If you are doing anything with .Net 2.0 chances are you have a set of MSBuild files supporting your application.  That means you already know MSBuild just rocks.  What better than MSBuild? MSBuild with a sweet task library to support it of course!  That task library would be the Enterprise Solutions Build Framework or Microsoft.SDC.Tasks as I like to call it.

Well they just released a new version!  The biggest change was the introduction of BizTalk 2006 tasks.  If BizTalk isn't your fancy then you will be pleased to also know there are some new TFS tasks also.

To find out more information visit http://www.gotdotnet.com/codegallery/codegallery.aspx?id=b4d6499f-0020-4771-a305-c156498db75e

These guys do a stellar job!  I have been using this library for about a year now and it goes everywhere I go.

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