eWorld.UI - Matt Hawley

I started digging into ASP.NET 2.0 some more today, playing with the new security controls & data binding. I've very impressed in how both of these work, with the ability to "open" things up by providing your own providers & databinding against custom business objects.

As I'm starting to use VS.NET 2005 CTP more and more, I'm coming across some bugs...duh!  Well, I was hunting around the IDE to see if there was a "Submit a Bug" menu item, or a shortcut to a website...however I could not find anything.

Well I started to get into using ASP.NET in VS.NET 2005 CTP this morning, and I definately have to say, its much further along than the windows forms.  So far I'm really impressed with it, and I would like to share some of my experiences & impressions:

I just finished watching Scott Guthrie's episode on MSDN TV on "Data with ASP.NET in Visual Studio 2005", and I definately have to say that this is one of the better demonstrations of databinding I've seen for Whidbey.  During the first half of the demo, it was the "quick-n-dirty" way of creating data-bound pages, which in corporate environments, have no play for "reality".  This half went back to my earlier rants (which I can't find :( ) about why some properties are set the way they are...and that is to provide the quickest & dirtiest way of providing a working demo for non-technical users in the least amount of time.

How often do you need to resize & compress images after taking a TON of pictures on your digital camera?  I've come across this issue many times, and resizing & compressing 50+ images at a time is always a pain.  Now, with Resizer (current version 0.2), this pain is illeviated by allowing you to load a directory of images, select which ones to resize, choose a size, then sit back...wait...and view the resized images.  The wizard based approach allows any non-technical user to resize images with ease.

Well, it took 3 days to officially kill my computer after installing Windows XP SP2 RC1.  Well, it didn't necessarily kill it, but it would freeze during the bootup.  That was only the peak of things this evening, however earlier this afternoon everything just shut down...no blue screen of death, nothing.

BlogJet 1.0.0.16 Beta Release Notes
March 25, 2004

FEATURES
* Multiple categories support.
* Quick test of FTP settings.
* pMachine support.
* "Delete Draft files after posting" option in settings.
* New keyboard shortcuts:
   - Ctrl+Tab - switch between Normal/Code view.
   - Ctrl+M - indent
   - Ctrl+Alt+M - outdent
   - Ctrl+Shift+N - numbering
   - Ctrl+Shift+L - bullet style
   - Ctrl+Shift+I - insert image
   - Ctrl+Shift+V - attach voice
   - Alt+D - select text in Title bar
   - F5 - change account


BUG FIXES
* BlogJet This! did not work with long selection.
* Draft files handling errors.
* Login window when opening draft.
* Installer issue on "Launch BlogJet".
* Printing from code editor did not work.
* Fixed various issues with b2-based blogs.
* Ctrl+A, Ctrl+K in code editor did not work.
* Fixed issue with blog URL for Blogware.
* Code tab wouldn't appear with large fonts.
* "Access violation at address 005489A4" fixed.
* Some main window shortcuts worked in Login dialog.
* Sometimes "t" didn't work in editor - fixed.

Well, I just finished installing VS.NET 2005 CTP, and first I have to say - great job on the installation VS.NET Team!  This was the shortest install I've ever seen for VS.NET.  It didn't eve look like the thing was installing, I thought I was still installing Pre-Reqs...but no - its done.  Here were some of my first impressions/insights/notable items: