Mind Gravy

Moving to Windows Server 2003 for Development

2006-03-04T02:22:00.000-06:00

I'm in the process of installing a new hard drive and installing all my programs again on Windows Server 2003. I think it will be easier to do local development and see how the application will truely behave. I did find out that Virtual PC 2004 does not run on Server 2003. That puts a damper on how I use the VPN for one of my customers. I didn't want to install the Nortel VPN software and mess up my laptop.

It has taken VS.NET 2003 about 1/2 hour to install, but it's almost done. At least I have 100G to work with now instead of 40G.

Found the Funniest Blog Headline Tonight

2006-02-28T01:01:00.000-06:00

So I've been trying to get some ideas on what I should be doing with this new project that has come my way. I thought I would do some reading on some business models and web 2.0 stuffs since that seems the way to be going with new websites.

I was reading Russle Beattie's blog and got into some of his archived entries and came across this gem:

http://www.russellbeattie.com/notebook/1008765.html

Nice.

Perks of a small software company

2006-02-17T15:16:00.000-06:00

I really haven't told much about my job, but I love it. I left my old job about a year and a half ago to join up with these guys.

We needed to see if our company credit cards worked. So one of the QA people went out to Jewel and got 2 cases of beer. We're now sitting around the conference room table, drinking Bud Light and Harp.

Life is good.

LLBLGenPro - O/R Mapping for .NET

2006-02-17T02:13:00.000-06:00

I have been having some issues trying to get my application into a proper "n-tier" programming layout. I decided to take a look at some O/R mappers to see if any of them fit the bill for what I need it to do.

I have heard a lot about Codesmith and WilsonORMapper, but I also saw LLBLGenPro. I downloaded the demo and just, WOW. I was completely blown away by how simple it is if you have your database schema set up just right. There are so many different options on how you can use it. I took a few tables from my existing application and built 5 Entities and a TypedList and had data from it in about 10 minutes. I just had to get the syntax right and voila!

I highly recommend that you take a look and see what you can do with it.

http://www.llblgen.com

Deploying Websites for ASP.NET

2006-02-08T15:13:00.000-06:00

I was reading some messageboards and I see a lot of questions about deploying ASP.NET applications. Some people will upload their entire application via FTP or Explorer and will waste precious time finding out which files they need to change and which ones they need to leave on the server.

I thought I would give people an idea of how I do my deployments:

First, I use Allway Sync. This program is very handy for all of my backups as well as deployments. I will set filters that only get .aspx, .config, etc... and will Analyse the target site. Then I Synchronize the sites with the appropriate files.

I also use RedGate SQL Compare to determine any database schema changes that I may have made in the last update. I then take the script that it generates and run it on the production database.

For my personal sites that are hosted externally, I use NetDrive, which will map an FTP to a drive letter in Windows. This allows me to use AllwaySync the same way as if it were locally on my machine.

Related Links:

New Books to read

2006-02-04T16:30:00.000-06:00

So I went to my local Borders and picked up 2 new books:

Professional ASP.NET 2.0 (WROX)
Designing Interfaces (O'Reilly)

I will let you know how these books turn out.

Starting my Microsoft MCPD: Web Developer

2006-02-03T16:52:00.000-06:00

So I pitched this idea to my managers today about getting certified in ASP.NET development. They told me to get together a plan for everything and they would let me know.

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/mcpd/default.asp

I think it's a good opportunity for me in my new job (well, 1 1/2 yrs) to show some initiative towards bettering myself for the company. It would be in their best interest to support me.

ASP.NET Tools, Components and Controls

2006-02-02T01:50:00.000-06:00

For my first post, I wanted to get a list together of the tools that I use for .NET programming with SQL Server. There are so many different applications out there and so many to choose from. I wanted to get my 2 cents in.

Obvisouly, I use Visual Studio.NET as my main programming tool. I haven't made the switch to 2005 yet because of projects that currently run on 1.1, but that will be changing in the near future.

I also use VBCommenter, which is a free documentation program that is an add-in for VS.NET. It sets up macros for you to comment your code easier. If I type ''' before any of my methods, properties or variables, it will populate the information with a template so I am able to document it using the standard XML comments. This then allows a program such as NDoc to go in and create MSDN style reference for all of your classes.

For regular expressions, I use "The Regulator". It is also free and is .NET language specific. It uses the .NET Framework to determine the correct string for regex.

I haven't done a lot with unit testing because it is very time consuming to add to code that already exists, but it makes for good logic in your code.

Here's the rest of the components and tools:

BrowserHawk ($)
Report.NET
ComponentArt WebUI 3.0 ($)
Infragistics NetAdvantage 2005 Vol. 3 ($)
telerik r.a.d. controls ($)
SharpZipLib
VirtualLNK (graphics, logos, XP style icons) ($)
ProgressBar (free control that shows your...duh....progress)
FreeTextBox
NIni

Stand Alone Apps
Red Gate SQL Compare (SQL schema synchronization) ($)
Red Gate ANTS ($)
Allway Sync (file synchronization)

You can always find good components at SourceForge.net. I found half of these there.

If you have anything that you use, let me know!

Welcome to Mind Gravy

2006-02-02T01:24:00.000-06:00

Welcome to my site on the web devoted to programming in ASP.NET.

I hope to post some of my knowledge in order to help those that are looking for it.