Google's Beta Blogger (new Version)

New Features:

• New Templates
• Comfortable Template customizing
• Mutliple authors
• Private accessible blog
• Support for RSS 2.0, Atom 1.0
• Updated Dashboard
• Instant publishing
• more

Take a tour: http://www.blogger.com/beta-tour.g

Here is the link "HowTo Migrate to Blogger Beta": http://www.blogger.com/migrate-login.do
Interested in Google data API: http://code.blogger.com

This Blog is already migrated to Blogger Beta. One disadvantage @ the moment: The HTML-Template can not changed manually, so I could not migrate stuff like Hit Counter and additional inserted HTML. - But support for this is promised and should coming soon...

ADAM - Policies...

We use ADAM (Active Directory Application Mode) for a project. To insert some users into the directory, we have written VB-Scripts. Everything worked well in our dev-environment.

But... during the setup at the customer company, we couldn't connect with the admin-user created by our VB-Script. Error-Message: 'Credentials not valid'. What happended!?

There were local policies installed, and the admin-user password didn't meet the minimal requirements, so the account was automatically disabled, without any message!

That's okay from the security point of view. But f****** hard to debug for a developer, escpecially with error messages like 'Credentials not valid'. And a kind of plain-text adsi-editor with hundrets of attributes:



After resetting the attribut "msDS-UserAccountDisabled" to false, everthing worked as expected.

Set Code Analyze on multiple projects

In a large solution, setting the Code Analyze stuff (aka FxCop) on each project via Property-Dialog is quite annoying. Lenny Bacon ("de Späck-Lenny") has written a nice macro, to get the job done:

http://www.lennybacon.com/PermaLink,guid,64276d86-b1ec-4999-a1c2-309af9d8ea79.aspx

Copy as HTML from VS2005

Nice add-in for VS2005. Usefull if you want to publish Code-Sequences into your blog or other html-related containters:

http://jasonhaley.com/blog/archive/2005/12/27/131246.aspx

Hattrick.org - Background Informations

Hattrick (also known internally simply as HT) is an online, browser-based, football management game. Over 860'000 (!) users are managing their team in 112 Countries, using 36 different language versions. The Solution is ASP-based, developed and maintained by 14 employees from the swedish company ExtraLives AB.

Interested in more information? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hattrick

Early Bits... ADO.NET vNext CTP

First bytes of upcomming ADO.NET Entity Framework are available here:

http://blogs.msdn.com/adonet/archive/2006/08/15/701479.aspx

Next-Generation Data Access: Making the Conceptual Level Real:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/data/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/dnvs05/html/nxtgenda.asp

Microsoft Sandcastle - 'NDoc by Microsoft'

Easy generated Source Code Documentation out of the xml-comments is now possible with the new MS Tool Sandcastle. Till now, NDoc was the first joice for me. But Sandcastle sounds like a real alternative - especially because of real .NET 2.0 support.

Mission Statement:
Enable managed class library developers throughout the world to easily create accurate, informative documentation with a common look and feel.

Sandcastle is used internally to build .Net Framework documentation.

Sandcastle Overview:

• Produces quality, comprehensive, familiar MSDN-like documentation.
• Works with or without authored comments.
• Supports Generics and .NET Framework 2.0
• Sandcastle MrefBuilder generates reflection xml file
• Sandcastle Build Assembler includes syntax generation, transformation..etc

Sandcastle Blog, Sandcastle Download

ASP.NET Display ViewState-Size

The ViewState in ASP.NET is saved in a hidden formfield by default. His size can be dangerous high, even though ASP.NET 2.0 has cut the ViewState in half because of better (thanks to the new formatter class, ObjectStateFormatter). If ViewState Size is to high and you get problems passing the firewall, take a look at this.

Here a solution to display the current size of the ViewState inside the browsers statusbar:

protected override void OnPreRenderComplete(EventArgs e)

{

    if (DebugFlag)

    {

        this.ClientScript.RegisterClientScriptBlock(

            this.GetType(),

            "DisplayViewState",

            "<script>window.status = 'ViewState: ' + document.forms[0]['__VIEWSTATE'].value.length + ' bytes';</script>");

    }

}

Put this code in your CodeBehind or in your Web-Base-Page (a page derived from System.Web.UI.Page).

If you are not happy with your ViewState Size, take a look at ViewState Numbers and Solutions to reduce ViewState Size as documented here. Keeping the ViewState on the Server (e.g. via SessionState) instead of the client is one way.

Summer Holidays!

Currently, I enjoy my summer holidays... several weeks ago, we (sandra, ceryll and myself) moved to a new appartement --> there is a lot of things to do and to arrange still during holidays.. but also we were in the wonderfull city of barcelona for 5 days and we were in Locarno for the depeche mode concert. - So not much time to write blog-entries...

Google SpreadSheet (aka Excel in the Browser)

Google Spreadsheets is Excel in the Browser for free! Using AJAX and Web 2.0 Technologies, Google has produced an other killer application. Read this article for more detailed information or try out directly here.

Sniff at more google browser-software on http://labs.google.com/