thursday, April 29, 2004 8:57 PM by Addy Santo

# re: Why is VS.Net Add-in architecture so overly complicated?

My guess (which isn't any more authorative than anyone else's) is that the VS.NET is built heavily on the previous VS 6 codebase, which was built on the one before it, etc. When most of your code base is 3-4 years old (and probably has certain artifacts dating back even more) you don't have lots of architectural fliexibility.
Thursday, April 29, 2004 8:59 PM by secretGeek

# re: Why is VS.Net Add-in architecture so overly complicated?

hey Roy - i've got some addin suggestions on my blog, specifically for your competition. No time to code any myself.

DTE, by the way, is all legacy code, wrapped up for use in VS.net. The design decision behind this, I think, is that until VS.net was a more stable product (ie after two or three versions) it wasn't worth rewriting the extensibility components. Craig Skibo talks about it in that book, "Inside Visual Studio .Net" -- but I don't have it on me at the mo'.

Best of luck with the competition.
Leon Bambrick
Thursday, April 29, 2004 8:59 PM by Paul Wilson

# re: How to: Creating project groups under a single solution

Cool! I had heard it was possible, but never seen how, so thanks.
Now, one question, do you know what happens if someone without
the enterprise version of VS.NET tries to open up this this solution?
Thursday, April 29, 2004 9:07 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: How to: Creating project groups under a single solution

Paul: Glad I could help out. No idea what happens when you open it with a non-ent. version though. :(
I'd love to know if you ever find out though.
Thursday, April 29, 2004 9:36 PM by Dave Burke

# re: Unblocking an attachment blocked by outlook

Yeah, I don't know why it didn't. I tried several times from and to O2003 and OE. Thanks again for putting some light on the subject in your blog.
Thursday, April 29, 2004 9:38 PM by Dave Burke

# re: Unblocking an attachment blocked by outlook

btw, I'm getting a Page Not Found when I click on your signature mugshot. It used to work! (http://pnavy.com/royo/Me/Office2)
Thursday, April 29, 2004 9:52 PM by TrackBack

# The Space for Names in TDD

<p>
This just sort of popped up onto my radar after reading Roy's post on creating group projects under a single solution. Roy states the advantages of this from a TDD perspective as follows: "For example, usually I'll have a pair of projects for each Application tier, one for unit tests and another for the tier implementation (“Dal“,“Dal.Tests“). Using such a folder scheme as mentioned above I'd have a folder under my solution called “Dal” under which these two projects will reside."
<p></p>
While I agree that the group project idea is great, the one thing that bothers me is the example. More specifically, the namespaces there. Anyone see it ? It's right there, "Dal", and "Dal.Tests". No takers ?
<p></p>
The problem with this arrangement is that all classes in Dal.Tests will be a part of the namespace Dal as well. What this means is that any internal classes to Dal, which you obviously didn't want anyone to know about outside the Dal project, are suddenly accessible in Dal.Tests !
<p></p>
Now, if you are the only developer working on both Dal and Dal.Tests, you'd probably remember not to make any use of InternalDalClass or any other internal classes. But, in many cases you're not the only developer. And in almost all cases, you're not going to be the only one maintaining the code over time. So, some other developer when writing a test class in Dal.Tests would see just another class he could use to test the functionality of Dal.
<p></p>
This is OK if you intend on doing white box testing. However, I think that it is generally agreed that black box testing be done outside the project (Dal) while white box testing be done within. ( If it's not generally agreed, well, sorry, but I've seen it done a lot, and the logic behind it makes more sense than all the alternative approaches I've seen. )
<p></p>
So, for black box testing, instead of "Dal.Tests", just call it "DalTests" and voila, a separate namespace where the internal classes of Dal are not accessible.
<p>
Thursday, April 29, 2004 10:33 PM by Mike Schinkel

# re: The blogsphere generosity wave - Viral Marketing

Whenever we get to meet at some future .NET conference, the beer's on me. :)
Thursday, April 29, 2004 11:16 PM by Darren Neimke

# re: TrimEnd() Vs. SubString()

Nice tip Royo.... thanks!
Friday, April 30, 2004 12:02 AM by Phil Weber

# re: IT User groups in Israel (not just .Net)

> Gabor Szabo

Also the name of a famous jazz guitarist!
http://www.dougpayne.com/bio.htm
Friday, April 30, 2004 2:26 AM by Omar Shahine

# re: [Cool Tool] NotePad2

WOW!!! This just made my day. Thanks!
Friday, April 30, 2004 2:28 AM by TrackBack

# re: Handling the comma. Period.

Friday, April 30, 2004 3:01 AM by Yosi Taguri

# re: Tech-Ed Israel Blogger/Nerd Dinner anyone?

I'm planning something like this for the 6th, since Teched is packed with content and we do not have 15 min. free to do that during Teched.
I hope dino will agree (sleeping time for him).

Friday, April 30, 2004 3:14 AM by TrackBack

# Adventures in .Net Addins...

Adventures in .Net Addins...
Friday, April 30, 2004 3:57 AM by Ido Samuelson

# re: Tech-Ed Israel Blogger/Nerd Dinner anyone?

Here is my comment...
Let me know the details
Friday, April 30, 2004 4:39 AM by Martin Liversage

# re: How to: Creating project groups under a single solution

> do you know what happens if someone without
the enterprise version of VS.NET tries to open up this this solution?

I havn't checked myself, but I'm quite sure that it the solution would load, but that the project wouldn't load and instead would appear grayed out. VS.NET is an extensible platform where you can add new project types. For instance, ActiveState has something called Visual XSLT which makes it possible to create a new type of XSLT project in VS.NET. But if somebody without this product tries to open the solution, the project will be unavailable. The Enterprise Template is just another project type. Try to open a solution file in a text editor. You will see some GUID's that most likely identify the project types and the add-ins used to load these projects.
Friday, April 30, 2004 5:34 AM by TrackBack

# Solution and Project organization

Friday, April 30, 2004 5:35 AM by TrackBack

# Solution and Project organization

Friday, April 30, 2004 8:01 AM by Nicole Calinoiu

# re: TrimEnd() Vs. SubString()

TrimEnd() will remove _all_ occurrences from the end of the string, so it's not a particularly effective general solution since the string representation of the last item in the source collection may contain a trailing comma. Granted, within-item delimiter occurrences are likely to cause even worse problems than this, but why go looking for trouble when a cleaner alternative exists?
Friday, April 30, 2004 8:23 AM by Daniel Turini

# re: TrimEnd() Vs. SubString()

An easier way would be storing the strings in an array and then call String.Join().
Friday, April 30, 2004 9:17 AM by guyincognito

# re: A new low in television reached

yeah, our television over here is pretty suckworthy...
one reason i don't even bother with owning a television.
Friday, April 30, 2004 9:38 AM by MLT

# re: Why is VS.Net Add-in architecture so overly complicated?

Certain core parts of the basic plug-in architecture of the VS extensibility model will be changing in the Whidbey. Most of the conjectures here are, for the most part, accurate in one way or another. Heavy VS6 foundation. Same interfaces in EnvDTE as you may recognize when previously building COM add-ins. The menus (context menus, commandbars, etc) are all from Microsoft.Core.Office interop namespace. I concur that it is overly complicated, but when it does work well, just very annoying at times.

Notice that VSIP Extras came much later than VSIP, so even the uber-integration APIS provided by VSIP followed the same legacy/unmanaged code route first, then VSIP extras brought in managed goodies (extras by name).

Friday, April 30, 2004 9:39 AM by TrackBack

# .NET Happenings #29

Friday, April 30, 2004 9:39 AM by TrackBack

# .NET Happenings #29

Friday, April 30, 2004 10:12 AM by Johnny Hall

# re: A new low in television reached

It's a documentary, following the process, rather than a reality TV show, as it's been portrayed (by ABC themselves, who've done themselves no favours).

The process is a unique one in that the mother of the baby gets to help select the adoptive parents. The only thing that is different in this case is the presence of the TV cameras.

The world media seems to have gone overboard here, without checking the facts. (No fault of yours implied, it's not apparent from the media reports).
Friday, April 30, 2004 10:17 AM by Jim Bolla

# re: TrimEnd() Vs. SubString()

nice. i like this methodology. mine is usually to append a *leading* comma and then do s = s.Remove(0, 1) when the loop has completed
Friday, April 30, 2004 10:30 AM by Anatoly Lubarsky

# re: Convert a DataReader into a DataSet

You all are completely out of date.

1) look at ado.net 2.0:
...
DataTable orders = new DataTable("Orders");
conn.Open();
SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand("select * from orders");
SqlDataReader r = cmd.ExecuteReader();
orders.Load(r);
...
2) there were similar solutions for this available long time ago


Friday, April 30, 2004 10:38 AM by Greg

# re: TrimEnd() Vs. SubString()

Use ','.join(arrayOfStrings)
Friday, April 30, 2004 10:42 AM by Omer van Kloeten

# re: Tech-Ed Israel Blogger/Nerd Dinner anyone?

This is like the worst place you could pick in terms of me being able to go. :(

Won't be there... Sorry.
Friday, April 30, 2004 12:44 PM by jledgard

# re: Why is VS.Net Add-in architecture so overly complicated?

There is a lot of truth in the comments here. For the definitive answer I would suggest pinging http://blogs.msdn.com/craigskibo/ since he is a developer on the extensibility team. Essentially the COM feel is truely becuase VS.Net is, at its core, a COM app itself. While more an more components are written in managed code we have not felt compelled to scrap the investment we've made in the shell platform just yet. Craig could also comment about some of the things that are being done in Whidbey to make the process easier.
Friday, April 30, 2004 2:42 PM by Nice

# re: TrimEnd() Vs. SubString()

Nice technique :)
Have converted the snippet for PHP coders:
http://www.mr-andersen.no/index.php?id=0ecc77

Thomas Andersen
Friday, April 30, 2004 4:43 PM by Sikko2go

# re: My Passover Present

Mmm, it seems my reaction is a little late, but even then I just stumbeld upon your post right now. I really really sympathise with you, Roy. Especially when you're describing people's faces telling them to what you're listening. Well, actually something like the same happened to me. A couple of weeks ago I got onto Carl Franklins site by accident, and of course was referred to .NET Rocks. Well, I downloaded a show which looked interesting, put it on a memory stick and took it home. Then, some night during the weekend I put on my PC's little speakers, to enjoy some Carl and Rory. It's quite nice listening to this talk show, and learning something work related in the process; just when you're surfing away. But well, at the end of the night my wife came up to see what I was doing, and definately had this strange smile on her face. I couldn't figure if she did her best to keep from laughing, or just thought it was something natural for a person like me to do, be it a little weird. On my TODO list is grabbing more shows somewhere the next weeks. And well, as to my geeky fellow collegues, I didn't bother to confess yet, afraid of more stares and frowns.
Friday, April 30, 2004 6:39 PM by HumanCompiler

# re: What Add-ins would you like to see in the contest?

I'd like to see a TabletPC plug-in (don't have time to do it myself or figure out how), so you can have written notes, diagrams, etc drawn up attached to either particular files in the project or individual lines of code.
Friday, April 30, 2004 9:24 PM by Steve Maine

# re: Problem and Solution: Weird MSMQ memory leak when calling Peek()

Thanks for the post, Roy! This might directly affect some code that I'm writing right now.

Do you know if the asynchronous BeginPeek() method has the same issue?
Friday, April 30, 2004 9:26 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Problem and Solution: Weird MSMQ memory leak when calling Peek()

Should present the same problem, as long as the same terms apply (Remote Queue does not exist or is unavailable)
Saturday, May 01, 2004 1:34 AM by Tony Schreiner

# re: What Add-ins would you like to see in the contest?

How about creating a language service using the VSIP SDK to support common file types that VS forgot. For example:
- .ini / .inf / .inx
- .reg
- .adm
- .cmd
- makefile

Simple syntax highlighting would be great, and shouldn't be too difficult. More advanced features could include telling you what section you are in in an .inf or .adm, automatic indenting, cross-referencing "variables", and basic syntax error checking.

I'd write this myself, but emacs already has it. Please help me switch! :)
Saturday, May 01, 2004 8:18 AM by flipdoubt

# re: What Add-ins would you like to see in the contest?

I would like to see an add-in that would let me manage the assembly version numbers across all projects within a solution. It could be one of those dockable content things that would contain a table listing all the projects within a solution, their current versions, whether they are auto-incrementing etc. When we edit them in this interface, it could change them in the AssemblyInfo.cs file. I would write it myself, but I still can't get my head around plugIns.
Saturday, May 01, 2004 8:49 AM by Patrick Steele

# re: Why is VS.Net Add-in architecture so overly complicated?

Why doesn't VB.NET have Edit & Continue?
Why doesn't C# have generics?
Why do winforms still wrap the old Win32 APIs?

I think it's just a time issue. Sure, they could have made a totally managed VS.NET add-in architecture, but that might have delayed the release of .NET for 6 or 9 months (or more?).

You can't get everything in the first go-around. :)
Saturday, May 01, 2004 11:14 AM by Michael Sarnefors

# re: Blogsphere viral marketing

Wedgewise has just published The Wedgewise Viral Marketing eBrief, "The Irresistible Outbreak of Trust", a kind of "sense of the web" summary of the first 100 search engine results for "viral marketing" (over 120 articles), a potentially good primer for anyone wishing to familiarize themselves with refer-a-friend marketing. It is freely downloadable at http://www.wedgewise.com.
Saturday, May 01, 2004 12:26 PM by Gareth

# re: Beware of Vs.Net plugins and wizards bearing gifts

Wish I had seen this two weeks ago, before re-installing vs.net. I won't name names!
Sunday, May 02, 2004 1:00 AM by Shannon J Hager

# re: [Cool component suite] NetXP

I haven't used NetXP v3 yet but I have played a bit with v2, using it in the WinForms test programs I make to test out components. It was a pretty nice set of components at v2, v3 looks even better.

Has the documentation made an appearance yet? It was so close to non-existant in v2 that you were more-or-less forced to figure everything out via trial and error. I couldn't complain because of the price, but it was quite frustrating.
Sunday, May 02, 2004 3:32 AM by Shmulik Primes

# re: Tech-Ed Israel Blogger/Nerd Dinner anyone?

Count me in!
Sunday, May 02, 2004 11:53 AM by TrackBack

# NetXP, lets make it into a chain-blog

Sunday, May 02, 2004 11:54 AM by TrackBack

# NetXP, lets make it into a chain-blog

Sunday, May 02, 2004 10:16 PM by Shannon J Hager

# re: A new low in television reached

You know, Johnny has a point. This is the reality of open adoptions except that we normally don't see the process. If the process really is this upsetting to people then I think that ABC did A Good Thing by putting it in front the public.
Monday, May 03, 2004 12:15 AM by Mark Warren

# re: Broken window theory

The details are slightly off. There were two cars, one parked in the Bronx and the second parked in Palo Alto. Both were left with the hood open and without license plate; the Bronx car had the radiator and battery removed with ten minutes while the Palo Alto car sat untouched for more than a week. Only after the professor smashed a part of the car with a sledge hammer did vandalism begin. (Philip Zimbardo, a Stanford psychologist reported on this experiment in 1969.)

in conjunction with this experiment, George Kelling accompanied police on foot patrols in Newark. His work with James Wilson led to what is now know as the "Broken Window Theory".

This theory has many implications far beyond just reducing crime.
Monday, May 03, 2004 3:59 AM by TrackBack

# Free Windows Forms Controls

Monday, May 03, 2004 10:11 AM by Sergey Mishkovskiy

# re: Beware of Vs.Net plugins and wizards bearing gifts

That was one of many reasons as to why I dumped VS.NET MSI installer for my DPack add-ins. Went with Inno Setup instead. Granted, it was a lerning curve but I think it was worth it.

Just FYI:

DPack: http://www.usysware.com/dpack/
Inno Setup: http://www.jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php
Monday, May 03, 2004 12:25 PM by Concerned

# re: Is TextAmerica good enough for a desktop contest?

Another thing to keep in mind is their TOS :

http://www.firepile.com/log/archives/000065.html

If you want to keep the option of having any commercial ownership of the work after the contest is over, textamerica will not allow that.
Monday, May 03, 2004 3:33 PM by Darrell

# re: Another Israeli .Net blogger joins the bunch

It's the number of bloggers on weblogs.asp.net. With that many people, it will always seem "noisy" to almost everyone, yet still contain much relevant technical info. You just have to pick and choose. :)
Monday, May 03, 2004 7:26 PM by Eli

# re: Clover and unit test patterns

Hello Roy, do you know if Clover has UI plugin so I can monitor my Integration Testing and see what classes been used?
Monday, May 03, 2004 10:22 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Clover and unit test patterns

Sorry - don't know.
Tuesday, May 04, 2004 12:58 AM by Memi Lavi

# re: Tech-Ed Israel Blogger/Nerd Dinner anyone?

Well, here is a dilemma...
I'm going to be in TechEd with my wife. She's not a kind of a blogger. Now, what kind of dinner is the prefered one?
Tuesday, May 04, 2004 1:30 AM by TrackBack

# VERY simple flash game that I am avoiding for now

Tuesday, May 04, 2004 6:21 AM by Neo

# re: Misunderstanding timestamp

Defaults when bound to columns always work faster than triggers and one doesn't have to worry about triggers generating errors this way!
Tuesday, May 04, 2004 9:38 AM by 泰勒

# re: Going to Tech-Ed. See you there?

Have a great Tech-ed and you look lovely :)
?? (this is Tal in chinees)
Tuesday, May 04, 2004 12:09 PM by JackPDiddly

# re: The VS7 Debugger doesn’t work. What can I do?

Also, if you get "symbols are not loaded for this document", are you building in release mode?
Tuesday, May 04, 2004 7:45 PM by michael

# re: Going to Tech-Ed. See you there?

Good luck, and lets hope the original presenter doesn't show!

A lecture about regex - now that's something I could go for.
Tuesday, May 04, 2004 8:22 PM by Anatoly Lubarsky

# re: Israeli .Net Bloggers

You can list me there, too :)
Wednesday, May 05, 2004 9:47 AM by TrackBack

# Visual Studio .NET Add-in for the PInvoke.NET web site

Wednesday, May 05, 2004 2:14 PM by Darrell

# re: What Add-ins would you like to see in the contest?

An addin that removes unnecessary "using" or "Imports" statements!
Thursday, May 06, 2004 5:57 AM by Alex

# re: When running 'aspnet_regiis -c' still doesn't fix it...

I copied the aspnet_client folder structure from the root account into the website's subfolder but i still continued to face the same problem. Iam running on windows 2003
Thursday, May 06, 2004 7:35 AM by Apoorv Bhargava

# re: Server.Transfer vs. Response.Redirect

Response.Redirect is more user-friendly, as the site visitor can bookmark the page that they are redirected to.
Transferred pages appear to the client as a different url than they really are. This means that things like relative links / image paths may not work if you transfer to a page from a different directory.
Server.Transfer has an optional parameter to pass the form data to the new page.
Since the release version, this no longer works, because the Viewstate now has more security by default (The EnableViewStateMac defaults to true), so the new page isn’t able to access the form data. You can still access the values of the original page in the new page, by requesting the original handler:

Thursday, May 06, 2004 7:58 AM by cj gladstone

# re: Broken window theory

Is there any information regarding George Kelling's work with the New York foot patrols? Is there any information in regards whether there has been much of a reduction in crime due to an increase in foot patrols? have they had any influence on the "broken window theory"?
Thursday, May 06, 2004 11:19 AM by TrackBack

# Visual Studio .NET Add-in for the PInvoke.NET web site

Thursday, May 06, 2004 11:48 AM by Dave

# re: Getting the list of installed programs on the local machine

roccolocko,

Where can I find this VB.NET code to get the list of installed programs?

Thanks
Thursday, May 06, 2004 1:51 PM by Cara

# re: Simple and addicting game

waht the crap?
Friday, May 07, 2004 12:14 AM by robdogg

# re: [Coding Contest] Most Useful/Innovative VS.Net Add-in/Macro (and some huge prizes)

Ah, what the hell - a plug for a vb.net addin I wrote recently.

Property Builder for VB.NET - includes source and everything.
http://www.vbrad.com/pf.asp?p=source/src_prop_builder_vb_net.htm
Friday, May 07, 2004 9:45 AM by Anatoly Lubarsky

# re: Back from Tech-Ed, and another Israeli .Net blogger found.

thanks man, btw I was not in tech-ed, just remained in T-A working :(
Friday, May 07, 2004 10:31 AM by Jeroen

# re: Got new books!

The CLI Annotated reference link points to the FSL Annotated reference on Amazon. Which one have you got? :) (I have the latter and it's great BTW.)
Friday, May 07, 2004 10:31 AM by Jim Bolla

# re: Got new books!

I just finished reading Coder to Developer. Picked it up Monday evening. Had it read cover to cover by Wednesday night. Good read. Nothing earth shattering but some good pointers here and there. Mike basically took a bunch of ideas that are floating around in the collective conciousness of .NET developers and put a nice summary into 300 pages. (Covers source control, unit testing, automated builds, requirements gathering, bug tracking, etc) The targeted audience is .NET developers who work at a relatively small business. (I'd say one to a couple dozen.) The title is very appropriate; definately a good guidebook for anyone growing from coder to developer.

See: http://www.codertodeveloper.com
Friday, May 07, 2004 10:41 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Got new books!

Jeroen: oops! I meant the FCL :)
Friday, May 07, 2004 11:30 AM by TrackBack

# Another book added to Add-in contest prizes

Friday, May 07, 2004 11:33 AM by velgejc

# re: [OT] make them sing it!

smoke weed every day
Friday, May 07, 2004 11:34 AM by velgejc

# re: [OT] make them sing it!

the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
Friday, May 07, 2004 11:35 AM by velgejc

# re: [OT] make them sing it!

smoke weed every day
Friday, May 07, 2004 1:25 PM by TrackBack

# Coolest Thing in a While

Friday, May 07, 2004 1:26 PM by TrackBack

# Coolest Thing in a While

Friday, May 07, 2004 1:27 PM by TrackBack

# Coolest Thing in a While

Friday, May 07, 2004 2:37 PM by TrackBack

# Notice: TDD workshop at Magen rescheduled to next week

Friday, May 07, 2004 4:32 PM by Sammie Jones

# re: Funny Behaviour

well i walked in to the town center and i sliped on a banana skin
Friday, May 07, 2004 5:01 PM by Addy Santo

# re: Back from Tech-Ed, and another Israeli .Net blogger found.

Now it is my turn to be envious...

I was stuck at work while you got to go & party with the celebrities :)

Post some more stuff so at least we know what we missed
Friday, May 07, 2004 5:35 PM by TrackBack

# TDD

Friday, May 07, 2004 6:13 PM by Jerry Pisk

# re: Code readability and communication

I actually do code .Net code in Notepad so I know what you're talking about. And I must say that it's VB developers who are capable of creating code that's completely unreadable. Take case sensitivity for example - most VB developers love the fact that they don't have to be bothered with such things as consistently casing their identifiers. In their words it's a productivity issue, you don't have to think about which letter to capitalize. Most of the other issues I had (not requiring variable declarations, using On Error and so on) are being fixed with VB.Net but it's still a language designed for people who prefer to code with their mouse. They don't care what the actual code is, they wouldn't understand it anyways. And since it does seems that most programmers these days are like this, they do not take the time to actually understand what they're doing, I'm pretty secure about my future, there's going to be tons and tons of projects that need to be redone because some VB idiot botched them.
Friday, May 07, 2004 7:03 PM by Jason Perry

# re: MSDN magazine has gone too far (into the future)

I completely agree with you on this one. I'll go one farther. I'm tired of reading about it on the web, especially MSDN. Apparently there is nothing worth writing about with .NET 1.1.

Might as well quit programming till .NET 2.0, VS 2005 and Longhorn come out.
Friday, May 07, 2004 7:04 PM by MacSqueeb

# re: MSDN magazine has gone too far (into the future)

Hear hear. When I do find articles in MSDN that A) I can understand and B) I can apply to my current or near future endeavors, they are usually excellent. It's too bad they are in the relative minority to the marketing articles.
Friday, May 07, 2004 7:06 PM by Dave Donaldson

# re: MSDN magazine has gone too far (into the future)

Roy,

I kind of, but kind of don't agree (especially as one of the authors of the articles in the June issue :-). However, when you read my controls article you'll see that we implemented one of the ASP.NET 2.0 controls in ASP.NET 1.1. So hopefully we provided value for the future and today.
Friday, May 07, 2004 7:16 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: MSDN magazine has gone too far (into the future)

Dave: I'm not saying there arn't any helpful articles in it. Just that they should not be the minority, but the majority. The future should be set a side as a smaller section. How many articles in these two issues do you think relate to today's world? I'd say about half in the first one and even less in the second one. That's not what I want to read when I purchace MSDN magazine.
(which I don't - I read it online. But my company does)
Friday, May 07, 2004 7:17 PM by Sahil Malik

# re: MSDN magazine has gone too far (into the future)

I agree. MSDN Mag needs to come back to mother earth. I wouldn't mind seeing one or two articles, but hey - an entire magazine??
Friday, May 07, 2004 7:28 PM by Dave Donaldson

# re: MSDN magazine has gone too far (into the future)

Roy - Yeah, I see your point and most times I think the same way. There's just some obvious marketing going on to build up excitement for the new technologies.
Friday, May 07, 2004 7:46 PM by Omer van Kloeten

# re: Code readability and communication

Remember we talked about having Ivrit Mivnit compile as a CLI language? ;)
Friday, May 07, 2004 11:37 PM by ms

# re: State of alternative languages on the CLR?

Not know the diff between perl and smalltalk ?
Friday, May 07, 2004 11:41 PM by Ryan Farley

# re: The benefits of employee blogs

Hi Roy,

In addition to the 3 main benefits you listed, another is the fact that maintaining a blog and writing articles as an employee of Magen allows you to build confidence with the community - which will only lead to more business. I don't feel like it would be "information leakage" at all. Since the purpose of Magen is to *know* and be the company that others would come to for help and expertise, then being "out there" in the community is the best way that others will gain confidence in the company and it's employees. Even though tid-bits of "free" info will be given away by the employees of the company via the employee blogs and articles, the company will benefit in the end as it, and it's employees will be seen as someone who has the expertise and trust of the community. Not just with a company such as Magen, but with any company.

Besides that, geek blogs rule ;-)
Saturday, May 08, 2004 5:39 AM by TrackBack

# First Ever Israeli Blogger Dinner!

Saturday, May 08, 2004 5:40 AM by TrackBack

# First Ever Israeli Blogger Dinner!

Saturday, May 08, 2004 9:02 AM by JosephCooney

# re: State of alternative languages on the CLR?

I would love to get a closer look at ironpython, however as far as I know it is currently an unreleased research prototype.
Saturday, May 08, 2004 10:35 AM by TrackBack

# Mmmmm... Dinner

Tomorrow, Sunday the 9th, Johanna's in town ( Tel Aviv ). At 8pm, at the Dan Panorama Hotel, we're having an Israeli Blogger Dinner (the first, I think). I'll be there, so will Roy and Omer. Anybody else want in,...
Saturday, May 08, 2004 12:13 PM by michael

# re: Saddam Hussein's cat

That is a good one.

Here is another one I like that you may be interested in:

http://www.swapmeetdave.com/Humor/Cats/Hunter.htm
Saturday, May 08, 2004 12:39 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: The benefits of employee blogs

Ryan: true. You put it very nicely. Thanks.
Saturday, May 08, 2004 12:40 PM by Sonu Kapoor

# re: "Could not open in Design view. Quote values differently..." solved!

Great Tip, thanks Roy!

Sonu
Saturday, May 08, 2004 1:32 PM by Hubert Licman

# re: "Could not open in Design view. Quote values differently..." solved!

Thank you very much for the tip. It help me - the visual design is really better for imagé about a page layout... :-) Thank you!

Hubis
Saturday, May 08, 2004 1:38 PM by Memi Lavi

# re: Code readability and communication

I was looking for you too, but you didn't show up... I guess we were always in different tracks.

You write in your post:
"the class does both interface inheritance and implementation inheritance". I guess what you mean is that a class can inherit interface implementation, and can inherit its ancestor functionality. However, I think that in order to make a clear distinction between interface implementation and class inheritance, the term "implementation" should be used only when talking about interfaces, and not classes.

BTW - what's going on with the TDD seminar? I'm looking for that eagerly!
Saturday, May 08, 2004 1:46 PM by TrackBack

# Second blogger dinner ever ?

Saturday, May 08, 2004 1:48 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Code readability and communication

Memi: I was actually referring to "implemkentation Inheritance" as the *real* inheritance as in that the class inherits implementation details, not just just the interface.
As for the TDD workshop: should be next weel see my blog for more details on that.
Saturday, May 08, 2004 3:26 PM by Memi Lavi

# re: MSDN magazine has gone too far (into the future)

Makes me wonder what those guys will write about when VS2005 and Longhorn will be well in the market. Will they stop writing about them? Maybe just then we will see again articles about v1.1...
Saturday, May 08, 2004 5:39 PM by Shawn Honnick

# re: Is TextAmerica good enough for a desktop contest?

Wow, that last most is simply not true. I can't help but wonder if people only read blogs or actually research what is published on them. Our TOS was modified like six months ago on this. One post on "boingboing" has created some kind of virtual army of anti-commercial blog nazi's / textamerica.com haters. Anyway, TA claims no commercial ownership over YOUR pictures (contrary to the virtual propaganda).
Saturday, May 08, 2004 6:20 PM by Darrell

# re: MSDN magazine has gone too far (into the future)

Dave Donaldson beat me to it, MSDN is that way because all the authors want to write about the new stuff! Who wants to sit around writing articles about doing useful things with *today's* technology. ".NET v1.1 is so 2004-ish!"
Saturday, May 08, 2004 7:16 PM by jledgard

# re: Another book added to Add-in contest prizes

Think extending it a month would make a difference?
Sunday, May 09, 2004 2:48 AM by Ido Samuelson

# re: Blogger Dinner with Johanna Rothman this Sunday evening

I'll be there , save me a seat :D
Sunday, May 09, 2004 2:51 AM by Ido Samuelson

# re: Blogger Dinner with Johanna Rothman this Sunday evening

I'll be there , save me a seat :D
Sunday, May 09, 2004 3:31 AM by TrackBack

# Blogger Meeting time and place are set

Sunday, May 09, 2004 9:00 AM by SBC

# re: Post-TechEd-Israel-Dinner and a little about Indigo

It looks like you guys had a terrific time! In the 'Beers up' pic - I like those beer mugs or are they beer jugs?
:-)
Sunday, May 09, 2004 9:47 AM by Peter Torr Smith

# re: When running 'aspnet_regiis -c' still doesn't fix it...

I had the "unable to find script library ... /aspnet_client/system_web/1_1_4322/WebUIValidation.js" problem. I traced it down to the root webserver having and document footer file that I had enabled previously (Default Web Server / Properties / Documents / "Enable Document Footer"). Once I got rid of that, I had to delete the files in my browser cache, as it had a cached version of "C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\aspnet_client\system_web\1_1_4322\WebUIValidation.js" which had my footer html tacked on the end... resulting in a badly formed javascript file.

I am running Visual Studio .net 2002, on XP tablet, with the 1.1 framework installed (though not so sure of that installation, as my references in by C# ASP.Net projects (system, system.data, etc) are showing up as "C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.0.3705\System.dll" as opposed to v1.1.4322)

Cheers
Peter
New Zealand
Sunday, May 09, 2004 9:52 AM by TrackBack

# MSDN mag, this is why I lament

Sunday, May 09, 2004 10:09 AM by TrackBack

# The first Israeli Blogger dinner was really good

Sunday, May 09, 2004 11:03 AM by Udi Dahan - The Software Simplist

# re: Blogger Dinner with Johanna Rothman this Sunday evening

For more info and details call Roy at:

0528-741160
Sunday, May 09, 2004 1:52 PM by sayyed

# re: Combobox binding trouble - with a solution

I actually have a problem with retrieving the data saved through combobo
I have combox which contains names of employees but i am saving the equivalent empid in my database by seting the
dataset properties and DiplayMember as "EmpName"
and Value member as "mpId"
The data is saving perfectly. but while retrieving i cannot get the proper retrieval.
I hope i have explained it properly
Any help would be appreciated
Thanks in Advance

Sunday, May 09, 2004 1:52 PM by theMooner

# re: System.Text.Encoding.Tip

works with turkish charset iso-8859-9 by System.Text.Encoding.GetEncoding("iso-8859-9-")
Sunday, May 09, 2004 2:06 PM by 423423423

# re: Free Web charting control: WebChart

53453535
Sunday, May 09, 2004 6:32 PM by Eric

# re: Add-in Contest news and updates

I am working on it... just wanted to take all of the time necessary (and I had to pause while I read Mike's new book, so that I can do it correctly).

Eric
Sunday, May 09, 2004 7:22 PM by Ryan Farley

# re: MSDN mag, this is why I lament

I agree, which is strange because I am the kind of guy who spends a lot of time with the new stuff. I've been spending most of my free time playing with Longhorn and Developing Whidbey stuff. However, I still get bugged when MSDN Mag arrives and it is nothing but Longhorn/Whidbey stuff. IMO, there are plenty of other places where you can find that stuff if you want it. But MSDN Mag is my "right now" content. Early Adopter's post/comment on what you said is also true. We *should not* ignore what is coming and it *should* have an impact on how we are designing today. However, I think that there are enough other places where you can find the future stuff out. I don't really care to have issue after issue of stuff I can't use right now. Perhaps a section of the mag devoted to future techologies, but not the entire issue.

That said, articles that are about future technologies - but show *how* to leverage that particular technology *now* or how to design your code so the transition/migration to that technology is easier when the time comes is pretty cool. I don't mind those as much.
Sunday, May 09, 2004 7:30 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: MSDN mag, this is why I lament

Ryan: Then we are on the same wavelength :)
Sunday, May 09, 2004 7:37 PM by TrackBack

# Beware of DevPartner Community Edition

Sunday, May 09, 2004 7:52 PM by Paul Wilson

# re: MSDN mag, this is why I lament

The thing that gets me is that a lot of the "experts" are actually clueless about other things going on in the larger community. For instance, there's no mention of MasterPages working for ASP.NET v1.*, and the same can be said about some of the other v2.0 things that have already been implemented now for v1.*.
Sunday, May 09, 2004 7:53 PM by Paul Wilson

# re: MSDN magazine has gone too far (into the future)

The thing that gets me is that a lot of the "experts" are actually clueless about other things going on in the larger community. For instance, there's no mention of MasterPages working for ASP.NET v1.*, and the same can be said about some of the other v2.0 things that have already been implemented now for v1.*.
Sunday, May 09, 2004 10:13 PM by TrackBack

# VS.NET Add-in Coding Contest

Sunday, May 09, 2004 10:53 PM by css

# re: Add-in Contest news and updates

I just got done with finals last week so I have time to work on mine now.
Monday, May 10, 2004 1:58 AM by senkwe

# re: Add-in Contest news and updates

As I've never written a VS-addin I was just going to sit back and watch the pros from the sidelines. Maybe I'll give it a shot this time tho :-) Thanks Roy!
Monday, May 10, 2004 2:31 AM by TrackBack

# Microsoft and XP (eXtreme Programming)

Monday, May 10, 2004 3:49 AM by Roland Weigelt

# re: Add-in Contest news and updates

I'm working on my addin... so it's definitely coming.

Roland

P.S. The extension of the deadline is very welcome ;-)
Monday, May 10, 2004 7:37 AM by TrackBack

# Programming

Now I am not a programmer and don't ever want to be a programmer, but I do know how to code and spend a decent amount of my time looking at code. I came across this about coding in your mother tongue and found it kinda amusing....
Monday, May 10, 2004 8:42 AM by TrackBack

# Another known unknown

Israeli Blogger Dinner&nbsp;with Johanna Rothman&nbsp;was a huge amount of fun. Topics ranged from Knowledge Management (or lack thereof) to project management horror stories to remiscences of days gone by. I've just got to talk to Johanna again, I could really...
Monday, May 10, 2004 8:58 AM by Marc Cramer

# re: Add-in Contest news and updates

Hello...

I had submitted my add-in source code to the email provided but do not know if it was received and/or posted somewhere....

Where can I see the entries that have been submitted?

Thanks,

Marc Cramer
cramer236@comcast.net
Monday, May 10, 2004 10:18 AM by Memi Lavi

# re: Add-in Contest news and updates

I'm working on the finishing touches of my Add-In. I hope that with the extension of the deadline I could throw in some more features I thought to leave for later release.

Great idea, Roy!
Monday, May 10, 2004 4:21 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Add-in Contest news and updates

Marc: yes I got it. Sent you an email too. Re-sending to make sure you get it.
Still nowhere to see all the entries. I'm working on it.
Monday, May 10, 2004 5:43 PM by TrackBack

# To XP or Not to XP?

Monday, May 10, 2004 7:20 PM by TrackBack

# The first Israeli Blogger dinner was really good

Monday, May 10, 2004 9:03 PM by Mike Gale

# re: State of alternative languages on the CLR?

There was a lot of promise in the early .NET days. Seemed we were going to get a lot of languages:
APL
Forth
Perl
Python
Eiffel
Mondrian
Some ML language (F something?)
Haskell
X#
S# + 1 other Smalltalk
...

A lot of this is research prototypes and I get the feeling that launching and supporting an industrial strength language (that lasts) takes a lot of resources. Even MS gives fairly low resources to JScript.NET.

I'm not using but I guess that Eiffel and Dyalog APL have their followers. (X# is, I believe, being subsumed into the CLR.)
Monday, May 10, 2004 11:49 PM by Roger Willcocks

# re: An optimizing experience



> I've been finding weird behaviour around isnull() and coalesce(), in terms of query optimization

Me too. I've got a query that with coalesce returns 42 rows, and with isnull instead returns 38 rows. Even though as far as I can determine the return values are the same.
Tuesday, May 11, 2004 6:16 AM by Marc Cramer

# re: Add-in Contest news and updates

Thank you.
Got your email, and I'll keep my eyes open for the info on checking out the submissions

Thanks,

Marc
Tuesday, May 11, 2004 8:34 AM by DotWind Solutions

# re: Pasting nicely formatted code into your blog

I did something similar but to format SQL code can be found here

http://blog.dotwind.com/archive/2004/05/11/148.aspx
Tuesday, May 11, 2004 4:46 PM by Koutetsu

# re: Disabling Connection Pooling

If you're looking for an easy way to kill all open processes on a given database, try this:

Dim srv As New SQLDMO.SQLServer2
srv.LoginSecure = False
srv.Connect [server], [username], [password]

Dim res As QueryResults2
Set res = srv.EnumProcesses

Dim i As Integer, dbname As Integer, spid As Integer
For i = 1 To res.Columns
' Get the index of the dbname column
If res.ColumnName(i) = "dbname" Then dbname = i
If res.ColumnName(i) = "spid" Then spid = i
Next i

Dim rowcount As Integer: rowcount = 0
For i = 1 To res.Rows
If res.GetColumnString(i, dbname) = [database name] Then
srv.KillProcess res.GetColumnLong(i, spid)
rowcount = rowcount + 1
End If
Next i
Wednesday, May 12, 2004 5:58 AM by TrackBack

# Notepad2 in Context menu

Wednesday, May 12, 2004 12:21 PM by hAZEL

# re: When friends show off

Hi guys,
Wednesday, May 12, 2004 1:45 PM by TrackBack

# VS.NET Addin articles

Wednesday, May 12, 2004 2:23 PM by george bush

# re: Smile! You're on candid camera!

peekaboo
Wednesday, May 12, 2004 2:25 PM by george bush

# re: Smile! You're on candid camera!

i see you
Wednesday, May 12, 2004 2:25 PM by george bush

# re: Smile! You're on candid camera!

stupid
Wednesday, May 12, 2004 5:55 PM by TrackBack

# Plug it in...plug it in!!!!

Thursday, May 13, 2004 10:05 AM by TrackBack

# GhostDoc Progress

Thursday, May 13, 2004 11:04 AM by TrackBack

# .NET Happenings #31

Thursday, May 13, 2004 11:10 AM by Jonathan de Halleux

# re: Fun with Unit Tests – Testing abstract classes

I have developped a methodology that totally solves the interface/abstract class problem. In fact, it uses it to create better test suites. I would be interrested on having your comments on this.

More details here:
http://blog.dotnetwiki.org/archive/2004/05/13/206.aspx
Thursday, May 13, 2004 1:45 PM by Greg Sohl

# re: MSDN magazine has gone too far (into the future)

Glad I'm not the only one who thinks this. I read for solutions now! I appreciate some of the future content but focus needs to be on things that are relevant to getting my job done today for me to stay tuned.
Thursday, May 13, 2004 3:56 PM by Latrodex

# re: [Coding Contest] Most Useful/Innovative VS.Net Add-in/Macro (and some huge prizes)

Why do the contest for VS and why not have the contest for a non profit organization. Do we really need to help Microsoft conquer the world of programming.
Thursday, May 13, 2004 6:00 PM by Yuval Rakavy

# re: VB.Net is diverging from C#. That can't be bad, or can it?

The issue with the "My" framework seems to me more due to the structure of the development teams and internal politics inside Microsoft than due to "design philosophy".

I assime that the idea for the "My" framework came from someone within the VB team. The idea is good and should be available to all languages since it is a framework library feature and not really a language feature.

But to make it a framework feature available to all languages, the guy from the VB team will have to "sell" it to several teams inside Microsoft, and get a wide support for his idea. It is much simpler to convince one product manager in the VB team to include it as a VB feature than go up and convince a group product manager that will have to convince 5 other product managers that of course have tight schedule and each of them would like to participate in the design. So the one who got the idea selected the "Green lane" and get this feature out to the market, however in a little distorted way.

I assume that in the next version this will be amended and the classes will be available as part of the framework in a language neutral fashion. Of course the framework will not be as "clean" as it should be because backward compatability would have to be maintained and this will create a mess.

There is always a chance that somebody smart enought, and with enough political power will understand this early and make the right decisions and fix this now, before it is being comitted by microsoft (in a form of a product release).

There is a say that the difference between wise people and smart people is that wise people do not get into troubles that smart people know how to get out from. So it seems that in this instance Microsoft will be just smart... lets hope that they will be wise!
Thursday, May 13, 2004 6:56 PM by Jonathan de Halleux

# re: Code: CRUD base classes for unit testing

Hi,

I would like to look at the files but the download seems broken. If it sounds good, I'd like to integrate this into MbUnit (http://mbunit.tigris.org ).

Cheers,
Jonathan
Friday, May 14, 2004 12:31 AM by TrackBack

# VS.NET AddIn-Macro Coding Contest - UPDATE

Friday, May 14, 2004 12:34 AM by TrackBack

# VS.NET AddIn-Macro Coding Contest - UPDATE

Friday, May 14, 2004 12:34 AM by TrackBack

# VS.NET AddIn-Macro Coding Contest - UPDATE

Friday, May 14, 2004 8:49 AM by Peter Marshall

# re: Add-in Contest news and updates

Perhaps developers are working for their clients or employers, as they should be. I know I am. I think the current situation in most IT departments is 'Heads Down, do the work'. There si very little float time avaiable for writting free adins, - , so don't look to the pro's. They are too busy trying to keep their heads above the water.
Friday, May 14, 2004 8:52 AM by Peter Marshall

# re: [Google Lecture] Finding needles in a 20 TB haystack, 200 million times per day

Did you go?
What did he have to say?
Friday, May 14, 2004 3:20 PM by Bennet Boy

# re: Donny Mack Reveals Hidden Developer Secrets

jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjfhffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
Friday, May 14, 2004 3:21 PM by dsgg

# re: Donny Mack Reveals Hidden Developer Secrets

OH MY God!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sunday, May 16, 2004 2:46 AM by Roman

# re: Windows Media Player problem? here's a very good FAQ page

thanks for the excellent hint, which i followed. now media player also shows video
Sunday, May 16, 2004 10:31 AM by TrackBack

# Dinner with Johanna - part 2

After the Israeli Blogger Dinner I just had to talk to Johanna again, I mean, it's not every day that a world renowned trainer, speaker, and all-together know-it-all shows up in Israel. So, on Thursday May 13, I pulled another...
Monday, May 17, 2004 2:14 AM by Craig Gemmill

# re: Writing Managed Sinks for SMTP and Transport Events

Just what I was looking for... even if it is a year old ;)
Monday, May 17, 2004 5:28 AM by gety

# re: [Cool tool] SQLCheck - FREE SQL server performance monitor/screen saver

i want test
Monday, May 17, 2004 6:59 AM by a

# re: Extensible .NET SQL code generator

a
Monday, May 17, 2004 7:56 AM by TrackBack

# Introducing Merlin - The Wizard Generator

Monday, May 17, 2004 10:27 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Code: CRUD base classes for unit testing

Jonathan: my site is down due to us moving, but you can also grab it here:
http://www.gotdotnet.com/Community/UserSamples/Details.aspx?SampleGuid=302798d7-499e-41dd-abac-f9ffdfb7368e

Thanks,
Roy
Monday, May 17, 2004 1:05 PM by John C

# re: "Could not open in Design view. Quote values differently..." solved!

How do you fix it for something like

<asp:TemplateColumn HeaderText="Company" SortExpression="companyName">
<ItemTemplate>
<asp:Label runat="server" Text='<%# DataBinder.Eval(Container, "DataItem.companyName") %>'>
</asp:Label>
</ItemTemplate>
<EditItemTemplate>
<asp:Label runat="server" Text='<%# DataBinder.Eval(Container, "DataItem.companyName") %>' ID="Label3">
</asp:Label>
</EditItemTemplate>
</asp:TemplateColumn>
If you remove the single quotes and you get a different error message that tells you to put the item in single quotes.
Monday, May 17, 2004 1:41 PM by Westin

# re: [Tool] Object Model Generator

What is the advantage of this tool over XSD.exe?
Monday, May 17, 2004 2:37 PM by stefan demetz

# re: VS.Net refactoring Lessons from IntelliJ IDEA (redux)

.NET refactoring
http://dotnetjunkies.com/WebLog/stefandemetz/archive/2004/02/01/6418.aspx
Tuesday, May 18, 2004 5:16 AM by yogi

# re: VS.Net Database Projects - learn to use them (Sample chapter included)

Hi,
I have a table (with the same name) on 2 different machines.
lets call the machines:
1) machineToOverwrite
2) machineToBeOverwritten

So, I want to OVERWRITE thae table on machineToBeOverwritten, with the table contained in machineToOverwrite.

I right-click my table --> export data --> OK
The table.dat file appears in the system explorer, in the "CreateScripts" folder.

I am unable to add this .dat file to a command file.
How do I overwrite the table on machineToBeOverwritten with this .dat file?
Do I have to manually write a bcp script, or does vis studio do this for me?
I'm on vis studio 2003 Enterrprise.

Many thanks.
yogi
Tuesday, May 18, 2004 10:47 AM by yogi

# re: VS.Net Database Projects - learn to use them (Sample chapter included)

Hi,
Got it.It was staring me in the face.

yogi
Tuesday, May 18, 2004 2:27 PM by Memi Lavi

# re: Back online

Welcome Back!
Tuesday, May 18, 2004 4:21 PM by Ido Samuelson

# re: Back online

Welcome Back dude!
Wednesday, May 19, 2004 12:34 AM by mr person

# re: Seal clubbing - the game (almost)

you smell funny
Wednesday, May 19, 2004 1:10 AM by mordy shahar

# re: [Coding Contest] Most Useful/Innovative VS.Net Add-in/Macro (and some huge prizes)

Can I nomminate an add.in?

Suppose I can - I nomminate for the first prize - no less the eXtesible C#2.0.

If you don't know what is it - google resolecorp.

A truly amazing tool which opens so much possibilities.


mordy shahar

_mordy@_magen._com
(remove underscores for email)
Wednesday, May 19, 2004 2:09 AM by TrackBack

# Reminder: TDD workshop today

Wednesday, May 19, 2004 12:12 PM by Ed

# re: The VS7 Debugger doesn’t work. What can I do?

I'm getting "Unable to start debugging on the web server."

I tried the suggestion fix but I still get the same error? Anyone have additional suggestions or ideas?

Ed
Wednesday, May 19, 2004 2:24 PM by Arik Grinstein

# re: Winforms Data Binding Woes

About that delete button....

I have a problem i am trying to solve which is close to this one.
The question is : Can i programatically invoke the delete row operation caused by pressing the delete key when using a button to do the delete?

My problem is this - I cannot update the DataTable until the user presses a Save Button. When i press the delete button I have no problem deleting the selected row, However after the first time the SelectedRowIndex cannot be used as an index for the rows in the DataTable (Again - i cannot do accept changes until the user presses Save) cause the number of rows in the grid now does not correspond to the number of rows in the DataTable.

Any ideas on how i do this??
Thanks in advance
Arik
Wednesday, May 19, 2004 3:59 PM by Rick Fisk

# re: Another day, another bombing

[See, Israelis don't go into arab villages, raping,pillaging and burning everything in sight, killing whatever happens to be infront of them. ]

I guess you've never heard of Irgun or the Stern gang who's members did exactly that to dozens of Arab villages.

Today Israeli forces fired rockets into a group of unarmed protesters. Most were children. 48% of the Palestinians killed since the intifada began have been under 13 years old.

I guess Israel thinks that "terrorists" start young.
Wednesday, May 19, 2004 4:07 PM by Rick Fisk

# re: Another day, another bombing

[Gee, I wonder. Could it be that those were homes of suicide bombers?]

The answer would be no. There have been 960 or so Israelis killed since the intifada began. Suicide bombers are by definition: dead. You would have to assume that each Israeli killed was killed by his own suicide bomber to justify even 900 homes being destroyed. There have been over twice as many homes destroyed compared to the number of Israelis killed.

Furthermore, being related to a murderer is not a justification for the confiscation and destruction of your home.

[the Palestinian unemployment was much better before the last intifada started. ]

Perhaps, but Israel basically outlawed its citizens from hiring Palestinians. And since they keep blowing up Palestinian owned businesses, it's hard for them to employ their own countrymen.

Wednesday, May 19, 2004 4:18 PM by Rick Fisk

# re: Another day, another bombing

By the way, I want to make sure and mention to you, since I failed to do so earlier, that I hope you stay safe. I mean that. I can't imagine living in a place where you have to constantly watch over your shoulder.

I have one friend who left Israel to come to the states because he had finally had enough.

His comment to me regarding the constant conflict was: "We've tried war for 50 years and more. Perhaps its time to try something different."

Stay safe.
Wednesday, May 19, 2004 4:32 PM by Lax

# re: Introduction to Test-driven development with NUnit and the NUnit-Add-in

Hi ,
Im trying to use "TestFixtureSetUp" in my project and I'm getting this compilation error.
The type or namespace name 'TestFixtureTearDown' could not be found (are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?)

I've included the NUnit.Framework.dll in my Reference list.
I also have "using NUnit.Framework" in my code.

I've installed the NUnit add-in for VS .NET 2003. created this project as "NUnit test" project.
Wednesday, May 19, 2004 6:16 PM by PerS

# re: What Add-ins would you like to see in the contest?

An addin that converts existing xml comments to Doxygen comments (http://www.doxygen.org). I really hate the xml comments, they creats too much "noice" :-)
Thursday, May 20, 2004 2:18 AM by Yuri Gorobets

# re: TDD workshop was great!

Thank you a lot , dude!
Very nice and usefull party.
Once, before one year aprox., I did the same presentation about XP and TDD in Tvuna, for their managers and CTO.( Of cource, without practical part :-))
Cannot say it was especially succesfull, except common laugh about pair programming.
I think this is a usual approach in 80% (at least) of software companies in Israel.
Do you see any practical way to change it?

PS:
I'd like to take a part in the next advanced session about TDD, so count me in.
Anyway I'll send you email about it.

Thank you again, great job!
Thursday, May 20, 2004 3:16 AM by TrackBack

# big file dropoff

Got a large file you need to mail someone, but your email account won't handle it? Try Dropload. Dropload is a place for you to drop your files off and have them picked up by someone else at a later...
Thursday, May 20, 2004 4:20 AM by Frans Bouma

# re: The Regulator gains popularity

I tried the regulator 2 weeks ago to construct/test some regexp's for my parser (the lex part) and found it useful for testing regexp's. I however had a hard time understanding the app.

What does that analyzer window do for example? Is it able to construct a regexp out of a serie of matching strings?

Some issues:
- maximized state isn't preserved
- when you drag the window with the search results to the middle pane to get it more horizontally (so you can actually read the descriptions) the windows already in the middle pane are not resizing, but just move up, scrolling out of the window (at least in maximized state. I'm not sure if you use magic lib.
- the intellisense is indeed very hard to deal with. It's also not that useful. What's far more useful is tiny wizards, like a 1, 2, 3 step wizard which walks you through the creation of a pattern by asking you a couple of questions.
- the search pane is useless at this point, as the text in the grid isn't wrapping. So you can't read the descriptions specified for a regexp, and you can't drag the row's height bigger :)
- The initial setup of the windows isn't that great. The regexps typed in are usually not spanning more than 5 or 6 lines. However the testing strings can be quite large as well as the list of matches. When the window is enlarged, those windows aren't resized automatically, but the text window is.
- The splashscreen doesn't center in the screen :)

That's it for now :) The testing purposes were great. It would have been better though (but this isn't your fault, as regexp language syntax is retarted big time) if the tool helped more in creating the regexp that I wanted. For example, I was searching for a way to match these kind of strings: (with quotes!)
"foo"
"foo, bar"
"foo,bar"
It turned out that "([\S ]|[\S ],|[\S ], )+" would do the trick. But this required a lot of trial and error...
But perhaps it's the quirkyness of regexps in general, I think it will be hard to create a tool which can convert semantical input into a regexp.
Thursday, May 20, 2004 4:59 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: The Regulator gains popularity

Thanks for the great input Frans. I'll see what I can do to make it better.
Thursday, May 20, 2004 5:21 AM by Leon

# re: TDD workshop was great!

Hi Roy!
Thank for the workshop.
It's certainly was fun. I think it is great idea to organize more advanced session, may be with open discussion part. There are too many interesting questions and consideration left. For example:
• How can we infiltrate this approach into organization?
• Various kinds of "untestable" code problems (GUI testing, liquid DB tests, platform/machine specific testing etc.)
• I am sure there is more…

Anyway, thanks again, and see you at the next gathering.
Thursday, May 20, 2004 9:38 AM by TrackBack

# re: T - 11

Thursday, May 20, 2004 11:13 AM by Dan McCleary

# re: Strip HTML tags from a string using regular expressions

That's a good point, and definitely a risk - however, even in xhtml, and especially in xml, this should be written as <div title="&gt;">...</div>

Thursday, May 20, 2004 11:28 AM by Don

# re: Visual Studio .NET Shortcut Key Guide

Uhhhhhh! You rule! Thank you!
Thursday, May 20, 2004 11:39 AM by Guy S.

# re: TDD workshop was great!

Thanks Roy for the TDD workshop!!

As u know we all meet after a working day at 18:00PM and we left the workshop
after the planned schedule at about 21:00. It was wroth any minute of it.

It was great to hear more details about this approach.
I was impressed from your knowledge about TDD and I like the way u present it to us.
From one hand u showed us the important of TDD and its advantages
and from the other hand the difficulties we can encounter when starting it.

I hope that till next meeting (which I hope will devoted to advance topics) I will have the chance
to gather a little experience with the approach and come with my inputs on it.
Thursday, May 20, 2004 12:35 PM by TrackBack

# Stop fooling the community

Thursday, May 20, 2004 12:58 PM by Jay Kimble

# re: T - 11

How is this possible Roy? I thought you extended it until June 30th??? I've been busy working on something (I was frantically working on it, but figured that the extra month would let me do a better job of polishing)

Now you tell me that the original deadline is in place? Arrgghh!
Thursday, May 20, 2004 1:45 PM by TrackBack

# Missed the Google lecture, but here's a short summary

Thursday, May 20, 2004 1:49 PM by ian

# re: Of software legends, myths and proportions

good post.

notice most of these "stars" are trainers, speakers, evangelists (from the marketing dept.). yawn.
Thursday, May 20, 2004 1:54 PM by Oddur Magnusson

# re: Of software legends, myths and proportions

could not agree more !
Thursday, May 20, 2004 1:57 PM by GuyIncognito

# re: Of software legends, myths and proportions

Out of hand link doesn't work for me...?

What am I missing?
Thursday, May 20, 2004 2:44 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Of software legends, myths and proportions

sorry. fixed the link.
Thursday, May 20, 2004 4:37 PM by Roland Weigelt

# re: T - 11

Hi Roy,

this must be a mistake; right now the page
http://weblogs.asp.net/rosherove/archive/2004/04/21/117663.aspx
says "Submissions accepted only until the end of June (June 31st)".
(BTW: June 30st?).

My add-in won't be finished before mid-June, that's for sure...

Roland
Thursday, May 20, 2004 5:12 PM by Steven

# re: Of software legends, myths and proportions

thank you!
Thursday, May 20, 2004 5:18 PM by Balu

# re: Of software legends, myths and proportions

Don Box is the one to blame for starting this culture. COM boxers, COM condoms, SOAP presentation in a TUB.

Look at Scoble's blog, more and more marketing than opinions. Now these peoples are getting paid for doing this.

Thursday, May 20, 2004 5:52 PM by TacoBoy

# re: Of software legends, myths and proportions

Right on. And most of this hero-worshiping love-fest is focused on things that aren't even going to be used by real companies for many, many years. If only MS (and the .NET community) would put the same effort (blogging or whatever) towards the technologies that their real customers are using....not just the customers that exist to support these technologies.
Thursday, May 20, 2004 6:12 PM by Rory

# re: Of software legends, myths and proportions

Balu -

"Don Box is the one to blame for starting this culture."

For what? For making things interesting?

Keep in mind that everybody has the option to:

1) NOT go to the dinner
2) NOT go to the conventions
3) NOT pay attention to the fun
4) NOT take part in any of "this"
5) Go back to coding in a vacuum

When I was growing up, programming was something that you did in your basement behind closed doors. You pictured pretentious people with white lab coats going over long strings of ticker-tape, trying to track down "that bug in the mainframe."

I was living with this notion of the tech world until a little over a year ago when I saw Chris Chris Sells give a presentation on CAS at a local user group. For those who have messed with it, CAS is just painful, but Chris managed to make it fun by making it engaging. It was *so* much more effective as a means of instruction than just walking into a room with a long stick and pointing at a few diagrams on a white/chalk board. I walked away from that meeting thinking, "*That's* what I want to do."

It was a choice. I *chose* to involve myself with this crowd. There are still *tons* of coders out there who don't know anything about blogs/"influencers"/Don Box, and they're perfectly happy. If you aren't happy, then you always have the *choice* to join them.

I think it's fabulous that in our line of work we have the option of having a bit of fun while doing what we like to do. How many other jobs are there out there that offer the same opportunity?

What Scott's doing, and what, as you say, Don Box is to blame for beginning, is just having a bit of fun.

Maybe it *was* a little over the top, but that's all right. He's not hurting anybody, and the whole Apprentice theme is actually pretty cool.

Anyway, how else are you going to get to meet up with these people? The project leads? The people who are deciding what stays and what goes in (for example) System.Xml?

At your local coffee shop? I don't think so. In a way, if you *really* want to get your ideas in front of them, this is an excellent opportunity. Plus, by keeping attendance low (invite-only), there's some insurance that you might actually get to talk to these people for more than 15 seconds. You've been there before - waiting in line with everybody else after a good talk, just wanting to get your question answered by the wonk, when the wonk suddenly has to take off.

Well, this is a chance to get your question answered, provided you're the lucky winner.

I don't see how that's a bad thing.
Thursday, May 20, 2004 6:27 PM by TrackBack

# Take Outs for 20 May 2004

Take Outs for 20 May 2004
Thursday, May 20, 2004 6:36 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Of software legends, myths and proportions

Rory: well said. I do not agree with the "Don Box Started it" thing. I like how the community has been building up. I just don't want to see it being driven into a frenzy of celebrity sightings and autographs. It almost feels like this is all getting commercialized.
I like your resons for why this is a contest and to keep the number of people low, but it still smells funny to me. kinda like "Let's see who jumps the highest and we'll give them a carrot - you get to sit with us". Feels a bit..... humiliating? dare I say it?

Sure, you can always say "If you don't like it, don't come", but is that really what you want? Maybe sometimes people are not liking things for good reasons? Maybe a second look at all this *is* needed? an *objective* look? can you do that? can I?
neither one can, I think. But if at least we all talk about it, we get a broader picture.
Thursday, May 20, 2004 6:36 PM by Shannon J Hager

# re: Of software legends, myths and proportions

1. Doesn't everyone wanna be a rock star?
2. NEVER knock the chance for a free meal.
Thursday, May 20, 2004 6:40 PM by Scott_NO_@_SPAM_Tripleasp.net (Scott Watermasysk)

# RE: Of software legends, myths and proportions

Yes, it is just you.
Thursday, May 20, 2004 7:23 PM by Paschal

# re: My secret agenda

My god Roy, you're in great form. Is it your new place or what ? :-)

Anyway totally agree with you (well I might be if I don't want to be flamed :-))
Thursday, May 20, 2004 7:46 PM by Dave Summers

# My head hurts

You have a big ego? News to me.

You are Microsofts best customer? I thought the US government was Microsofts best customer.

You can get down off your soap box now. Everyone has stopped listening.
Thursday, May 20, 2004 7:58 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: My secret agenda

"You can get down off your soap box now. Everyone has stopped listening"
Well, that would make my last post much more relevant, wouldn't it?
Thursday, May 20, 2004 8:18 PM by Rory

# re: Of software legends, myths and proportions

Roy -

"I like how the community has been building up. I just don't want to see it being driven into a frenzy of celebrity sightings and autographs."

It isn't a "frenzy of celebrity sightings and autographs," nor is it ever likely to become so (in my opinion).

However, there's definitely a giddy excitement to getting to chat with the people, or simply spotting the people, who change and influence the tools and languages with which we work on a daily basis.

When it just so happens that some of these people are unusually charismatic/entertaining, it's easy to see where the weirdness comes from.

More than "celebrities," though, I'm reminded of when I was in college and there were certain profs that I respected like crazy. Getting to talk to them in the hallways/offices/whatever was always a total joy. I saw my old French prof walking around my neighborhood about four months ago, and I thought I was going to have a heart attack. Maybe it *is* a little silly that I should get so excited, but that guy could *really* teach French (he was also charming and handsome, which didn't hurt).

"It almost feels like this is all getting commercialized."

I don't see it that way at all.

One of the great things about this industry is that the people to whom we commonly refer as the "rock stars" are totally accessible.

The reason we consider them to be "rock stars" is that they've done things, or are doing things, that many of us consider to be exceptionally cool in some way or another. I mentioned Chris Sells earlier - for me, his ability to engage an audience and teach a concept efficiently is incredible. I'd be a liar if I said that I weren't partially "studying" him while watching him speak/converse nowadays - the same way I "study" David Bowie when I'm trying to figure out just how it is that he managed to present music in a way that I find so compelling.

However, I can't get close to David Bowie. All I'll ever have is a collection of his recordings.

Chris? Saw him the other night at a nerd dinner. Had the chance to chat about whatever. That's cool.

Nothing commercialized about that. Feels very "community"ish.

"I like your resons for why this is a contest and to keep the number of people low, but it still smells funny to me. kinda like "Let's see who jumps the highest and we'll give them a carrot - you get to sit with us". Feels a bit..... humiliating? dare I say it?"

Who jumps the highest?

The alternatives:

1) Don't allow *anybody* into the dinner
2) Allow *everybody* in (instant loss in value - the whole point is to be able to get the attention of the people who are changing the dev landscape for us)
3) Select someone without a contest - I think that *this* option would have you even more suspicious

The contest makes sense, and it sounds like entrance into the contest itself is merit based (having to do a quiz thing). That's cool.

"Sure, you can always say "If you don't like it, don't come", but is that really what you want?"

Absolutely, that's what I want. Think about my blog: I understand that there are people who hate me/the blog - I would *never* want them to read it. It seems like a painful experience for them. Some still do, and they write to me to complain about things they don't like, but I don't understand the point. If something hurts, then stay away!

That's at the risk of a smaller audience, of course, which is just fine. Speaking in terms of my blog again, I'd rather have one reader who really enjoyed my stuff than a million who hated it.

I feel the same way about everything in life, actually: Do what's right for you without messing things up for other people, and always remember that you're responsible for your own decisions.

"Maybe sometimes people are not liking things for good reasons?"

For *good* reasons, yes. However, this opens your own reasons up to scrutiny as well.

"Maybe a second look at all this *is* needed?"

Why is it needed? This is going to bother a handful of people for about ten minutes, and then they're going to go back to their lives like nothing ever happened. Giving it a second look would be to just lend it more attention, which is counterproductive to your interests. If you'd like to see less of this sort of thing, then don't publicize it!

"But if at least we all talk about it, we get a broader picture."

What is there to really talk about?

I, for one, thought the contest sounded like fun. I figured that my chances of entrance were slim, but it still adds to a carnival-like atmosphere.

Finally, Roy, you aren't even going! You've already been to TechEd this year. What does it really matter? Why do you want to effect a change in something that isn't even relevant for you?

Would you also like the meals to be delivered by a different catering company? Because now's the time to lodge a complaint!

The last line of your post:

"Isn't this all getting a little out of proportion?"

Isn't your *response* a little out of proportion? When people start dying, maybe that's when we should start to worry.

I find that about 95% of your posts are worthwhile, and they're the reason you're still in my aggregator. However, it's these "I'm going to police the dev world" ones that can be a bit of a turn-off. Your opinion is valuable, but you tend to get a bit carried away. Scott's a really good guy - you're a good guy. The contest is harmless. There's nothing to get all that excited about.
Thursday, May 20, 2004 8:36 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Of software legends, myths and proportions

Rory: Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate you taking the time to explain.
I do see your point and have to say that sometimes I myself am partial as to whether I should actually post these things.

"Finally, Roy, you aren't even going! You've already been to TechEd this year. What does it really matter? Why do you want to effect a change in something that isn't even relevant for you? "
What would the world look like if people only stuck to where they are?
It's the prinicple of the matter that mattered to me, not where it was located.
If I read about SmallTalk, should I never write about it because I do not use it in my daily life? Should I not comment about the politics because I cannot influence them (besides voting) and have nothing to do with them? IF someone does something funny/stupid/annying - should I stop ,yself from commenting on it just because they don't live near me?

Does the fact that you yourself "complained" about people bragging about their NDAs on your blog make your question a little less relevant? Is that something you can change/has anything to do with you/Really matters?

But again, your point is taken.
Thursday, May 20, 2004 8:39 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Of software legends, myths and proportions

BTW: another way to let a small crowed into the dinner: First N people who apply - can get in.
Thursday, May 20, 2004 8:41 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: [Google Lecture] Finding needles in a 20 TB haystack, 200 million times per day

No DIdn't get to go :(
But I hear it was relaly good!
Thursday, May 20, 2004 8:42 PM by michael

# re: Blog like nobody's reading

I often find myself holding back on some issues, because I don't know who might be viewing my blog. *cough* future employers? *cough*

I knew I had to decide quickly as to the direction of my site. Do I make it twisted and witty, or like your average square geek? Welp, I've decided to go the square geek route, and perhaps I can sprinkle some wittiness around from time to time.

It remains to be seen just how far this blogging phenomenon will go...
Thursday, May 20, 2004 10:12 PM by Shannon J Hager

# re: Of software legends, myths and proportions

"First N people who apply - can get in. "

Roy, will you change the rules for your contest, too? First 3 people to apply get the prizes? If so, please consider this my application. :)
Thursday, May 20, 2004 10:50 PM by Scott

# re: Of software legends, myths and proportions

Rory,
"Anyway, how else are you going to get to meet up with these people? The project leads? The people who are deciding what stays and what goes in (for example) System.Xml?

At your local coffee shop? I don't think so."

Well it depends, at MY local coffee shops I could. My local coffee shops are in Redmond, Bellevue, and Seattle though. ;)
Friday, May 21, 2004 3:07 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: T - 11

Yeah I fixed that. End of May is now listed :)
Friday, May 21, 2004 4:52 AM by TrackBack

# re: T - 11

Friday, May 21, 2004 4:52 AM by TrackBack

# re: T - 11

Friday, May 21, 2004 6:32 AM by TrackBack

# Annoyed...

Annoyed...
Friday, May 21, 2004 6:32 AM by TrackBack

# Annoyed...

Annoyed...
Friday, May 21, 2004 7:21 AM by Kate Gregory

# re: Of software legends, myths and proportions

When I read these comments it sounds to me that the commenters think the dinner was invented for the "influencers" to hold court for an audience of lucky winners. Or that the concept of "influencers" was invented as PR for those who qualify. While I'm not holding the dinner, I am attending it, and I know neither of those thoughts are true.

At every conference there are some invitation-only things. There might be a dinner for those who've written books, or a bloggers dinner, or an MVP dinner, or whatever. This year there are plenty of those at Tech Ed. And one of them is available to the RDs: we're all invited, and we can swing one extra invitation. (It's not just the RD party, there are several groups invited, hence the rather vague title. To my knowledge none of the invitees is in marketing.) And since we find these events very valuable (I'm going to stay up till heaven-knows-when on my internal clock to go) we naturally think every geeky attendee would find them valuable too. Not so you can meet ME ME ME but so you can meet the folks I'm looking forward to seeing there. Folks whose names you may not know but whose work you will want to know about. (Or folks who are just a whole lot of fun to spend an evening with.) You can't just turn it into another attendeee party: the restaurant doesn't hold 9,000, and there is also the tiny matter of budget. There's only one attendee party. There are *lots* of exclusive invitation-only parties, most of which you don't know about until you see the pictures later on your buddy's blog and wonder why you weren't invited :-) . To my knowledge, none of them are world-domination worship-me ventures, or if they are they're not working. Sometimes a dinner is just a dinner.

So, in the fun "join us, we love doing this stuff" spirit of the RD booth and the RD game let me just invite you all to come by the booth, try some questions, and have fun. And maybe get to go to a cool dinner.

Kate
Friday, May 21, 2004 10:06 AM by DB

# Depends on circumstances

Function and variable names are a convenience to the coder. If your development team is X, it makes sense that they'll develop in Xese barring identifiers, libraries, and such. Whatever steps are necessary to make them more efficient. I would rather have clear Xese than strange, mis-translated English.

I don't think it's worth mandating that everyone code in a foreign language (English) just in case the code must be maintained by someone who does not speak the language. It is also an unprovable assumption that everyone speaks English. As another poster said, there are localized documents for just about everything.

This is nothing but the SUV mentality. "Well, I might need to haul something once or twice in the next 5 years, better get an SUV." "Well, someone who doesn't speak your language might look at your code, better make it English!"

Of course, if you are off-shoring your code, you better expect that the developers write in your language since, presumably, you are going to review their work. So, as the title says, it depends on the circumstances. Your code should be the best for the circumstance, not the best for every circumstance.
Friday, May 21, 2004 10:27 AM by cat

# re: Saddam Hussein's cat

HILARIOIUS!
Friday, May 21, 2004 11:30 AM by TrackBack

# T- (11 30) explanation apology

Friday, May 21, 2004 11:34 AM by TrackBack

# re: T - 11

Friday, May 21, 2004 11:36 AM by TrackBack

# T - 11

Friday, May 21, 2004 11:36 AM by TrackBack

# T - 11

Friday, May 21, 2004 11:50 AM by Jay Kimble

# re: T - 11

<sarcasm>Thanks...</sarcasm>

I guess that will put you on my crap list (because of this - http://weblogs.asp.net/rosherove/archive/2004/05/10/128805.aspx)

I can sense another controversy coming like this one - http://weblogs.asp.net/rosherove/archive/2004/04/12/111328.aspx
Friday, May 21, 2004 11:59 AM by TrackBack

# Add-in contest rules changed (for the better)

Friday, May 21, 2004 12:31 PM by TrackBack

# re: Add-in contest rules changed

Friday, May 21, 2004 12:43 PM by Patrick Cauldwell

# re: Blog like nobody's reading

Don't forget "Drink like all the beer was free"
Friday, May 21, 2004 1:35 PM by Jay Kimble

# re: T - 11

http://dotnetjunkies.com/WebLog/jkimble/archive/2004/05/21/14176.aspx
Friday, May 21, 2004 3:04 PM by TrackBack

# Roy Oshoreve...

Roy Oshoreve...
Friday, May 21, 2004 3:57 PM by Frans Bouma

# re: [Coding Contest] Most Useful/Innovative VS.Net Add-in/Macro (and some huge prizes)

Why is the final date set again to May 31?

This is a major blow to the people who thought it would be June 30... and if you ask me: it sucks. Roy, please, set it again to June 30. Too many people counted on that date already.
Friday, May 21, 2004 4:53 PM by SBC

# re: T - 11

I guess CYA won't make it-
http://weblogs.asp.net/sbchatterjee/archive/2004/05/14/131806.aspx

:-)
Friday, May 21, 2004 6:34 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: T - 11

Sorry for the misunderstanding all. The contest will end June 30th like promised.
read http://weblogs.asp.net/rosherove/archive/2004/05/22/138316.aspx
for what happened.
my apologies.
Friday, May 21, 2004 7:23 PM by G. Andrew Duthie

# re: Of software legends, myths and proportions

Roy,

Is there NOTHING you won't find fault with? Look, I think that you have interesting things to say sometimes, and I know you do a great job with your software, but I'm utterly puzzled by your occasional need to unload about something someone else is doing. Whether it's Rory getting invited to the MVP summit, or this thing, you seem all too ready to get your knickers in a hitch over the smallest things. Is there any chance that you could just lighten up...just a little? Please?

This stuff is getting old.
Friday, May 21, 2004 7:38 PM by Ryan Farley

# RE: Comment spam wave

Roy,

I've been able to disable my comments using .Text - but only on a per-post basis. Look at the "advanced settings" area for the post and you can uncheck "allow comments". I suppose you could see what that sets in the database and do it for all posts if you wanted.

Anyway, that has worked for me in the past. Maybe check the IP(s) that the spam has been coming from and ban them?
Friday, May 21, 2004 7:41 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Comment spam wave

Ryan: unfortunately (or maybe "fortunately"?) the blog is not hosted on my own machine but on weblogs.asp.net, so I don't have access to the database or anything like that. I also don't have the time to go through each individual post in my blog and disable comments for that. The comments are 1 per post right now and counting.
Thanks though :)
Saturday, May 22, 2004 1:31 AM by TrackBack

# Spam wave from weblogs.asp.net

Saturday, May 22, 2004 1:31 AM by TrackBack

# Spam wave from weblogs

Saturday, May 22, 2004 2:19 AM by TrackBack

# re: I, for one, welcome our new SPAM overlords

Saturday, May 22, 2004 4:26 AM by Anatoly Lubarsky

# re: Comment spam wave

may be this can help: https://www.stormpay.com/stormpay/report_spam.php
Saturday, May 22, 2004 8:32 AM by SBC

# re: Comment spam wave

http://weblogs.asp.net/sbchatterjee/archive/2004/05/22/139416.aspx
Saturday, May 22, 2004 8:39 AM by Paul Gielens

# re: Comment spam wave

Same here... guess we have to start deleting comments?
Saturday, May 22, 2004 9:24 AM by Mads

# re: Comment spam wave

I've got em too.. if they only had a purpose other than messing up for other people. god darn bastards!
Saturday, May 22, 2004 1:18 PM by SBC

# re: T- (11+30) + explanation + apology

"That is, my brain sometimes fools me into thinking I've done stuff while in reality I've done different stuff"
you too? me too!
:-)
Saturday, May 22, 2004 2:08 PM by Roig

# re: Windows Media Player problem? here's a very good FAQ page

I hyad to uncheck the "Use Overlays" checkbox to be able to view the video.
Sunday, May 23, 2004 5:20 PM by Jackie Goldstein

# re: [Book] "Slack", Where Learning Happens

Sorry to nit-pick, but the Mythical Man-Month was written by Fred Brooks, not Tom Demarco. But, yeah, they are both great classics.
Sunday, May 23, 2004 5:23 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: [Book] "Slack", Where Learning Happens

Whoops! my mistake. I could have sworn he wrote it, but then - well... maybe he didn't :)
Sunday, May 23, 2004 7:03 PM by Corey

# re: [Book] "Slack", Where Learning Happens

We've been doing some Agile/XP projects at work, always with a consultant in to guide us along, and those of us who have been on these projects can't believe how productive we are, and we attribute it almost entirely to the methodology (TDD, Pair-Programming, two-week iterations, etc.). Regarding those who haven't been on an Agile project, though, this quote sounds about right, since I've witnessed people basically dismissing the idea that TDD or Pair-Programming contributes so much. Frankly, I've never been more productive than when I have another person sitting there with me. And don't even get me started on TDD. :)
Sunday, May 23, 2004 7:52 PM by SBC

# re: If you're a developer in Norway, Mercatus is hiring

sounds like a great boss! those are rare..you can learn a lot about leadership from them..
Monday, May 24, 2004 7:07 AM by David Brabant

# re: [OT] Sad joke

This one is not bad either:

http://i.timeinc.net/time/cartoons/20040521/2.jpg
Monday, May 24, 2004 8:30 AM by TrackBack

# First post using w.bloggar

Monday, May 24, 2004 9:50 AM by test

# re: InfoPath download link (and a lawsuit waiting to happen)

test
Monday, May 24, 2004 11:27 AM by Eliyahu

# re: [OT] Sad joke

Nice
Monday, May 24, 2004 12:18 PM by Cheryl Peters

# re: Earlybird Start-up Science

I would like to read this chapter.
Monday, May 24, 2004 2:19 PM by Omer van Kloeten

# re: [OT] Sad joke

If only it wasn't so painfully close to The Truth.
Monday, May 24, 2004 2:37 PM by Luciano Evaristo Guerche

# RE: Returning to RSS bandit and a couple of requests

I do also use RSS Bandit, helped translated it for brazilian portuguese and hope new features to come soon. One I am missing so much is a way to posting directly from RSS Bandit to <a href="http://weblogs.asp.net/guercheLE/">my blog</a>. It is boring to having to open a browser window, going to weblogs.asp.net, logging in, selecting "Post" tab, then new, and steps go on...
Monday, May 24, 2004 2:53 PM by Luciano Evaristo Guerche

# RE: [OT] Sad joke

That is a clear definition of what we call MEDIA...
Monday, May 24, 2004 4:42 PM by Mehran Nikoo

# re: Of software legends, myths and proportions

Very good point Roy.

IT and software industry is among the youngest industries around the world, and we should expect lots of changes, hypes, myths, legends, etc and over time the industry will become more mature.

Look at other fields like medicine for instance, which is among the most mature fields/sciences. Today we don't have medicine legends (yes we do, but they belong to the past!), what we have is a very structured and solid system (well I know that the operations side sucks like NHS in the UK, but it is more of a funding issue and doesn't have anything to do with the medical system e.g. GMC). You have got people who know and understand more, and have more experience, and you have got juniors.

More experienced people try to transfer their knowledge and experience to new comers, and they are not called legends. They are professional, and everybody respects them in that system, but they don't tell other people that "I am inventing everything in medicine, if you want to influence the inventions, then come and see me if you are invited!" If they start doing that, then they are not doing their job anymore, and all they have left with is just a "title".

Because of its age the medicine is right at the other end, but more or less you can find a similar pattern in other fields, including engineering sector. But as I mentioned IT is pretty young and we need to go through all these stages.

I am not speaking for anyone here, but my perception is that if Don Box, Chris Chris Sells (and other great guys) are today considered as legends, and if we need to attend a contest to have a chance to meet them, etc, it is not because they want it to be that way. It is us, other people, who are making legends of them, and then start worshiping them. Don Box is "Don Box" because of the nice books he has written, because of the good speeches he has delivered, and not because people have to participate in a draw in order to have a change to talk to them. But I can't ignore the fact that like any other field (sports, entertainment, etc), some people would like to run their own business by creating IT celebrity characters or try to become a celebrity by doing something like going to all private dinners with legends and then say "I am a celebrity now, you have the right to worship me now!".
Tuesday, May 25, 2004 6:52 AM by Subhash

# re: When running 'aspnet_regiis -c' still doesn't fix it...

Take the Property of the Virtual Directory. In the application Settings, just remove and re-create the application. This will solve this problem. Next Time, When taking the site for first time, it may b a bit slow, but will be ok after that.
Tuesday, May 25, 2004 12:46 PM by Tjoho

# re: Was that a shout out?

freerolls.drawdead.com

check the site if you like poker ! :)
Tuesday, May 25, 2004 1:16 PM by Not me

# re: Of software legends, myths and proportions


One only has to look at www.softwarelegends.com to see how pathetic this hero-worship stuff can become.

I mean...really....The site just reeks of arrogance. Every industry has people who are well known and well respected. But very few industries, outside of athletics, props up a web site that that looks like a virtual altar for the thousands of unwashed masses to come and worship.
Tuesday, May 25, 2004 2:23 PM by mike 13 years old

# re: Unblocking an attachment blocked by outlook

just update your security settings to allow it or update the whole system. later.
Tuesday, May 25, 2004 2:25 PM by mike 13 years old

# re: My phone manners need work

well, i am only 13, but why use the phone? isnt that what e-mail is for? give it a try.
Tuesday, May 25, 2004 7:50 PM by Bob

# re: Seal clubbing - the game (almost)

i dont justify seal clubbing but this game is just a bit of fub
Wednesday, May 26, 2004 1:58 AM by TrackBack

# Funny

Like Roy, I live in Israel, and I haven't posted about politics in this blog. When I read this joke, however, I snapped. I snap a lot these days - all I have to do is read the paper, turn on the radio or TV, or just listen to other people. Still, I'm...
Wednesday, May 26, 2004 8:43 AM by Mahavir

# re: A much needed SchemaHelper class

I have run the exact thing, But I am getting a Blank Page, wonder whats wrong !
Wednesday, May 26, 2004 11:14 AM by david liswineky

# re: Showing the "Browse For Folder" dialog

I have visual studio.net 2002 only, how can I run v1.1 of the .NET framework ?
Wednesday, May 26, 2004 7:08 PM by lkl

# re: Plugin frameworks in .Net links

';

'/


'
;kkjkjggcnb
Wednesday, May 26, 2004 7:09 PM by lkl

# re: Plugin frameworks in .Net links

yfyugfhjgjhgyuftrdjghujbnm jhgvjkhbkhjlkb .;knlh
kjlkj; jkbgjhchg
Wednesday, May 26, 2004 9:37 PM by Ann C

# re: Sample chapter from "The Visual Basic .NET Programming Language" available

Hi sounds great
Thursday, May 27, 2004 4:24 PM by xxxx

# re: [Cool Tool] NotePad2

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thursday, May 27, 2004 6:13 PM by Ryan A. Rinaldi

# re: [OT] Why you should never put your picture on the Internet

The link you posted is password protected. :(
Thursday, May 27, 2004 10:47 PM by secretGeek

# re: [OT] Why you should never put your picture on the Internet


http://www.secretgeek.net/royo_is_a.asp
Thursday, May 27, 2004 11:06 PM by secretGeek

# re: [OT] Why you should never put your picture on the Internet

Here's the non-password protected uri: http://www.binaryshadow.com/images/Never.html
Friday, May 28, 2004 4:14 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: [OT] Why you should never put your picture on the Internet

Thanks Leon! the link *used* to work, but not anymore. too much traffic?
Friday, May 28, 2004 4:29 AM by Jeremy Brayton

# re: Another Israeli Blogger

It mentions Delphi 8, which is in effect Delphi .Net. It's basically a marriage of Delphi with the power of .Net. I personally don't like the corruption that it's done (My files are now huge .NET encompassed crap instead of nice small Delphi code) but that could have been my stupidity in 8 versus 7.

There's also no secret that one of the main guys that helped make Delphi also went on to help facilitate C# at Microsoft. Delphi and C# have a lot of similarities. It's almost eerie how similar they are and if you didn't figure that the prominent person did both, then you would think it's some fluke in nature but it isn't. C# draws heavily on a lot of what made Delphi such a cool language.

I'm slowly transitioning away from Delphi though I still love the fact that in version 7 my apps are significantly smaller than .NET's 20mb+ Runtime files. A MFC app generated by the AppWizard with 0 code would get compile to a statically linked file of about 2mb. A Delphi app with no code and just a window, mimicing the same MFC app would get me about 800k. Delphi won my vote with the only other language with smaller footprints being assembly, and I'm not about to go there (though I did try)

Version 8 is a whole other story. It is this marriage of .NET that I can't seem to break free from. Plus it uses 1.0 of the Framework and won't work with 1.1 at least the version 8 I used. They may have a service pack to 'upgrade' but I highly doubt it. Delphi has turned into this beast that I'm not really looking forward to taming, plus it's a good idea to jump into C# now while I can. The transition is incredibly easy mainly because of the many similarities between Delphi/Pascal and C#.
Friday, May 28, 2004 1:18 PM by beto

# re: Windows Media Player problem? here's a very good FAQ page

well im haveing a problem with windows media player the problem is that something happened insted of the icon windows player have i have an icon that shows a computer with documents please try to fix it
Saturday, May 29, 2004 11:15 AM by TrackBack

# DataSet Visualizer for Visual Studio 2003

Debugging DataSets in Visual Studio just got easier. Whiel something like this will most likely be available out of the box with Visual Studio 2005, current users of Visual Studio 2003 have no easy way of figuring out what exactly...
Sunday, May 30, 2004 1:00 AM by TrackBack

# VS.NET 2003 DataSet visualizer a la Whidbey!

Sunday, May 30, 2004 3:19 AM by TrackBack

# VS.NET 2003 DataSet visualizer a la Whidbey!

Sunday, May 30, 2004 3:44 AM by Avner Kashtan

# re: [Cool Tool] Dataset Quick Watch "visualizer" Add-in for VS.Net 2003

It's one of the things I'm really looking forward to in Whidbey - not only the Dataset visualizer, but a whole extensibility schema for Debugging Visualizers for your custom data-types or whatever.
Could be nice, to take your app's GUI and use it as a debugging visualizer for your custom data-set, with binding in-place and all. :)
Sunday, May 30, 2004 4:36 AM by TrackBack

# RE: Why you should never put your picture on the Internet

Sunday, May 30, 2004 9:16 AM by guoqi zheng

# re: Introduction To Regular Expressions

Thanks for the informaiton.. especially the pattern syntax which I was surprised that I can not find it at MSDN library.
Sunday, May 30, 2004 5:15 PM by Kat

# re: Windows Media Player problem? here's a very good FAQ page

Thats too cool! It fixed it... I was really stressing.. Thanks so Much!
Monday, May 31, 2004 2:11 AM by onanga

# re: The RSA encryption algorithm - step by step

hi
Monday, May 31, 2004 2:46 AM by Justin Zimmer

# re: DataReader.HasRows

Uninstall the 1.0 Framework.. I had this problem and this fixed it
Monday, May 31, 2004 4:31 AM by Atul

# re: Winforms Data Binding Woes

About that delete button....

How can I catch the event when the user presses the delete button on any ro in Datagrid so that I can write a code where the data can be deleted from the database also . As visible the row is deleted but not from database .

Any ideas.....
Thanks
Atul
Monday, May 31, 2004 2:52 PM by Scott Mitchell

# re: The VS7 Debugger doesn’t work. What can I do?

Another thing to check - if you have Whidbey installed, IIS might be mapping the .aspx extension to the Whidbey ISAPI extension, and not the Version 1.1 extension. If you have this setup, the ASP.NET pages will run fine, but VS.NET will not let you debug... (Hopefully this saves you the hour I lost! :-)
Tuesday, June 01, 2004 1:54 AM by OD

# re: Saddam Hussein's cat

Fuck this shit. Where is Saddam? I have never seen such brainwashing in my life.
Why don't we talk about Saddam anymore?
Now the US has the oil playground they wanted, feeding kids candy like a spooky creepy old man.

They are raping Irak.
Tuesday, June 01, 2004 4:55 AM by TrackBack

# New and Notable 58

Tuesday, June 01, 2004 11:03 AM by Tony

# re: App.Config Magic

I have run into the same problem. I have added a file to the project named app.config and it does not get copied to bin/debug. I've tried various things from adding an XML file named app.config to adding an application configuration file (another file type option) named app.config. Then, I do a rebuild solution. I check the debug folder and the config file is not there. (no, not one named applicationname.exe.config either). There must be something we're missing.

Any help is appreciated.

-Tony
Tuesday, June 01, 2004 11:07 AM by Robert

# re: What Add-ins would you like to see in the contest?

Have an Regular Expression Editor integrated with VS.NET so it`s easy to write expressions and test them and paste it into the Code Editor.
Tuesday, June 01, 2004 3:07 PM by TrackBack

# Problems Debugging ASP.NET - Another Gotcha

Tuesday, June 01, 2004 6:09 PM by Andi Bee

# re: How low can you go? Iran rejects Israel's help with earthquake

I thing Israel should help themselfes on making pease in the region .I thing America and Israel will never thing of helping others just for the sake of pease ,beacuse they do'nt beleive in such a thing .
I thing we have responsibilities to teach the Israelies the meaning of peace and love and how to respect other humenbinngs regardless of ther beleives.In that way The region will be peasfull for all the people of middleast .
Tuesday, June 01, 2004 10:17 PM by TrackBack

# New Regulator Available, I'm sure Roy doesn't sleep!

Wednesday, June 02, 2004 1:32 AM by deepak singh

# re: Registration-free COM interop

thank you!
Wednesday, June 02, 2004 5:18 AM by aysha

# re: The RSA encryption algorithm - step by step

does website show you how 2 work with the RSA encryption algorithm step by step?????
Wednesday, June 02, 2004 5:37 AM by TrackBack

# Just How Much Money Does The Republic Of Congo Have Anyways?

Wednesday, June 02, 2004 6:18 AM by Damian

# re: The Regulator 2.0.3 - *finally* with a help file!

Don't you have to be an open source project to use Sourceforge ?
Wednesday, June 02, 2004 6:39 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: The Regulator 2.0.3 - *finally* with a help file!

Damian: good question. The answer is yes.
Wednesday, June 02, 2004 8:08 AM by M. Eaton

# re: I've been contacted...

Roy...*I* have also been contacted by these high-ranking people. ;-) What a small world!
Wednesday, June 02, 2004 8:39 AM by matthew

# re: The Regulator 2.0.3 - *finally* with a help file!

so perhaps it would be polite to answer the good question: where is the source?
Wednesday, June 02, 2004 8:53 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: The Regulator 2.0.3 - *finally* with a help file!

matthew: darn! I was tryinjg to avoid that question! :)
Seriously though, almost all of the source is there, except for the main executable.
That's coming too in the near future. once it's cleaned up a bit.
The source is installed along with the application under the src directory.
Wednesday, June 02, 2004 9:13 AM by matthew

# re: The Regulator 2.0.3 - *finally* with a help file!

i would also avoid GPL, it's a nasty communist licence.
Wednesday, June 02, 2004 9:28 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: The Regulator 2.0.3 - *finally* with a help file!

It's under LGPL
Wednesday, June 02, 2004 10:25 AM by Mads

# re: TechEd Europe sessions I'd love to be at

I told you to get your butt to Amsterdam:)
Wednesday, June 02, 2004 10:43 AM by Mads

# re: Typical Norway Scenario

That's simply the way we do things:)
Wednesday, June 02, 2004 12:27 PM by nospamplease75@yahoo.com (Haacked)

# RE: I've been contacted...

These guys must have a LOT of money to transfer because I was contacted by them several times.
Wednesday, June 02, 2004 2:41 PM by Squeaker

# re: Good DPAPI helper and Matt Griffith's awesome .NET Utilities DLL and more

Well hello there Mr. Matt. My colleague and I, Mr. Matt Acker came across your website while we were searching on Google.com for "Matt is Awesome." Good site, could use a little color though. PEACE

*Richardson and Acker*
Wednesday, June 02, 2004 6:23 PM by Eric

# re: Getting *really* creative with IL graphs

Nice
Wednesday, June 02, 2004 6:39 PM by Scott

# re: The Regulator 2.0.3 - *finally* with a help file!

This thing has SERIOUS issues. It keeps screwing up my reg exps as I type them in. Not just inserting a character, inserting and deleting all sorts of crap. I think it's cost me as much time as it's saved me at this point. If it helps any, it's mostly when the intellisense pops up, and it's usually a string of \ and \a :(
Wednesday, June 02, 2004 6:41 PM by Scott

# re: The Regulator 2.0.3 - *finally* with a help file!

actually add to that "any time I save it randomly removes characters.
Wednesday, June 02, 2004 6:49 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: The Regulator 2.0.3 - *finally* with a help file!

Scott: ack! I'll see what I can do. thanks for the feedback.
Wednesday, June 02, 2004 6:54 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: The Regulator 2.0.3 - *finally* with a help file!

Scott: I can't seem to reproduce your errors. And I can't seem to find a way to conatct you via email. can you contact me and help me reproduce the problem? this sounds like something that should have been fixed two versions ago (saving removed chars)
Wednesday, June 02, 2004 11:10 PM by denny

# re: Worst UI ever?

Unreal..... I kept looking at the web site to see if it was made up like an april fools prank.

and I used to wonder at some of the DOS and CP/M shells...
LU and such....
Thursday, June 03, 2004 12:23 AM by Scott

# re: The Regulator 2.0.3 - *finally* with a help file!

Ack, sorry about that. You can contact me at admin@lazycoder.com. I'll try to come up with a repro script tomorrow along with some screenshots. Typical user huh? "It's broken, fix it." With no explanation. :)
Thursday, June 03, 2004 4:34 AM by TrackBack

# Your Daily Cup of WTF - Unregistering a COM DLL

Thursday, June 03, 2004 5:16 AM by Leon

# re: Worst UI ever?

Here is a great site with some more examples of good and bad interfaces:
http://digilander.libero.it/chiediloapippo/Engineering/iarchitect/index-1.htm
Thursday, June 03, 2004 11:46 AM by Mike Saeger

# re: System.Text.Encoding.Tip

I had the same problems with Microsoft's "Magic Quotes". They were removed without a trace until I added the Text.Encoding.Default
Thursday, June 03, 2004 2:04 PM by TrackBack

# Roy gets the Regulator 2.0.3 out!

Thursday, June 03, 2004 3:44 PM by TrackBack

# The Regulator v2.0.3 is Out

Thursday, June 03, 2004 6:56 PM by Amir

# Framework 1.0


I have downlod the version that suppose to work with framework 1.0, and the setup.exe file requires framework 1.1
Thursday, June 03, 2004 8:18 PM by Chesterton

# re: Accented Blogging

I want to be a singer
Thursday, June 03, 2004 8:18 PM by Chesterton

# re: Accented Blogging

I want to be a singer
Thursday, June 03, 2004 8:18 PM by Chesterton

# re: Accented Blogging

I want to be a singer
Thursday, June 03, 2004 11:07 PM by TrackBack

# More discussion about MS and agile methodologies

Thursday, June 03, 2004 11:31 PM by TrackBack

# More discussion about MS and agile methodologies

Friday, June 04, 2004 2:00 AM by TrackBack

# More from Roy on XP

Friday, June 04, 2004 5:49 AM by TrackBack

# Ideas To Reduce Comment Spam

Friday, June 04, 2004 6:46 AM by Venkat

# re: "Could not open in Design view. Quote values differently..." solved!

Thanks for posting this. It helped me on time.
Friday, June 04, 2004 7:32 AM by Martin Liversage

# re: More discussion about MS and agile methodologies

Actually the infamous C3 project at Chrysler was cancelled before it was complete. Reading the book Extreme Programming Refactored: The Case Against XP by Matt Stephens and Doug Rosenberg should provide some interesting insight into some of the problems with XP. I haven't actually read the book, but there is an interesting review of the book on /.: http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/03/24/2118215. I'm not saying that XP is bogus, but reading just the review of the book provided me with some quite interesting perspectives on XP.
Friday, June 04, 2004 7:38 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: More discussion about MS and agile methodologies

Martin: The cancellation reasons were, AFAIKm not related to how successfully it really was in terms of what project manager would consider successfully - on time and on target.
Still, the case against XP is worth a read. No one should go blindly into anything.
Friday, June 04, 2004 7:56 AM by TrackBack

# .NET Not so Nightly 157

Friday, June 04, 2004 8:14 AM by Wesner Moise

# re: Bad interviews are your best friend

Actually, in an interview, the truth is you should know all the answers to all the questions!! At least at Microsoft, we are looking for any reason to not hire you. While the questions presented may seem tricky, they are actually basic knowledge needed for the job...
Friday, June 04, 2004 8:19 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Bad interviews are your best friend

Wesner (why didn't you sign with a link to your blog):
That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that, If you've already in a situation where you are having a bad interview, make the best of it.
Friday, June 04, 2004 8:31 AM by Darren Neimke

# re: Planning a daily, automatic build

Keep us posted with your progress on this Royo - I'd love to hear how you tackle it and what solution you end up with. I've got a ~70 project solution which I need to build so, I have a similar problem to yours.
Friday, June 04, 2004 8:34 AM by TrackBack

# When people don't want to pair program

When people don't want to pair program
Friday, June 04, 2004 8:39 AM by Karl

# re: Planning a daily, automatic build

Just to give my $0.02, I just started playing with a build/automated testing for here at work (they'll never adopt such procedure of course)...and felt way strong against using nAnt for the reasons you mentioned. But I gave it a try and it was a real breeze. Within 1/2 a day I have the project building automatically (source/debug/stage) with nUnit test cases running against the builds. Of course this was for a single project :)

However, something I didn't try doing was using nAntContrib's <slighshot> task to convert a .sln to a nant build file. If <slingshot> works as straightforward as all the other nant tasks, I'd highly recommend it.
Friday, June 04, 2004 8:44 AM by Anon

# re: When people don't want to do pair programming


Pair programming with 3 programmers? ;)
Friday, June 04, 2004 8:46 AM by Jay Glynn

# re: More discussion about MS and agile methodologies

The cancellation was due to the fact that they couldn't deliver the goods. If Beck and company want to call that a success, then more power to them. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, well you know the rest.

Operating systems, programming languages, Office etc are the tools that I use to accomplish what the business needs. Yes they are tools. The applications and systems that I produce are the tools that the business uses to gain (hopefully) an advantage over the competition.

DNA is another name for n-tier which is of course an architecture for designing systems which of course has absolutely nothing to do with the process of designing the system. XP is about the process. MSF is Microsoft's process for building software. It is an OK process, doesn't fit in our environment but then it is not built into their toolset. It isn't put in my face every time I start up Studio. While I think that some of the tools that are being offered in Team System are nice, Microsoft does not know nor can they know the type of environment that I develop in. Process should not be dicated by toolsets. They should be supportive of "any" process and not get in the way. As long as that remains true to form, then I don't have any issues.

BTW, my name is Jay, I don't know who John is, but he may be mad at you for misquoteing him ;-).
Friday, June 04, 2004 8:56 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: More discussion about MS and agile methodologies

Jay: OOps! fixed your name..

"MSF is Microsoft's process for building software. It is an OK process, doesn't fit in our environment but then it is not built into their toolset. "
So is XP. It won't be built into the toolset, but it will be accomodated by the toolset easily enough.

Friday, June 04, 2004 9:05 AM by Omer van Kloeten

# re: [ot] Hebrew blogging attempt

Great way to show the world you want a feature. ;)
Friday, June 04, 2004 9:10 AM by Justin Pitts

# re: Planning a daily, automatic build

Are you using the Visual Studio database project to maintain your database schema scripts? If not, maybe thats something to look into. Otherwise, make a habit of always saving database changes as change scripts. Keep them centrally located, and write a little utility (or .cmd file using "for /F ..." ) that iterates over all the change scripts and executes them with osql (or the equivalent for your db if not MSSQL).

I've often thought about, but never decided - for each "version" (schema change) of the database, should I just maintain the change scripts, or should I also reverse engineer the create scripts for the entire DB? Hmmm.... The answer is somewhere in between I think.
Friday, June 04, 2004 9:12 AM by Joe

# re: When people don't want to do pair programming

Why don't we do pair marketing? Or pair management? Or pair engineering? Or pair architecture? Or pair truck driving?

Do you see? It's a silly concept. You either have a team, and you work as a team, or you don't. Why put artificial boundaries on it? Shouldn't you be doing what's right for the project at hand?

Sometimes you need to work with other people. Sometimes, IT IS A HASSLE! That's what everybody who pushes this concept won't admit, but it's true. There simply are times when the others DO get in your way.

But you do it to share knowlege? Harumph I say. If your design sucks and you have no documentation, then you're dead in the water. Where's the mention of stuff like that?

Just like everything else, it's a tool, and it can be abused. Use it where it fits, but not everything is a hammer and not every problem is a nail.
Friday, June 04, 2004 10:02 AM by Isaac Gouy

# re: When people don't want to do pair programming

"The code was still much better, but they definitely took more time to do it."

How do you know?

Were they measuring 'productivity' pair-programming and not-pair-programming? How were they measuring code quality?

Maybe they'd think it was necessary if they could see measurable differences.
Friday, June 04, 2004 10:38 AM by Yex

# re: New ASP.NET Issue Tracker Starter Kit

Have you looked at the "Tracker" sample application from Infragistics? I've started using it lately for a project I'm working on on the side and it has a very rich feature set, and it can be used for free. Sounds similar to what you say you've been looking for, so I thought you might be interested in it.

http://devcenter.infragistics.com/RefApps/Tracker/tracker.aspx
Friday, June 04, 2004 10:59 AM by Luciano Evaristo Guerche

# RE: New ASP.NET Issue Tracker Starter Kit

What wonderful it would be merging Issue Tracker Starter Kit Beta and Time Tracker Starter Kit. That way 1) user(s) create issue(s), manager(s) turn issue(s) into one/many task(s) and assign it/them to staff. What do you think about this workflow?
Friday, June 04, 2004 11:13 AM by Scott Galloway

# re: New ASP.NET Issue Tracker Starter Kit

There's also a modified version on GotDotNet (http://workspaces.gotdotnet.com/bugnet) which adds a bunch of functionality and fixes most of the bugs.
Friday, June 04, 2004 11:23 AM by Paul Gielens

# re: When people don't want to do pair programming

I still find pair programming quit hard to do with my m8 pulling me out of the zone every other few minutes.
Friday, June 04, 2004 11:26 AM by kevin white

# re: When people don't want to do pair programming

I'm a big advocate of pair programming but only when people are open to it. It's more important to find and encourage a good team dynamic than to enforce a particular methodology. You managed to introduce two very big changes, TDD and pair programming, without a short-term negative impact on the project. That's really impressive. I'd be very proud of the team for sticking with TDD. Even if the team never revisits pair programming you've already had a huge positive impact on how they develop.
Friday, June 04, 2004 11:45 AM by Frans Bouma

# re: New ASP.NET Issue Tracker Starter Kit

There is a lot of free issuetracker software available, it almost all runs on Linux. Big ones like bugzilla for example. Some issuetracker systems can be run on windows as well, with mysql and php installed.
Friday, June 04, 2004 11:54 AM by Steve Hall

# re: When people don't want to do pair programming

Roy: Two opposing (or compatible?) theories on why the programmers you encountered weren't fanatical about pair programming:

1) They're young and immature in their careers. My experience has taught me that most programmers are a pretty arrogant lot immediately after graduating college...and don't like to work closely with anyone (except maybe an older staff programmer for mentoring purposes) because they're too worried about their peers fiinding out their weaknesses (i.e., boundaries of skills and knowledge) and are overly concerned about their "position" and "ladder-climbing" early in their career. (I call this the "They all want to be rock-stars" syndrome...)

2) They're old and mature in their careers. My experence has also taught me that most programmers who have been programming over 15-20 years (like me) are a pretty stubborn lot...and don't like to work closely with their peers (other old programmers), since they're "set in their ways" about the "way to do everything". (I call this the "Don't bother me.....I'm doing IT ALL!" syndrome...)

To summarize the above theory, I believe (and have observed dozens of times...) that the only good pair programmers are those that are equally skilled and knowledgeable and in the middle of their careers (10-15 years). Pairing up a senior programmer with a junior programmer is NOT pair programming...it's mentoring! Pairing up two junior programmers will simply produce a LOT OF CRAP and pairing up two senior programmers will simply produce NOTHING...since they're out in the parking lot beating each other up over their ingrained programming styles! (The way the Chief of Staff and Chief of Medicine on the TV show "Scrubs" are continually at odds with each other comes to mind... I haven't decided which character I idolize more!)

I agree with Joe on most points. Unfortunately, pair programming can simply be the latest fad amongst management to try getting some mythical "productivity improvement" out of programmers (which usually really means trying to meet some insane impossible-to-meet schedule requirement), just like a lot of other hot programming techniques, like XP and TDD and project management technique like off-shoring and out-sourcing. The programming industry has suffered through many of these "fad cycles" whereby management has read some silly overview of the technique in a trade rag and figure they can leverage it to make themselves look good...without understanding the rationale and pitfalls of the technique.

A lot of companies here in Silicon Valley that have adopted XP, TDD, pair programming, etc. have also completely eliminated good up-front design of the application system using good systems analysis and systems design practices.....like writing the dredded specs! I've not encountered a SINGLE programmer out of college in the past 10 years that can either tell me the difference between an EDS (External Deisgn Spec) and IDS (Internal Design Spec) or be able to write ANY kind of spec, given the chance...because colleges by and large have eliminated Systems Analysis and Design courses from their curriculums. (Or they've at least reduced it to a single OPTIONAL course that NO ONE takes...)

These new techniques (XP, TDD, off-shoring, out-sourcing, etc.) are being abused to simply try and provide the MOST software in the LEAST amount of time.....NOT the BEST software in a REASONABLE amount of time. (Remember the hysteria in the industry 5 years ago when the term "web weeks" was coined to denote this "rush the crap out the door" mentaility?) This is one reason hundreds of "dot bomb" companies went out of business when their VC funds dried up: they produced tons of crap (that didn't work)...using the latest "productivity techniques" (like pair programming) to an absurd degree.

Some of them that I toured in downtown Palo Alto 5 years ago were PROUD to have saved a few thousand dollars by NOT supplying each programmer with their own PCs! And the PCs that they were sharing were not only bought 2-3 years used, but were also ridiculously under-powered! (Builds would take hours instead of minutes on a new PC...) It was obvious why those startups failed. (I actually heard at two of those startups the term "web days" used on their schedules instead of "web weeks"...)

Techniques like XP, TDD, off-shorting, out-sourcing, etc. can be made to work, provided they are used for the RIGHT reasons: to get GOOD applications deisgned and coded in a REASONABLE amount of time. Unfortunately, that message has gotten lost at a lot of companies and they only see these techniques as "expense reductions".

Thus, this could be another reason why the programmers you encountered didn't like pair programming: they saw that the use of pair programming was just to try and cut the schedule WAY back...and deliver the code ahead of time...and possibly (heaven forbid!) felt a professional responsibility to NOT PRODUCE CRAP! Was that the case? Inquiring feeble minds want to know!
Friday, June 04, 2004 12:02 PM by AndrewSeven

# re: VB is rubbish? rubbish.

Simplexity.

It definitely rubs me the wrong way ;)
Friday, June 04, 2004 12:04 PM by kevin white

# re: VB is rubbish? rubbish.

Case insensitivity isn't such a big deal as long as you only ever program in VB. That's the big risk. One nice usage of case sensitivity I've seen is to use initial lower for private variables and initial upper for public methods...

private int foo
public int Foo()

While I'm generally against embedding any sort of type information in a name. I do find the above usage of case sensitivity super handy. I can't do that VB but I can in just about any other OO language.
Friday, June 04, 2004 12:05 PM by Richard Dudley

# re: VB is rubbish? rubbish.

Bah! Gimme some more of those curly brackets and a side of semicolons, too, because I just love extra typing for formatting purposes only! VB may need line continuation characters on a few lines to readability, but miss one semicolon or curly bracket in C-anything, and you're toast.
Friday, June 04, 2004 12:06 PM by Anatoly Lubarsky

# re: Bad interviews are your best friend

All is true untill you get to interview and they are shocked by your answers. I mean they hear stuff in your answers for the very first time in their life.

Here is Wesner Moise's link. He had some great rants about job interviews:
http://wesnerm.blogs.com/net_undocumented/
Friday, June 04, 2004 12:12 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: When people don't want to do pair programming

Steve: wow. thanks for the most interesting comment.
I would say in this case your first statement is true. they are both inexperienced (one a little more experienced than the other ,actually, but not by much, and they both have different strength). the nice thing about seeing them pairing was that everything was done and learnt much more quickly. they were both new to .Net as the project began which pairing gave an opportunity to learn together all the new stuff.
definitely cut back on learning curve time.
and no, your last statement about management time saving could not be further from the truth. this TDD project was done without projecting times based on pair programming or even using TDD. it was projected in the classing waterfall model way.
Friday, June 04, 2004 12:36 PM by Keith Rowe

# re: More discussion about MS and agile methodologies

Actually, Microsoft is doing a lot of work in process and tools right now. Last week, my team announced our new product, Visual Studio Team System. This provides a suite of tools targeted across the application development team - testers, architects, project managers and developers. You can see more at http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/teamsystem/default.aspx.

As part of this effort, we are reworking the Microsoft Solution Framework. There will be both agile and formal versions of the methodology. These methodologies will direct the behavior of the tools in significant and interesting ways.

But, it will all be configurable. You'll be able to select which methodology you want to use on a given project. You'll be able to create new methodology templates that will drive the toolset the way you want. I'll be discussing this further in my blog in the months to come...
Friday, June 04, 2004 12:40 PM by Dave

# re: VB is rubbish? rubbish.

I just love how the C-types see nothing wrong with typing an extra character for each of the tens of thousands of statements that fit reasonable on one line of code -- and are the only statements on that line of code -- rather than the handful of cases where you actually want a single stament to span multiple lines of code. It seems fundamently absurd.
Friday, June 04, 2004 12:45 PM by Alex Papadimoulis

# re: VB is rubbish? rubbish.

I suppose I could say some of the same thing about C#.

... The crummy thing has case sensitive names so POINT != Point != point which is totally ridiculous! Why would you name two variables the same thing, but use different case? Last time I checked, Peanut Butter and peanut butter are both identical (and consequently, both delicious). Why should it be different in code?

... Statement Termination Characthers?! ARRGGGHH! Rarely do your statements span multiple lines, so why make them the rule instead of the exeception.

But honestly, why care so much about the language. Everything that can be done in C# (save operator overloading and volitle members) can be done in Basic. I happen to be more productive in Basic. I like the End If/While/Select. I dont like curly braces. One should be well versed in both instead of crying when he/she doesn't have a choice.
Friday, June 04, 2004 1:07 PM by Jerry Pisk

# re: VB is rubbish? rubbish.

Case sensitivity becomes an issue once you start using characters other than plain ASCII. CLR allows Unicode identifiers and there are languages that don't have a simple one to one character case matching. That's why you want case sensitivity. It takes away the guessing about what exactly is the same identifier and what's not.
Friday, June 04, 2004 1:14 PM by Robert Brown

# re: VB is rubbish? rubbish.

If you work on Unix systems for a while, you quickly become used to the importance of case-sensitivity everywhere. This is not something that Windows user have ever really had to deal with. Joel Spolsky does a nice little bit about this: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/Biculturalism.html

I grew up on Windows, then worked with Unix for a while. Now I'm back on Windows and having trained myself to think of case in the Unix way, I have no issues with C#'s case sensitivity. Yes, I prefer C# to VB.

Anyway, the whole VB vs. C# thing has become very, very boring. If people are so sure of their choice, why do they need everyone else to agree with them?
Friday, June 04, 2004 1:16 PM by nospamplease75@yahoo.com (Haacked)

# RE: More discussion about MS and agile methodologies

I read the XP Refactored book and I think it does a pretty good job of highlighting some of the faults of XP. Until that book, I was Gung-Ho XP, but alot of XP practitioners are waving it as the hammer to hit all nails.

XP has its time and place, but it isn't adequate for much larger projects as even some of its creators acknowledge (the book makes references to these comments). However, I think some of its practices have a place everywhere (Unit Testing, Refactoring).

XP also violates the principle that a methodology should try to make best practices (as much as possible) the path of least resistance, since that's what people take in general. XP requires extremely high discipline, and that's hard to maintain.

The book is worthwhile in helping to build a more pragmatic version of the XP methodology.
Friday, June 04, 2004 1:20 PM by Frans Bouma

# re: VB is rubbish? rubbish.

"Bah! Gimme some more of those curly brackets and a side of semicolons, too, because I just love extra typing for formatting purposes only! "

If Not _myRefMember Is Nothing Then
' some code
End If

vs.

if(!_myRefMember==null)
{
// some code
}

well.. indeed C# is a hell of a lot more typing...
Friday, June 04, 2004 1:36 PM by Frans Bouma

# re: VB is rubbish? rubbish.

Also, a nice exercise for the VB.NET lovers :)
- derive a class from DataTable
- add a member to that class and a property get/set combi
- add code to be able to serialize/deserialize your added member.

Good luck! :)

(hint: you can't do this in VB.NET, because VB.NET doesn't allow you to explicitly implement an interface again (DataTable implements ISerializable privately). You need C# for this. What a great language :))
Friday, June 04, 2004 1:38 PM by David

# re: Planning a daily, automatic build

Sounds like an exciting challenge! We recently set up an automatic daily build process as well, using <a href="http://www.visualbuild.com">Visual Build</a> as our "master build" tool. Our build process doesn't involve actual deployment to staging servers and the like, but the software build is fairly involved, with multiple product lines and localized builds. Anyway, I'm interested in hearing of your Further Adventures :).
For DB upgrades, new-DB creation will use the updated schemas, but we'll have to use separate upgrade data for in-place database upgrades. In an Ideal World, we'd be able to automatically generate the upgrade scripts from the old->new diffs, but that's not very likely in a realistic timeframe ;).
Friday, June 04, 2004 1:39 PM by David

# re: Planning a daily, automatic build

Sure would be handy if there were an indicator, down here in this comment area somewhere, as to whether or not HTML is supported in comments ;).
Friday, June 04, 2004 2:35 PM by Jerry Pisk

# re: VB is rubbish? rubbish.

About curlies - how exactly is {} more typing then End If? If I can count characters right it's 2 in C# versus 6 in VB. What am I missing? Same goes for ! vs. Not, null vs. Nothing, no characters vs. Then (ok, maybe two, () vs. Then), switch vs. Select Case and so on...
Friday, June 04, 2004 2:50 PM by TrackBack

# Pair-Programming - Necessary?

Friday, June 04, 2004 3:28 PM by Josh

# re: VB is rubbish? rubbish.

Well have a look here and judge for yourself.
http://dotnetjunkies.com/WebLog/grant.killian/archive/2004/06/01/14946.aspx
Friday, June 04, 2004 3:44 PM by stroup

# re: VB is rubbish? rubbish.

VB is for second class programmers and losers like you.
Friday, June 04, 2004 4:30 PM by denny

# re: VB is rubbish? rubbish.

Folks this is a case of "Your both right" or "Your Both wrong"
or like the idea of time distrotion as you enter a black hole.... it will just go on for ever.............
Friday, June 04, 2004 6:01 PM by abo

# re: Windows Media Player problem? here's a very good FAQ page

please help...someone...when i click on a link to play am mpeg or wmv...a new window opens (as usual)...but then nothing else happens...usually...a new window will flash quickly...then the media player will open and everything is fine...now...the window stays open for a bit...then it says "done" in the status bar...and no video...this just started a few days ago for no apparent reason


i have a fairly new computer with windows xp home edition...i've tried removing and reinstalling etc...but i just can't play videos anymore...

please help!!!

abo
Friday, June 04, 2004 6:33 PM by TrackBack

# Free home edition of XMLSpy

Friday, June 04, 2004 8:25 PM by Tom

# re: Method PageRank for Reflector

Agree. This is really cool:
http://blog.dotnetwiki.org/archive/2004/06/04/311.aspx
Friday, June 04, 2004 8:29 PM by Coder

# re: New ASP.NET Issue Tracker Starter Kit

Why does it have to be free ? Don't you make money by developeing software ?

Buy FogBugz...
Friday, June 04, 2004 10:02 PM by Drewes Kooi

# re: Bad interviews are your best friend

I agree totally, I had a few bad interviews and I thought I knew my stuff, very humbling!. However I think that very technical interviews are not really fair, nobody knows the answer to every .net question, it is just too broad a subject. The approach to a problem is more important, knowing the syntax is handy but that is why there are reference guide, google etc. If I am willing to give up a job to join the company I interview than the only one who takes any risk is me, if I can't do my job they can let me go at any time, (at least here in the USA). The interview can point out where you need to improve and that is indeed the good part , I know I need more XML, just it is something that does not interest me, probably because I don't know enough about it.
Friday, June 04, 2004 11:54 PM by TrackBack

# July issue of MSDN has an article on the Regulator and other .NET tools

Friday, June 04, 2004 11:55 PM by TrackBack

# July issue of MSDN has an article on the Regulator and other .NET tools

Saturday, June 05, 2004 5:49 AM by TrackBack

# Second Ever Israeli Blogger Dinner!

Saturday, June 05, 2004 10:58 AM by Avner Kashtan

# re: VB is rubbish? rubbish.

I'll just point out that { or } are indeed one character each, but they need a two-keystroke combination to write.

(Oh, do ignore me. I'm just an amused observer fanning the flames a bit. :)
Sunday, June 06, 2004 4:35 AM by dfdfdfd

# re: Free ADO.NET book chapter

sdfdfdfd dfewrere ererere gf gfgdfg g
Sunday, June 06, 2004 1:21 PM by tom

# re: Make your .Net application support scripting - a practical approach

great!But I had some problem on following code:
--------------
object [] paramArray = new object[1];
paramArray[0] = "1";
string strbody = "sub monitor(x) alert(x) end sub";
scriptEngine.AddCode(strbody);
scriptEngine.Run("monitor",ref paramArray);
--------------
when i run it ,it tells me :--
System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x800A000D): type mismatch: 'alert'
at MSScriptControl.ScriptControlClass.Run(String ProcedureName, Object[]& Parameters)
at TongHua.WEBClient.Form1.button4_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e) in d:\WEBClient\form1.cs:line 679
Sunday, June 06, 2004 1:23 PM by rock

# re: Windows Media Player problem? here's a very good FAQ page

when I try to play a cd at the same time I surf the audio is choppy or stops completely.
Sunday, June 06, 2004 5:02 PM by Jonathan de Halleux

# re: Method PageRank for Reflector

:)

You can play with the tool, it's online on my blog :)
Sunday, June 06, 2004 10:10 PM by TrackBack

# Get the best out of bad job interviews

Sunday, June 06, 2004 11:25 PM by TrackBack

# 2nd Israeli Blogger dinner is a go!

Monday, June 07, 2004 12:30 AM by val

# re: Pasting nicely formatted code into your blog

I pasted the code into appleworks, saved as html,re-opened, pasted into my blog, what showed up on my page was the exact code that I had pasted. Previously I pasted the code into the tag line when I was in Prefs: appearances and it worked fine but I do not want it there. Any more ideas.
Monday, June 07, 2004 6:01 AM by TrackBack

# TDD w/ .NET Webcast

TDD w/ .NET Webcast
Monday, June 07, 2004 6:42 AM by Moshe Eshel

# re: Israeli Blogger Dinner postponed

Blogger Dinner, Blogger Dinner, YAY!
Monday, June 07, 2004 6:52 AM by Anonieko Ramos

# re: Bad interviews are your best friend

I think interviews should not only test your knowledge but more importantly you they should test your problem solving ability. However, I agree that interviews are sometimes eye-openers or shakers that they wake you up and say "Hey you, you need to know this!". Months ago, I also had my share of a bad interview at least from what I thought. The interview asked "How do you implement a singleton pattern in C# .NET?". Wow, haven't really heard the one except I've read some kind of "Singleton Call" in Remoting. So I answered, "Yeah, ... it is used in Remoting.. blah blah..." You can guess the interviewer's reaction. But what I like about this interviewer is that he gives you a chance to recover and test your problem solving ability. So he said "Well, I am talking about Singleton design pattern that lets you use instantiate only 1 class....blah..blah.. Can you tell me how to do it?". This time I tried my best to answer because I know it needs some kind of static member, etc. So I came out of feeling less humiliated in that interview. BTW, I now have the GOF book!
Monday, June 07, 2004 10:40 AM by Barnea Gal

# re: Method PageRank for Reflector

I like it and think it's great for a getting this kind of info quickly, but ...

I believe the using a code profiler (I use ants ...) and analizing the results on an actual run, will give a better understanding of which functions are the most important to debug (called the most times, take longest to process, etc ...).

Don't get me wrong, i'm not comparing one-man's work to a known company's product , but monitoring an actual run of a program will give you (i think) better results




Monday, June 07, 2004 10:52 AM by Guy S

# re: VB is rubbish? rubbish.

The most annoying things about VB.NET is its language style. Lots of texts as if u trying to be a writer instead of a programmer.

VB.NET programmers will have difficulties to join a C#, Java or C++ project (and I saw it happened to programmers)
But C# programmer will find himself comfortable in a JAVA and/or C++ project

I wonder why Microsoft does not stop from supporting this language. C# and its equivalent (Java, C++) are enough.
Monday, June 07, 2004 11:19 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: VB is rubbish? rubbish.

Guy S: boy - you're so wrong it hurts!
I'll need to talk some sense in to you in the next blogger dinner! :)
Monday, June 07, 2004 3:11 PM by Kedar

# re: How To Know When An External Application Exits

Great sample thanks :)
Monday, June 07, 2004 4:03 PM by TrackBack

# Right-To-Left Menus Get Scrambled Issue Solved

Monday, June 07, 2004 4:50 PM by Luciano Evaristo Guerche

# RE: Hebrew .Net weblogs now available!

As I do not read/write/speak hebrew, I won't add their feeds to my aggregator. What a pity.

Quem sabe se alguns deles não leiam/escrevam/falem português e resolvam postar nesta língua. Se algum deles fizer assim, com certeza, me avise para que possa adicioná-los a minha lista de canais inscritos.
Monday, June 07, 2004 6:28 PM by RichB

# re: Bad interviews are your best friend

You're wasting the interviewer's time. They should have stopped the interview after 10 minutes and sent you back to the agency.
Monday, June 07, 2004 6:34 PM by Joel

# re: Count anything in your open Word document

Found this via Google. You're on the first page for my search on word count in Word. Anyway, Microsoft says that the wordcount toolbar is an innovation in Word 2002, so if you've been using this all through high school and colllege you must still be in college.

I'm tryin gto find a freeware plugin that will provide a similar toolbar for Word 2000.

take care
Monday, June 07, 2004 8:49 PM by Robert Brown

# re: Test Driven Development webcast

Has anyone worked out how to login?
Tuesday, June 08, 2004 12:34 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Bad interviews are your best friend

Rich: so? as long as the interviewer is willing to go on, the more I get out of the interview :)
Tuesday, June 08, 2004 2:29 AM by Barnea Gal

# re: Test Driven Development webcast

er ....

you gave the wrong link or the webcast was last week, or that I'm going nuts, which one ?

Tuesday, June 08, 2004 3:22 AM by Eliyahu Goldin

# re: Hebrew .Net weblogs now available!

Well, I can understand the folks who feel more comfortable with Hebrew. On other hand, .Net is pretty international sort of thing. If I have a problem, I have much greater chance of finding solution in English forums/sites than in any of non-English ones. The other way too, if I have something to share, the English-understanding audience is much bigger. L'sikum, I'd like to encourage fellow Israelim to stick to English as the third .Net language after C# and VB.
Tuesday, June 08, 2004 4:13 AM by Ido Samuelson

# re: Israeli Blogger Dinner postponed

Roy, Don't forget your DigiCam this time ;-)
Tuesday, June 08, 2004 1:03 PM by Shmulik Primes

# re: Israeli Blogger Dinner re-scheduled (yes, again)

I'll be there!
Tuesday, June 08, 2004 1:56 PM by david

# re: How low can you go? Iran rejects Israel's help with earthquake

iran has every right to tell isreal to shuv its aid were the sun dosent shine, how can a nation built from theft greed dishonesty murder an injustice ever consider or offer help? isreal shoud aid the palestinians aid them by stopin the murders, aid them by leaving ther homes un occupying ther land ther country,is it not true tha under the so call "presidant" bush that 70% of tha well needed humaniterian aid goes to isreal this is not only a disgrace when we have starivin ill children around the world, but a humiliation towards the world isreal has no leg to stand on
Tuesday, June 08, 2004 6:55 PM by Derick Bailey

# re: "Pen And Paper" interviews

In the interviews that I've given in the last 6 months, we tortured our applicants by giving them VB6, a single table MS Access database and told them to write a class that reads / writes a single record in the database... all with 4 team members sitting there watching. 8) talk about sadism.

of the 10 people that we interviewed... for a VB6 position, who were supposed to have at least 4 years of VB6 experience... only 1 guy actually knew what a class was and wrote a working program. we hired him.

for the interviews that i've done recently - 2 BrainBench.com tests, and a "walk me through these 500 lines of code / stored procedures" got me a new job. i prefer the method that i went through.
Tuesday, June 08, 2004 7:20 PM by Scott Galloway

# re: "Pen And Paper" interviews

We did a 20 questions pen-and-paper test asking some more esoteric points about C# / ASP.NET. We then gave a fairly simple piece of code riddled with bugs; logic, syntax and basic implementation (intentionally :)) and asked candidates to fix it (using full Visual Studio)- then we asked them to take us through what the code did - this was important as the job was client-facing . This didn't take long but let us whittle down candidates based on technical prowess fairly quickly - this was for a fairly senior job and around 5% of the candidates even came close to passing our little test.
Tuesday, June 08, 2004 8:55 PM by Anatoly Lubarsky

# re: "Pen And Paper" interviews

I know that in Microsoft they usually test you on the white board. Besides the way the person handles the environment can tell nothing abot him from the professional point of view :)
Wednesday, June 09, 2004 1:39 AM by laxmi

# re: "Pen And Paper" interviews

asking candidates to code on notepad is truly a problem.
the point is most interviwers themselves would google some piece of code and use Vstudio or any special tool to write code.
Instead I would love to have an interview where in incorrect code is given and candidate is asked to fix it or atleast identify errors
Wednesday, June 09, 2004 2:54 AM by Manu

# re: About coding standards

Hi
Tih is a link for asp.net coding standard:
http://www.informit.com/articles/article.asp?p=101147&seqNum=2
Regards,
Manu
Wednesday, June 09, 2004 8:21 AM by yn

# re: "Pen And Paper" interviews

Why would you judge someone based on how they handle VS.NET or any other specific tool?

There are plenty of other development tools for .NET and you may lose a perfectly fine developer just because he or she chose to go with another development environment (one that probably hogs much less HD space, CPU and memory).
Wednesday, June 09, 2004 8:40 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: "Pen And Paper" interviews

yn: I was merely stating something that I would check if I knew that developer has working experience with vs.net. If they don't, and my company works with that tool as the standard, I also want to know this, since "learning curve" is also something one should consider for a candidate.
But I agree it is not the *only* element I would check. But it's definitely a "red flag" for a lot of candidates (999% of devs I know work on vs.net so that test would be valid for them).
Wednesday, June 09, 2004 12:16 PM by Shmulik Primes

# re: "Pen And Paper" interviews

http://dotnetjunkies.com/WebLog/primess/archive/2004/06/09/15947.aspx
Wednesday, June 09, 2004 2:14 PM by GuyIncognito

# re: "Pen And Paper" interviews

Once again... RoyO says what we've all been thinking... ;)
Wednesday, June 09, 2004 7:41 PM by RohanD

# re: A GMail alternative, today

Roy, do you want a Gmail account? I have an invite left.
Wednesday, June 09, 2004 7:59 PM by rick

# re: A GMail alternative, today

Roy's next post: a gmail love letter! haha.

I want gmail for the search/sorting capabilities. The 1GB size means very little to me actually.
Wednesday, June 09, 2004 9:15 PM by Colt

# re: A GMail alternative, today

I tried SpyMac last week, the speed is very slow and I even can't send out any email. (It always prompt me that there's an invalid configuration in the mail server..blah blah.. and you won't find any support address over there, I clicked the Help button but nothing happen.)

BTW, I tried AventureMail.com this week, it's good, 2Gb storage, but.... "The page can not be displayed.." periodically. :^(
Wednesday, June 09, 2004 10:32 PM by E

# re: Bad interviews are your best friend

I had a really bad interview recently. In the beginning, the interviewer told me that he will asked about SQL, .NET Framework, ASP.NET, and WebServices.
I was told that the interview will take about 45 min. or more.
I answered about 40% from SQL questions, 90% from .NET Framework.
After the answering .NET Framework, I gained more confidence, but he didn't continue to ask the ASP.NET and WebServices. He just finished the interview.
A couple days after that he told the technical recruiter that I don't really have a solid experience, and so he recommended me to apply for a lower level position. I am still very upset with the situation. How could he cut the interview time and be able to made a bad conclusion?
The lessons that I learned is to ask the interview why he doesn't ask the other question as he planned before. I don't want this happen again in the future.
Wednesday, June 09, 2004 10:40 PM by Scott Allen

# re: A GMail alternative, today

Anything with Spy in the name just makes me a litle bit cautions..... :)
Thursday, June 10, 2004 1:43 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: A GMail alternative, today

colt: as usual : YMMV - for me it seems to work just fine. but thanks for sharing!
Thursday, June 10, 2004 1:43 AM by Amit

# Moving Crystal reports from 1.0 to 1.1

Peter,

I am facing a problem with CR for Vs.Net.
The target machine has CR 9.2 dlls. I'm using CR for VS.Net on the development machine. I upgraded the dlls for VS.Net to version 9.2 However i have an rpt where grapgs are used. The graphs are not visible on the development m/c when i run the report. However, if the appl is put on the target m/c (1.1 framework) then the graphs are displayed perfectly.

Kindly help.
Thursday, June 10, 2004 7:23 AM by Neal

# re: What Add-ins would you like to see in the contest?

I would like to see an addin/component that would give you easy design time binding support for ILists/IBindingLists, similar to DataSets. You would first add a component to the project which ould then scan the cuurent project for classes that implement ILists. it would then add the nessaerry code so that when you could then add an dataSet style component to your form and it would show the ILists classes in the DataSource/DataMember dropdowns.
Thursday, June 10, 2004 7:25 AM by TrackBack

# Regex Much? Check out

Thursday, June 10, 2004 10:14 AM by Paul C

# re: What Add-ins would you like to see in the contest?

Right-click on a function or sub and get a list of the functions and subs that call it. Similar to what the MZ-Tools add-in for VB6 does.
Thursday, June 10, 2004 12:58 PM by Rachel Reese

# re: A GMail alternative, today

spymac's pretty cool. the site is a little slow, and I haven't had a chance to seriously get into the email, but the gallery/blog/web space features are a cool extra.
Thanks for the heads up about it. :-)
Thursday, June 10, 2004 4:46 PM by Steve Hiner

# re: A GMail alternative, today

While I wouldn't say Gmail is the best webmail interface I've ever seen, it certainly has some really cool features no one else has. One thing I really like about it is that it's super fast. The conversation threading is pretty cool too and the interface has some cool innovations.

You really should take RohanD up on his offer. I'd offer you one of my invites but RohanD beat me to it.
Thursday, June 10, 2004 7:05 PM by Thanks

# re: Checking for NULL values

Thanks MarcJ your solution is great!
Thursday, June 10, 2004 11:24 PM by Colt

# re: A GMail alternative, today

Roy, I'm glad (and envy) that you do enjoy the SpyMac services. :)
I still don't have a chance to taste the large-size free email service (neither SpyMac nor AventureMail).. If anyone can give me a try (invitation) on GMail, then I'd greatly appreciate. :-D
Thursday, June 10, 2004 11:49 PM by TrackBack

# Second Ever Israeli Blogger Dinner!

Friday, June 11, 2004 1:30 AM by Guy S.

# re: TrimEnd() Vs. SubString()

10x Roy
I saw this tips weeks ago and I remember it is waiting for me.
Right now I search in google - +weblogs remove last delimiter +roy and guess what I got.

Friday, June 11, 2004 2:04 AM by Jonathan de Halleux

# re: Method PageRank for Reflector

Hi Barnea,

MethodRank and Ants have one big difference: Ants needs you to execute the code in order to record which part is run, how many time, ... this is "runtime" analysis. MethodRank does not need to run the code and it's analysis is only based on the metadata contained in the assembly, this is "static" analysis. Both approach have advantages and caveats, based on their intrisinsic nature:

- a profiler needs you to run an application: how long should it run ? how do you run it ? are you sure you use all the funcionalities in the test run ? etc...
- methodRank is based on a "BIG" assumption!

While Ants give you the "what", MethodRank gives you a hint (and not more than that) on the why. :)

I have not had the opportunity to see the correlation between a profiler result and Ants, would be interresting.
Friday, June 11, 2004 2:22 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: A GMail alternative, today

ok ok ! If anyone has an invite for me I'll give GMail a try. We'll see if it's that good an alternative. RohanD - that means you :)
Friday, June 11, 2004 4:37 AM by Teemu

# re: [New blog] He Who Can Not Be Googled

LOL, good one...what if the search criteria is "Or Ron" (Or Ron in double quotes), though you'd need to know to search for that exact name/case. Funny one. Havent't never thought of this kind of stuff. :-)
Friday, June 11, 2004 5:00 AM by Scott Galloway

# re: Moving from a green screen is hard

Great point, and one of the most overlooked issues in Windows app development. It's always surprising when you notice just how much more productive people are when they're aware of the keyboard shortcuts for stuff versus mousing constantly...
Friday, June 11, 2004 6:35 AM by Jonne Kats

# re: Moving from a green screen is hard

Definitely a good point, but the input speed depends one the GUI app. We're currently working on a windows application which replaces a "Green screen app". Input needs to be fast, so everything can be done using the keyboard. Because we redesigned the lay-out, the input is even faster. I even think the users will enjoy(or dislike less) their work more, because of the nicer interface they are looking at all day.
Friday, June 11, 2004 7:04 AM by Mike Woodhouse

# re: Moving from a green screen is hard

Something that informed me that I knew less about UI design that I thought was the realisation that a user who spends all day in an application may have different issues than one who spends a few minutes a month (the developer, for example).
I can't claim to be a better UI designer now, just a more flexible (dare I say "agile"?)one, in that I expect to have to evolve the interface of a high-usage app as the users clock up the hours of using it.
Friday, June 11, 2004 8:39 AM by Diego Mijelshon

# re: Moving from a green screen is hard

I think the problem is not about gui/text interfaces, but bad design.
Text interfaces are mostly linear, and easy to design; guis are a lot more complex, and to make it worse, the world is filled with crappy designers that don't take the time to verify, at least, that the tab order is correct.
Friday, June 11, 2004 8:51 AM by Travis Chase

# re: Moving from a green screen is hard

My company actually faced this problem with our old COBOL based manufacturing system. They were looking to replace it with a newer Java or .NET solution. We have not gone forward yet, but one of the major concerns was the GUI application. People now can just zip through green screen terminals. I did a little research and found a couple of frameworks that allow you build Java green screen GUIs using curses. The implementations ran on Windows and *inxs . It was wild! Even one framework would translate the same code into and actual windows based GUI. I often wonder if I should built the same type of tool kit for .NET ;)
Friday, June 11, 2004 9:23 AM by Anon

# re: Moving from a green screen is hard


Why would anyone NEED to move away from a green screen app if it works?
Friday, June 11, 2004 9:28 AM by Addy Santo

# re: Add Support for "Set" Collections to .NET

Of all the languages I know, Pascal (& Delphi) has the best implementation of set. I miss it terribly :)
Friday, June 11, 2004 2:28 PM by fred

# re: MS Word for OS-X: Nostalgia edition

Macos had a 31 character limit before OSX.
That sounds like the reason
Friday, June 11, 2004 2:35 PM by E.

# re: "Pen And Paper" interviews

As a candidate, I simply despise paper tests and think it's an outdated process...are paper tests testing one's programming skills or compiling ability?

Watching a candidate at work, either on paper or on a compiler, is very pressuring and definitely unrealistic...a manager/team leader doesn't look at the programmer while he/she is coding in real life work, so why do it in an interview?

The pin-point questions are a valid method IMO, but I think that asking a candidate about little nuances that only 5% of the coding population know of is a little harsh..

One of the most underrated things in programming interviews is personality tests and personal questions, out of the coding scope. Programmers are real people, not robots - get it through your head recruiters!! We too have a life and don't find coding the only passion...so check out how your candidate is as a person as well...

Friday, June 11, 2004 3:12 PM by Oskar Austegard

# re: [New blog] He Who Can Not Be Googled

Well, Or Ron just needs to publish more. Of course it didn't take particularly long to find him - AND his picture (far-right in this one):
http://textamerica.com/user.images/12/IMG_396112/T40405080513260.jpg
Friday, June 11, 2004 5:07 PM by GuyIncognito

# re: Moving from a green screen is hard

I think we all know the answer to that... BUZZWORD COMPLIANCY!
Friday, June 11, 2004 6:08 PM by Anon

# re: [New blog] He Who Can Not Be Googled

No wonder.
This is a picture from Roy's Moblog...
He's top, second from the right.



Saturday, June 12, 2004 4:43 AM by Shannon J Hager

# re: Test Driven Development webcast

The live webcast was last week. As Roy said, this is available on demand now. Click the "log in" link at the bottom of the page. Enter your name where it says "name" and the ID of the webcast should already be populated. Do not enter a password.
Saturday, June 12, 2004 5:58 AM by Jeff C.

# re: [New blog] He Who Can Not Be Googled

What's the search stirng you used? didn't work for me either... Couldn't find the guy.
Saturday, June 12, 2004 7:26 AM by Jonathan de Halleux

# re: Add Support for "Set" Collections to .NET

You might want to monitor NCollection, http://ncollection.tigris.org, which is a project that I started to gather all those collection implementation.

The project is kind of stalled right now because we are all busy on other things, but eventually, when things get stable and tested we will release it:

- sets,
- keyed lists,
- heaps,
- skip lists,
- etc...
Saturday, June 12, 2004 10:32 AM by TrackBack

# Take Outs for 12 June 2004

Take Outs for 12 June 2004
Saturday, June 12, 2004 10:32 AM by TrackBack

# Take Outs for 12 June 2004

Take Outs for 12 June 2004
Saturday, June 12, 2004 3:00 PM by Cleve Littlefield

# re: Writing a VS.Net Add-in, ugh

How about an Add-In that facilitates code reviews? It would allow you to have a checklist of things to look for and a check list of comments, severities, and line numbers,
Sunday, June 13, 2004 4:21 AM by Uri Dor

# re: Writing a VS.Net Add-in, ugh

I guess a Regulator Add-in for VS.Net should be able to take the regex from selection in the code editor and paste its results back to that selection.
Sunday, June 13, 2004 5:40 AM by TrackBack

# Convincing Management to buy books

Sunday, June 13, 2004 5:42 AM by TrackBack

# Convincing Management to buy books

Sunday, June 13, 2004 6:38 PM by SaberOne

# re: Unit Testing in Whidbey - some pointers for improvement

What's good with the new version of Visual Studio .Net is that they are including stuff to be able to support XP concepts. What I dislike is the fact that, once again, microsoft isn't looking how stuff really will be used by real programmers in real projects. Nunit-Addin really rox, and it really helps the Red-Green-Refactor cycle. The only thing we're missing right now is the automatically generating of the classes you wanna test, so that everything compiles again.

So it would be

- Write specs
- Write tests based on specs
- Review whether it works, or go back to change specs
- Create empty/mockup classes so stuff compiles
- Implement classes so the lights go green.
- refactor if specs "don't work", or implementation is crap
Monday, June 14, 2004 10:38 AM by Tim

# re: When running 'aspnet_regiis -c' still doesn't fix it...

jscript includes can do it too!

<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript" src="copyright.js"/> created the error.

<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript" src="copyright.js"></script> didn't!!
Monday, June 14, 2004 2:50 PM by James Newkirk

# re: Unit Testing in Whidbey - some pointers for improvement

I kind of think of myself as an extremely interested observer. I am not on the development team that built the unit testing tool in VS Team System. They have done an excellent job building the tool and I agree it does need a bit more polish but please remember we are looking at a Tech Preview. I have collaborated with the team on a number of occasions and I have been working with them providing feedback on some features as well as problems with the existing implementation. With regard to the issue of adding tests to an existing project I will be blogging some information on how to do this before the end of the week (18 June).
Monday, June 14, 2004 5:26 PM by Enjoy another Sandwich

# re: Writing a VS.Net Add-in, ugh

well i had the same problem, Compiled the addin but it never showed up in the tool window. :(
Tuesday, June 15, 2004 1:56 AM by Roy Osherove

# re: Unit Testing in Whidbey - some pointers for improvement

James I appreciate your comments. Can't wait to see what you guys come up with next.
Tuesday, June 15, 2004 5:22 AM by Dave

# re: Combobox binding trouble - with a solution

Can't thank you enough - I was tearing my hair out (what little there is left of it) with exactly this problem, on a tight timetable and getting nowhere.
Tuesday, June 15, 2004 1:20 PM by Jamie Cansdale

# re: Writing a VS.Net Add-in, ugh

Have a look in the <managedAddIn> section of these two files. This might hint at an easier way... ;)

c:\program files\nunitaddin\NUnitAddin.exe.config
c:\program files\nunitaddin\nunit-gui.exe.config

(BTW sorry about all of the ProcessInvocation.exe rubbish. This will be created in a temp directory in later versions. The problem is how to make an exe delete itself.)
Tuesday, June 15, 2004 7:36 PM by codevigilante

# re: Practical Parsing Using Groups in Regular Expressions

A quick question, how would one format the regular expression if the months were stored as Jan, Feb, Mar, etc. ? I have been trying to learn regular expressions and cannot figure it out.
Tuesday, June 15, 2004 11:27 PM by TrackBack

# Implementing the BackgroundWorker component - today(source included)

Wednesday, June 16, 2004 12:26 AM by TrackBack

# Buying books

Wednesday, June 16, 2004 12:27 AM by TrackBack

# Buying books

Wednesday, June 16, 2004 12:29 AM by TrackBack

# Buying books

Wednesday, June 16, 2004 5:22 AM by .NET group

# Right

We try to define new approach of usergroup. For now we run to different logistic issues. Results for now are between "good" and "nice".
Wednesday, June 16, 2004 8:12 AM by Ben

# re: [Cool Tip] Speed up Outlook email switching

Brilliant.
Wednesday, June 16, 2004 8:54 AM by M. Eaton

# re: Problem & Solution: Allow only one instance of any MDI child form in your MDI application

I did it by making my form a singleton. Quite a bit less code and I'm pretty sure we get the same results.
Wednesday, June 16, 2004 9:26 AM by unknown

# re: PeopleWare

i don't know what this topic is all about! elaborate it please! thanks!
Wednesday, June 16, 2004 9:28 AM by Yoeri

# re: Implementing the BackgroundWorker component - today(source included)

Found another implementation here:
http://www.idesign.net/idesign/uploads/Background%20with%201.1.zip
Wednesday, June 16, 2004 9:47 AM by James Roe-Smith

# re: Problem & Solution: Allow only one instance of any MDI child form in your MDI application

The singleton wouldn't work here because I would still expect an application to potentially have two or more instances of the MDI (while still only having a single instance of form X inside each MDI.

Roy's approach seems to work quite OK.

I'd be inclined to create a "Must Inherit" (sorry, I'm a VB programmer) form that implements the single form within an MDI functionality and then inherit all single-only forms from this one.

Use the collection to keep track of instances within the base form as a "shared" variable and used a shared function to return an instance of a form if it can for the MDI for a given type. Then the MDI code is greatly simplified.

Public Shared Function CreateMdiChildInstance(childType as Type, mdi as Form) as Form

I hope that makes sense. Enjoy!
Wednesday, June 16, 2004 10:09 AM by Troels Aaberg Sørensen

# re: "Could not open in Design view. Quote values differently..." solved!

Yet another "thank you".
This solved my problem like a charm.
Wednesday, June 16, 2004 10:22 AM by Frank Braimah

# re: Scheduling games

I need a user friendly software for the scheduling of soccer fixtures/games...etc
Wednesday, June 16, 2004 11:10 AM by Jackie Goldstein

# re: A new Israeli .Net user group?

To me, a "expert members only" club sounds a little too exclusive to be called a User Group...

Wednesday, June 16, 2004 1:00 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Problem & Solution: Allow only one instance of any MDI child form in your MDI application

M.Eaton: A ginleton means it never gets destructed. I want my form do get destructed and not stay in memory throughout the whole application.
Making it a singleton would make me do changes in the form code so that it does not get closed, am I wrong?
Wednesday, June 16, 2004 1:01 PM by Roy Osherove

# re: Implementing the BackgroundWorker component - today(source included)

Thanks for the link Yoeri :)
Wednesday, June 16, 2004 2:01 PM by Luciano Evaristo Guerche

# re: Problem & Solution: Allow only one instance of any MDI child form in your MDI application

Roy,

Since a Windows Form is an object I guess the Singleton pattern could be applied. In the Microsoft Patterns and Practices it can be found under Application Implementation patterns or directly at:

Implementing Singleton in C#
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnpatterns/html/ImpSingletonInCsharp.asp

What do you think about it?
Wednesday, June 16, 2004 5:19 PM by Nina Crimi

# re: Calling webservices asynchronously - 2 possible ways

Hi,
I want to know why do you use Invoke in #2 and do not do it in #1?
I have: MainForm from which I call "layer"class and "layer"class access webservice proxy asynchronously.
So when I get my result back in "layer"class AsyncCall method should I use Invoke or not?
NIna
ncrimi@bridgecom.com
Wednesday, June 16, 2004 6:10 PM by shark

# re: Implementing the BackgroundWorker component - today(source included)

hmm, I'm interested in the article!! but after registering with devx, it says i do not have access to the con