Web Test Authoring and Debugging Techniques

Here's a nice overview of how you can use the Web Test features of Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Software Testers.

Row keys for an ASP.NET 2.0 GridView

I only just discovered this today, that if you tell a GridView control via its DataKeyNames property what the key column for each row is, then you can retrieve that value later by using the DataKeys property.

eg.

Dim sectionId As Integer = _ CInt(GridView1.DataKeys(row.RowIndex).Value)

Patterns & Practices Summit

Just came across this summit on Architecture and Design for .NET happening in Sydney, February 21-23, 2006.

CLVY In Build

I noticed tonight that our exchange has been updated from "Planned" to "In Build". I've ordered HOME-Extreme-Value so that we'll be migrated to the Agile DSLAM and be eligible for the higher speed and quota.

Excavation progress

Excavation was due to be completed today, but due to the thunderstorms we had yesterday, the powder-dry clay has turned into a sticky, muddy mess! Way too wet for the excavators to work in. Hopefully we'll have some dry weather for the next few days and they can come back next week.

Looks like the retaining wall won't be finished in time for Christmas.

We've got Caller ID (CND)

I decided to take the plunge and ordered Caller ID on our home telephone this week. It costs $6/month which is not that cheap considering you just get a bit of extra data with each call, but I think with the savings we are making with using VoIP for virtually all of our phone calls it will be a useful addition.

Telstra have a deal that for the same price, you can actually choose two services, so as well Caller ID (or Calling Number Display as Telstra call it), I ordered a T1000C rental phone. This phone can display the Caller ID information, and also has the advantage of not requiring external power (unlike our existing cordless phone), so in the event of a power failure or flat battery we will still be able to make and receive calls.

The only configuration change I needed to make to my Sipura 3000 was to change the ring-tone back to a more conventional Australian ring. Without that, the telephone was losing the Caller ID info after the first ring.

ADO.NET 2.0 TableAdapters

I'm starting to get my head around some of the new features of .NET 2.0. One that I'm finding quite useful is the generated TableAdapters that are part of the new DataSet designer.

One situation I've just come across is the idea of having a "CREATED" and "MODIFIED" column for all tables to assist in auditing. By default, the code generated for the TableAdapter will try to insert and update these columns. But we want these columns to be only modified by triggers inside the database itself! So how to you modify the TableAdapter to read but not update these special columns?

It turns out you can right-click on the TableAdapter heading to modify it's properties, including the InsertCommand and UpdateCommand.

Another way you can extend the TableAdapter is through partial classes.

LUA VS.NET issues

We've got this problem where a few of us are trying to create new ASP.NET applications on our development server, and are getting the the following error message:

Microsoft Development Environment
The Web was created successfully, but an error occurred when trying to configure the application root for this Web. Web projects may not operate correctly without an application root. The returned error was: Active Directory Services cannot find the web server. A possible cause for this is an incompatibility between versions of Internet Information Server (IIS) on the client and the server. The usual cause for this error is creating Web projects on a Windows 2000 or newer server from a Windows NT 4.0 client. You can manually configure the application root using the Internet Services Manager.

Followed by:

Microsoft Development Environment
Unable to set the permissions on the 'bin' folder to restrict browse access. Active Directory Services cannot find the web server. A possible cause for this is an incompatibility between versions of Internet Information Server (IIS) on the client and the server. The usual cause for this error is creating Web projects on a Windows 2000 or newer server from a Windows NT 4.0 client. You can manually restrict browse access to this folder using the Internet Services Manager.

The workaround that we're using (adapted from Q320451) is to set Visual Studio.NET to default to use FrontPage Server Extensions. Once a project is created, you can then change it back to use File Share access.

PageMethods - Type checking for your ASP.NET urls

Here's an interesting idea - setting up special methods in your ASP.NET page class to assist in generating URLS to that page. Versions for Visual Studio.NET 2003 and 2005.

PageMethods takes care of your URLs. It proposes a solution to define structured URLs for each of your pages, as well as a clean and simple way to call them.

The idea is based on strict page inputs and declarative parameter binding. With PageMethods, each page exposes a set of methods that represent the different ways to call the page. All you have to do to start benefiting from sharp URLs is to add methods to your pages, and mark these methods with attributes provided by PageMethods.

Visual Studio 2005 Add-Ins

Ten Essential Tools: Visual Studio Add-Ins Every Developer Should Download Now -- MSDN Magazine, December 2005

Nice device

During my recent visit to Sydney, I got a chance to have a look and play with my Father-in-law's new mobile phone. He bought an i-Mate JAM device.

I was quite impressed, as it is only slightly smaller than my HP iPAQ, yet it has the mobile phone functions. What I liked was that the screen size is larger than on a regular mobile phone, so you can see a bit more too. It even has a camera as well.

I think when my LG phone gives up the ghost, I might see if I can somehow get an i-Mate or something like it!

Australian Daylight Savings Changes for Microsoft Products for the Year 2006

An extra week of daylight savings next year - Australian Daylight Savings Changes for Microsoft Products for the Year 2006

Firefox 1.5 - Rediscover the Web

Mozilla Firefox 1.5 was released last week. Yay!

(I missed this because we were driving from Sydney to Geelong at the time!)

Excavation has started!

Work began this morning on our house extension. We only just got home from our holiday to Sydney on Friday night, so it hasn't really been a relaxing few days before returning to work tomorrow!