Section: Blogs

New Column Is Up (Laziness .NET)

Jun 27, 2003 1 min.

My most recent Coding 4 Fun column was just published… a fairly “fun” example, even if it happens to do something a little ‘odd’ with Remoting over SOAP. For those of you who read it; using Add Web Reference on the .NET Compact Framework side of things to connect to a Remoting server is not the recommended way to do things, but it does work in some situations and … well… it is pretty darn easy, so I went with it.

In case you didn’t notice… GotDotNet User Samples has RSS!!

Jun 25, 2003 1 min.

Many things on GotDotNet now have RSS feeds, including User Samples! [http://www.gotdotnet.com/community/resources/rss.aspx?feed=sample ](http://www.gotdotnet.com/community/resources/rss.aspx?feed=sample) I’m very excited. ([Listening To](http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dncodefun/html/code4fun04252003.asp): Absolute Beginners [[The Jam](http://www.windowsmedia.com/mg/search.asp?srch=The+Jam) / Grosse Pointe Blank])

Multiple Methods for Auto-Updating, which to choose?

Jun 22, 2003 3 min.

My last two posts mentioned two different ways of achieving similar results; deploying and updating an application over the Internet. Not suprisingly, I received a comment asking how do you determine which of the two methods to use, a very good question which I will try to answer here. The first thing to understand is that, while the two methods have similar goals, they are different in a key respect; one deploys over the network when you run it, the other uses the network to retrieve updates.

Application Updater Block

Jun 19, 2003 1 min.

Jamie Cool took the auto-updating technology out of Terrarium and made it into its own component solution for adding application updates to your app, which was pretty cool on its own… but now it is even cooler as PAG (the same MSFT group who brought you the Data Access Application Block, etc.) has taken Jamie’s code and updated it with a whole host of new features including support for background copying using BITS.

No Touch Deployment in Winnipeg

Jun 19, 2003 1 min.

I’m on my way to Winnipeg, Manitoba to give a talk on No Touch Deployment with .NET; luckily I managed to find wireless access at the Vancouver airport along the way. If I had to pick one thing about .NET that justifies a move from VB6 windows applications to VB.NET Windows Forms it would have to be the ease of deployment and update using the Internet. Check out this article for more info on the whole concept of No Touch Deployment or just check out the whole Windows Forms deployment area of the VB Developer Center on MSDN.

Punitive User Interfaces

Jun 18, 2003 2 min.

I’m sure Alan Cooper has a better name for it, but this thread on GDN caught my eye today; Question: I want to make sure that the txtBox is Numeric Only on “Leave”. I’m sure a user will at eventually enter a $ into the txtBox. I want to bring up a MessageBox on “Leave” that will notify the user to take the $ of the txtBox and prevent further data entry until the $ is removed.

In case none of you web-heads have noticed….

Jun 13, 2003 1 min.

The new ASP.NET developer center has launched at http://msdn.microsoft.com/asp.net. And yes, having asp.net as a directory name is perfectly “legal”, even if it looks a little odd the first time you see it. Kent Sharkey is the Editor/Content Strategist of this new site, so any comments should be directed to him……

Better late than never… right?

Jun 4, 2003 1 min.

My latest column is up on MSDN, [ Macro Madness ](http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dncodefun/html/code4fun05302003.asp) , part of the ongoing Coding 4 Fun experience! Speaking of Coding 4 Fun, or the lack thereof… I’m sitting in a wireless lounge at TechEd, where I have spent most of my trip to Dallas… doing remote troubleshooting and coding on a system back in Redmond. Not a unique experience, I’m sure many of the people reading this entry have ended up working from a remote location when they expected to attend sessions or other activities… but still not the best way to spend one’s time.

Dinner and Drinks with some local Bloggers

Jun 2, 2003 1 min.

A pair of Mr. Smiths (Eric and Cory) have invited me and anyone else who is into .NET to come for dinner and drinks at the Hard Rock Cafe in Dallas… 7 pm Tuesday night. I’ll be there, and I hope to see a few more folks too!