Clark Sell

Been catching up on the ole blogs when I ran across a post from Scott Guthrie about a new ASP .Net 2.0 feature with a file called App_Offline.htm. 

"One of the new features I talked about was the "App_Offline.htm" feature in ASP.NET 2.0, which provides a super convenient way to bring down an ASP.NET application while you make changes to it (for example: updating a lot of content or making big changes to the site where you want to ensure that no users are accessing the application until all changes are done)."

From: Scott Guthrie, App_Offline.htm and working around the "IE Friendly Errors" feature

I must admit thats pretty awesome and very welcomed.

I happen to work in the Financial Services vertical and it seems daily you hear someone talking about compliance.  This topic is usually a mystery to most people except the lawyers.  Well the Microsoft Solutions for Security and Compliance (MSSC) team published the Regulatory Compliance Planning Guide, which is also available for download as a Word doc.

If you deal with any of the following you will want to read.

• Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX)
• Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA)
• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
• European Union Data Protection Directive (EUDPD)
• ISO 17799:2005 Code of Practice for Information Security

Thanks Rob Caron for the post.

The other day I was asked the questions: 

• Can I rollback a Changeset?
• Can I produce a list of items I changed while I was offline?

Of course you can, but you need to use Team Foundation Power Toys or tfpt.exe.  This utility can be found in the Visual Studio 2005 SDK of which you can download at http://www.vsipmembers.com/.  Once the SDK is installed you will find tfpt.exe at %ProgramFiles%\Visual Studio 2005 SDK\2006.06\VisualStudioTeamSystemIntegration\Utilities\Team Foundation Power Toys

Features include ( The following was taken straight from the tfpt.exe's ReadMe.doc found in the SDK. )

• Unshelve (Unshelve + Merge)   
  •  The unshelve operation supported by tf.exe does not allow shelved changes and local changes to be merged together. TFPT’s more advanced unshelve operation allows this to occur under certain circumstances.
• Rollback
  • Sometimes it may be necessary to undo a checkin of a changeset. This operation is directly not supported by Team Foundation, but with the TFPT rollback tool you can pend changes which attempt to undo any changes made in a specified changeset.  Not all changes can be rolled back, but in most scenarios the TFPT rollback command works. In any event, the user is able to review the changes that TFPT pends before checking them in.
• Online
  •  With Team Foundation, a server connection is necessary to check files in or out, to delete files, to rename files, etc. The TFPT online tool makes it easier to work without a server connection for a period of time by providing functionality that informs the server about changes made in the local workspace.
• GetCS (Get Changeset)
  • The TFPT GetCS tool gets all the items listed in a changeset at that changeset version.
  • This is useful in the event that a coworker has checked in a change which you need to have in your workspace, but you cannot bring your entire workspace up to the latest version. You can use the TFPT GetCS tool to get just the items affected by his changeset, without having to inspect the changeset, determine the files listed in it, and manually list those files to a tf.exe get command.
• UU (Undo Unchanged)
  • The TFPT UU tool removes pending edits from files which have not actually been edited.

I have decided there are not enough people blogging about MSBuild, so here is the first post of many more to come. 

I ran across a free MSBuild editor the other day made by Attrice called Microsoft Build Sidekick.  I've loaded it up and I am impressed.  I especially love the feature where you can look at all of the items your build file imported. 

Add it to your toolbox @ http://attrice.info/msbuild/

I absolutely loved LEGO when I was a kid.  You have to check out the new Coding4Fun article on Introduction to Programming LEGO MINDSTORMS.  Too Cool!

Last night I'm sitting on the couch coding away when suddenly mouse and keyboard were taken over and controlled by someone else.  In a total panic I try and close down everything of which has a connection to the Internet.  Things stop!  At this point I am in total awe at what just happened.  I start looking at security logs, firewalls etc, and just come up blank.

So I fire things back up and just sit there watching.....  Nothing; OK weird.  Start coding again and BAM, the keyboard and mouse have been hijacked again.  Out of the corner of my eye I happened to catch my wife walking into the office.  Thinking that she was playing some kind of weird really elaborate prank on me, I head into the office.  I walk in and she says "something is wrong with this computer, my mouse and keyboard just disappear".  I replied, "would you move that mouse again"?  Sure enough that mouse is moving the pointer on my laptop.  I just stood there in awe, how could this be?

Multiplicity!!  DOOOOHHHHHHH!!!

My laptop happens to be the "next" computer to the one she happened to be working on.  As she would reach the screen edge it would take control of mine.  It just never dawned on me to shut down the Multiplicity service when I didn't have my laptop docked in the office.

Moral of story, shut down that ole KM software you are running when you are not at your station!  You never really know who's in control.

Granted this might be old news but it's still worth repeating.  MSDN has launched a beta version of MSDN which has wiki functionality known nothing other than MSDN Wiki.  I am a big fan, I hope to see the community actively contribute.

http://msdnwiki.microsoft.com

I don't think anyone will argue but the majority of technical books are used for reference.  OK so every so often a new book comes out and you read it cover to cover.  Well that time has come. 

Vincent Maraia has just authored a book called The Build Master.  If you have anything to do with software development then you MUST read this book.  I don't care how good you are, how many products you shipped or if you are already a build master, you MUST read this book.

Every development shop must address most if not all of the topics found in this book.  If you're not, then you really need to invest some time and money in yourself and clean shop.  I guarantee things could be better.  Just ask yourself a few questions:

• Do you have a good concurrent development mailline strategy? Do you know what one is?
• Do you know how to branch and merge?
• Do you version?
• Do you have any automation?
• Do you have a build process?
• Do you have a build team?

If you have answered No to any of these questions then just go buy it now and start reading.  Again regardless no matter who you are, you still need to read this book.

Vincent Maraia, Great Read and Great Job!!! I can't wait for the next one.

Table of Contents

1. Defining a Build
2. Source Tree Configuration
3. Daily Not Nightly Builds
4. The Build Lab
5. Build Tools
6. SNAP Builds
7. The Build Environment
8. Visioning
9. Build Security
10. Managed Code Versus Unmanaged Code Builds
11. Building for International
12. Build Verification Tests
13. Building Setup and Deploying Every Day
14. Ship It
15. Product Support Services
16. Hotfixes or Patch Management
17. Suggested Steps to Change Your Religion or Philosophy (Corporate Culture)
18. Future Build Tools from Microsoft

That was just stupid easy and fast!!!!  Now we will see what all works on it.

So far I am loving it!!!!

Alright I lied, a few cups of Joe.  I got really bold and decided to bring a few laptops up to the local coffee shop and install Vista B2 on one of them.  So far so good I just started Step 2.  I guess I will soon find out what I forgot to backup ;)

More to come....