Chris May

Chances are I will never get time to do this, but still it would be nice.

Very funny:

http://garfieldminusgarfield.tumblr.com/

"Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolor disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life?

Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against lonliness and methamphetamine addiction in a quiet American suburb."

Just a few of them:

Sometimes you might need/want to know what ports on your machine are being used.

If you try to start up a process listening on some port and it reports that the port is alread in use, what do you do?

The answer is to use this command:

netstat -a -n -o

This will show you all port activity including the PID so you can open up task manager and find which process is using which port.

Craigslist is good for laugh every now and then.

Usually it comes in the form of someone looking to hire someone to develop a site "Just like MySpace" with a budget of $500.  Or "I have a great way to run auctions online, a real Ebay killer.  Need you to implement my ideas.  Budget $1000 plus equity in the new company."  LOL.

But you can get a good laugh too by posting your own listing and reading the responses.  For example, I posted recently looking for someone with experience integrating business systems with quickbooks.  I wrote that, initially, I just wanted to sit with the person for a few hours to point me in the right direction, and to talk about some of the best practices for doing tihs type of work, but I might have them do some of the development work.

Here is one of the responses I got:

** CRAIGSLIST ADVISORY --- AVOID SCAMS BY DEALING LOCALLY
** Avoid: wiring money, cross-border deals, work-at-home
** Beware: cashier checks, money orders, escrow, shipping
** More Info: http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams.html

That is a hard program to automate, but I do have some experience with it when I worked for a large union construction company. You are better off not using it, I have some better methods of keeping your affairs in order using Excel. Call me if you want at XXX-XXX-XXXX for any questions. Marty

LOL

I was working on my father-in-laws laptop the other day and noticed that he was using up a lot of drive space.

I started poking around, but things were not adding up.  Of his 80 GB drive, about 30GB was unaccounted for.  I called a buddy of mine who was also running Vista to see if he had the same problem, and as it turned out, he was.

After some more investigation, it looks like this might not be a Vista issue, but is instead caused by IBM/Lenovo's Rescue and Recovery software.

I will have to confirm this later by actually fixing his computer, but I wanted to get this out there in case anyone else has a Lenovo laptop that is missing drive space.

Keywords:

Missing drive space, Missing disk space, Where is my drive space, Lenovo hard drive missing space.

I just noticed this while working on a windows forms .net application.

I made some changes to the underlying business objects that I had bound to a datagridview.  Things looked like they should at runtime, but when I opened up the designer, several of my columns were missing!

After some testing around, I realized that any column that was bound to a property on the object, where I had changed the name of the property, was no longer showing.

I figured it would fail the databind or something, but at least let me change the column details to get things working right!

So I added in fake empty property definitions to the business objects and presto: back come the columns.

After that, I was able to update the databinding field and remove my bogus properties.

What happens if you lose the RDL source file for your SQL Reporting report?  Or more accurately, what if your coworkers never check them into source control?

Well, you can get them out of the web interface of SSRS.

To do this:

1. Login into the /Reports of SSRS
2. Navigate to the report you want
3. Click the Properties tab
4. Then under Report Definition, click "Edit"
5. Save the RDL file to your local machine.

Ran into this again today.

<asp:BoundField
  DataField="FollowUpDate"   
  DataFormatString="{0:MMM-dd-yy}"   
  HtmlEncode="false"  
  HeaderText="Follow Up Date" />

If you are doing a boundfield in an asp.net gridview, and you play on using the DataFormatString, you have to set HtmlEncode to false.

Kinda stupid, but that's life.

I have been toying with the idea of trying to learn spanish... the class I most hated in school.

I have no idea where this desire came from, and more than I can explain my rather sudden interest in traveling and soccer (lots of EPL games on my DVR).

So I have been working with some Rosetta Stone CDs as well as listening to some podcasts ( www.coffeebreakspanish.com and www.notesinspanish.com ).  I have improved a little, but I think there is only so much you can do with reading/listening and not really having to interact with people who are speaking the native language.

I found this page that talks about the COE Language Proficiency Scale.  I think on this scale I would be only an A2:

A2 - Can understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of most immediate relevance (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment). Can communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters. Can describe in simple terms aspects of his/her background, immediate environment and matters in areas of immediate need. 

And I think I would like to be at the B2 level:

B2 - Can understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialisation. Can interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without strain for either party. Can produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain a viewpoint on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.

So while the ipods and Rosetta Stone are good, I think if I want to take it to the next level I need to take lessons.  I found 2 places that offer lessons online from native speakers over Skype. 

Nulengua (http://www.nulengua.com/) charges $10/hour and WebSpanish (http://www.webspanish.com/) charges $15 / hour.  Both are very cheap as the tutors are based in South America, so I guess I need to decide if I am going to bit the bullet and sign up for some of these.

The only thing holding me back at this point is the fact that I don't have any free time as it is, and also I am trying to factor in my tendency for being really interested in something only to lose interest over time, get burnt out, whatever. 

I think the term my mom used to use was that I was "very intense" when it came to things I was interested in.  So right now, I would love to spend a lot of time learning these things, but 6 months from now will I still have the same interest, and therefore be glad that I spent as much time as I did on learning spanish.  Or, will I be on to something else with my limited free time?

Sometimes I feel like simply being aware of my tendency to overly invest time in things like this has the opposite effect, causing me to over compensate and avoid moving forward.

Anyway, I am lucky enough to have a wonderful wife who puts up with my ebb and flow, and is willing to do the lessons with me.  Just need to find some time to get started.

I am having a very hard time using my iphone headphones outside these days in Chicago.  It gets pretty cold, and the plastic that they wrap the wires in freezes up almost instantly, making the cable stiff like a piece of solder.

So when you turn your head, the headphone wires don't move and the ear buds pop out of your head.  Pretty poor design.

I guess it doesn't get this cold in Silicon Valley, where Apple has it's headquaters.

Have you ever come across this error message?

403.6
Forbidden IP address of the client has been rejected

If you are using Small Business Server you might come into this quite fast as by default it will lock down IIS to keep machines who are not on the same subnet from accessing the web server.

This means if you VPN in you can't browse the intranet site.  Oops, that's not good.

To fix this problem, you need to edit the website and iis application properties in IIS.  On the Directory Security tab edi the IP address and domain name restrictions.  Change the settings on there from "Deny" to "Grant" and you will be all set.

So it looks like youtube.com is down.

I can't imagine how much money they are losing with each passing second.

I have been asked this a few times, so I decided to write up a little article on it.

The problem is that when you are using master pages in asp.net, the <HEAD> is usually inside the master page template.  So if you are on a page that needs a 1 off change or addition to the style of the rest of the site, you are unable to create a <STYLE> element in your content page.

Well, you CAN create one, but then VS.Net won't show you the designer for your page b/c it keeps asking you to clean up the HTML problems on your page.

The solution I have used is to create a 2nd content place holder in the master page head.  But, I might as well not duplicate effort here, as Rick Strahl has already written the article I am about to write (and apparently, even someone else beat him to the punch).

http://www.west-wind.com/WebLog/posts/5706.aspx

This works very well for this type of situation. 

Error:

Unable to cast object of type 'System.Collections.Generic.List`1[EditQuoteController+UnsavedQuoteItemInfo]' to type 'System.Collections.Generic.List`1[EditQuoteController+UnsavedQuoteItemInfo]'.

Yes, you read that right.  Unable to cast object of type X to type X.

I have seen this type of error once before and it was when there were multiple assemblies referencing different version of a common assembly, so even though their names were the same, their versions were different.

But in this instance there is nothing like this that could be having an impact.  All of the classes of consequence are in the same assembly.

Also, I don't get exception very often, only every now and then.

UPDATE:

I think maybe this is happening between builds on my development machine b/c I am storing some data in the session.  So the version in session was from the last build?  Doesn't sound like a great explanation, but it's the best I have at this point.

UPDATE 2:

I am pretty sure that what I wrote in the last update is what is actually happening. 

I used this code:

Try
    list = CType(view.Session.Item(Me.UnsavedKey), List(Of UnsavedQuoteItemInfo))
Catch ex As System.InvalidCastException
    Dim sError As String = "Unable to cast from type " & _
        view.Session.Item(Me.UnsavedKey).GetType.AssemblyQualifiedName & _
        " to type " & GetType(List(Of UnsavedQuoteItemInfo)).AssemblyQualifiedName & _
        ".  The session has been cleared."
    view.Session.Item(Me.UnsavedKey) = Nothing
    Throw New System.ApplicationException(sError)
End Try

Which producted the following 2 types:

System.Collections.Generic.List`1[[EditQuoteController+UnsavedQuoteItemInfo, App_Web_bp-bbqew, Version=0.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null]], mscorlib, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089

System.Collections.Generic.List`1[[EditQuoteController+UnsavedQuoteItemInfo, App_Web_ve7ziow-, Version=0.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null]], mscorlib, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089. 

I am guessing this is a by product of using the web site project, instead of web application project.  There are some other reasons why we wanted to use web site instead of web app on this project, so you don't have to scold me: we made the right choice.

But it seems that every time I make a change to the project, it creates a new dynamically named assembly.  So even though the classes are really the same, they are globally different as far as asp.net is concerned.

Have you ever wanted to validate an xml document against a schema, but didn't have any applications at your disposal to do it?

You can use the schema validate tool on decisionsoft.com:

http://tools.decisionsoft.com/schemaValidate/

You upload a schema and an xml doc, and it will attempte to validate the xml against the schema.

Rob Howard has a nice article on how to use the 301 redirect (permanent redirect) in order to get search engines to spider the new page, as opposed to just using Response.Redirect, which will send a 302 (temporary redirect) to the client.

I am always on the lookout for better and easier ways to automate testing of my applications.  Mostly, this stems from my teams not being too keen on implementing testing, so the easier I can make it, the easier it will be to convince others to write tests.

So Phil Haack has suggested a free framework called WebAii, and after taking a quick look, it looks promising.

It supports some nice features like mouse/keyboard actions for Ajax testing, and dom actions (find an element and click it, or whatever).  It also supports unit testing your javascript functions by having your test call the functions.  It also integrates with Nunit.  Nice!

Hopefully I can find some free time (HAHAHHAAH) when I can test this out more in a project.

Since moving from my old Rev 0 Verizon card, to the new Rev A built in EVDO card in my new Lenovo laptop, I have had a lot more problems with my service.

It could be that with my old setup, I could simply tell the network adapter to connect and it would take care of dialing out and setting up the connection.  In other words, I didn't have to go through VZ Access Manager.

But now, I am forced to use VZAM, and I have to say, I think it pretty much sucks.

In the last 10 minutes, here are 2 wonderful issues I have run into:

I have had this several times recently... my friend Pete who works a lot with this stuff told me that Error 913 ... "It basically means that Verizon is stupid and can't figure out if it should let your account login."

Usually I just keep trying and eventually I get allowed to login and connect.

The other cool thing that has happened a few times recnetly is that it changes my connection to "dormant" even though I am clearly not dormant (actively using the internet).

So while it is "dormant" I basically can't transmit any data, and it sometimes will not even let me disconnect and try reconnecting.

I don't have any solutions to these problems, but they are very frustrating.

In 2 years, WiMax should be fully rolled out in Chicago, so I look forward to trying another product, but in the mean time, I am stuck with VZW.

We all know ticketmaster is the leader in screwing people when it comes to buying tickets.  You want 4 $28 tickets?  Ok, that will be $165.  What?

Well, I just got done booking a flight on ATA:

Base Fare Per Passenger: $238.00
Taxes and Fees Per Passenger: $102.50

Yes, the taxes and fees are over $100 per ticket!

Here are some other fees that some airlines apply AFTER you have finished comparing which airline to use (which tickets are cheapest):

• $2.50: U.S. security tax ("the Sept. 11 fee");
• $4.50: U.S. passenger facility charge (Chicago O'Hare);
• $14.50: U.S. international departure tax;
• $24.23: U.K. passenger service charge;
• $37.27: U.K. air passenger duty;
• $14.50: U.S. international arrival tax;
• $5: U.S. customs fee;
• $7: U.S. immigration fee;
• $5: U.S. Department of Agriculture inspection fee;
• $130: United Airlines fuel surcharge.

$130 fuel surcharge???  Gimme a break.

These are some nice looking, cross browser compliant, ASP.NET based, free controls from Obout.com

Flyout can perform stuff like this:

But almost more interesting is how it can be used in conjunction with traditional controls.  For example, you can wire up a nice looking "Alt Text" effect for images and labels, and you can provide some nice explanation in the flyout for how to properly fill in a control.  The example they give on their site shows a textbox for "Routing Number" and when you click on the textbox it shows this in the flyout:

The alternating content control which is called "Show" (Show examples) can rotate through some content like so:

These are both free controls.  Very nice!