Wallace B. McClure

Gas Prices - OUCH - Non-Technical

Microsoft to buy Teleo

http://news.com.com/MSN+buys+into+Net+calling+future/2100-1032_3-5844873.html?tag=nefd.top

Microsoft plans to announce Tuesday that it has purchased a small Internet calling start-up called Teleo, as part of a move to expand the capabilities of MSN Messenger.

The move comes as all the major portal and IM companies are moving more heavily into Internet calling. Last week, Google launched its own instant-messaging service, dubbed Google Talk, with a focus on voice chatting.

Hopefully, that means that the Microsoft IM client will run through firewalls....................(sorry, just whining)

Using the Log Parser in an ASP.NET Web Application

I needed to query some IIS log files last week.  I wanted to break down some records into the request over a 24 hour period.  I wrote the code below.  The two special issues that I had to work through are separating out the hours through the Quantize command and then translating the resulting LogQueryRecordSet into a DataTable.  If you have any suggestions, please send them to me.

Wally

        Dim strDateStart As String = Me.calDateStart.SelectedDate.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd")
        Dim strDateEnd As String = Me.calDateEnd.SelectedDate.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd")
        Dim strSql As String = "select QUANTIZE( time, 3600 ) as qtTime, count(qtTime) as TimeCount from c:\logfil~1\ex*.log where date >= '" & strDateStart & "' and date < '" & strDateEnd & "' group by qtTime"
        Dim objMsUtil As New MSUtil.LogQueryClass
        Dim objRS As MSUtil.ILogRecordset
        Dim objRow As MSUtil.ILogRecord
        Dim dtData As New DataTable
        Dim dcData As DataColumn
        Dim drData As DataRow
        objRS = objMsUtil.Execute(strSql)
        dcData = New DataColumn("Time", System.Type.GetType("System.String"))
        dtData.Columns.Add(dcData)
        dcData = New DataColumn("DownLoadCount", System.Type.GetType("System.Int32"))
        dtData.Columns.Add(dcData)

        While Not (objRS.atEnd)
            drData = dtData.NewRow()
            objRow = objRS.getRecord()
            drData("Time") = Convert.ToDateTime(objRow.getValue("qtTime")).ToShortTimeString
            drData("DownLoadCount") = objRow.getValue("TimeCount")
            dtData.Rows.Add(drData)
            objRS.moveNext()
        End While

        Me.dgSearchResults.DataSource = dtData
        Me.dgSearchResults.DataBind()

WinFS on MSDN for Subscribers

http://news.com.com/New+Windows+file+system+enters+testing/2100-1016_3-5844046.html?tag=nefd.top

I just logged on, and sure enough, it is there.  Its under "Tools, SDKs, and DDKs."

My prayers go out to the people in the Gulf Coast of the US - Non Technical

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,167270,00.html

As Hurricane Katrina is heading towards New Orleans, my thoughts and prayers go out to everyone in the region.

Creating a Progress Bar in a Web Application with AJAX

It is a good time to be a Developer

It seems to be a relatively good time to be a developer.  Lets look at some recent happenings.

• Microsoft.  Microsoft continues to pour out Betas and CTPs of .NET 2.0 Framework and Sql Server 2005.  Atlas will be coming out in an alpha/ctp format soon.  Other items will be announced at the PDC in September.  IIS7 is coming down the pike.  MS seems to understand how to sell to developers and create the ecosystem for their products.
• Oracle.  For the first time in my memory, Oracle has released a copy of a beta version of their database for Windows and is really talking it up.  For Oracle, this seems to be a major change.  Previously, they seemed to disavow all knowledge of the features of upcoming products.  My guess is that 10g Release 2 for Windows will be out at the Oracle World show in September or right after.
• Google.  Seems that the google folks have just put out a SDK for their desktop search tool.  Also, maps and other tools have sdks to allow developers to hook into.  Very nice.

Two Wallys for the price of one @ the Birmingham, AL Codecamp on October 29th

http://www.alabamacodecamp.com/Speakers.aspx

Sweet, it looks like I am official.  If you are in the area, please come out.  Where else can you get two Wallys for the price of one?  You can be exposed to Wally McClure and Wally Allison at the same time.

Wally

Virtual Server 2005 R2

http://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,2180,1852436,00.asp

It looks like SP1 of Virtual Server 2005 has been renamed to Virtual Server 2005 R2.  It looks like there will be new support for x64 on the host and Linux in the guest.

Who needs Brian Williams when we have Jason Salas

http://news.com.com/A+TV+anchor+by+evening%2C+a+blogger+any+time/2100-1032_3-5842876.html?tag=st_lh

While I appreciate the article about Brian Williams, what Brian is doing, and the number of people that he is reaching, I also would like everyone to realize that we have a news anchor, reporter, sports guy, software developer, blogger, and podcaster in our midst.  Jason Salas is involved in a number of things and should be recognized for his accomplishments also.