This Old Code

I guess I don't get this Google Gears thing.  This morning Scott posted Google Gears - Maybe all Rich Internet Applications needed was Local Storage and an Offline Mode

RIA I see but for offline storage?

My response was Cookies 2.0 to which Carlos  reply's

Cookies 2.0?
Have you even looked at SQLite? You can stuff all sorts of things in the database and get it back out via SQL.
You can build a synchronizing n-tier web app on the desktop. If the thought of that doesn't make you drool, nothing will.

I actually use SQLite a lot, there are things I like and things I don't but as a local data store for RIA its a fine choice.  Google providing a simple framework for access via JavaScript is great.  But unless my app is written in 90% JavaScript client side what good is this Gears thing in the offline world?  I perused the frame work and I don't see any Synchronization.  So yes Cookies 2.0 I can store much more rich information on your computer and I will be able to deliver some very compelling user experience, all with a relatively speaking easy API.  I am just not seeing what this has to do with an offline environment.

legible

p

{

line-height: 150%;

}

p.dropCap:first-letter

{

font: bold 700% 'party let', 'comic sans MS', fantasy; margin-right: 12px; color: red; float:  left;

}

not legible

p { line-height: 150%; }
p.dropCap:first-letter { font: bold 700% 'party let', 'comic sans MS', fantasy; margin-right: 12px; color: red; float: left; }

Wired Is displaying some odd/humorous still life on our Google streets

Request for Urban Street Sightings: Submit and Vote on the Best Urban Images Captured by New Google Maps Tool

Random test data generation.  If you generate random data how good is your test?  If your just testing load this practice is fine but for any thing else you need some semblance of real data.  How can you run a report and validate it if your returned a random assortment of string data?  What would really be the golden standard would be a database of real data such as street addresses names email... A good seed to base your Test data off of.

My fist post with Live Writer beta 2.  Quite different looking. Cool new inline spell check sadly it doesn't extent to links.  I just wish during the install process they didn't try to set my home page to MSN.

Windows Live Writer Beta2

This is going to take some getting used to...

Resales Fall; Unsold Homes Hit 15-Year High

Single-family existing-home sales fell 2.4% in April, and the supply of unsold homes on the market shot up to the highest level in 15 years, according to the National Association of Realtors. The NAR reported that sales of previously owned single-family homes fell from a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.35 million in March to 5.22 million in April. Compared with the level recorded in April 2006, sales were down 11.2%. NAR senior economist Lawrence Yun said the April sales continued to be affected by weather issues and the problems in the subprime market. However, he said he is seeing data that show improved sales in early May. And he said it may indicate that the subprime problem will turn out to be a "short-term disruption to the homebuying process" as buyers find other mortgage products. Meanwhile, the supply of unsold single-family homes jumped by 11.5% to 3.6 million in April, which represents an 8.3-month supply at the current sales pace and the highest monthly supply since 1992. Sales of condominiums and co-ops fell 3.8% in April, but inventories rose by only 4.1%. The NAR economist said the condo market has strengthened thanks to "bottom fishing" by investors.

Introducing  a new step in web 2.0 maps Google's new street view. check it out.

Erika wrote a couple posts worth a look regarding Data driven document generation.

Data-driven document generation with Word 2007 and the Office XML File Formats: Part 1

Data-driven document generation with Word 2007 and the Office XML File Formats: Part 2

Also If you wanted to take a Mail Merge word doc and port it over to XML

Migrating Mail Merge Fields to Content Controls ( I republished the code so that its legible)

 

Private Sub Document_Open()

    If (MsgBox("Convert Mail Merge fields to Content Controls?", vbYesNo, "Convert Mail Merge Fields") = vbYes) Then

        ConvertMailMergeFields

    End If

End Sub

'** Traverse Mail Merge fields collection and convert each mail merge field into a content control
'** while preserving its font style and format.
Private Sub ConvertMailMergeFields()

    Dim i As Integer, Count As Integer
    Dim currentFont As Font
    Dim mergeFieldname As String
    Dim field As MailMergeField

    For Each field In ActiveDocument.MailMerge.Fields

        '** Select Mail Merge field to process.
        field.Select
        Set currentFont = Selection.Font

        '** Set name for content control.
        mergeFieldname = GetMailMergeFieldName(field.Code)
        Debug.Print ("Processing [" & mergeFieldname & "]")

        '** Remove Mail Merge field and replace it with addition of new content control.
        Selection.Cut

        '** Add new content control.
        AddContentControl mergeFieldname, currentFont
        Count = Count + 1

    Next

    Debug.Print ("Number of Mail Merge Fields converted to Content Controls: " & Count)

End Sub

'** Add new content control.
Private Sub AddContentControl(ByVal mergeFieldname As String, ByVal currentFont As Font)

    Dim newControl As ContentControl
    Dim fontStyleName As String

    Set newControl = ActiveDocument.ContentControls.Add(wdContentControlText)

    '** The Title property only allows for 64 characters.
    '** If name is longer, we will put the rest in the Tag property.
    If (Len(mergeFieldname) < 64) Then

        newControl.Title = mergeFieldname
        newControl.Tag = "" 

    Else

        newControl.Title = Mid(mergeFieldname, 1, 64)
        newControl.Tag = Mid(mergeFieldname, 65, Len(mergeFieldname) - 64)

    End If

    newControl.SetPlaceholderText , , "Click to add."

    '** Set font for content control.
    fontStyleName = GetFontStyleName(currentFont)
    SetFontStyle newControl, fontStyleName, currentFont

    '** Allow carriage return.
    newControl.MultiLine = True

End Sub

'** Quick and dirty way to check to see if the given font style exist; if it does not, create it.
Private Sub SetFontStyle(ByRef newControl As ContentControl, ByVal fontStyleName As String, ByVal currentFont As Font)

    On Error GoTo Error_FontStyleDoesNotExist

    newControl.DefaultTextStyle = fontStyleName

    Exit Sub

Error_FontStyleDoesNotExist:

    AddNewFontStyle fontStyleName, currentFont
    newControl.DefaultTextStyle = fontStyleName

End Sub

Private Sub AddNewFontStyle(ByVal newFontStyleName As String, ByVal currentFont As Font)

    Dim fontStyle As Style

    Set fontStyle = ActiveDocument.Styles.Add(newFontStyleName)

    With currentFont

        fontStyle.Font.Name = .Name
        fontStyle.Font.Size = .Size
        fontStyle.Font.Bold = .Bold
        fontStyle.Font.Italic = .Italic

    End With

End Sub

Private Function GetFontStyleName(ByVal currentFont As Font) As String

    Dim fontStyleName As String

    With currentFont

        fontStyleName = .Name
        fontStyleName = fontStyleName & .Size
        fontStyleName = fontStyleName & .Bold
        fontStyleName = fontStyleName & .Italic

    End With

    '** Return result.
    GetFontStyleName = fontStyleName

End Function

Private Function GetMailMergeFieldName(ByVal fieldCode As String) As String

    Dim mergeFieldname As String: mergeFieldname = ""

    '** Name of Mail merge field: MERGEFIELD MailMergeFieldName \* MERGEFORMAT
    mergeFieldname = Replace(fieldCode, "MERGEFIELD", "")
    mergeFieldname = Replace(mergeFieldname, "\* MERGEFORMAT", "")
    mergeFieldname = Trim(mergeFieldname)

    '** Return result.
    GetMailMergeFieldName = mergeFieldname

End Function

Another Microsofties take on Financial Services OBA and some useful links.

Office Business Applications: Financial Services(Erika Ehrli)

Webcast: Building Compelling Financial Applications with VSTO 2005 SE and Excel Services

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Success as a Mortgage Broker

In the inbox today.  Notice the use of BOA actual images.  FireFox and IE did recognize this as a phishing site.  It might be good for email to start checking links against known Phishers.  It never hurts to be more preemptive.

This email was sent to you by Bank of America. To ensure delivery to your inbox, please add bankofamerica@replies.em.bankofamerica.com to your address book or safe sender list.

As part of our efforts to meet the requirements of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), we now ask all Online Banking users to verify their account information. It's a smart and simple way to add an additional level of protection to your account.

Here's how it works:

1. Click here to sign on and provide us with the required information.
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3. Continue with your Online Banking session.

We may periodically ask you to provide information in Online Banking as a quick identity check. That way, when you drop in to do business, we'll know it's you.

If you choose not to verify your account today, you will have only 3 more chances to do so before it's required to access your account online
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Bank of America Email, 8th Floor, 101 South Tryon St., Charlotte, NC 28255
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© 2007 Bank of America Corporation. All rights reserved.

Yesterday and today I have seen this search come through from yahoo. "what does this quote mean "There are 10 kinds of people in this world - those who understand binary and those who don’t"" 

I am not sure why my site pulls up but its funny since who ever is running this search falls in toe the latter half of people.  If you don't know Binary 10 is two.

If you blog, you should probably read this.   50% of US adults have an eight-grade reading level.  If the article is correct that most web content is written at a 12 grade reading level, forget the Digital divide we still have a core Literacy issue that we need to address.  Although I do wonder if the medium is somewhat responsible for this.  When i read content on the web its very much word by word( this is how we are now taught to read in the US education system.) but when i read print i can speed read.  its much more difficult to read fast with comprehension on the monitor.  I think it may be the font and leading.

 

More interesting statistics

Correctional Education Facts

Reading Facts

Via Broker Universe

American Express has announced a new program enabling members to make monthly home mortgage payments on the American Express card. American Home Mortgage Corp. will be the first lender to offer the Express Rewards Mortgage program for eligible prime loans, AmEx said. Cardmembers with qualifying loans with American Home will pay a one-time fee of $395 to the lender for enrollment in the program at closing. American Express said its research had indicated that members "overwhelmingly cited" monthly mortgage payments as "an ideal opportunity" to use the American Express card. The company can be found online at http://www.americanexpress.com.

I quite like the idea of collecting bonus points and cash back awards off of my mortgage payment.  It is after all the largest bill most of us get every month.  Sadly for those who get mortgages to reduce credit card debt, this would be like giving enabling a heroin addict...

Brad Abrams presents a very nice post on a new feature in Orcas Beta1 .Net Client Application Services which basically allows you to use your ASP.Net Application from a client application.  I thought the idea was interesting but after watching the Microsoft Webcast It was difficult to tell how practical this will be.  It pretty constant to have a web app and smart client solution the two do kind of go hand in hand.  This should provide a nice trick for your developer bag but right now I think your solution would have to be very vanilla for it to work well(still the whole need the Internet thing).  time I am sure will tell.

hmm the bank of PayPal.  check out the full story

 4GuysFromRolla is offering a nice walk through of getting up and debugging with SQL 2005  using the Visual Studio IDE.

Debugging SQL Server 2005 Stored Procedures in Visual Studio

I found an interesting load generation tool on IIS.net defiantly worth a look

Features

• HTTP 1.0 and HTTP 1.1 capable
• Supports IPv6
• Multithreaded Support
• Supports generating stress from multiple machines
• Extensible through C plug-in DLLs
• Supports Performance Counter integration
• Measures throughput and response time
• Supports SSL requests
• NTLM Authentication request support
• Easily supports testing thousand of concurrent users

Benefits

• Very light weight (low hardware requirements)
• Extensible to handle any aspect of the HTTP request or response
• Allows remote collection of perfmon data and registry

Down Load

LINQ to XML

Language-Integrated Query (LINQ)

This is how Microsoft packages a product.

Now see how Microsoft names their products.

Video: Windows Server 2008

I just purchased a Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 

I paid 52.69(sticker 66.00 then 15% off) I see Amazon.com has it

for 49.99  I guess I didn't do so good.  Even as they go out of business they still manage to rip me off.  However all hope is not lost during my Amazon prize search I noticed Microsoft has a rebate, turns out buying it from CompUSA keeps me qualified for a 20 dollar rebate. so I end up paying a little more for having it today.

I have always been a fan of Microsoft's Natural Elite keyboards and this one does not disappoint.  The F Lock is enabled by default and will remember its state between reboots its USB ( my computers don't have ps2 anymore).  Best of all the home keys are not all jacked up.( I have to get used to a small delete key again).

As a side note the drivers that come in the box's cd will not install under Windows Vista but you can install IntelliType Pro 6.1 to get it to work. 

I have been reading about this case, and some of the comments bug me ( if you don't know about the 40 year old substitute teacher that has been convicted of displaying porn to minors and now faces up a 40 jail sentience. read more here and here and here).  Mainly there are a lot of people that think she should have turned off the computer.  Now even if she had been told not to turn off the computer we would have to take into account how long it would take to get over the initial shock of porn popup's filling the window.  Now if you wanted to turn the computer off hitting the power button does nothing its not like ten years ago when you could just flip the switch. You either hold the power button for 10-15 seconds or you use windows to shut things down.  depending on the spyware/viruses on the computer the latter may not have even been possible.  I also doubt that very unsavy computer users know they can hold down the power button to turn the system off.  Some said that she could have pulled the plug, which would probably have involved unblocking the monitor with her body ( only 10 of the 40 students in the class room saw any thing on the monitor.) which would let the masses see the screen.  Also if this was a laptop ( its not clear what kind of PC this was.) pulling the plug would do nothing its battery would keep it on.  Finally this never would have happened if the school had their filtering software up to date.  let alone some type of active spyware prevention on the PC.

start by having a solution with two projects.

In the solution exploder window right click the solution and choose add New or existing item.

 

For this how two we will add a new c# class

click add.  Visual studio will create a new suborder under the solution called "Solution Items" Class1.cs will be in this folder.

now select one of your projects and right click select add existing item.  Navigate to your solutions directory and select Class1.cs

click the drop down arrow next to the add button

select add as link

You will now have a shared link to a common solution file/class

repeat for each project you wish to add this file/class to.

 I believe in finding one absurd thing a week, I think  Mr. Liston has the next couple covered.

Nine Rules for Selecting a Future-Proof LOS take a read.

Point 1 is stupid.

Point 2 has some merit but you buy for the environment you have or want.  And the environment your vendor tests against.

Point 3 should you be responsible for dealing with business rule changes or your vendor?  what exactly are they selling you?

Point 4 I agree you should know what your dependency will be.  But conversely once your up and running it doesn't matter very much.

Besides we all know all you need is Point and PDS.

Some times I am pretty sure the Dev's at Microsoft are smoking something.  I would like to know what, and if they would share.

I have had a little trouble with the last IE update Internet Explorer and the Update of Doom (This Old Code ).  and IE 7 DOA after May 5th Cumulative Security update ( This Old Code ). 

You install the May 2007 Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer (MS07-027), and then you try to open Windows Internet Explorer 7. After you do this, the File Download – Security Warning dialog box may open, and you may receive the following message:

Do you want to save this file?

The File Download – Security Warning dialog box also refers to the "navcancl" file name. After you close this dialog box, you cannot start Internet Explorer 7.

Finally Microsoft has released a Knowledge base article to dell with this issue Microsoft Knowledge Base article 937409 ( thanks to the IEBlog Follow Up to Internet Explorer May 2007 Security Update)

Method 2: Grant permissions to the "Temporary Internet Files" folder

To complete Method 2 on a Windows XP-based computer or on a Windows Server 2003-based computer, follow these steps:

1.
Click Start, click Run, type inetcpl.cpl, and then click OK.

2.
On the General tab, click Settings in the Browsing History area.

3.
Click View Files.

4.
In Windows Explorer, move to the folder that contains the "Temporary Internet Files" folder.

5.
In the right-pane, right-click an empty area, and then click Properties.

6.
On the Security tab, click the name of the affected user in the Group or user names box. If the name of the affected user is not listed, follow these steps:

a.
Click Add.

b.
In the Enter the object names to select box, type the name of the affected user, and then click OK.

c.
In the Group or user names box, click the name of the affected user.

7.
In the Permissions for User_Name box, click to select the Full Control Allow check box.

8.
Click Apply, and then click OK.

9.
Close Windows Explorer.

10.
Click OK two times.

11.
Start Internet Explorer 7.

Funny thing about the Knowledge base article, its wrong the Temporary Internet Files folder is a system folder us low admin's can't reset permissions on the folder.  You can how ever move the folder which will allow ie to correctly run once with one tab ( oddly enough, not very useful).  My temporary solution rather then uninstalling the update yet again was to completely disable phishing( thankfully this feature is not of much use.).

How to disable Phishing Filter ( in Windows XP)

1. start, run type inetcpl.cpl
2. Click the Advanced tab.
3. Scroll to the bottom of the screen up about six items is "Phishing Filter"
4. Select "Disable Phishing Filter" ( turning it off will not work it must be disabled )
5. Click the ok button
6. now start up ie and browse the Internet, just don't click any links from email ;)

Here are a couple interactive command reference guides to help you find your way around Word and Excel.  These guides allow you to see were the 2003 UI has moved to in 2007.  Nice find by Alfred Thompson

I suppose Jeff is remorse about his life in C# much the same way I am towards VB.NET

If you come from c, c++ or Java there can be no other way but C#. 

Jeff:

The so-called choice between the two most popular languages, C# and VB.NET, is no more meaningful than the choice between Coke and Pepsi. Yes, IronPython and IronRuby are meaningfully different dynamic languages, but they're somewhere on the horizon and far from first-class IDE citizens.

Wow Pepsi Is different the choice of the next generation, how can anyone trivialize that.

I see Ian has a nice counter response which I agree with.  Case sensitivity is important. Its these little things that make it so easy to switch between the c languages, Its quite frustrating to know what and how to write the code and then come to realize you are writing in the wrong language syntax.

In summary of the debate for back ground compilation

Ian:

I hate VB.NET’s continuous bloody interference. I HADN’T FINISHED TYPING YET YOU STUPID COMPILER! CAN’T YOU SEE THAT? DOES IT LOOK TO YOU LIKE I’M DONE TYPING? DID IT NOT OCCUR TO YOU THAT THE REASON YOU’VE FOUND ALL THOSE ERRORS IS BECAUSE I’M NOT FINISHED YET?!! I’LL TELL YOU WHEN I WANT YOU TO CHECK MY WORK, AND NOT BEFORE!

Brilliant!

Stop SQL Injection Attacks Before They Stop You

SecureConnection.GetCnxString

Previously I installed an Internet Explorer cumulative update KB931768 and ran in to a little problem with IE7 no longer working

I see that Spyware Suckes has a post describing the solution to this issue:

 

You have installed the Internet Explorer cumulative update KB931768 and have previously moved your temporary internet file folder from it's default location.

You see an error like this one:

File Download - Security Warning
Do you want to save this file?
Name: navcancl
Type: Unknown File Type, 2.64KB
From: ieframe.dll
Save Cancel

FIX:

If your temporary internet files folder has been moved from its default location, move it back.

An alternative is to run IE as an Administrator (right click the IE icon, select "Run as Administrator", but I *strongly* advise against this.

***DO NOT*** uninstall the cumulative update.

While I am puzzled how I am supposed to surf the web to fine a fix to this issue with out uninstalling the patch.  I also do not recall ever changing the path for IE.  Since this is XP sp2 its clearly not a rights issue since I have admin rights.  But I am game to try any thing once, well see how it works out.

-Update 05/14/2007-

I double checked the Temporay Internet Files location and it is infact using the default C:\Documents and Settings\<UserName>\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files.  I also tried disabling Phishing which some people reported success with on the IE Team Bog

-Update 05/29/2007-

I have a new post detailing how i resolved this issue by truning off Internet Explorers Phishing Filter.

This is interesting.

Microsoft SharedView is a fast and easy way to share documents and screen views with small groups of friends or coworkers; anytime, anywhere. Use SharedView to put your heads together and collaborate.

download

On my Windows Xp sp2 box I now cannot use IE 7 after running the Cumulative security update for Internet explorer 7 I was greeted with

"navcancl from ieframe.dll" on the first launch it would appear as if Internet Explorer cannot open any Internet files ie aspx, html ....

If any one know how to fix this please leave a comment.

Coding Horror presents

Phishing: The Forever Hack

Which was interesting but the only conclusion that can be drawn is that web browsers must protect the sheep.  I personally would like to see it easier to report Phishing sites the last one was quite the chore.  Years ago and probably still today there were people that would call house randomly and ask for personal information under the guise of some legitimate company.  Fortunately most companies had a public out cry "We will never call you and ask for information." To their credit most did not.  Here in lies the problem with Phishing sites common typos we cannot prevent ( unless we have address books, your favorites may be good only on the second visit. ) But Companies could stick to not sending emails asking users to log in.  As long as you legitimate companies come along and publish links and encourage users to login we will have this problem.  You further make the problem worse when you find ways to display the full html message circumventing any built in browser/email security.   Forget the convinence of email links and error on the side of teaching users one good standard.  Never click on links from an email.   

"Life is an open-book test."

Alfred Thompson