ScottD's Musings

Good Post - Transactions in Whidbey

Check out the following post, from rockstar-developer Kevin Cunningham on a quick review of what he leared about System.Transactions within Whidbey @ Pluralsight's CampSight.net

Just because everyone else is doing it...

Which File Extension are You?

Halo 2 - The Greatest Game Ever?

For those who have not seen this... Reports are that Halo 2 grossed over 125 million in it's first day of sales - beating out any game, movie, or record release!

Also, thanks to Mikehall's Embedded WebLog  for this link.  Anyone interested in wearing some Halo 2 gear, checkout http://www.headlineentertainment.net/halo2xbox.html

More Cool Developer Tools - ORM Tools

Maybe someday I will come up with my own original blog entry, instead of just linking to someone elses' cool post! ;)  I will be posting some TDD-type discussions in the near future, because I really want to hear some feedback!

However, check out Paul Ballard's entry in TheServerSide.net, which reviews all the .NET Object Relational Mapping ("ORM") Tools on the market.

http://www.theserverside.net/news/thread.tss?thread_id=29914

Halo 2 @ Midnight Tonight! Locations?

If you're not one of the lucky ones that have Halo 2 on order, and can't wait until Tuesday to purchase it, click here to find a list of retailers who will be open at Midnight on Monday.

Need help with Regular Expressions? Looking for that "rock solid" RegEx string for your validation needs?

Star Wars Epidode III Trailer!

If you haven't heard already, the Lucas has released the Teaser/Trailer for Star Wars III: Revenge Of The Sith.  Here is the *official* schedule:

• Basically, it is available for StarWars.com Hyperspace members (paid membershp only) starting yesterday
• It will be showing at The Incredibles starting today (Friday, Nov 5th)
• On StarWars.com for general public on (Monday, November 8th)

But, if you're like me, not a Hyperspace or AOL member, and can't wait until Monday - Here 'tis! 
http://www.empiremovies.com/movies.php?id=400

And it looks great!!!

Want a Gmail account? Answer this Uber-Easy VS.NET 2003 IDE Question

If anyone wants a Gmail.com email account, I'll give it to the first person who answers this correctly:

The Scenario:
In VB 6, you can place your cursor on a method, and click Shift F2 (similar to VS.NET 2003's "Go To Definition").  Then pressing Ctrl+Shift+F2 wil take you back to the original calling method.

Question:
What is the equivalent of Ctrl+Shift+F2 in VS 2003?  And no, as a C# elitest ;), I'm not about to change my keyboard layout to VB 6 developer!

I'm really not this lazy, but am currently knee deep with a few issues, and have some Gmail accounts to give away - need to find some unique ways to give them away ;)

Complete Stats on the "Washington Redskins/Election Impact" Discovered

By now, I'm sure that many of you heard the following statement in the sports media:

The Washington Redskins have proved to be a time-tested election predictor. In the previous 15 elections, if the Washington Redskins have lost their last home game prior to the election, the incumbent party has lost the White House. When they have won, the incumbent has stayed in power.

http://www.snopes.com/sports/football/election.asp

Dear Microsoft: Don't limit Unit Testing & Code Coverage to VS 2005 Team System

Thanks to Rob Caron for featuring these links on the "What's New with Team System" blog entry:

Regarding Unit Testing & Code Coverage availability in Whidbey (Visual Studio 2005), these features are currently planned for inclusion with Visual Studio 2005 Team System, in the following versions:

• Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Test Edition
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Developer Edition

Which means that it will NOT be available in the following editions:

• Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Express Editions
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Architect Edition.

Here is a link to Microsoft's VS 2005 Feature Comparison

Rob's blog post, has links to the following additional posts

• http://www.peterprovost.org/archive/2004/06/13/1410.aspx
• http://weblogs.asp.net/CSchittko/archive/2004/10/31/250375.aspx
• Jason Anderson's Q&A on Unit Testing in VSTS

If you've spent any time with TDD, or Whidbey Beta 1 Refresh - you know that this is a tremendous feature that simply does not require "team" to perform.  Individual developers will benefit greatly from these features.  Yes, I do understand that there are open source projects that help fill the gap (NUnit, CSUnit, MBUnit, NUnitAddIn among others).  Personally, I like what Microsoft built into the Beta 1 Refresh, and believe that these features should be available to all editions of the product.

If you believe that these "great" features should be part of the UI for all editions of Visual Studio 2005 (and not just the top 2 tiers of the product), then provide feedback!

• Make a stand, sign up on Peter Provost's online petition
• I created a "Suggestion" at the Visual Studio 2005 Product Feedback Center.  Let's see where this goes!!!!
  http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/ProductFeedback/viewFeedback.aspx?feedbackId=FDBK17344