Vince Blasberg's Blog

I just published the monthly Dallas C# SIG newsletter.  Check it out if you want to know what's going on at the group.  We have some great meetings ahead. 

Tulsa Techfest!!!

I have a small tip for those that fall of the blogging wagon.  If we keep a link to a Word document on our desktop or QuickLink toolbar, we just have to click it, type some things that people would be interested in, then close it.  Another blog document can be kept on the PDA when disconnected from the laptop or desktop.  The document(s) can then be reviewed later in the day when we have time to formulate our thoughts, apply the ever important spell checker, then send it out to those who may gain from it.  I've used this technique before but fell out of the habit.  Now the problem is that I have at least 4 or 5 blog posts but they are incomplete.  So it's time management that's needed to finish those blog entries.

If you are in Dallas this weekend, be sure to register and attend the Dallas Code Camp this Saturday, June 24th.  This is a free, all-day training event for developers by developers. The schedule will be posted in the next few hours.

The Dallas C# SIG is a special interest group that meets on the first Thursday of each month at the Microsoft offices in Las Collinas, TX. (Dallas).  It's been around for a few years thanks to my co-leader, John Davis.

I've been thinking XML too much and put the following javascript in a page:

This is a list that I put together in a few hours, so don't work at critiquing it please.  I borrowed a few things here and there for the sake of raising an awareness of what new features are available in VS2005, and SQL2005.  I'll be listing it tomorrow night when I present with Dave McKinstry at the Dallas .Net User Group.  We're presenting the Community VS2005 Launch like last month at the Dallas C# SIG.  Some of the examples listed are in the samples at the Dallas C# SIG.  If anyone knows of a comprehensive list with all technologies, please reply.  This is actually more of a conversation starter so people don't continue to write classes that come out of the box.  Hope it helps someone.

INETA speaker Chris Kinsman will be speaking at the Dallas C# SIG this Thursday, January 2nd, 2006.  If you're in the Dallas area, drop by for some C# Chris Kinsman style.  Chris will be presenting on the new features in C# and very likely will cover other areas that he's skilled at such as data warehousing, SQL, and team development. 

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1894601,00.asp

Here are three examples of config file reading.  I couldn't easily find enough information in one place and the MSDN documentation wasn't obvious enough.

I really like the feature of Word or Excel looking at _AssemblyName0 and _AssemblyLocation0.

I picked up the book, "Design Patterns in C#" by Steven John Metsker a few weeks ago.  I was looking to finally get the Gang of Four book but since it wasn't on the shelves that night, I got this one.  It doesn't replace the legendary book, "Design Patterns", but it is a great addition, especially for us C#'ers.

What a weekend with my webhost.  I've appreciated my host for VinceB.com for years but now I actually want to use the site for more than 10K of usage per month.  OK I can penny up more money for SQL, pay for play.  I can even spend a few nights copying projects and trying to get a DotNetNuke DB uploaded. 

Avalon:Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)
Indigo: Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)

If you haven't seen War of the Worlds, it is worth it, even at theater prices.  It held many of the original book content with some modern twists.  Tom Cruise did a great job at presenting the character's personality but it wasn't his best acting performance.  There was plenty of action and some great effects.

Thank you Microsoft SQL Team for the SQL 2005 Beta uninstall tool.  I don’t think that it was announced or mentioned loud enough.  Most people will be running Add/Remove which is a bit tedious.

Microsoft’s Brian Moore arranged a free Dallas-Ft. Worth showing of Star Wars Episode III on May 19th.  I skipped that opportunity so that I could make it a family event with my wife and two sons.  We got there at 9am this morning.

I have a few co-workers that are devoted Firefox users and saw this today.