On code development

Samport API gateway for aspdotnetstorefront

2008-05-02T09:17:00.001+02:00

If you're interested, I have created an AspDotNetStorefront Samport API gateway for credit card payments. Just contact me on this issue.

DataSet in separate project - never ending story

2008-04-01T12:56:00.005+02:00

Channel9 has a great post in one of their threads on typed DataSets and connection strings. I knew I had experienced once that adding a connection string with the same name as the setting in the Settings file had caused me no problems when referencing the DLL containing the DataSet in my web application.

So, the answer to "who's making the trouble now?": Visual Studio Service Pack 1...

Link to Channel9 Post

So - avoid putting TableAdapters in a separate project from your runnable project when you have VS 2005 with SP1!

But - is this fixed in VS2008? I don't know - yet. Better wait until I get to my own comuter to test it. Any fixed to SP1 on this? Lemme check.

Experimenting with Sharepoint 2007 menu providers

2008-03-07T13:39:00.002+01:00

After experimenting a bit, it seems quite hard to establish a rational hierarchy of pages to form an overview of a "publishing site" in Sharepoint. The easiest way to achieve a hierarchy in the quick links menu is to create subsites for each level in the hierarchy. However, I have not investigated the technical cost of this, but the administrational cost of creating one site per sublevel in the menu is very heavy if the site creation is not offered to the user at another level (involving some SP programming).

Of course I could go for another Site template, but all other features in the "Publishing site" are great for my site - and I wouldn't like to have to add so much noise for so little...

IE8 beta 1 ready for download

2008-03-05T20:27:00.001+01:00

At MIX08, they have just announced the possibility to download IE8 beta 1.

Download here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/ie/ie8/getitnow.mspx

BarcodeLibrary v1 for .NET 2.0 released

2008-02-23T15:39:00.002+01:00

Today the barcode reader library for .NET was released in an 1.0 version - with added functionality from Aaron Cathcart in Oz. I am happy to say that the downloads seem to soar - up from 3 last month to 9 now :)

Check it out here: http://boss.bekk.no/display/BOSS/BarcodeLibrary

AspDotNetStorefront with Norwegian locale

2008-02-18T18:58:00.003+01:00

I am about to translate the entire string collection for AspDotNetStorefront to Norwegian, around 2.200 words and phrases. Note - this requires an ML license of the software to be able to use the nb-NO locale.

If you are interested in the translation, please let me know. The cost is NOK 990,- and includes free updates for two years.

Current version of the translation works on AspDotNetStorefront version 7.0.2.5 (and earlier, I guess).

Visual Studio 2008 is out on MSDN - for some...

2007-11-19T17:41:00.000+01:00

Finally, the VS 2008 seems to have gone RTM as Soma told in Barcelona earlier this month. However, for the time being, only a few people can download the VS 2008 package on MSDN. Several report that they cannot see the download and that includes me.

Ian Moulster (MS) blogs about the new version and receives comment after comment on this issue.

Update: If you're looking for editions other than the Team Suite edition - it is not listed in the normal directory. You have to use the links provided here: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/default.aspx

CS1504, OPN2001 barcode library available

2007-09-14T20:47:00.000+02:00

The promised barcode library is now available for .NET 2.0, written in C# and licensed with the GNU Lesser GPL.

Check out this site to download:
http://boss.bekk.no/display/BOSS/BarcodeLibrary

Sharepoint Designer - setting an Infopath field

2007-08-25T10:55:00.000+02:00

There is no elegant way of updating InfoPath documents from a sequential workflow created in SharePoint Designer. You either have to write custom code - or write an activity that does things for you.

This blog entry helps you a bit on the way:
Office Rocks

Update: Ready made custom activities for Sharepoint Designer adds THE elegant way: http://www.codeplex.com/SPDActivities

Sharepoint Configuration Wizard hangs at Step 5

2007-06-27T09:42:00.000+02:00

The wizard (psconfigui.exe) hangs at Step 5. Seems like there is no way around it using the GUI. Instead, I stopped the GUI version and ran

psconfig -cmd setup

...instead. Worked like a charm!

eScrum 1.0 and TFS Orcas

2007-06-17T14:41:00.001+02:00

I did a quick test on whether eScrum 1.0 would run on the last TFS Orcas version - beta 1- and it did! All you have to do after following the installation guide of eScrum all the way was to insert this into eScrum web.config

<dependentAssembly>
    <assemblyIdentity name="Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Client" 
        publicKeyToken="b03f5f7f11d50a3a"
        culture="neutral"/>
    <bindingRedirect oldVersion="8.0.0.0" newVersion="9.0.0.0"/>
</dependentAssembly>
<dependentAssembly>
    <assemblyIdentity name="Microsoft.TeamFoundation.WorkItemTracking.Client" 
        publicKeyToken="b03f5f7f11d50a3a"
        culture="neutral"/>
    <bindingRedirect oldVersion="8.0.0.0" newVersion="9.0.0.0"/>
</dependentAssembly>
<dependentAssembly>
    <assemblyIdentity name="Microsoft.TeamFoundation" 
        publicKeyToken="b03f5f7f11d50a3a"
        culture="neutral"/>
    <bindingRedirect oldVersion="8.0.0.0" newVersion="9.0.0.0"/>
</dependentAssembly>

After installing eScrum, you will have put a similar "dependentAssembly" into the web.config. Just copy the above sections into the "assemblyBinding" section just below the eScrum "dependentAssembly" - and that's all.

What this section does, is to override any bindings from the old 8.0.0.0 version TFS client assemblies to the new 9.0.0.0 ones. Good luck!

Barcode library waiting for approval from SourceForge

2007-05-18T18:21:00.000+02:00

The first alpha version of the Symbol CS 1504 / Opticon OPN 2001 barcode library is awaiting approval from SourceForge before it is publicly available!

Update: See this blog entry to download the barcode library!

.NET 2.0 open source library for barcode scanners

2007-04-20T10:23:00.000+02:00

One of the days I'll be releasing an initial version of a .NET 2.0 library for communicating with barcode scanners:

- CS 1504 from Symbol
- OPN 2001 from Opticon

These are handheld miniscanners which you may use in a neck strap - with a COM port or USB connection. Common for both is that the SDKs available is written in C/C++ for COM and for compilers that might not be installed on your computer today.

I had the need for communicating with these devices through .NET 2.0 - and a C# implementation will be readily available in a Beta project on Sourceforce.net as soon as I do a clean up of the source and add some unit tests. If there are special functions that you need, drop me a line.

Functions in the first beta:
- Interrogate with the scanners - asking for software version and serial number
- Synchronize clock with host computer
- Read and delete barcodes on the scanner
- Power down scanner

Update: Download from here

Orcas March CTP - install fails

2007-03-01T11:51:00.000+01:00

The install failed immediately after reaching Visual Studio itself - and I tried several paths to get out of the tie. Finally, after uninstalling several packages at once, the installation went further.

These were the packages I uninstalled:
- Microsoft Flight Simulator X
- .NET Framework 3.5 (GreenBits) - which was installed before VSTS at the time of failure
- MSXML 4.0 SP2 including a couple of hotfixes

It is difficult to say which uninstall that did the trick, but I bet my dime on the MSXML package.

Orcas March 2007 CTP is out!

2007-02-28T16:36:00.000+01:00

Ha, did a search on Microsoft downloads - and there it is!

Visual Studio Orcas Installer download link

March CTP image download link

Team Foundation Server Installer download link

Go, go, go!

Orcas February CTP - excitingly waiting!

2007-02-23T09:40:00.000+01:00

After Scott Guthrie's "first look at Orcas" presentation and blog post (you can find it here), I am eagerly awaiting the February CTP with it's JavaScript Intellisense, XAML projects, enhanced WYSIWYG editors, better AJAXing, Framework version targeting (2.0, 3.0, 3.5), better CSS editing, nested master pages, source view event properties support, JavaScript debugging etc.

Okay, LINQ will be postponed till March, but what is a month, anyway.

So, will the February CTP appear today (it's Friday...) or on the 28th?

Huh, that's me and tools...

Vista and graceful installation

2007-01-07T09:21:00.000+01:00

I tried to upgrade my XP Pro on my home computer today with Vista 32-bit - a total bummer. Every effort ended with a BSOD and a total rollback. As the BSOD was caused by an error in the bundled NVIDIA drivers, I searched for a way to install Vista using plain old VGA drivers so that Vista started at least - but no option anywhere. The installation process only let you roll back the entire installation. I guess I'd wanted a way of safe starting Vista anyway, and install fresh NVIDIA drivers on top of that, but no.

Yes, there are a couple of workaround involving booting Vista through the installation DVD, but Microsoft should try to avoid putting the user in this situation as not everyone is this skilled in operating system installation techniques.

Another day, when my motivation is higher, I might try installing Vista once more...

DropDownLists with Enums as DataSource

2006-12-04T10:43:00.000+01:00

When creating DropDownLists out of enums in ASP.NET, I often tend to dislike the way the usual examples use the enum's Values and Names as keys and values for the DropDownList. In this example, I have created an enhanced enum using DescriptionAttribute instead. This way, you can go a lot further on deciding what the visible values in a DropDownList may be - without being tied to a C# type name syntax.

This way, you can get these kinds of DropDownLists using pure enums only:

Step 1 - Enhance your enums with the Description:

using System.ComponentModel;

public enum CourierCompanies
{
[Description("Please select a courier company")]
None = -1,

[Description("Other")]
Other = 0,

[Description("DHL")]
DHL,

[Description("Action Courier")]
ActionCourier,

[Description("American Courier Express")]
ACE

}

Step 2: Create a helper class which extracts description data both for each enum value and a key/value pair for use in DataSources:

using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Reflection;

public class EnumDescription
{
/// <summary>
/// Get the description attribute for one enum value
/// </summary>
/// <param name="value">>Enum value
/// <returns>The description attribute of an enum, if any</returns>
public static string GetDescription(Enum value)
{
FieldInfo fieldInfo = value.GetType().GetField(value.ToString());
DescriptionAttribute[] attributes = (DescriptionAttribute[])fieldInfo.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DescriptionAttribute), false);
return (attributes.Length > 0) ? attributes[0].Description : value.ToString();
}

/// <summary>
/// Gets a list of key/value pairs for an enum, using the description attribute as value
/// </summary>
/// <param name="enumType">>typeof(your enum type)
/// <returns>A list of KeyValuePairs with enum values and descriptions</returns>
public static List<KeyValuePair;<string, string>> GetValuesAndDescription(System.Type enumType)
{
List<KeyValuePair><string, string>> kvPairList = new List<KeyValuePair<string, string>>();

foreach (Enum enumValue in Enum.GetValues(enumType))
{
kvPairList.Add(new KeyValuePair<string,string>(enumValue.ToString(), GetDescription(enumValue)));
}

return kvPairList;
}
}

Step 3: Fill the DropDownList using the enum itself as a DataSource:

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (!IsPostBack)
{
ddlCourier.DataSource = EnumDescription.GetValuesAndDescription(typeof(CourierCompanies));
ddlCourier.DataTextField = "Value";
ddlCourier.DataValueField = "Key";
ddlCourier.DataBind();
}
}

The reason for using the names "Value" and "Key" is that the properties of the generic KeyValuePair type are "Value" and "Key".

Other ways to upgrade a Web Application Project from VS2003 to VS2005

2006-11-25T09:18:00.000+01:00

Scott Guthrie mentioned on his site a way to convert a Visual Studio 2003 web site to a Visual Studio 2005 web application. Well, I couldn't get that method to work due to a context menu that wouldn't work at all.

I went through the process that Scott mentioned, but as I approached Step 8 the expected "Convert to web application" context menu item never showed. I do not know why - having the VS2005 KB updated along with V1.0 of the web application project add-in.

So - what I did was simply creating an empty web application project, copy all the files from the recently converted VS2005 web site project to the new web application project - and voilá - the menu appeared and I could continue the process.

And I must say I enjoy the web application style of managing projects! Yeah!

DBPro - second wave of impressions

2006-06-15T14:25:00.000+02:00

Some additional impressions after the last post:

I found out how to deploy - but the deploy cannot always be done - meaning that the command sometimes doesn't fire at all. Do this: (1) Build the db project, (2) right click on the project in the solution explorer and (3) choose "Deploy selection". Not that it always helps, though
The "bigint" reserved word is not recognized by the editor as a reserved word
The "max" reserved word is not recognized by the SQL file compiler. An "Error 3 - Unexpected token was encountered"

Visual Studio for database professionals CTP - first impressions

2006-06-13T09:29:00.000+02:00

Hi, I've just managed to install and test the new CTP of the brand new product in the Visual Studio Team System family. Here are some initial recordings from my first hands-on session with the SQL Server 2005 database project!

Default database instance name defaults to "SQLEXPRESS" - but I guess the best is to omit the named instance as many serious developers are using an unnamed instance with SQL Server Developer Edition. So, if you have this problem, enter Tools/Options, scroll down to database settings and remove the named instance name. At my computer I had to exit and restart Visual Studio again to put the change into action.
No Intellisense yet on keywords in the table code editor but from what I've heard, this feature is coming!
After a few minutes of testing, I still cannot build my database with one table and one procedure. Trying to build does... nothing. Yes, I've connected the project's build parameters to a database. Yes, I have sufficient rights. No, I don't get any feedback on why this doesn't happen at all.
Where is the design view? When designing tables, I only have a "code view". I guess this is on schedule for their next release!

Well, that's my 10 minutes of frustration.

Team Foundation Server - valuable URLs

2006-03-15T16:19:00.000+01:00

Some valuable URLs for Team Foundation Server:

Examine a single changeset:
http://[SERVERNAME]/VersionControl/Changeset.aspx?
artifactMoniker=[XXX]&webView=true

Exchange [SERVERNAME] with your TFS webserver
Exchange [XXX] with the changeset number to examine

Examine a single work item:
http://[SERVERNAME]/WorkItemTracking/Workitem.aspx?
artifactMoniker=[XXX]

Exchange [SERVERNAME] with your TFS webserver
Exchange [XXX] with the work item number to examine

Defining your own advanced WIQL queries

2006-03-14T16:02:00.000+01:00

If you are stuck with defining TFS work item queries and would like to enhance them a bit further than the WIQL query builder allows, use this receipt:

Make the query builder window current with your "not so enhanced" query inside.
Choose File/Save As... and save the WIQ file as a file on the desktop
Modify the query
Close all open documents in Visual Studio
Drag the WIQ file from the desktop to the main area of Visual Studio
Voilá - the file attaches itself to "My Queries" and should be available through Team Explorer

What reasons may you have to enhance the query?
- If you'd like to sort on more than one field

Do you have other experiences - comment this!

Un-"user friendly" applications

2006-01-08T22:22:00.000+01:00

A little off-topic this time, but after a few frustrating days, I have a couple of things to say about two MS application - Windows Media Player 10 and ActiveSync 4.1 for my Windows Mobile 5 device.

First - trying to sync my two PCs with the WM5 mobile phone from QTek is not quite a breeze. With a couple of years passing from my last PocketPC device, a Compaq iPaq 3630, I was hoping that syncing have become an easier task by now. Not at all. After installing ActiveSync 4.1, after about 5-6 reinstalls, reboots, forewall configuration in XP SP2 etc. I finally got the sync to run. Partly. Without Windows Media Player sync. Until I rebooted 5-6 times more. THEN it run. Unfortunately, I had to reinstall med XP Pro at my work computer - and then everything failed. NO sync. Not at home. Not at work. Also, the ActiveSync feature of syncing through WLAN does not work at all. And not the Bluetooth sync. Again, no contact. Cable was the only alternative until that also failed.

Second, apart from not managing to sync between the WM5 device and my Windows Media Player, I tried to sync WMP10 and my hard disk based WMA/MP3-player. Sorry - not supported... But I can read its hard disk and copy files manually. So why can't I synchronize the "My Music" folder on my PC with the "My Music" folder on the device? Disappointment hits! Big time! Also, the UI of WMP10 is extremely complicated. Have you ever tried to match a song's lyrics with the song as it plays using WMP10. Try, it's a nice feature especially of you'd like to to Karaoke or sing alone in the dark with your PC on. But it takes HOURS to do. And that's only one of several dozens of examples on the nasty UI of WMP10. I just hope that WMP11 will cope with that... But as with WMP10, I guess it's only new features and more mess. Ever tried to start up WMP10 with a couple of thousands of songs in your library. Don't risk it. Takes minutes...

Taking Team Explorer offline

2005-12-22T13:36:00.000+01:00

Despote of promises I got from Microsoft already in 2004, I recently discovered that if you decide to go offline with Visual Studio 2005 and you are connected to Team Foundation Server - then source control will be a fully manual operation. Actually, "go wild" is an option when Visual Studio confronts you with TFS being offline, and from that step on, you'll continue on your own risk.

It seems like this feature will not be added until the Orcas version of Visual Studio!

If you think this is hopeless, too - please add your vote to this page: MSDN feedback page on this issue

Enlightened...

2005-12-07T12:30:00.000+01:00

Check out this conversation: A link on the bright side

I guess it's beta 3 of TFS they're talking about...

Visual Studio 2005 SKUs - releases and beta

2005-12-07T11:32:00.000+01:00

I guess everything will be settled in the end, but as for now - the mixture of SKUs to get things done in Visual Studio 2005 is quite disturbing - and I guess only the ones who spend at least 10-15 hours per week trying to keep up with the RTMs, CTPs, BETAs etc. might have a chance to cope with the question of what products fit together.

If you try to align Visual Studio 2005 Pro with either Visual SourceSafe 2005 (in BETA) or Visual Studio Team Foundation Server (in BETA and CTP) you might end up with a problem if you don't have the exact release (BETA or BETA refresh?) to work with. If you choose the CTP, there is no migration path up to RTM of Team Foundation Server. Team Explorer is the new name of the TFS client, and all these things add up to a nightmare of configurations - and by the way, you should have a clean operating system to start with every time you decide to install a new product, or BETA refresh or CTP or.... or....

Do you mind me being confused?

Bookshelf Symbol 7 font to remove the swastika symbol

2004-08-27T00:18:00.000+02:00

Most people have not noticed that at all, but yesterday I got a message from my Windows Update service on my IBM laptop telling me that it was going to replace the Bookshelf Symbol 7 font. Actually, not the worst thing that may happen, but as the update noted stated, the reason for replacing the font was that the font contained a few "unaccebtable" symbols.
So, I dived into it, and as it turns out - both the swastika (nazi symbol) and the star of David is gone from the font. Of course, it means that nazi propaganda is a bit harder to make (until you search internet for icons of this symbol), but really this symbol is very old and the nazi ones using this symbol is only an intermediary historically seen.

The Linux Trap

2004-08-26T05:26:00.000+02:00

One of the key assets of Linux as a whole is the ability to enhance through community driven development. As a spin-off, we see companies like Red Hat, SuSE, MandrakeSoft, that are offering packaged Linux installations and support for customers that will not take the risk of getting support from a on-and-off community.
Then, there are other companies building complex software on top of these Linux distributions, like BEA making their J2EE server available for distros like Red Hat, SuSE.
So far, so good. The really creepy thing starts to unveil as soon as you are in an organization that is dependent on several major software companies that are dependent on each other. You might start out fine - with one J2EE server edition working fine on top of one Linux distro and your message queue server running on top of another.
But - what happens when you wish to upgrade your Linux installation to a newer version because your J2EE software vendor no longer will support your combination of J2EE server version and Linux version? Let's look into that:

1) You upgrade your Linux version on the J2EE server machine.
2) You upgrade the J2EE software.
3) You find that because your upgraded the J2EE server, you will need another version of the message queue connecting software
4) Actually, your message queuing software vendor hasn't yet upgraded the software meant for connecting from the new J2EE server version, so you will have to postpone the whole upgrade process for six months.
Meanwhile, you will have to go unsupported on the old Linux/J2EE server combination because you must wait for the other software vendor to complete their work. Even worse, the message queueing software vendor may decide not to support the new Linux distro version at all because the only customer still running on that particular flavour is YOU, meaning they do not want to throw a lot of money in that distro - running for another, more popular distro.

So, if you add to this with other software vendors, products, distros et al, things may be a little more complicated than you would ever have thought. Now, what? Sorry, I've got no answer other than "please think through your Linux investment once more"!