Code Mansion

Smthng Wrng?

2010-04-01T19:35:00.000+02:00

Google releases Closure Tools

2009-11-06T23:00:00.004+01:00

Google just released it's own developer tools as open source,
with which eg. Gmail, Google Maps, Google Docs are build.

Go to http://code.google.com/closure/.

Download the code with a Subversion client like RapidSVN.

Start RapidSVN and follow the next steps.

1. Go to menu 'Bookmarks',
choose 'Add Existing Repository...'
in the 'Repository URL'-window enter as 'URL' http://closure-library.googlecode.com/svn/trunk.
These steps result in the following picture

2. Select the newly created bookmark,
choose menu 'Repository',
and click 'Checkout'.
Specify a 'Destination Directory' in the 'Checkout'-window,
eg. C:\_\closure-library-read-only

In the end you'll find all the files in the given folder.

Now start with the Getting Started with the Closure Library.

What are u waiting for?

Trying Windows Live Writer

2009-10-20T19:57:00.001+02:00

Playing with all kinds of free and/or open source platforms like eg. AtomSite
for a social webproject we have in mind.

Conclusion: Windows Live Writer goes together with my .blogspot-website.

Conditionally set an xsl:variable

2009-07-14T10:54:00.002+02:00

How to select content out of the current XML-payload
into an <xsl:variable />, based on some condition(s).

The input-XML looks like this:


<data>
  <item value="Foo" type="10" />
  <item value="Bar" type="10" />
  <item value="ALFKI" type="20" />
  <item value="Baz" type="10" />
</data>

Depending on the parameter 'condition' of the following template,
a different query is executed and it's results are stored in variable 'selection'.


<xsl:template name="makeASelection">
  <xsl:param name="condition" />

  <xsl:variable name="selection">
  <xsl:choose>
    <xsl:when test="$condition = 0">
    <xsl:copy-of select="/data/item[@type = 10][position() = 1]" />
    </xsl:when> 
    <xsl:otherwise>
    <xsl:copy-of select="/data/item[@type = 20]" />
    </xsl:otherwise>
  </xsl:choose>
  </xsl:variable>

  <xsl:variable name="selectionSet" select="msxsl:node-set($selection)" />

  <xsl:foreach select="$selectionSet/*">
    ...
  </xsl:foreach>

</xsl:template>

The take-away is to
1. put content in the variable ('selection') using <xsl:copy-of ... />
2. use msxsl:node-set to address the content in this variable
3. use /* when iterating over the nodeset-variable

Visual Studio 6 and the TFS MSSCCI Provider

2009-07-13T20:43:00.001+02:00

Don't install the Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Foundation Server MSSCCI Provider if your still need access to Source Safe.
After installation all Source Safe integration within Visual Studio 6.0 is gone.

The only remedy is to uninstall the MSSCCI Provider and reinstall Source Safe VS6 integration.

I learned it the hard way...

The Thoughest Developer Puzzle Ever

2009-07-03T00:50:00.003+02:00

Finally I am at #14! And U?

My (old) Car on Bing Maps

2009-06-18T21:53:00.004+02:00

See my old car on the parking lot at work on Bing Maps.

BingTones

2009-06-04T20:28:00.000+02:00

Microsoft has released 3 Bing-branded ringtones.
Download them here.

Good at IT and it'

2009-05-21T23:32:00.001+02:00

The Sun has published an anonymous study of 2,000 British men and women's sex lives. They have concluded that out of all jobs, we computer geeks make the best lovers!
(read more)

Hidden XSLT-editor features in Visual Studio 2008

2009-05-20T23:07:00.002+02:00

Debug <xsl:include>-d and <xsl:import>-ed stylesheets

Create a new registry-key 'XsltImportTree' under 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\9.0\XmlEditor' with value 'True'.
(read more)

Intellisense of template names, parameter/variable names, attribute set names, etc.

Create a registry-key 'XsltIntellisense' under 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\9.0\XmlEditor' with value 'True'.
(read more)

R.I.P.

2009-04-22T18:36:00.002+02:00

After 11 years of duty,
at the age of 19 years ...
:'-(

And I already did like StarWars

2009-04-09T19:58:00.000+02:00

Got Too Much Time on Your Hands?

2009-03-30T23:31:00.001+02:00

Omegle

nexpert

2009-02-10T22:32:00.002+01:00

A Fiddler Performance Analysis plugin. Get it here.

WTF: ASP.NET Tracing

2008-12-18T13:20:00.002+01:00

What The F*ck!

Using the Microsoft.VisualBasic.Logging.FileLogTraceListener for tracing within my (C#) ASP.NET website only succeeds if a folder 'C:\Documents and Settings\Default User\Application Data\Microsoft Corporation\Internet Information Services\6.0.3790.1830' is present (read: on my webserver). For some reason the specified path, wherever it comes from (?), is used as a temporary location, even if the actual location is configured to be elsewhere.

Eg.:

<listeners>
<add name="MyTraceListener"
type="Microsoft.VisualBasic.Logging.FileLogTraceListener, Microsoft.VisualBasic, Version=8.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a"
Location="Custom"
CustomLocation="c:\temp"
LogFileCreationSchedule="Daily"
BaseFileName="ArtImageProcessorJob"
traceOutputOptions="DateTime"
/>
</listeners>

Packing my Bags

2008-11-06T21:23:00.005+01:00

A Word a Day: URL slug

2008-08-19T20:36:00.004+02:00

A URL slug is a SEO- and user-friendly string-part in a URL to identify, describe and access a resource. Often the title of a page/article is a valid candidate.

The slug in the URL of this post (http://codemansion.blogspot.com/2008/08/word-day-url-slug.html) is 'word-day-url-slug'
(not that friendly, as it is autogenerated by Blogger).

UnitTesting an ASP.NET Web Application Project

2008-06-20T00:17:00.003+02:00

Having a solution named 'UnitTestingASPNETwebApp'
, with an ASP.NET Web Application Project named 'MyWebApplication'
and a Test Project with name 'MyWebApplication.UnitTests'
, U can test the 'Page_Load' method of a webform 'Default.aspx'
using 1 of following testmethods

[TestMethod()]
[HostType("ASP.NET")]
[AspNetDevelopmentServerHost("UnitTestingASPNETwebApp\\MyWebApplication", "/")]
[UrlToTest("http://localhost:3798/Default.aspx")]
[DeploymentItem("MyWebApplication.dll")]
public void Page_Load__OnChangeTitle_Succeed()
{
_Default_Accessor target = new _Default_Accessor();
target.Page_Load(null, EventArgs.Empty);
Page p1 = target.Target as Page;
Assert.AreEqual(p1.Title, "My Home Page");
}


[TestMethod()]
[HostType("ASP.NET")]
  [AspNetDevelopmentServerHost("UnitTestingASPNETwebApp\\MyWebApplication", "/")]
[UrlToTest("http://localhost:3798/Default.aspx")]
[DeploymentItem("MyWebApplication.dll")]
public void Page_Load__OnChangeTitle2_Succeed()
{
Page p2 = this.TestContext.RequestedPage;
PrivateObject po = new PrivateObject(p2);
po.Invoke("Page_Load", p2, EventArgs.Empty);
Assert.AreEqual(this.TestContext.RequestedPage.Title
   , "My Home Page"
   );
}

Default.aspx's codebehind class '_Default' looks like

public partial class _Default : Page
{
protected void Page_Load(Object sender, EventArgs e)
{
this.Title = "My Home Page";
}
}

10 Years, 5 Months and 15 Days

2008-05-16T21:38:00.002+02:00

... of accident-free driving-experience ...
But this morning, faith turned.
That back seat door of my first 18 years old car will never open again ...

Some would see a sign in that other car's owner's cellphone-number ending with 666.

(Last) ConfigurationSectionHander using LINQ to XML

2008-04-25T22:23:00.002+02:00

Craig Andera's last ConfigurationSectionHandler revised
, using LINQ to XML.

public class XElementConfigurationSectionHandler :
    IConfigurationSectionHandler
{
public XElementConfigurationSectionHandler() {}

public Object Create(Object parent
    , Object configContext
    , XmlNode section)
{
    XElement xel;

    using (XmlNodeReader r = new XmlNodeReader(section))
    {
        xel.Load(r);
    }

    return xel;
}
}

Open Bedrijvendag, part II

2007-10-09T17:06:00.000+02:00

I even hit the TV-news...

My own Prison Break

2007-10-08T12:02:00.000+02:00

But I got out in 1.5 hours,
(B)eat that, Micheal Scofield!

Traditionally, the 1st Sunday of October in Belgium is
what-we-call-in-Dutch 'Open Bedrijvendag'.
A day on which companies open their doors for the public.
I was among the 300 lucky ones (out of 4000 requests)
allowed to visit Hasselt's prison.

A lifetime experience, long enough for 1.5 hours...

A Birthday gift from Charles Petzold

2007-08-31T20:37:00.000+02:00

Some time ago (Juli 11), I read a blogpost (lost the URL) about sending an email to Charles Petzold, in order to receive a free copy of his book '3D Programming for Windows - three-dimensional graphics programming for the Windows Presentation Foundation'.

Today the most amazing thing happened:
I found this signed book in my mailbox...
... And you have to know it was my birthday 2 days ago...

Coincidentally, I read about a similar experience here
and thought 'what are the chances to have that kind of luck'...
Especially for me living in a small country like 'Belgium' ...
(The shipping cost alone took about $16.80.)

I 'm sure I' m going to enjoy reading it
, as I'm doing with 'Applications = Code + Markup'
(I' m between chapter 24 and 25).

Thank you so much Mister Petzold!

iPod Nano in XAML

2007-08-30T16:03:00.000+02:00

Download the code here

Video Ads with Silverlight

2007-08-24T23:45:00.000+02:00

Google is experimenting with Video Ads
, as you can read here (New York Times) and here.

I, a software developer
, working for a news (and adversiment) publishing media company
, combined this with my Silverlight experiments.
This all resulted in this proof-of-concept video/Ad-player.

The Ad fades in at second 3, after having hit the 'Play-button'.
Clicking the Ad's image, pauses the video and opens a new browser-window to the advertisers site (click 'Play' again to resume).
A click on the white X-rectangle makes the Ad disappear.

PS: U need to have Silverlight installed for the demo.

Asynchronous Interface-based ASMX WebServices

2007-08-22T20:06:00.000+02:00

Following (wellknown?) good practices
, I developed an interface-based ASMX webservice.

For some reason my Visual Studio (2005) generated proxies
only have ...Async methods with corresponding ...Completed events.
BUT NO Begin/End... methods!?

WITHIN THE HOUR Christian Weyer replied my mail
, telling me this is default Visual Studio 'Add Web Reference'-behavior(?)
, and I should use wsdl.exe from the commandline.

Thanx Christian
, saved me quite some time.

Simpsons-ized

2007-07-18T11:59:00.001+02:00

The Simpsons Movie

Fist Comes, First Serves

2007-06-28T08:03:00.000+02:00

Windows Live Folders
Only 5000 (UPDATE: were) available
, Got mine...

XPerience some RSI

2007-03-22T12:56:00.000+01:00

4 more information

Carnaval

2007-02-20T20:39:00.000+01:00

Must see/hear (Dutch only) from Theo Maassens 2007-show

RSI

2007-02-15T17:04:00.000+01:00

No more Repetitive (key)Strokes in IE, when

1. Some f*c$!#9 i6!0t wrote a non-hyperlink-ed URL, like http://www.DontDoDiz.com

or

2. To get your current selected text 'nicely' formatted in Notepad, with its title, URL and text, like

RSI

http://CodeMansion.blogspot.com/2007/02/RSI.html
================================================

No more Repetitive (key)Strokes in IE, when

Tanx to my Internet Explorer Menu Items. The first one completely written in JavaScript. The second one as of combination of JavaScript and .NET-COM-interop.

A picture says 1000 words...

Have 2 4 1

2007-02-13T20:16:00.000+01:00

(Read as: Two For One.)

Subscribe to CodeMansion and theOneHitWonder via 1 URL: http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/avtG45W72xGNSRSgJjBjOg/.

Thanx to Yahoo! Pipes, which looks something like this
(For some reason it doesn't play nice with my sort-condition '(date-)published'!?)

Office 2007 Pushes my Buttons

2007-01-30T12:04:00.000+01:00

In search of the print-BUTTON ...

Not that Smart

2006-12-28T12:44:00.000+01:00

After struggling way too long to create properties of type System.Int32 for the SmartPart, I decided to reflector 'ReturnOfSmartPart.dll'.

For some reason the values of my Int32 properties aren't persisted (yes, they are public, get + set, with System.ComponentModel.[BrowsableAttribute(true)] and even a [DescriptionAttribute("...")].

Reflector saved the/my day (again) (see image)

Somewhere in the 'ApplyChanges'-method of class 'UserControlPropertiesToolpart' there's a 'typo' (programmers don't like to use the word 'bug'):

if (text2 == "System.Int")

This should be

if (text2 == "System.Int32")

As int is 'syntactic sugar' for the real .NET System.Int32 type.
So, I used a System.String instead and 'lived happily ever after' ...

OutSmart the SmartPart

2006-12-22T12:32:00.000+01:00

My 5 cents on how-to-use SmartPart in Microsoft Office SharePoint 2007

1. After installation of SmartPart and creation of the 'UserControls'-folder in your SharePoint-site, you can deploy
a. Self-contained .ascx-file's (read markup + code) in the UserControls-folder.
b. Codebehind-modeled usercontrols (read separate .ascx + .cs); drop both files in this folder.
c. Updatable+compiled-modeled usercontrols (read: .ascx with markup + compiled .dll); put the .ascx-file in the UserControls-folder and the .dll-file in the 'bin'-folder of your site.

2. Place a System.ComponentModel.DescriptionAttribute on you class with a 'user-friendly' description.

3. Custom properties for your UserControl(-derived) class have to be attributed with System.ComponentModel.[BrowsableAttribute(true)] (and an optional [DescriptionAttribute("...")]) if u want them to appear in the MOSS-WebPart-propertygrid.

//TODO: Connections

A Blogging Tip

2006-12-08T12:08:00.000+01:00

Thou Shall Not Steal Bandwidth

Microsoft learned it the hard way

Niall Kennedy took some pics from last year's Gnomedex and hosted them on Flickr under Creative Commons. Microsoft's RSS blog linked directly to one of his pics without source and Niall replaced it with a modified Goatse image!

WARNING: Explicit content! Screenshot; no Goatse for me ;-)

An apology followed: 'Apologies to readers who downloaded an earlier version of this post, which used a photograph taken by Niall Kennedy and posted on flickr.com. He did not appreciate the usage, and replaced it with a different image. I forgot to include an attribution, which I had fully intended to do, but for which I apologise to him'

Prison Break 2

2006-11-22T21:37:00.000+01:00

Sunday, the first season of Prison Break ended on the Belgian television. I couldn't wait for season 2 to begin (somewhere next year?).
So, I just saw the first episode of season 2 (with Dutch subtitles)..!

Be patient my friend, very patient. I couldn't, but I have a very good South African friend, who owned me for a 'years-between-1900-and-2055'-regular expression... ;-)

Get @ Live

2006-11-13T12:15:00.000+01:00

.com email-addres

UPDATE: its 'by design'; 'Live' is a word-play, not a typo.

UPDATE: 2 late, Microsoft patches Windows Live Signup Programme.

File-properties 4 App_Code.dll

2006-10-24T12:15:00.000+02:00

Tip: put an 'AssemblyInfo.cs' in your (ASP.NET) 'App_code'-folder to get 'nice(r)' file-properties for 'App_Code.dll',
like so

Release vs Debug Build

2006-10-20T12:17:00.000+02:00

In 'AssemblyInfo.cs' I do this

#if DEBUG
[assembly: AssemblyDescription("Debug-build")]
#else
[assembly: AssemblyDescription("Release-build")]
#endif

to see the kind of build in the 'Comments' of my assembly-file-properties,
like this

X Marks the Spot

2006-09-12T21:01:00.000+02:00

Last week, someone very dear to me had to undergo a chirurgical operation on the RIGHT food. At the moment of truth, the nurses paper mention to perform an operation on the LEFT food!?

Needless to say, someone left the room with a big X on the 'other left' food.

I Just 'Saw'

2006-08-21T17:28:00.000+02:00

part II
, can't wait to 'see' part III

If U Can Read This

2006-08-14T20:02:00.000+02:00

my first Windows Live Writer (beta)-test succeeded...

(Milk) without Cookies

2006-08-09T12:11:00.000+02:00

ASP.NET Forms-authentication doesn't 'work' when a (browser)client refuses cookies. Specifying 'cookieless="AutoDetect"' in 'web.config' will make log-in/out possible.


<authentication mode="Forms">
    <loginUrl="login.aspx" defaultUrl="default.aspx"  cookieless="AutoDetect" />
</authentication>

HOW TO
1. Disable cookies in IE
Go to: menu 'Tools' - 'Internet Options...' - (3th) tab 'Privacy' - button 'Advanced...'.
ATTENTION: IE only allows to refuse cookies in the 'internet zone'!

2. Run the Visual Studio 2005 webserver in an 'internet zone-context'.
By default the VS2005 webserver runs in the 'intranet zone'. To 'switch zones' use a full IP-address instead of 'localhost'; so if your website runs at 'http://localhost:28894/myWebsite/' use 'http://127.0.0.1:28894/myWebsite'. Notice the 'internet'-zone-icon in the statusbar.

After a successful (forms-)authentication, You will see something like this 'http://127.0.0.1:28894/myWebsite/(X(1)F(aOWN3yyFpZf9q2zuNpSCQX-...dPaNXeutsblP48uGkMk8rbNiVCDXQQk1))/...aspx' in IE's navigationbar. The red-colored-text is a 'URL-based-cookie'.

U Know What 2 Do!

2006-08-03T20:27:00.000+02:00

(Read as: just added 'Digg This!' for each post.)

Hierarchical iteration à la .NET 2.0

2006-08-01T19:39:00.000+02:00

E.g. a foreach-iteration over the (sub)items of a (System.Web.UI.WebControls.)Menu or TreeView...

private delegate ICollection GetChildrenDelegate<T>(T parent);


private IEnumerable<T> getHierarchicalItems<T>(
   ICollection source
   ,GetChildrenDelegate<T> getChildren
   )
{
   Queue<T> q = new Queue<T>();
   ICollection childs = source;

   while (true)
   {
      foreach (T item in childs)
      {
         yield return item;

         if (getChildren(item).Count > 0)
         {
            q.Enqueue(item);
         }
      }

      if (0 == q.Count) { break; }
      childs = getChildren(q.Dequeue());
   }
}



Iteration over Menu/-Items
GetChildrenDelegate<MenuItem> getSubMenus = 
   delegate(MenuItem current)
      {
         return current.ChildItems; 
      };

foreach (MenuItem item in this.getHierarchicalItems<MenuItem>(
   menu.Items
   , getSubMenus))
{
   ...
}



Iteration over Tree-View/-Nodes
GetChildrenDelegate<TreeNode> getSubNodes = 
   delegate(TreeNode current)
      {
         return current.ChildNodes;
      };

foreach (TreeNode item in this.getHierarchicalItems<TreeNode>(
   tree.Nodes
   , getSubNodes))
{
   ...
}

13, unlucky ...

2006-07-13T20:54:00.000+02:00

An addictive logic-game, trying 2 work out the url of the next number...

(read as: I am on number 13)

UPDATE I: I stranded on step 17 to 18 ...

UPDATE II: the answers for step 1 to 17 are in the comments-section.

A Fair(er) World

2006-07-07T21:01:00.000+02:00

At the new GooglePlex they all have flatscreen monitors and ball-shairs...

But do they have [1] a FREE newspaper and [2] FREE coffee on their desk in the morning (read: after getting [1] and making [2] it myself...?

<sigh/>

Craftsmanship

2006-06-20T12:06:00.000+02:00

Not only software is a craftsmanship,
so is(/was) this-weekends-work

Just to prove he (read: my colleague) is not the only one with 'green (IT) fingers ;-)'.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that a 'hedge of palm' aka 'Buxus Sempervirens' aka 'box' can't (read: mustn't) be cut with an electric hedge trimmer. It has to be done with good old-fashioned hand shears.

Every T-shirt Has ITs Story

2006-06-19T20:33:00.000+02:00

Mine goes like this: an Atari Lynx was my first (handheld) game console.
Those 'good old days'.(?)

Step by Step

2006-06-09T12:12:00.000+02:00

1 (Thank God) and 2 are behind me.
Heading to (optionally) 7 (sorry boss, you never know...),
but definitelly 'the EndGame',
skipping all the other sh*t,
being a 'happy' single (at the moment)...

Like they say: 'Life Is a B*tch, and Then You Die'.

PS: I Regret Nothing!

1 More

2006-05-26T12:25:00.000+02:00

reason for this

Now, which one should I choose?
Another dressing-issue in the make..?

iDon't CARE

2006-05-24T07:56:00.000+02:00

http://www.IDont.com

Do you enjoy surrogates like 'deca(ffeinnated) coffee' or 'diet chocolate' (be honest)..!?

Go for the real thing

MS Visual Studio 2005 External Tools

2006-05-11T12:50:00.000+02:00

To create a menu-item named 'Xplore Solution'
to open (File-)Explorer in the folder of your current solution

click menu 'Tools' - 'External Tools...'
and fill in the following parameters...

in Visual Studio 2003


    Title: Xplore Sol&ution
  Command: explorer.exe
Arguments: "$(SolutionDir)",/e

Pay attention to the 'Arguments'-section
as this does NOT work in Visual Studio 2005

Visual Studio 2005 appends a backslash to the resolved $(SolutionDir)..!(?)
Read as: on my system is does :-(

So 'myDrive:\Folder\SolutionFolder\' becomes 'myDrive:\Folder\SolutionFolder\\

(My) WORKAROUND: supply 'Arguments' as "$(SolutionDir)\.",/e

Again pay attention to the extra \. after $(SolutionDir)

This 'tricks' Visual Studio and/or '(File-)Explorer to use 'myDrive:\Folder\SolutionFolder\.\', which is a valid path :-)

I'm Rich

2006-05-04T17:08:00.000+02:00

MIA?

2006-03-29T17:03:00.000+02:00

(Read as: Missing In Action)

Not really,
although there's less(/little/no) action these days :-(

My 'excuse'(?): I have the 3th & 4th season of Alias (on DVD) to watch ;-)

So Little time..!

Luckily, I've found the 'perfect combination' of 2 of my (current) interests: Web 2.0 and Star Wars (MUST SEE) ...

I Need a Box

2006-01-31T12:00:00.000+01:00

... for this timesaver ...

Want some 'Extras'?

2006-01-17T12:03:00.000+01:00

No episode of my favorite (and only) TV-show 'Extras' (from and with Ricky Gervais, also known from 'The Office') yesterday, since last weeks was first seasons last (unannounced) :-(

Fortunately a second series has been ordered
and someone forgot to disable 'directory browsing' on the website. Enjoy guest starts as
Ben Stiller (MUST SEE), Kate Winslet, Samuel L Jackson and Patrick Stewart...

It's only a carrot

2006-01-11T12:31:00.000+01:00

... but I just can't slice nor eat this

The Saga Continues

2005-12-30T12:00:00.000+01:00

See Darth Vader as bandleader...(at the end)

Adhering to Standards

2005-12-26T12:09:00.000+01:00

An (unhoped-for) Visitor

2005-12-23T13:52:00.000+01:00

Sometime in May I invited the Channel 9 Guy to the Mansion
Today, a little bit delayed (see travel report), he arrived...

Here, he's enjoying some Belgian culinary specialities: frites, beer and waffles and chocolate

Travel Report (DHL)
Month	Day	Time	Country	Location	Status
December	16	16:37	USA	Bellevue, WA	Shipment picked up
	17	00:06		Wilmington - Clinton Field, OH	Transferred through Wilmington - Clinton Field
		03:22		Cincinnati Hub, OH	Transferred through Cincinnati Hub
		06:14		Wilmington - Clinton Field, OH	Departed from DHL in Wilmington - Clinton Field
		07:31		New York City Gateway, NY	Arrived at DHL in New York City Gateway
		09:40			Transferred through New York City Gateway
		13:22			Departed from DHL in New York City ateway
	18	09:31	Belgium	Brussels	Arrived at DHL
	19	03:48			Departed from DHL
		06:01			Arrived at DHL Facility
		08:04			With delivery courier

	20	08:19			Scheduled for delivery
		13:03			Shipment on hold
		13:41			With delivery courier
		14:16			With delivery courier
	23	unexpected		the Mansion	Arrived

See more of his tour around the world.

Many tanx to Robert Scoble.
Maybe his wife Maryam sends me a MSDN Webcast Guy..?

Where Am I..?

2005-12-01T16:26:00.000+01:00

Dbg.YouAreHere();

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You are in
- member: 'Int32 Main(System.String[])'
-  class: 'YourNamespace.YourClass, YourAssembly, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


using System;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Reflection;

internal sealed class Dbg
{
  [ConditionalAttribute("DEBUG")]
  public static void YouAreHere()
  {
    try
    {
      StackFrame f = new StackFrame(1);
      MethodBase m = f.GetMethod();
      Type t = m.DeclaringType;
      String n = t.AssemblyQualifiedName;

      Debug.WriteLine(String.Format(@"{0}
You are in
-  member: '{1}'
-   class: '{2}'
{0}"
        , new String('-', 12 + n.Length)
        , m.ToString()
        , t.AssemblyQualifiedName));
    }
    catch {}
  }
}

That bad?

2005-11-21T12:54:00.000+01:00

Just when I bought a new sweater,

'the Inquirer' quotes "IT workers are worst dressed employees".

Free DotNetMagic

2005-11-15T12:04:00.000+01:00

The Krypton Toolkit has been released
It provides user interface controls for Windows Forms
It is targeted at Visual Studio 2005 and .NET Framework 2.0
It is free for commercial use

Go get it now at http://www.componentfactory.com/downloads.php...

Kippensoep

2005-11-04T08:24:00.000+01:00

Digital Life Experience

2005-10-11T12:54:00.000+02:00

Where does it end?
Shops letting me know my goods-under-repair are ready, by SMS..!

A ... View

2005-09-26T13:44:00.000+02:00

... hip ... (?)
You decide... But yes (I admit), after about 9 years (previous design) I needed a new look.
... smaller ...
This design is barely 2 cm in height.
... clear(er)...
My old glasses became quite blurred.

So since a week, I have some new eyewear, which caused me hells pains before it 'fitted' my face.

Proud being a veggie

2005-09-09T20:00:00.000+02:00

No words for this and this this and a lot more...

Services

2005-08-24T14:16:00.000+02:00

Maybe you didn't notice the (free) (new) services I recently added to my blog, especialy if you use a feedreader (like I do).

MSN Alerts:
Babel Fish translations into French, Japanese and more

Google Talk Chat Font

2005-08-24T12:16:00.000+02:00

Although the help says you can't change the font, it is possible to change the size of it.

Place your cursor in the read- or write-pane and scroll your mousewheel up or down holding the CTRL-key.

UPDATE: Also works in MSN Messenger

UPDATE: *My* tip got published on Google Blogoscoped, see 2nd tip and [Thanks...] ;-)

Pin my guestmap

2005-08-10T12:53:00.000+02:00

Pinpoint your position on my guestmap to eternalize your visit.

The yellow smiley in the right bottom corner is me, at the townsquare of Diepenbeek. I can even see the CodeMansion..!

A new (mini) Y2K-nightmare?

2005-08-09T19:24:00.000+02:00

System Administration Appreciation Day

2005-07-29T19:44:00.000+02:00

Today, IT is (actually was, because working day is over) 'System Administration Appreciation Day'.

Cheers on that.

Looking for 'Developer Day'...

Hasta la Vista, Longhorn

2005-07-22T19:18:00.000+02:00

Read this and please read this post (especially point 3)...

Say Cheese

2005-07-20T12:06:00.000+02:00

Found 'Apollo 17' on the moon with a maximal Zoom In...

Love

2005-07-18T17:09:00.000+02:00

I have a love/hate relationship with javascript.

Hate: it's awful to debug, and for some reason I never get it right from the first try.

Love: the power of it's 'function()'-statement.

Let me explain; on one fine day I needed an iteration over a list of checkboxes (with id's/names like 'chkItem1', 'chkItem2', ..., 'chkItemN') to
A. select them all.
B. invert the selection.

My code lookes like this:

// (A) Select them all.
function selectAll()
{
    var evaluator = function(chk) { 
 
        return true; 
    };

    makeSelection('chkItem', evaluator);
}

// (B) Invert selection.
function invertSelection()
{
    var evaluator = function(chk) {
 
        return !chk.checked;
    };

    makeSelection('chkItem', evaluator); 
}

var makeSelection = function(checkboxName, evaluator)
{
    for (i = 1; true; i++)
    {
        if (!(chk = document.getElementById(checkboxName + i)))
        {
            break;
        }
   
        chk.checked = evaluator(chk);  
    }
}

The concerning webpage has some buttons to invoke 'javascript:selectAll();' and 'javascript:invertSelection();'.

Desk Tips

2005-07-15T12:53:00.000+02:00

If your desk looks like this (read: mine),

you definitely have to watch this!

PDC 2005, if only I could

2005-07-14T12:52:00.000+02:00

... go
Yeah right, when hell freezes over...

...choose from the (preliminary) sessionlist
These would be on my agenda:

- BizTalk Server 2006: Development and Adapters
- Indigo: Web Services for XML Programmers
- Indigo: A Deep Dive into Best Practices Using Indigo
- SQL Server 2005: Deep Dive on XML and XQuery
- MSBuild: Architecting a Customized Build System
- VSTS: Behind the Scenes of Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server
- Monad: Advanced Command Line Scripting
- MMC 3.0: Developing Managed-Code Snap-Ins
- ASP.NET: Future Directions for Developing Rich Web Applications with Atlas (Part 1)
- ASP.NET: ... (Part 2)
- Avalon: Using Data in Your Avalon Applications: XML, Indigo, ADO.NET and More
- Avalon: Creating Rich Content Experiences in Your Avalon Applications

Convince my boss (back to point 1)

Win a free ticket

TechEd Hurts

2005-07-13T17:14:00.000+02:00

my BRAIN: something is going to explode...

(part of) my track:

- WCD221 Windows Forms: Deploying Applications with ClickOnce
- CTS352 What's New for Web Services Developers in Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 and the .NET Framework 2.0
- DEV362 Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team System: Building Robust and Reliable Software
- DEV364 Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team System: Enabling Better Software through Better Testing
- CTS304 What's New in BizTalk Server 2006 Runtime
- CTS314 Implementation of Common Integration Patterns with BizTalk Server
- WEB410 Asynchronous Pages in ASP.NET 2.0
- CHT059 Building and Maintaining a Performant and Healthy BizTalk Solution
- WEB322 ASP.NET 2.0: Under the Covers - Exploring Internals, Page Lifecycle and the Compilation Model
- DEV466 Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team System: Enterprise-Class Source Control
- CTS315 Advance Orchestration Design Using BizTalk Server

my FEED: although I am used to some distance...

my STUMACH: being a veggie at such a mass event isn't easy. I mainly survived on fruit & raw vegetables.
This in combination with point 2 resulted in a loss of weight of more than 1 kilo...

Some people were complaining about the food, not 'tasty', but foremost not 'enough'...<duh />
My thought: if I can survive, almost everyone can and I'm a fussy eater (I don't eat meat, fish, eggs or cheese)

BTW: Know any good vegetarian restaurant in Amsterdam?

Wrap-up: This was my first TechEd, but definitely not my last, although that depends on my boss ;-)
So, see you next year!(?)
BTW: Rumors has it that TechEd 2006 will be in Amsterdam for the 3th time in a row.

TechEd 2005 Amsterdam in pictures

2005-07-07T19:25:00.000+02:00

Big sessionroom

Communications Network

Packed for TechEd 2005 Amsterdam

2005-07-04T12:47:00.000+02:00

In my luggage:

1 Toothbrush
An empty brain
Pills against information-overload

Visual Studio Editor Code Guidelines

2005-06-29T12:35:00.000+02:00

Guidelines are visible column indicators for the Vistual Studio 2003/2005 Editor.

In the registry, under '[HKEY_CURRENT_USER]\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\7.1\Text Editor' (replace 7.1 by 8.0 for VS2005), create the following String Value (REG_SZ):

RGB(255,255,255) 4,8,12,16,20,24,28

Where RGB(255,255,255) indicates the color
and 4,8,12,16,24,28 are the positions (you can have up to 13).

This is my view, outlined with my Tab-size:

Hasselts Eiffel Tower

2005-06-15T08:05:00.000+02:00

Today the name of the university of Diepenbeek (Belgium) (my hometown) 'LUC' ('Limburg University Centre') changes into 'University Hasselt'...<duh />

Hasselt is just a nearby city, and is now strutting with borrowed plumes.
Needless to say that a lot of political influences were involved...

BTW: the address is still:
Agoralaan, Building D
B-3590 Diepenbeek
Belgium

Next on their wishlist

The Eiffel Tower
The Statue of Liberty
The Pyramid of Cheops

(Almost) as good as the movie

2005-05-26T17:09:00.000+02:00

...Starwars-related commercials...

Darth Vader + Orange

Revenge of the Sith: 1, 2, 3

UPDATE: Challenge Vader with Burger King

More of these? Let me know.

13

2005-04-25T08:14:00.000+02:00

Radio Silence

2005-04-15T12:03:00.000+02:00

(read as: for the moment...)

Starting all over again

2005-03-21T12:03:00.000+01:00

...with my weekly run on Sunday morning after a 4 month break.
No, I'm not gonna come up with all kind of excuses...

So yesterday was D-day; I started with an 'easy' 6.5 kilometres
and actually it went quite smooth.
Double that distance and we're back in business...

Google stole my idea

2005-03-16T12:57:00.000+01:00

"Google giving away Gmail for free"

Well, good luck with that!
Even I can't get rid of my +50 invitations...

BTW. I work for a publisher of newspapers...

2005-03-08T12:07:00.000+01:00

Is this our future?

Overdosis

2005-03-08T11:58:00.000+01:00

went to Disneyland Resort Paris...
on a cold & snowy day (2 C° max)...
had an overdosis of 'Micky'...

Comment your source code?

2005-02-10T17:04:00.000+01:00

Believe me, this is not a Microsoft only issue... ;-)

Microsoft Considers Opening Up Access to Windows Forms

"Burke acknowledged there are a few potential stumbling blocks that could interfere with making the WinForms source more widely available."

"The WinForms source — like all Microsoft source code — is loaded with comments that developers wrote into the product when creating it. And code comments typically include lots of four-letter words, politically incorrect references and disparaging comments about competitors, if not customers."

"In order for us to ship the code we need to 'scrub' the comments and make sure there is nothing bad in there. No swear words, no bad jokes on the part of developers, no references to specific customers, no geo-political faux pas."

Breadth-first file enumeration

2005-02-08T17:06:00.000+01:00

At last some code...

How to enumerate the filesystem without recursion.



public static void ShowAllFiles(String path)

{

   Queue q = new Queue();

   DirectoryInfo dir = new 

      DirectoryInfo(path);

   FileSystemInfo[] entries;



   while(true)

   {

      entries = dir.GetFileSystemInfos("*");

								

      for (Int32 i = 0

         ; i < entries.Length

         ; i++)

      {

         if (FileAttributes.Directory

            == (entries[i].Attributes 

            & FileAttributes.Directory))

         {

            // Process subfolder later.

            q.Enqueue(entries[i]);

            continue;

         }



         // We have a file.				

         Debug.WriteLine(

            entries[i].FullName);

      }



      // Are there subfolders?			

      if (0 == q.Count) { break; }				

      dir = q.Dequeue() as DirectoryInfo;	

   }

}