Misc
I’ve Moved to WordPress
Jan 28th
I’ve moved my blog engine once again. I started with DasBlog, then went to BlogEngine.NET and now I’m finally on WordPress.
Why WordPress? You’re a .NET guy …
Plain and simple. What I had, didn’t work and I need my blog to work, and work quickly. I don’t have time to write plug-ins, hacks to fix something I didn’t write simply so I can communicate with everyone via my blog. I need a solution that allows me to fire up my blog or Live Writer and create an entry very quickly. I need a solution that allows me to add the new whiz-bang widget created by Developer X. I don’t want to be a blog widget developer, I am an entrepreneur. My time is better spent figuring out business problems with code.
Secondly – My Host, RackSpace Cloud didn’t work well with Blog Engine .NET. I spent 3 hours trying to figure it out with their support team and they said the problem was my fault, I said it was their fault and we went back and forth. When it comes down to it, the problem was that when I created a new post, a new xml file was created in APP_Data and it was not being propagated across the cloud. Some users would see my post, others would not. A royal PITA.
Long story short. Yes. It’s WordPress. Yes. Its PHP. Yeah, I’m running this on Apache. Yes, I write .NET software for a living. But as I said in my last post, go with what solves the problem. Use what gets the job done. WordPress does that for me right now. Who knows, that could change in the upcoming years.
Suspending Resharper 5
Dec 4th
For those of you who don’t know, ReSharper is no longer a Visual Studio add-in. Previously if you needed to disable ReSharper for whatever reason you could do so in the Add-In Manager in Visual Studio. You no longer can. Disabling ReSharper is now termed “Suspending” it. You can suspend ReSharper from the Tools > Options > Resharper options window. Press Suspend. ReSharper will now be suspended.
I know, why would I disable ReSharper? Well, at my current client I’m working on a VB.NET ASP.NET Web Forms application which talks to Microsoft CRM through the CRM WebService and LinqToCrm. The web service proxy that gets generated is over 94,000 lines long. Thats 94,000 lines of VB.NET. When ReSharper starts to analyze that file (as well as the other VB.NET files in the app) all hell breaks loose. The IDE locks up and I can’t do a single thing. Therefore I had to suspend ReSharper while working in this project.
Here’s the crux … the only VB.NET project is the Website, all other libraries are C# (thankfully) and I want to use ReSharper. Going through the tools menu each time I need to Suspend/Resume Resharper is a royal PITA. Thankfully ReSharper gave us a key command: Resharper_ToggleSuspend to assist in toggling the suspension of ReSharper. This is not mapped to any key combo by default. What I have done is mapped it to CTRL + ALT + F6. Now when I need to turn ReSharper On/Off when I enter/leave the VB.NET project I hit the key combo and I’m back in action (or out of action in regards to turning it off). Super easy. Booyakasha.
Hangin’ in the Lounge
Jun 19th
I’ve death with numerous different advertisers and such over the few years I’ve had my blog. Just recently I spoke with the guys over at the Lounge and we decided to work together. I needed a low maintenance advertising system that could help with the monthly costs of the blog, they needed another person to join their Small Publishers network (because lets face it… I’m no hanselborg, yet). 
Therefore we decided to join up and make the Lounge my exclusive graphical advertiser.
From the famous words of SLC Punk.
“I didn’t sell out, son. I bought in.”
I personally feel that these ads are much more respectable and are a huge improvement compared to the huge banners that I’ve previously had (as they did all sorts of non-sense, IMO). Hopefully this makes the reading experience less like a 1987 ad party rave with candy necklaces. Enjoy
Dual Monitor Support for Windows 7 RC Dell D630
May 7th
I installed Windows 7 RC last night and my dual monitor support was not working. I queried a few people at my employer and Anthony Handley pointed me in the right direction.
If you’re using a Dell D630 laptop and you’re running Windows 7 RC and need a video driver to support dual monitors, we’ve found this one to work out quite well:
Download the driver on Dell.com
Notes: The install requires a reboot, but afterwards the dual monitor support works without an issue.
A New Development Term: Blackfield Development
Mar 25th
I’ve been through the trenches of the consulting world, the good the bad the ugly, I’ve had the the full time jobs, and the freelance work, etc, etc etc. I’ve experienced projects from the ground up, maintenance projects and projects that didn't even leave the whiteboard. During the years of participating in many projects I sometimes get to a point where I work on something so frustrating that I want to pull my hair out.I want to scream at the computer, yell obscenities then storm off and go have a drink at the local pub. I’ve noticed that this type of development is usually maintenance work or even new development on top of legacy code. Usually, this is known as Brownfield development.
Not today. Today is the beginning of a new era. Over the last few days I’ve dealt with one of these nightmare hair pulling out tasks that drive you up the wall. Upon thinking about it today I’ve decided that tasks that are centered around legacy code (again, brownfield development), yet drive you crazy beyond belief will now be known as …
BLACKFIELD DEVELOPMENT
Why “Blackfield” one might ask?
Blackfield development is the type of development where you’re given a task which is very similar to walking through a pitch black cave without a flashlight. You have to stumble, fall down, bang your head, cuss, scream, run into walls just to cross into the next chasm of pain. An example of this this kind of development: a client gives you a task and the code is so obscure that you cannot follow a single logical execution path. There are no unit tests, you cannot get it to compile or run half of the time and your deadline is tomorrow. The good news is that you have the team who wrote the original code sitting next to you. Don’t be fooled my friend, you are not in the clear yet … if you ask them a question – they don’t know the answer. Therefore you’re left stumbling down a pitch black cave of code nightmares that is full of binary monsters waiting to hop out of the screen and bite your face.
Yeah. Seriously… blackfield development – its serious business. Development so rough it hurts.