Brian Parker's Blog CEO and Cofounder of NeoTekSystems

Bug Tracking with Axosoft OnTime

bparker — Tue, 16 Aug 2005 19:55:00 GMT

We are setting up to move to a different Bug Tracking software named OnTime. We have been using Dragnet and have found many shortcomings in its layout of issues. While viewing screenshots of the OnTime product from Axosoft we saw several screens which seemed to address these problems. After installation and deployment I will post a full review. OnTime Bug Tracking Software can be found at Axosoft.com. Try it out for yourself in the meantime and let give post your opinions as well.

Later,

London Bombing

bparker — Fri, 08 Jul 2005 11:46:00 GMT

Our hearts go out to the families and people of London.

Google Sitemaps

bparker — Wed, 06 Jul 2005 12:14:00 GMT

If you have not heard yet Google offers a service where you can submit an xml sitemap of your web sites to their engine for crawling. This could be a big improvement for ASP.NET site builders. It is no secret that search engines have a difficult time spidering dynamic web sites. With this tool you can submit you dynamic urls that contain qery strings to their engine and supposedly they will crawl these pages. If you go to google and click about you can obtain the specs. for you xml submission. There are even attributes for importance and update frequency. We have submitted a couple of sites and are waiting to see the benefit of doing so.

Have a great day,

.NET framework 1.1 and 2.0 Compatibility

bparker — Sat, 02 Jul 2005 18:48:00 GMT

I was digging around on the internet last night and found a great video of a Microsoft Compatibility team member. He gave a very good explanation of problems that you may or may not face with applications developed against previous frameworks when .NET 2.0 rolls out. This Link will take you directly to the page that contains the video. I strongly recommend anyone who has developed or purchased software based on previous framework versions to view it.

Later,

Google Earth Launches

bparker — Wed, 29 Jun 2005 12:34:00 GMT

Google has launched their map server. It seems to have several pricing options depending on your needs. There is a free client which is fairly limited but gives you a taste of what is available. Google offers a Pro client for $20.00 that supports several more features than the free client but still locks you to a software client. Then we get to the Enterprise solutions. There are no prices available for these only the option to have a salesperson to contact you. The enterprise solutions of course offer you the most flexibility and you can develop against their map server. In short, I have not seen or used the api but the maps look incredible and I can only imagine that you would be able to customize it to the limits of your imagination. I am impressed with the offerings but wish that you could obtain a developer account to trial the api before commiting to code against it before using Microsoft Terra Server.

Here is the link to Google Earth Link

Later,

Microsoft Buying and Reviewing All Pocket PC Apps written in .NET Compact

bparker — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 15:09:00 GMT

Check out this link. http://blogs.msdn.com/netcfteam/default.aspx . A few weeks ago we started seeing purchases of our Pocket PC apps from Microsoft. While I certainly wecomed the money, I still wondered what was going on. It seems that they are looking on the internet for Apps written using the compact framework. The link above is to a blog where all the apps that were collected are listed by company.

Later,

AMD Dual Core 64 Bit processors.

bparker — Sun, 26 Jun 2005 16:08:00 GMT

Has anyone built a systems with one of these processors yet. If so please comment to this post with you comments? Also, for those who have built a 64 bit system are you using Winedows XP 64bit? We are trying to get some feedback on the new systems to find out if they are worth cost

Thnk You

Brian Parker

Blog Directory

bparker — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 07:38:00 GMT

Below is a link to a large directory of blogs.

Blog Directory

New Developer Express Controls

bparker — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 04:37:00 GMT

Whoa,

Check out the new controls offered by DevExpress. These babies look off the chain. Has anyone used them yet? Do they work as good as the look? I can always hope. If these controls are real DevExpress could really get some of Infragistics market share. Here is a link to a page listing V3 controls with screenshots. http://devexpress.com/Products/NET/Subscription/

Infragistics WinGrid Column No Edit C#

bparker — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 04:01:00 GMT

Below is a foreach loop which blocks editing in the Infragistics WinGrid. I am sure that if you look through the settings an an Infragistics Grid this can be done accomplished in an alternative manner. I am also sure if the readers of this post have used the Infragistics Grid they know that it is very flexible. The problem with the flexibility of the control is that some settings are extremely buried and hard to find. The only thing that is harder to find that unique settings in Infragistics controls is the documentation supporting the many features that are available at design time. Anyway, enough with the complaining as I actually love these controls and could not have accomplished several projects with in an acceptable amount of time without them. They also look great. Since I am creatively challenged this is a large plus.

To get to the in depth features you will have to reference the Infragistics .dll in your using statements.

using Infragistics.Win.UltraWinGrid;

After setting up your databindings but before applying the .databind() insert these lines.

foreach(UltraGridColumn uc in grdMail.DisplayLayout.Bands[0].Columns)
   {
    uc.CellActivation = Activation.NoEdit;
   }

Just substitute grdMail with the name of your grid and you are set.

Later,

CMS solutions, Are they right for your business?

bparker — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 05:31:00 GMT

Content Management Solutions are generally easy to setup, use and most contain many features that appeal to businesses looking for a web presence. Take Dot Net Nuke for example, you can download modules that will do almost anything imaginable. The only problem with the content management blanket approach to web design is that many businesses become locked into a standardized look and feel that you can only modify within set boundaries. I am of the opinion that businesses need and want more that a cookie cutter design approach. If your web site is the face that you show the international community it needs to be distinctive. If your business requires specific online tools to assist customers a CMS may also fall short. Writing and deploying custom web apps within CMS boundaries often compromises functionality and performance. I highly recommend that any serious business in today's market consult a custom software or web design agency before walking down the CMS path as many others have in the past. Most developers will make themselves available to discuss with you what, if any problems, you may encounter by trying a “do it yourself” type of web site delivery method. This will usually not cost you a penny and could save you a lot of lost time and money down the road. If you contact a handful of developers and they tell you that it is possible to obtain your goals within the boundaries of the CMS that you have chosen. I would suggest that you get it up and start rolling today. A CMS can assist you in a rapid deployment of your content. If you receive advice to the contrary, then please help yourself by contracting a company to design and maintain a custom web app or site for you. It may cost a little now but you will be more satisfied with the results in the long run.

Salutations,

New info from MSDN Flash about a product named IdeaBlade

bparker — Mon, 13 Jun 2005 13:29:00 GMT

I recieved an MSDN Flash email today that had a link to a new RAD framework with ORM, MVC , etc. The link included is Royalty-free Download for new IdeaBlade-lite . I went to the site and they of course promised the world. If the software can deliver on half of their promises it will still be impressive. I will try to test it in the next few days and hopefully get you a review on what I think. If anyone else has or does try this out please comment so that everyone else can profit from your experience.

Thank you,

Checking for an internet connection C# .NET Compact

bparker — Mon, 13 Jun 2005 05:15:00 GMT

If you or your company writes any Pocket PC software using the .NET Compact framework that consumes webservices you will deffinately need to check for an internet connection. This way you can warn the end user that if he/she wants your software to display the most up to date data from a webservice an internet connection is needed. I shoved the example below in a static class so I could call on it whenever a data retrieval was requested. The code is as follows.

using System;
using System.Net;

namespace InternetConnectionCheckExample
{
/// <summary>
/// Summary description for CheckConnection.
/// </summary>
public class CheckConnection
{
  public static bool Once(string targetAddress) // I passed www.google.com in as it is very reliable.
  {
   HttpWebRequest request;
   HttpWebResponse response;
   bool isConnected = false;

   try
   {
    request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(targetAddress);
    response = (HttpWebResponse)request.GetResponse();
    request.Abort();

    // success?
    if(response.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.OK)
    {
     isConnected = true;
    }
   }
   catch(WebException we)
   {
    string errMsg = we.Message;
    isConnected = false;
   }
   catch(Exception ex)
   {
    string errMsg = ex.Message;
    isConnected = false;
   }
   finally
   {
    request = null;
    response = null;
   }
   return isConnected;
  }
}
}

It is as simple as that. Call it from your form and check if it returns true or false. true = connected false = not connected.

Later,

Have You Used J Sharp?

bparker — Sun, 12 Jun 2005 20:07:00 GMT

I was wondering how many programmers are using J Sharp and what you think about it. Please comment if you have an opinion.

Thanks,

A fun Test Called What Type of American English do you Speak

bparker — Thu, 09 Jun 2005 13:40:00 GMT

I was doing some digging around on the internet and found a funny test that asks you a few questions and then tells you what type of American English you speak. The link is http://www.blogthings.com/amenglishdialecttest/ try it out and post your scores. Here are mine. I am 50% Redneck and only 5% City boy.

Later,

50% Dixie

45% General American English

5% Yankee

0% Midwestern

0% Upper Midwestern