Elegant Development

Customize how search results are displayed

2009-09-23T07:59:00.000-07:00

I created a simple utility that can customize the Visual Studio Find Results output. I think using it should be pretty self-explanatory..

I wanted something new to do this morning, what can I say!?

Download it here!

You can also check out Sara Ford’s blog for all the glorious details about customizing the Visual Studio Find Results output:

http://blogs.msdn.com/saraford/archive/2008/11/24/did-you-know-you-can-customize-how-search-results-are-displayed-in-the-find-results-window-363.aspx

Excellent Visual Studio tips roundup by Sara Ford

2009-09-23T07:09:00.001-07:00

http://blogs.msdn.com/saraford/archive/2009/09/09/teched-australia-25-visual-studio-2008-ide-tips.aspx

The ones I found most useful (or didn’t already know) include:

Prevent copying blank lines with Ctrl+C

Look in Tools - Options - Text Editor - All Languages - General. Unchecking 'Apply Cut or Copy commands to blank lines when there is no selection' prevents copying a blank line into the clipboard. How did I ever miss this checkbox!?

Incremental Search

This allows me to jump to the next match as I type it out. I LOVE it!!

   1. Press Ctrl+I
   2. Start typing the text you are searching for. note: you'll see the cursor jump to the first match, highlighting the current search string.
   3. Press Ctrl+I again to jump to the next occurrence of the search string
   4. (advanced tip) Press Ctrl+Shift+I to search backwards
   5. To stop searching, press ESC

You’ll note that it is case-sensitive, unfortunately. I’ll have to look for a way to change that..

And, my total favorite is..

Customize how search results are displayed

This is one of the most irritating things ever about Visual Studio. The Find Results window is almost always filled with only the paths of the found files, instead of the line details. I always have to scroll to the right to see the details. Here is the direct link to the article, bypassing the roundup.

http://blogs.msdn.com/saraford/archive/2008/11/24/did-you-know-you-can-customize-how-search-results-are-displayed-in-the-find-results-window-363.aspx

Visual Studio 2008 Macro Fun

2009-09-18T12:37:00.001-07:00

Here are a few macros that I use, that I thought might be of use to others. They should be fairly easy to set up in your environment. I’m always excited to hear about new macros and plugins and other time-saving functionality for Visual Studio, so if you have any – please let me know!!

Misc Built-in Macros

Here are some basic macros that came with Visual Studio 2008 (and VS 2005) that are very useful and easily map to your favorite keyboard shortcut(s).

Macros.Samples.Accessibility.IncreaseTextEditorFontSize
Macros.Samples.Accessibility.DecreaseTextEditorFontSize 
Macros.Samples.Accessibility.UpdateTextEditorFontSizeToMatchDisplayProperties 
Macros.Samples.Utilities.TurnOnLineNumbers 
Macros.Samples.Utilities.TurnOffLineNumbers 
Macros.Samples.VSEditor.BeginningOfFunction 
Macros.Samples.VSEditor.LineEmUp (Good for aligning variable assignments) 
Macros.Samples.DevStudio6Editor.AutoCompleteFromFile

Format Source Code

I map F2 to the standard Edit.FormatDocument command and Ctrl+F2 to the FormatCSharp macro method.

Public Sub FormatCSharp()

   Try
      ' Remove and sort using statements if PowerCommands is installed.
      DTE.ExecuteCommand("Edit.RemoveAndSort")
   Catch ex As Exception
      
   End Try

   Try
      DTE.ExecuteCommand("Macros.Samples.VSEditor.FixLineEnds")
   Catch ex As Exception
      Exit Sub
   End Try

   DTE.ExecuteCommand("Edit.FormatDocument")

End Sub

Attach to IIS Worker Processes

I map Ctrl+P to this macro, replacing the default Print Current Document shortcut.

Sub MacroAttachToAllWebProcesses() 
   Try 
      Dim dbg2 As EnvDTE80.Debugger2 = DTE.Debugger 
      Dim trans As EnvDTE80.Transport = dbg2.Transports.Item("Default") 
      Dim dbgeng(3) As EnvDTE80.Engine 

      dbgeng(0) = trans.Engines.Item("T-SQL") 
      dbgeng(1) = trans.Engines.Item("T-SQL") 
      dbgeng(2) = trans.Engines.Item("Managed") 

      ' Use . for local machine or type machine name 
      For Each theProcess As EnvDTE80.Process2 In dbg2.GetProcesses(trans, ".") 
         If theProcess.Name.Contains("aspnet_wp.exe") Or theProcess.Name.Contains("w3wp.exe") Then 
            theProcess.Attach2(dbgeng) 
         End If
      Next

   Catch ex As System.Exception 
      MsgBox(ex.Message) 
   End Try 

End Sub

Solution Events

' Automatically close all documents when the solution is closed.
Private Sub SolutionEvents_BeforeClosing() Handles SolutionEvents.BeforeClosing
   DTE.ExecuteCommand("Window.CloseAllDocuments")
End Sub

Build Events

' A project failed to compile, so cancel remaining and beep
Private Sub BuildEvents_OnBuildProjConfigDone(ByVal Project As String, ByVal ProjectConfig As String, ByVal Platform As String, ByVal SolutionConfig As String, ByVal Success As Boolean) Handles BuildEvents.OnBuildProjConfigDone
   If Success = False Then
      DTE.ExecuteCommand("Build.Cancel")
      ' System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show("Build failed!")
      Beep()
      Threading.Thread.Sleep(500)
      Beep()
      Threading.Thread.Sleep(500)
      Beep()
      Threading.Thread.Sleep(500)
      Beep()
   End If
End Sub

' The build finished successfully
Private Sub BuildEvents_OnBuildDone(ByVal Scope As EnvDTE.vsBuildScope, ByVal Action As EnvDTE.vsBuildAction) Handles BuildEvents.OnBuildDone
   If (Not failed) Then
      ' System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show("Build is complete!")
      Beep()
      Threading.Thread.Sleep(250)
      Beep()
   End If
End Sub

Build macro for web projects

2009-09-18T13:58:00.001-07:00

Using this macro and batch file you can map a keyboard shortcut and/or a toolbar button in Visual Studio to restart IIS and build the selected project asynchronously.

1. Create a batch file that includes the following:

@echo off 
net stop w3svc 
net start w3svc

For projects that tend to get hung up more frequently in IIS, you can replace the 'net stop' line above with net 'stop iisadmin' instead. (Don’t change the ‘net start’ line.)

2. Create a new macro project that includes events (or add a new module in existing macro project).

3. Paste the following code into the module, inserting the path to the new batch file:

Sub BuildSelectedWebProject() 
   ' restart iis 
   Shell("<your batch file path>", AppWinStyle.MinimizedNoFocus, False) 
   ' start the build 
   DTE.ExecuteCommand("Build.BuildSelection") 
End Sub

4. Map a keyboard shortcut or toolbar button to the new macro: Macros.<Macro Project Name>.BuildSelectedWebProject

Build Solution

Optionally, you can also re-map Ctrl+Shift+B (Build Solution) to the following if desired:

Sub BuildSolution() 
   ' restart iis 
   Shell("<your batch file path>\iisrestart.bat", AppWinStyle.MinimizedNoFocus, False) 
   ' start the build 
   DTE.ExecuteCommand("Build.BuildSolution") 
End Sub

Simple Visual Studio 2005 regular expression to swap variable assignments

2009-07-21T22:02:00.000-07:00

Here is a simple regular expression to use in Visual Studio 2005 to swap the variable/object and assignment.

Find What:	mySettings.{.+} = {.+};
Replace With:	\2 = mySettings.\1;

Collapse folders and projects in Visual Studio

2009-07-16T10:57:00.001-07:00

I consider the PowerCommands for Visual Studio 2008 invaluable. And, the collapse all feature is certainly one of my most used features. However, if a solution folder is already collapsed, the projects underneath are skipped.

So, I found a great macro for collapsing all solution folders and their projects, regardless of whether or not the parent solution folder(s) are open or closed.

Visual Studio 2005 Collapse All Macro

(yes, it works for Visual Studio 2008, what I primarily use)

For convenience, here is the macro source code:

    Sub CollapseAll()

        ' Get the the Solution Explorer tree
        Dim solutionExplorer As UIHierarchy
        solutionExplorer = DTE.Windows.Item(Constants.vsext_wk_SProjectWindow).Object()

        ' Check if there is any open solution
        If (solutionExplorer.UIHierarchyItems.Count = 0) Then
            Return
        End If

        ' Get the top node (the name of the solution)
        Dim rootNode As UIHierarchyItem = solutionExplorer.UIHierarchyItems.Item(1)
        rootNode.DTE.SuppressUI = True

        ' Collapse each project node
        Collapse(rootNode, solutionExplorer)

        ' Select the solution node, or else when you click 
        ' on the solution window
        ' scrollbar, it will synchronize the open document 
        ' with the tree and pop
        ' out the corresponding node which is probably not what you want.

        rootNode.Select(vsUISelectionType.vsUISelectionTypeSelect)
        rootNode.DTE.SuppressUI = False

    End Sub

    Private Sub Collapse(ByVal item As UIHierarchyItem, ByRef solutionExplorer As UIHierarchy)

        For Each innerItem As UIHierarchyItem In item.UIHierarchyItems
            If innerItem.UIHierarchyItems.Count > 0 Then

                ' Re-cursive call
                Collapse(innerItem, solutionExplorer)

                ' Collapse
                If innerItem.UIHierarchyItems.Expanded Then
                    innerItem.UIHierarchyItems.Expanded = False
                    If innerItem.UIHierarchyItems.Expanded = True Then
                        ' Bug in VS 2005
                        innerItem.Select(vsUISelectionType.vsUISelectionTypeSelect)
                        solutionExplorer.DoDefaultAction()
                    End If
                End If

            End If
        Next

    End Sub

SCRUM vs. Waterfall

2009-01-13T07:46:00.000-07:00

I didn’t realize how frustrating it would be to take a new job that doesn’t do SCRUM. I was told it was an iterative development process. But, honestly, it’s more like old-fashioned waterfall than anything else.

I’ve had a few discussions revolving around development methodologies but there is nothing except anti-sentiment and near resentment for even bringing up any way to do things better! What’s the deal?

Why is it so hard for people to even consider trying it or even spending a couple lunches doing some practice exercises?

I guarantee it’s what they want. They just don’t know it.

Obama vs. Christians

2008-10-30T14:24:00.002-07:00

1. Obama is undecided on whether life begins at conception - Saddleback Church Forum Aug 16th, 2008. Obama voted against born alive protections for abortion survivors four times, and voted against a ban on partial-birth abortion in the Illinois state senate

SOURCES: http://www.bornalivetruth.org
Audacity of Hope written by Barack Obama

2. Obama has pledged to Planned Parenthood to sign The Freedom of Choice Act, a law which would cancel every state, federal, and local regulation of abortion, no matter how modest or reasonable. It would even abolish all state restrictions on government funding for abortions. Catholics that pay income tax will be paying an abortionist to perform an abortion. It would also abolish state laws that protect Catholic doctors and nurses from losing their jobs if they refuse to participate in abortions. It would abolish requirements for parental notification and informed consent for mothers who consider the procedure. – Obama speech to Planned Parenthood, July 17, 2007
He is endorsed by pro-Abortion industry leader Planned Parenthood and has a 100% NARAL voting record. -

SOURCES: http://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/campaigns/barack-obama-endorsement-111.htm
http://www.naral.org/elections/statements/obama.html

3. Obama would repeal the Mexico City policy, which bars federal funding for international nongovernmental organizations involved in abortion-related services and would pit the US against the [Christians everywhere] on the international fight against abortion.

SOURCE: http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/nj_20080719_6257.php

4. He strongly supports the 1973 Supreme Court decision on abortion rights and says he will oppose any constitutional measure to overturn it. -

SOURCE: http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/nj_20080719_6257.php

5. Obama has pledged to choose Justices with a Pro Abortion agenda and he voted against Roberts and Alito.

SOURCE: http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/nj_20080719_6257.php

6. Obama voted no on notifying parents of minors who get out-of-state abortions and prohibiting minors crossing state lines for abortion.

SOURCE: http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/nj_20080719_6257.php

7. Obama supports the destruction of embryos for experimentation and voted to expand research to more embryonic stem cell lines.

SOURCE: http://obama.senate.gov/press/070411-obama_renews_su/

8. He voted yes on $100M to fund contraceptives for teens and sponsored bill providing contraceptives for low-income women.

SOURCE: http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/nj_20080719_6257.php

9. Voted no on defining unborn child as eligible for SCHIP a program that gives funds to states in order to provide health insurance to families with children.

SOURCE: http://www.ncregister.com/site/article/15942

10. He opposed the federal marriage amendment in 2006 and also favors repealing the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which gives a state the right not to recognize same-sex marriages performed in another state.

SOURCE: http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/nj_20080719_6257.php

from: http://catholicvote.com/

PowerCommands for Visual Studio 2008

2008-10-03T10:21:00.000-07:00

PowerCommands for Visual Studio 2008 is definitely one of the best plug-ins available for Visual Studio..

http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ProjectName=PowerCommands&ReleaseId=559

Includes things like:

Undo closed window

Collapse all projects

Copy path

Email CodeSnippet

Insert GUID from right-click menu

Copy and paste project references!

Open containing folder

Open command prompt

Unload project

Sort using statements / also removes un-used ones

And more..

Integrating TortoiseSVN with Visual Studio

2008-09-11T07:20:00.000-07:00

Going back to using a file explorer separately for managing RCS, after using TFS built into Visual Studio has been a little irritating. That's not because I prefer TFS, because I don't. In fact, I hope I never have to go back to TFS again - at least until it doesn't crash continually and take minutes to perform actions that should take only seconds. And, of course TFS would have to actually perform the actions I request of it too. (But that's another post.)

Nonetheless I've quickly become tired of switching between Total Commander and Visual Studio just to do updates and commits. I was about to resurrect my old CVS batch files again when I found an excellent set of scripts to enable TortoiseSVN from within Visual Studio.

http://garrys-brain.blogspot.com/2007/07/tortoisesvn-and-visual-studio.html

I have not tried all of the features yet, only the basics. But those have worked without any problems at all.

Letter to Google

2007-09-12T22:15:00.001-07:00

First off, let me just say how fantastic the GMail web interface is. For my style and usage patterns, it can't be beat. I have used a two folder system in Outlook for four to five years now, since I gave up on trying to keep things organized into folders (and Google Desktop provided a search mechanism that worked for my emails). And, the conversation view is wonderful! I also think the Google Apps for Domains suite of functionality and tools is superb.

So, naturally, I have all of my domains running on Google Apps for Domains and all email pointed to my one standard GMail account.

But, there's a problem. I have missed several important emails during the last month, two of which has caused some missed deadlines with my own MicroISV. Not good.

To be honest, I didn't think much about it until tonight when on the phone, my partner and I, were discussing some tasks that had to be done this morning and tonight, when I hadn't received either sets of emails. Very not good.

So, I logged in to the Apps account directly and found that the only emails stopped in the SPAM filter are 12 emails from my business partner spanning the last 30 days.. (Out of all emails I receive from him, the twelve trapped in the last month were probably the most important ones he sent, but that's a different story.) That also explained several disconnects we've had.

What is also really strange about this, is that I've gotten emails from the Apps account, forwarded to my standard account, then trapped as SPAM (rightfully so) in my standard account. So, what gives.. Gmail is forwarding SPAM, but trapping

Anyway, I'm hoping to find a way to completely turn off SPAM filtering on my forwarded Gmail account so I won't have this problem again. Is that possible? Or at least a whitelist protection?

My business partner is ready to go back to hosting our own email server again, including purchasing Exchange 2007. I'm hoping to stay with the great Gmail web interface, but... only if I can ensure this type of thing won't happen again.

Please help?

My IRAM drive finally running!

2008-02-07T08:15:00.000-07:00

I finally got my IRAM drive running on my new work machine. I use it exclusively for my TFS local folders in Visual Studio 2005 and 2008 Team Editions. It literally cut my compile time in half. From about 3 minutes 10 seconds to 1 minute 30 seconds. Wow is all I can think to say. Oh, except it's about time. I've only had four IRAM drives for about 5-6 months now and no machine to use them on.

Technorati Tags: Hardware,IRAM

Just had a funny thought...

2007-08-17T21:43:00.000-07:00

I was just thinking how much I love JavaScript and how it has been my favorite language/platform for years. People who consider themselves 'real' developers have always given me a hard time because of it. That and "you can use it just like an OOP language, but it's not really one"! Haha! Who cares if it only acts like it!?

How could you not love it? It's so dynamic - you can do anything you want with it!

It's funny that everyone is getting excited about the DLR in upcoming .Net releases. And, "it's so cool, because it supports dynamic language extensions to C#." Hehehe.. Well, at least the rest of the world is finally starting to catch up to me.. 8^)

Important differences between the JavaScript null and undefined

2007-08-17T21:27:00.000-07:00

I'm cleaning up some old code today primarily consisting of JavaScript and a bit of C# (ASP.net). I'm trying to make the code faster and more easily understood.

I thought I'd clean up the code used when working with elements on the page. Generally, this consists of an assignment from the DOM to a local JS variable and then an if statement to verify the object was found.

Now, some people will claim that it isn't necessary to perform the check (assuming you are checking during onload or after) because it is highly unlikely that only part of the web page will be downloaded. I agree that it is unlikely and quite frankly if only a portion of the page gets downloaded you're going much more important problems to worry about than a few JavaScript error dialogs. But, nevertheless, I still feel it is a good practice to check for null objects.

I have always done a simple check as follows:

var obj = document.getElementById("myobject");
if (obj)
   obj.style.display = "block";

However, I know many web developers who go a little further:

var obj = document.getElementById("myobject");
if (null != obj && "undefined" != typeof(obj))
   obj.style.display = "block";

I generally only check for undefined when checking if a method parameter exists or not.

function myFunc(id, e)
{
   var obj = document.getElementById(id);
   if (obj)
   {
      if ("undefined" != e && null != e)
         obj.innerHTML = "An error occurred: " + e;
   }
}

Does it matter? What do you do? What's the difference between null and undefined?

Well, so the difference between null and undefined are very simple, yet very important. null is actually an object in JavaScript. undefined is a value for objects that don't exist or variables that have not yet been assigned to.

Checking for null is simple:

if (obj) // the object exists
if (null != obj) // the object exists
if (!obj) // the object is null
if (null == obj) // the object is null

Checking for undefined is just as simple*:

// test as an object
if (undefined != obj) // the object is defined
if (undefined == obj) // the object is undefined
// test as a string
if ("undefined" != typeof(obj)) // the object is defined
if ("undefined" == typeof(obj)) // the object is undefined

*Please note, however that a lot of people make the simple mistake of testing the wrong thing with regards to undefined. There are two ways to test it, as a string or as an object. Look closely at the two different types of examples above, so you don't accidentally mix them up! (Which I've only done about a bajillion times!)

And, don't forget that just because an object is not undefined, does not mean that it is non-null as well. In other words a null object is still an object therefore it is defined. That make sense?

Well, in my cleaning up I decided to revisit the whole thing and noticed like all maturing web applications there are many variations and uses of these throughout our code. I needed to know for sure, however, what is returned by getElementById (and getElementsByName) when the object or objects are not found. And, also what is the best, cleanest way to test those objects.

So, I wrote a few tests:

var obj = document
      .getElementById("this-elem-doesnt-exist");
if (!obj)
   alert("!obj");
if (obj)
   alert("obj");
if (null == obj)
   alert("null == obj");
if (null != obj)
   alert("null != obj");
if (undefined == obj)
   alert("undefined == obj");
if (undefined != obj)
   alert("undefined != obj");
if ("undefined" == typeof(obj))
   alert("\"undefined\" == typeof(obj)");
if ("undefined" != typeof(obj))
   alert("\"undefined\" != typeof(obj)");
if (undefined == typeof(obj))
   alert("undefined == typeof(obj)");
if (undefined != typeof(obj))
   alert("undefined != typeof(obj)");

Now, let's run the same tests against an object that we know exists:

var obj = document
      .getElementById("this-elem-exists");
if (!obj)
   alert("!obj");
if (obj)
   alert("obj");
if (null == obj)
   alert("null == obj");
if (null != obj)
   alert("null != obj");
if (undefined == obj)
   alert("undefined == obj");
if (undefined != obj)
   alert("undefined != obj");
if ("undefined" == typeof(obj))
   alert("\"undefined\" == typeof(obj)");
if ("undefined" != typeof(obj))
   alert("\"undefined\" != typeof(obj)");
if (undefined == typeof(obj))
   alert("undefined == typeof(obj)");
if (undefined != typeof(obj))
   alert("undefined != typeof(obj)");

Based on the results, I really think that all you should have to do is a simple check as in the first example. So, I'm changing our code to look nice and clean using just a simple if (obj), unless there is a need to check if it's undefined.

Targeting Firefox, IE 7, and IE 6 (and older) browsers via CSS

2007-08-16T17:49:00.000-07:00

The tip for today's post is applying different styles to IE 7, IE 6 and older, and all the other browsers out there without having custom script or changing out style sheets. It’s simple too!

1)	First, create your normal style, which of course applies to all browsers:
	padding: 2px 6px 2px 6px;
2)	Then, create the style you’d like to apply only to Internet Explorer 7:
	#padding: 1px 6px 1px 6px;
3)	Now, create the style to apply only to Internet Explorer 6 and older:
	/* _padding: 3px 4px 3px 4px; */

There you have it! Now you can target the three main browsers: IE 6, IE 7, and everyone else.

Technically, step 2 doesn’t only apply to IE 7, but really applies to all Internet Explorer browsers. In other words, if you wanted to target all IE browsers only steps 1 and 2 are needed.

I don’t remember where I found this. I believe parts came from a couple of different sources, but anyway, it’s a great hack – especially when used together.

Getting things done!?

2007-07-17T17:32:00.000-07:00

I recently purchased the book Getting Things Done, by David Allen. I've just started reading it and I'm surprised how similar my own personal method is to GTD. I have done some things for many years because they worked. This book is sure helping me to understand why.

There are some major differences however. Some things I like better in GTD, but some of the things are tailored just for me - that I have proven in use over and over again. Again, that may just be for myself, though.

I'll post the differences between my system and GTD once I've finished the book..

Great quote from Ann Coulter

2007-07-07T21:56:00.000-07:00

Although, I'm always irritated by good bloggers posting their own feelings regarding politics, because they are usually wrong, I just couldn't resist posting one myself. This is from Ann Coulter at http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=21404.

"With so many felons being Democrats, the party might want to think about changing its mascot from a donkey to a jailbird." - Ann Coulter (link)

Interesting article too.

How many blogs are you subscribed to?

2007-08-04T11:50:00.000-07:00

Reading blogs take too much time. There have always only been a few that I actually read, frequently. But, most of them, even long time favorites (such as Scobleizer) just seem to take too much time to read.

I have found myself unsubscribing from blogs more and more. Not that I ever had a whole lot to begin with. At the highest point I maybe had 60 subscribed to in my reader. I just don't want to spend the time reading blogs, where most of it is what I consider fluff. Currently, I have about 35 subscriptions, but only about 15 are really active with at least 2 or more posts a week. Of course, some like MAKE and Engadget have dozens and more each day.

Being an IT and Dev Generalist, I am involved in so many different technologies. I would like to get the synopsis of each area without having to slowly go through all of the (seemingly) countless posts about the things I'm not interested in. I want to go to a web site and be able to read in 10 minutes or less each day the current buzz about the subjects I'm interested in. It would of course keep track of what I last looked at. If I wanted more detail (and had time for such a thing) I could follow links for more, etc.

I would also like it to remind me, say, once a month to look at certain topics. Things like check out the latest health-related articles on MSN Health or check up on what my local politicians are currently going on about.

I'm thinking the user interface should be similar to this:

Information Technology

Windows Home Server

No news to report | Saved for later (2)

Windows Scripting

New blog posts (3) | New articles (6) | Saved for later (2)

Windows Mobile

New blog posts (4) | No new articles

Development

Ruby

Blog posts (11) | New articles (4)

C# / .Net

Blog posts (11) | New articles (4)

Hardware & Hobbies Engineering

Robotics

New blogs posts (3) | No new articles

HAM Radio

No new blogs | No new articles

Commodore 64

No new blogs | No new articles

Politics

Ann Coulter / Human Events

New blogs posts (3) | New articles (1)

Google Maps stopped working a few days ago

2007-07-13T10:41:00.001-07:00

We ran into a problem this last Monday (7/9/07) where the Google Maps stopped working on some of our page. After figuring out why some pages were working and some weren't it turns out that Google made a change to their API.

Basically, you must now call map.setCenter() to initialize the map before calling any of the other methods that set preferences to it such as map.enableDragging(), map.enableDoubleClickZoom().

Actually, the only one that I noticed that caused the map to not display at all was map.enableDragging().

Use Reflection to compare Class properties with Enum element names

2007-03-06T20:58:00.000-07:00

The following code demonstrates how to use Reflection to simply your code; making it easier to read and understand, and remove code for potential bugs.

The "normal" way of assigning/comparing Enum elements with class properties. In this example, the code must be changed every time you change the user class or the DataField enum. That's a major pain in the neck!

public class User
{

public string FirstName;
public string LastName;
public string EmailAddress;
public User() { }

}

public enum DataField
{

FirstName,
LastName,
EmailAddress,

}

string value = "";
switch (field.DataField)
{

case DataField.FirstName: value = currentUser.FirstName;
break;
case DataField.LastName: value = currentUser.LastName;
break;
case DataField.EmailAddress: value = currentUser.EmailAddress;
break;
default: value = "";
break;

}

Using the switch statement above, you'd have to modify it whenever you add more properties of your User class..

But, by using the following code, you won't ever have to modify the switch statement because it isn't even needed anymore.

public class User
{

public int PlanType;

public string FirstName;
public string LastName;
public string EmailAddress;

public string Address;
public string City;
public string State;
public string PostalCode;
public string Country;
public string PhoneNumber;

public string CreditCardName;
public string CreditCardType;
public string CreditCardNumber;
public string CreditCardExpirationMonth;
public string CreditCardExpirationYear;

public User() { }

}

public enum DataField
{

Unknown,
PlanType,
FirstName,
LastName,
EmailAddress,
Address,
City,
State,
PostalCode,
Country,
PhoneNumber,
CreditCardName,
CreditCardType,
CreditCardNumber,
CreditCardExpirationMonth,
CreditCardExpirationYear

}

string value = "";
FieldInfo[] properties = currentUser.GetType().GetFields();
for (int i = 0; i < properties.Length; i++)
{

if (properties[i].Name == field.DataField.ToString())
{

Object obj = properties[i].GetValue(currentUser);
if (null != obj)

value = (string)obj;

break;

}

}

Of course, you'll still have to ensure that the DataField enum and the User class properties are kept in sync, but you don't ever have to modify your for loop. That's cool!

Output name/values of an Enum

2007-03-28T10:21:00.000-07:00

I took the time a while ago to figure out the best way to output each name and value in an Enum. I just keep using the code and have been looking in recent projects looking for the code to re-use in a new project. So, I thought I’d share the love..

This code will output the name and value of each element in the MyEnum object.

string[] names = Enum.GetNames(typeof(MyEnum));
Array values = Enum.GetValues(typeof(MyEnum));
for (int i = 0; i < names.Length; i++)
{
Console.WriteLine(string.Format("{0} = {1}", names[i], values.GetValue(i)));
}

I think Reflection is probably the most overlooked and under-appreciated assembly in the whole .Net framework. Don’t you just love it? 8^)

Windows Vista Command-Prompt from Here

2007-03-09T15:32:00.000-07:00

I stumbled upon a nice feature of Windows Vista Explorer. If you right-click on a folder in Explorer, it will provide you with a different set of options. One of them is "Open Command Window Here," that opens a DOS prompt with the selected folder as the default path. That is cool, since the Windows XP Command-Prompt Here PowerToy was invaluable.

UPDATED: After looking at it again, I noticed that there is one other additional item that is present when holding the Shift key down: "Copy As Path," which simply copies that folder's complete path into the Clipboard. Cool!

Here's a screen shot:

Wish list for Google Docs & Spreadsheets

2007-02-26T10:11:00.000-07:00

To build upon my previous post about why Google Docs & Spreadsheets doesn't work, here is a short list of features I would like to see implemented.

Custom Font Selection: I just gotta be able to change the look and feel of my documents or I won't use it. Fix it, okay!?

Desktop Docs & Spreadsheets Sync: There must be a way to have these files automatically backed up to my local hard disk. I would prefer a mirroring solution, though. I'd like to be able to edit the same files locally or online via GD&S. Just add functionality to Google Desktop Search that will manage the synchronization process. Even better, why not add the functionality as a Backup Solution for desktop users, where those files just happen to be "backed up" (mirrored) to the same location that GD&S uses.

Added Bonus: A Windows shell extension to allow dropping all of my files into a single GD&S folder. The files would be kept locally (in that folder), but those files would also be mirrored with GD&S online. I'm thinking something similar to how Gmail Drive works (Linux version, Mac OSX version).

Super-duper Added Bonus: Even more cool than that would be to have the (same) shell extension render the file view to look like GD&S online. That would be way cool and super usable!

Note to Google: I volunteer to beta test these for you!

Universal Charging Pad

2007-03-03T21:46:00.000-07:00

I was thinking how nice it would be to get rid of all of my power cables and USB cables that are being used to charge up all of my devices. That would be very cool, indeed!

So, I was thinking why not make a "Universal Charging Pad" that you can simply set your device onto and it would charge up. It works simply enough. Some products have already done similar things, such as my Sonicare toothbrush. But, think how nice it would be to set all of your many devices of various sizes (and voltages) onto a single, think mouse-pad-looking-thing to get charged up. No cables, no mess. That'd be cool!

By the way, the Universal Charging Pad copyright is now for sale.. 8^)

The Windows Vista UAC

2007-03-19T14:13:00.000-07:00

Everyone has probably already turned off the UAC, but I hadn't until today. I left those annoying popup dialogs, because I actually like the features it provides; not for me, but for when my kids are using my computer. And, let's be honest, once you had everything installed that you normally use, the popup dialog isn't really that annoying anymore.

Today I found a way to disable the UAC dialogs for only Administrators. That is cool! I haven't seen that done yet, so I tried it out and it works good! You can look here for the instructions to perform this tip, courtesy of HowToGeek.com.

Alternatively, you can create a plain-text file on your computer, name it with a .REG extension and put the following into it.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
"ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin"=dword:00000000

Then, run that file. This registry key location was also courtesy of HowToGeek.com.