Archives
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Crossposting Items Of Note
In an effort to quell some of the naysayers, yet still maintain an effective blog presense, I posted three new entries to my Corporate blog. I will continue to talk about code techniques in the context of my products here, because that's what this blog is for: to talk about what I'm doing with code. Other people on these weblogs do it too, but few of them happen to be selling anything. I will try to save more of the marketing-esque discussions for my corporate blog, since most of you aren't ISVs doing your own thing anyways and it doesn't interest you. That being said, if you want to read more, follow these links...
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Cool DataGrid Trick
Did you know that you can trick the DataGrid's ButtonColumn to use an image for a button without having to use a TemplateColumn? It's actually really easy. In the DataGrid Property Builder, change the column's Button Type to “LinkButton”, then use regular HTML for the “Text” property, like so:
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Page Event Lifecycle (Not So) Mysteries
For the past few hours I've been working on upgrading the Interscape Store to handle some new promotions we're doing. One of the features I've been wanting to add was the ability to see the cart's total change if you add a promotion to it. Right now, it's not possible because of a limitation in the Commerce framework that I'm using (XHEO|Commerce, it's pretty nifty, but not released yet), but I just finished coding a really elaborate workaround that seems to be doing the trick.
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Overloaded Properties in VB.NET?
I'm getting ready to finish up the marketing on a product I've recently acquired and am ready to release, but before I can, I need to ask a question. Hopefully all you intelligent developers out there can give me an answer. This question applies to VB.NET developers only. (Yes I realize the looping syntax below is in C#, the product is written in C#, the code is targeted at VBers.)
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GenX.NET Update
I just uploaded a new version of GenX.NET to InterscapeUSA.com. This update is free to all customers, and I'd strongly recommend that anyone currenly evaluating it download the update. It includes several new features, updated documentation, and a few critical bug fixes. You can get more details here.
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ScrollingGrid Update
Well, ScrollingGrid has had over 50 downloads in the past two days. Looks like a lot of people are trying it out. Now you have a few more reasons to.
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Disable Simple Sharing in Windows XP
Have you ever tried to share something in Windows XP, and came across that stupid “Simple Sharing” dialog? Wouldn't you like to disable it, and get to the Windows 2000/2003 version? Well, it's really simple. In Windows Explorer window, select “Tools | Folder Options”. Then select the “View” tab, and scroll all the way down to the bottom. Uncheck the last tab “Use Simple Sharing” and click ok. Now you're all set. :)
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In The Market for a New Installer
I've just downloaded ActiveInstall 2004, and I'll be evaluating it over the next few days. I'd love to have some other opinions on what you think about it. I'd rather not hear about how I shoudl try INstallShield or what not, I'll be evaluating that next. I'd really just like to get some comments on what people think about this particular product. It's only $258 on Xtras.net, which puts it well within my price range.
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M3 Anyone?
Did anyone else notice that the screenshots in ScottGu's post this morning aren't from the PDC build of Whidbey?
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The Future of RSS
Scoble asks what we want to see next from RSS. I'll tell you what I want, and I'd love to be able to have the time to make it happen myself.
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Have You Seen Our Website Yet?
Have you seen Interscape's website yet? Well, you should take a minute and check it out. We're using some really cool technologies to put out a simple yet effective website. Take the design for a second. You want to get a jump on MasterPages in ASP.NET 2.0? Then you should check out XHEO|Webskin. It's a very effective templating solution that allows me to now have to worry about mixing content and design, and it is very similar to MasterPages. I converted my entire site from Webskin to MasterPages in about 10 minutes. (Now if I only had a 2.0 GoLive license....)
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ScrollingGrid is LIVE!
Well, I finished an all-night marathon wrap-up session last night (midnight to 10am), and finally got ScrollingGrid completed, and all of the website changes online. As of 10am this morning, ScrollingGrid is now available for all of you to test out and buy. The download comes with a built-in 30 day free trial, and you can purchase it right from Visual Studio .NET. It comes with a User's Guide that walks you through all the nuances of the control.
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DataGrid Tips
In preparing a Users Guide for the eminent ScrollingGrid release, I came across this article on MSDN's ASP.NET Portal. Our very own DataGridGirl gives us the Top 10 DataGrid Mistakes. It's a good read, and very informative.
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The Ever Changing Process of Building Processes
So I've been spending the past few days updating the build processes for all the software I've been working on. The problem is that, while I'm not the first person to ever have to build installers for commercial components using the deployment tools in VS.NET, I'm the only one willing to talk about it. Several searches on Google for information on nuances like what an “Environment String Value” is in the Registry Editor have turned up utterly fruitless.
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This Is Why I Only Went To Five PDC Sessions
The tagline for PDC was “Make The Connection”. For me, that was very true. I got to meet so many cool people there, and had lunch with people like Lili Cheng, Robert Scoble, Chris Brumme, and Erin Joyce, among many others. Had I spent my time making sure I went to every session I wanted to go to, I would have missed out on a lot of those opportunities. This is exactly why I didn't kill myself to get to the sessions... now I can sit at home, in my spare time, really sit down and take it all in and understand it.
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Thinking about changing the title of my blog...
You know, I've been pondering this problem for quite some time. It seems that people get the wrong impression from my blog title. They assume that it is a self appointed label bestowed upon myself by myself, for the purpose of letting everyone know how great I am. Nothing could be further from the truth.
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Building A Better Server Control Experience, Part 3
Building a Better Server Control Experience, Part 3
Architecting For Simplicity: Don't Build It For Yourself -
Dynamic Registry Installer Class
I wrote some simple yet effective code last night. Since I can't put it in the Interscape Base Library, I'm making it available here. Have at it:
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I Can't Have What I Want
I have determined why there aren't more quality processes in place in the community for server controls. It's because Microsoft makes it darn-near impossible to install controls in the intuitively simplest manner. In fact, the whole process is completely counterintuitive.
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Another Long Night
As if I wasn't trying to solve enough problems today, here's what I just got finished tackling:
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Why Rob Howard Rocks
I really don't need to say anything, this article speaks for itself. A must-read for anyone that does any database work whatsoever. The last sentence is the best analogy for not writing complex SQL that I have ever seen. A gem of a post... great job.
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Let the FUD Fly
I was going to write a post about the completely ignorant and now infamous “Wronghorn” article Scoble posted about last night. Well, looks like I don't have to. Sebastien Lambla did a KILLER job writing an intelligent and hilarious post, complete with a link to Neopoleon's PDC bathroom incident. It reminded me very much of a similar article that came across my inbox about a year ago regarding the .NET Framework. It was filled with exactly the same crap as this one was. I fired off an e-mail to the guys' editor, ripping apart the guys argument point-by-point, and lambasting him for not doing any kind of fact-checking whatsoever. Two weeks later, I had a job writing for CNET Networks. Go figure.
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How To Screw Up VS.NET 2003 In One Easy Step
Step 1) Install the VS.NET 2003 Documentation Update because you forgot you already had the MSDN Library from your Universal subscription installed.
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My Requirements For Templating in Whidbey
With the launch of ScrollingGrid only hours away, I'm working on upgrades to my website to allow for it to handle some new features we had planned when we had multiple products for sale. In doing so, I wanted to rearrange the site architecture, similarly to the way I rearranged my website graphics structure a few weeks ago. The problem with my current templating solution, as far as I can figure out, is that most of the control loading is based on physical file locations, not virtual locations. This means that I can't have a single skin directory that is virtually included in all my applications, so that template changes get propagated to http://www.interscapeusa.com, http://support.interscapeusa.com, http://demos.interscapeusa.com, https://secure.interscapeusa.com, etc. I could be wrong, and I have yet to really discuss the issue with Paul, but at this point, having screwed with it for several hours, I have the distinct feeling that the answer is no.
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Microsoft's Committment to ISVs
In my corporate blog yesterday, I talked about a nifty new thing that the Microsoft Partner Program put together for ISVs. Very exciting.
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Welcome Another MS Blogger
I was just about to shut down my computer and go to sleep (yes I am fully aware that it is now almost 6:30am and I am not asleep, I was working on the Version Commander and did not want to go to sleep yet), when I got a neat little e-mail in my inbox. My apologies to Julien Ellie, because I'm going to include his e-mail in this post:
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On Tap For This Week:
Here's what I'm working on for this week, and the weeks ahead:
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Fed Up With Project Versions
It's kind of a pain in the butt to have to compile stuff to two different versions of the Framework. I haven't dived into Whidbey too much, but I sure hope MSBuild lets you define which version of the Framework you want to target (I'm pretty sure it does, but I could be wrong). At any rate, I have to maintain two versions of my projects and solutions. It's kind of a pain to go through and edit my project and solution files after I'm finished with the 2003 version so I can compile in 2002, so I spent most of the night coming up with this solution: The VS.NET Version Commander.
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Building a Better Server Control Experience, Part 2
Details matter. Especially in building solutions people pay for. You've heard of the term WYSIWYG? Well why isn't the term YGWYPF more prevalent? It stands for You Get What You Pay For, and it's more true in today's economy than most people realize. So where are the little details in server controls? What are the mundane, time-consuming details that set apart a proof-of-concept from a true solution? Over the next few posts, I'll address them.
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Building a Better Server Control Experience, Part 1
Building a Better Server Control Experience, Part 1
Your Code Is Broken..... Or Is It? A Look At Coding For The Requirements -
PatchDayReview.com Update
I just finished a long overdue update to PatchDayReview.com. With PDC, GenX.NET, ScrollingGrid, LonghornBlogs, and ever other stupid little distraction getting in the way, keeping the patches updated kinda fell by the wayside. But, the first round of updates has been completed, and I'll work on Part 2 tomorrow. It's good to see Microsoft rolling several fixes into one patch now. Good call.
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Visual Studio 2003 Documentation Update
For those of you that don't have an MSDN subscription, you can download an 80MB update to the VS.NET 2003 documentation. I'm told that it contains 5000 code samples, bug fixes and content improvements. The link I gave you is a direct link to the file (in English), so have at it :).
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How To Repair Your Outlook Files
I had an interesting problem today. I woke up this morning, after having stayed up till 4am answering several questions about my new server control, and I found that my Outlook was acting very strangely. I had a scare earlier this week, because I had to hook up my mom's virus-riddled hard drive to my server. Having already scanned for viruses several times and coming back with nothing, I decided that my Outlook files were getting corrupted.
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Questions about ScrollingGrid
Well, there you have it folks, you have three different options for enhancing your UI with a scrollable DataGrid.The solution you use is up to you. In the meantime, feel free to e-mail me or reply to this post with any more questions you have. And be sure to check back on Monday when we release the product. Customer feedback is an integral part of our development process.
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The Scrollable Area Problem
David Burke talked today about Julia Lerman's article on scrollable areas, more specifically using a <DIV> tag to make a DataGrid scroll. It's kinda funny he mentioned that, because I'm a few days away from releasing my next killer control, which is based on a similar principle. I wasn't planning on talking about it before it was done, but since it was brought up, I decided to let the cat out of the bag a few days early.
Workspace Woes
Well, Vault is looking mighty appealing after my Workspace decided to mysteriously malfunction. So much for working on my next control tonight. Oh well, I need to update PatchDayReview anyways.
Relief like you can't imagine...
I finally got the merchant account problem squared away. It's not an appropriate post for here, so you can read about the whole ordeal here in my corporate blog. I know the site design needs work, but it's not exactly on my list of priorities right now. This incident caused us to totally change direction on our cash flow situation, and I'll be blogging about that process in my corporate blog over the next few days.
Dittoheads Unite!
New Blogger
Just wanted to wanted to welcome a new blogger to the fold...
Keep the SimpleGeek away from the Kool-Aid
Methinks the simplegeek has spent too much time in his office this week:
Great Info On Avalon
Just thought you guys should know that, over on LonghornBlogs.com, some of the PMs from the Avalon team are now actively posting some great stuff about XAML and Avalon. You can tell who is who by the “[MS]” designation after their name. A few more will be posting in the next few days, so go check it out!
Open Letter to Eric Sink
Dear Eric,
The Power of Blogs, Part II
Here's the other cool part about blogging. I can tell you guys about people you should not be dealing with, ever.
.NET Tidbits
I'm working on correcting a flaw in GenX.NET 3.0's CsvFormatProvider, where translating data fields that contain commas produces errors. In researching the problem, I found out two things:
Download all the PDC materials...
This is my first post from NewsGator. Too bad it doesn't support categories. At any rate, this just came across my NewsGator feeds. Early & Adopter have written an app to pull down all the downloads from PDC-related sites and dump them to your hard drive. Man these guys are awesome. Take it away, guys!
Welcome to The Blogosphere!
I was looking through my server referrer logs, compiling statistics for LonghornBlogs.com, when I came across referrers from ErinJoyce.com. I happened to sit next to Erin during the Day Two keynote at PDC, by random happenstance, and we had a couple really nice discussions after that. She's a very nice woman, and extremely informed. Can't wait to see what else she has to say. Subscribed!
Script Encoding in Server Controls?
Does anyone know if this technique is cross-browser compatible? I know that DbCombo.net uses it to encode the javascript in IE, but I'm not sure if it works anywhere else. Any thoughts?
Cause Everyone Likes Free Stuff
I like free stuff. Most people do. The thing that I like even more than getting free stuff, is giving free stuff away. Thats why, for the rest of 2003, my company (Interscape Technologies) will be giving away a ton of free stuff. Every two weeks, we'll have another contest where we'll give something else away. That being said, I'm proud to announce the first giveaway:
My Motivation for Blogging
I was right smack dab in the middle of a post about the latest “Ballmerisms” from another SteveB speech, when a most insightful e-mail arrived in my inbox:
Assembly Resource Viewer
Need to see the resources in your assemblies? Look no further then ASMEX. Much better than DLL resource editors.. very helpful, ADN shows embedded files too, not just embedded icons.