WordPress by email?

I am testing out a new thing (well at least new to me) from WordPress. It’s the ability to post through email. I have been waiting for something like this for a long time. What do you think of posting through email?

 

Dot Net Nuke

I was looking for a way to create “modules” in asp.net and ran across Dot Net Nuke. It is a free CMS framework that you can use for websites, portals and pretty much whatever you want to use it for. Check it out and let me know what you think.

 

free loops and audio clips

I was looking for some free loops and audio clips earlier today and ran across a website called Partners in Rhyme. I found what I needed. Thanks to them, You can also get your Royalty Free Music and Sound Effects. Don’t forget to download the music and sound effects you need for your multimedia project at Partners In Rhyme today!

 

Using Web Client Software Factory 2.0 with Enterprise Library 4.1

I came across an interesting problem the other day. I had installed WCSF 2.0 and Enterprise Library 4.1 on my computer about a week or so ago. I installed 4.1 instead of 3.1 since it was newer and figured it would probably be a lot better as well.

 

After installing them on top of Visual Studio 2008 SP1, I did the following:

 

1. Start Visual Studio 2008 SP1. You must have already installed WCSF 2 and ent lib 4.1 for this to work.
2. Go to file, then New, and click project…
3. In the new project dialog box, expand Guidance packages, click Web Client Software February 2008 and then click the website or web application solution for your programming language.
4. In the name box, type a name for the solution. This will also become the name of the website or web application project.
5. On the web solution recipe dialog box, uncheck the box to show documentation when finished and then click finish.
6. When the project is created, scroll to the web.config in the website/web application project, right click, and click Edit Enterprise Library configuration.
7. Make some changes. I added an exception handling block.
8. Press control shift v to validate the configuration settings.
9. On the web.config file, right click and click close application. This will attempt to save the settings you just made.
10. An unknown error will show up telling you that you can’t save the settings.
11. Close out of the error windows and the save as dialog.
12. If the errors list isn’t showing, bring it into view. Notice the errors in the list.
13. Close out of the Enterprise Library settings without saving.

 

These errors reference version 3.1 not 4.1. I didn’t realize this until yesterday. Now comes the interesting part. Trying to fix it. I went on a search to see of I could find a way to do this. I found this article. It explains how to update WCSF 2.0 to use Enterprise Library 4.0. You can use it to update to 4.1 as well. All you have to do is reference Version=4.1.0.0 instead of Version=4.0.0.0. Just be careful to leave the Culture and PublicKeyTokens as they are in the 4.0.0.0 references. Let me know how this turned out for you.

 

Creating a multi layered web application the easy way.

The Web Client Software Factory (WCSF) provides a set of guidance for architects and developers building enterprise Web applications. The factory includes samples, reusable code and a guidance package which automates key development tasks from within Visual Studio.
Using the Web Client Software Factory assets, developers can create Composite Web applications composed of independently developed and deployed modules. These modules are dynamically brought together at runtime into a common shell. Additionally the factory includes support for ASP.NET AJAX thus providing users with a richer and more responsive user experience. – Taken from Patterns and practices Web Client Software Factory website

 

Building a multi layered application can be quite hard and complicated. I have been trying to figure it out for the last 2 years. I happened to find the Web Client Software Factory a few days ago. I took a good look at it and tried a few demo projects with it to see how complex it would be to learn. The results?

 

• Easy to setup and install.
• Easy to create the initial solution (not any different from a normal solution).
• The recipes are easy to add and write code for.
• The learning curve for this type of design is very low, especially if you have been in .net development for a while.

 

Pros

 

• All points listed above.
• The UI, business and process layers are separated from each other.
• Modularity. You can reuse any of the modules in other solutions/projects.
• Most of the framework design is already built and coded for you. This is a catch 22, so see Cons below.
• Can make use of the Enterprise Library 4.1 – October 2008 which can make writing code easier.
• Ability to create unit tests for UI, business and process layers.
• Ability to create mock UI designs without having to change any code in the business or process layers.
• More that isn’t listed here. Each person or business can find their own benefits for using WCSF.

Cons

 

• Framework design auto created for you. WCSF automatically builds the framework your application will be built on. If you don’t like auto generated code, this isn’t for you unless you don’t mind having to undo it all.
• Bloated code. If for some reason you decide not to use a feature or part of the required framework, you have code sitting around you will never use. An example is the default Site Map that comes ready to use. If you build your own, it still sits around wasting space.
• No support for multi web application solutions. When you create a WCSF solution, it creates 2 solution folders: Modules where the business modules and foundation modules are stored by default, and Websites where the web client applications are stored. You can add as many modules as you need your web application to use, but you can’t add multiple web client applications to use those modules you created. You are stuck to one web client for each WCSF solution. I have seen different ways to add web applications, but it is a mess and not advised for people who don’t have a good understanding of how solution files are written.

 

After all of this, I have decided to use WCSF for my web applications. I will be posting on how to do different things as I find out more.

 

Love Dare, Day 4

In A previous post, I wrote about how my wife and I were going to go through the Love Dare. This is now day 4. We were able to get through 3 full days. At the end of each day there are journal questions that you have to answer about what happened for that particular day. You can use the questions and the answers you give to them to help you judge your progress through the 40 days. At first (like me), you might not notice a difference during the first day or 2, but that should change shortly. For me, it is day 4 and based on the questions and answers, I can tell a slight difference already. It might not seem like any at first either, but don’t give up. Just because things don’t look like they haven’t changed doesn’t mean they wont. It’s still too early to notice anything major.

 

Your results might vary from mine, but don’t give up whatever happens. I will be posting an update again in a few days.

 

Opening day at Comerica park, oh dear, what a mess!

 

We just got done watching the Detroit Tigers play at home against the Texas Rangers. It seems to be quite a mess (at least for the Rangers). We won 15-2! Hopefully the Tigers can keep up the good work. Do you have any baseball stories to tell? If so what would they happen to be? When you comment, mention what your favorite baseball team is.

 

On your mark! Get set! Love Dare!

My wife and I are involved in a C-group from a church we used to go to in town. Recently, we decided to do the Love Dare. It is a 40 day step by step guide on how to love each other the way God created us to love each other. The original book "Love Dare" was originally meant for couples who were having issues loving each other to the point of breakup and there was only 1 member of the couple interested in loving again. We ourselves aren’t having any marriage issues but we figured that all is going to be better since the book helps couples be stronger in their love for each other. This is what we are always trying to get better at. If you are interested in the book, you can find it at Amazon. To follow up with the Love Dare book, there is also a couples Love Dare study bundle which includes a DVD, 2 “Love Dare” books and 2 Love Dare study guides. This second choice is for couples that wish to do the love dare together. It might be something we will have to look into sometime down the road. If you are interested in the couple study bundle, you can also find it on Amazon. Did you go through the Love Dare? Has it somehow impacted you for the better? If so, I would like to hear your story. Until next time…

 

Making not so obvious check constraints work: Think opposite and you might get what you want!

I was pulling my hair out for the last few days trying to figure out how to make a check constraint for sql server 2008 table column accept only letters a-z and a space. After doing some looking around I finally found the answer. It is quite confusing but I will explain it as best I can.

 

If you type the expression: like ‘%[a-z ]%’

 

You are saying that the letters a-z and a space can appear anywhere in the column value. If you want to filter out numbers and any other special characters, this won’t work because they are still allowed. Here is another expression to look at.

 

If you type: like ‘%[^a-z ]%’

 

Now we are saying that anything outside the range of a-z and no spaces are allowed in the column value. We have half of what we want (well, we have it but it is the opposite). Now we need to get it to accept any value in the range of a-z and include spaces. Here we go.

 

If you type: not like ‘%[^a-z ]%’

 

Ok, now this is getting really wierd. Let’s break it down a little.

1. The ^ means anything outside the range of characters given. [^a-z ] says “a-z and spaces are not allowed”

2. Adding not to the entire thing says “Include in the column value anything that is not outside the range a-z and spaces.”

 

So you effectively end up getting what you want, you just have to apply a double negative standard to the expression. I always find it hard to come up with check constraint expressions and this might be one reason why. Hope this helps if you had the same problem I did.

 

Crystal reports

I found something interesting in Visual Studio 2008 today. I might be behind the times here, but I discovered crystal reports. I don’t know how practicle they will be with what I am doing but it is a worth a look into. Has anybody out there used them before? and if so, what kind of reporting have you been able to do with them?