Distributed Open Source SVN: Git

Web Designer Depot has a nice into to a version control system called GIT that looks like it might be worth checking out.


http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/03/intro-to-git-for-web-designers/

Unity 3D AI Package

Check out this Unity 3D AI Pack

http://drawlogic.com/2009/03/24/unity3d-path-and-behave-projects-from-angryant-waypoints-ai-paths-library-behavioral-trees-and-more/

Torque to Offer Unity3D Alternative

Torque looks to offer a web plugin with similar capacities as Unity 3D. The browser wars are heating up. Web 3.0, the game web, or the 3D web, is on the Horizon.


http://drawlogic.com/2009/03/24/torque3d-to-offer-web-based-export-similar-to-unity3d-improved-pipeline/

Future: Javascript 3D Capabilities On the Horizon

Looks like the Mozilla foundation is looking to bring Open GL capabilities to Javascript.

http://dusanwriter.com/index.php/2009/03/25/3d-in-a-browser-mozilla-and-open-gl-to-build-plug-in-free-virtual-world-access/

About time! Why mess with all these 3rd party plugins (Flash/Unity/Silverlight) when we can do things directly from the web browser? Especially when 3D will become more and more common.

VRML is dead...but its successor could finally be on the horizon.

Disappointment with Silverlight 3 Beta's 3D

OK, it is just a Beta, but I was hoping for a full on programmable 3D engine in Silverlight 3. I might have been naive, but I had high hopes. We do now have Unity 3D, but for business aps Unity 3D lacks many features, as it is targeted solely for Game Development. I was hoping I could have one app to do it all. There are some nice 3D features in Silverlight, don't get me wrong, but nothing that can't be duplicated with Flash/Flex/Papervision etc...

I guess I will have to wait...but beggers can't be choosers.

IE 8, Didn't Break As Many Things As I Worried About

Yes, IE8 is out. I've downloaded it at home and at work (at home it took two tries). So far I've only noticed some minor text overlay issues (a line being a few pixels up or down). Other than that most of the sites (including our work site...I was worried about that) appear to operate normally.

www.microsoft.com/ie

Great SQL Server Maintenance Article

I know a lot of people are using SQL Server 2005/2008 Express for production (though they shouldn't). I also know folks are using the cheaper SQL Server 2008 Web version for web databases. Both of these databases lack some maintenance and backup features that their more expensive cousins have. If you find yourself needing those features but unable to afford them, this article might help.

http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/SQLExamples/Wiki/View.aspx?title=ExpressMaintenance&referringTitle=Home

Kick @ss, Unity 3D for Windows Released!

Finally, the true progeny of Director, Unity 3D, is available for Windows! I can't wait to get my hands on a copy. Download the 30 day trial here-

http://unity3d.com/unity/download

Thanks Developmag.com for breaking the story-

http://www.developmag.com/news/31482/Unity-now-avaiable-for-Windows

Also announced today is the release of Silverlight 3 Beta...yawn.

Decent Post on Emerging Virtual Worlds for The Enterprise

Check it out here-

http://cleverzebra.com/virtual-worlds

Like to Chat? Check out Meebo

I stumbled across www.meebo.com today, and I like it. Web based "omni" chat client, to use my own words. Use MSN, Yahoo, Facebook, and more. Pretty cool.

Ahhh Vanity

Basically, as a writer and a blogger, I suck pretty hard. Broken English, misspelled words, incomplete sentences and thoughts, yadda yadda. This occures partially because I really do suck at times, but more often then not it is laziness on my part to not cross every t or dot every i.

But blogging is fun, and feeds a little personal vanity I suppose. I don't bring much to the table, but every once in a while someone will thank me for posting some code or quote a comment I left on a blog.

Here is one case...

http://dusanwriter.com/index.php/2009/02/17/identities-constructed-virtual-worlds-and-anonymity/

This post is about virtual identities, something I'm very interested in. And the author, Dusan, talked briefly about a comment I made about Oscar Wilde, though I can't seem to find the original comment on the other blog post. So, in a small way, I added to the discussion of things, and got people to think a little bit about a point I made, which is cool.

Does my heat good and feeds the vanity flame a little more.

Think Science Isn't Cool? In the USSR It Is

Just so you believe me, say you were a nuclear engineer in Russia. Here are some of your comrads.

http://miss2009.nuclear.ru/participants.html

I doubt most engineering or scientific firms in the US could mount any sort of challenge to the miss atom contest in the CIS.

What does this tell us, besides the fact that I was checking out some Russian scientific hotties? That there is a big cultural difference between Russia and the US. In Russia, science is cool enough to attract some babe talent. In America, not so much (though there are exceptions to every rule...if you are female, in science, and reading this, you are the exception...of course:). This is a problem.

Source: Wired Defense Blog

Three PHP Frameworks Worth Checking Out

I think php is kind of in a crisis right now (and I'm sort of talking through my rear, as I'm working on my first PHP project now). It seems like PHP is really simple. But a lot of folks talked down to PHP because it wasn't "object oriented" enough. So now PHP is trying to become what maybe it shouldn't be, a first class object oriented language. Or let me put it this way, hopefully it won't become a first class object oriented language at the expense of loosing its easy to use/easy to understand roots.

Anyway, I digress...

For those of you who just can't stand the fact that you don't have all the OOP and other "modern" features of other languages in PHP, check out the following PHP frameworks that extend PHP to support things like MVC, better OOP, and Active Record, to name a few. Here they are.

CakePHP http://cakephp.org/
The Zend Framework http://framework.zend.com/
Code Igniter http://codeigniter.com/

If you have any opinions on which is better, I'd be interested. I will take one out for a spin on my second or third project.

Abyss and Sql Server 2008

You might be wondering how hard it is to get php and SQL Server 2008 talking to each other on an abyss web server. Turns out it is pretty easy. Here are the basics (which is pretty much exactly how you think you would do it). Below assumes you already have Abyss, php, and sql server up and running.

1. Download and "install" (unpack into a folder) the latest php/SQL Server driver (it says 2005, works wth 2008, but you have to get funky if you want to use some of the new 2008 data types...update in the works).

http://www.microsoft.com/DOWNLOADS/details.aspx?FamilyID=61bf87e0-d031-466b-b09a-6597c21a2e2a&displaylang=en

2) Copy the php_sqlsrv_ts.dll from your driver's install folder into your php folder.

3) (Optional: Back up your php.ini file in your php folder, then...) Add the following line into the extensions section of your php.ini file-

extension=php_sqlsrv_ts.dll

4) Restart Abyss, and you should be done. You can check for a sqlsvr section in php_info.

I haven't done to much testing with this, but it says it has installed, so for now I will assume good. Also if you have sql server running on a different box, you may have to tweak your php interpreter settings in abyss from named pipes local to named pipes tcp/ip. Not sure as I'm just using a local version of sql express.

XMLDataSource Remembered

I always forget this. Sometimes I don't have the db setup but I need to model some web pages based on data. The XMLDataSource comes in really handy for that (in ASP.Net that is). Here is a link to a quick reminder of how to use the XMLDataSource with a little xpath.

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/webforms/XMLDataSource.aspx

Thanks Keyvan Nayyeri

Update: Or you can use XML directly in the XMLDataSource control

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/322190/asp-net-3-5-bind-to-xml-string

Great Example of a Serious Game

This is an awesome example of how games can be used in training.

Problem for Microsoft

Do a little web searching for top Web 2.0 sites for 2008. You might have to adjust your search params to include social media or what not, but go ahead and search.

Once you have a few list up, go through them, and see hot many of them are using ASP.Net.

1? Maybe 2?

Not good. ASP.Net is awesome for creating internal enterprise-based web applications. It isn't getting that much steam, it would appear, with the innovative crowd that is bringing new web apps to the masses. This in turn means that up and coming developers, who may not exist in the enterprise sphere (yet), see only sites using PHP, or Ruby, or something else. A rational choice for this next wave of developers will be to go with what the big boys (at least of what they can see of the big boys from their vantage point) are using, and it isn't ASP.Net.

I'm in a similar position right now. I do all ASP.Net/C# dev at work, but for an upcoming personal project I'm thinking of ditching ASP.Net for at least the web component of the project. Why? It is just to much. The last web site that I built where I was exclusively focusing on solving client problems, while not having to learn how to implement technical solutions on the fly, was written with simple classic ASP. With ASP.Net it seems like you really need to be at a guru level before you can quit worrying about the how-to's and focus elusively and the why's and what is best questions. Even though I use ASP.Net all the time at work, I don't feel like I'm at the guru point yet. Classic ASP was simple, but it did what I needed without me having to think to much about it. I miss that.

Now I'm looking at PHP for the web component (I will probably stick with MS SQL Server for the db). I'd have to learn it, but it looks like the basics of PHP are really, really simple, something I can probably sit down and master the basics of (data in, data out, data on the page) in a few days. That sounds really appealing to me right now. My project isn't about learning how to do something, it is about providing something. I want to get into the providing a solution rather then learning how to provide a solution as quickly as possible with the minimal about of head aches. Plus I want to right code and have once it works to be able to sit for the next 10 years without worrying about it. PHP is going on version 6 right now, but from what I understand version 1 code will still run under PHP 6 (though this might not be 100% the case, I imagine minimal tweaking would be needed). Classic ASP is pretty stable, but who knows how long that will be around. With .Net, Migrating say from version 1.1 to version 4.0 (when it comes out) would be nightmare, and would require investments into MS server tech and developer software.

So, is ASP.Net a fit for public web applications? The big boys don't seem to think so, probably for some of the reasons I alluded to above, and for Microsoft, that is a problem.

A Few Compressor Links

Most of these links I got from http://nettuts.com/

CSS Cleaning and Compressing-
http://www.cleancss.com/
http://www.cssdrive.com/index.php/main/csscompressor/
http://www.cssoptimiser.com/

Javascript Compression-
http://www.xmlforasp.net/JSCompressor.aspx
http://javascriptcompressor.com/

Add a Little Flair to your Web Site

I remember about five years ago there were all sorts of neat programs out there that would generate cool text effects for you in Flash SWF format. Some have gone by the way side, but here are a few that are still kicking that might be of interest.

http://www.wildform.com/
http://www.swishzone.com
http://www.xara.com/us/

If you know of any others, let me know and I'll post 'em.

Flex - Silverlight - Laszlo- Javascript - Widget IDE: Spket

This IDE looks promising. It supports JavaScript, XUL/XBL, Laszlo, Flex, SVG, Silverlight, and Yahoo Widget intellisense. Take a gander here-

http://www.spket.com/

Free for personal use, under 30 for professional. If you have used it please leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Very Useful List of Web Design Resources

I found this list through http://www.ajaxian.com/ blog. Very worth checking out.

http://elementiks.com/web_resources.php

Free Images and Video for The Web

www.tutorialblog.org has a good article that has a lot of links for free video and image sites. Worth a look-

http://tutorialblog.org/how-to-dress-up-your-site-without-paying-a-dime/

Javascript Page Flip

The guys over at Sitepoint came up with an interesting page flipping script using jQuery and CSS Sprites.

Check it out here...
http://www.sitepoint.com/examples/jquery/animate4.php

The full article here...
http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2007/07/20/javascript-sprite-animation-using-jquery/#comment-858604

Pretty cool, I'm sure this technique has been done elsewhere, and can be utilized in other technologies like Flash and Silverlight if you wanted to go that route.

Caching and DataSets

I ran into some issues with Caching on page DataSet elements in ASP.Net. The following link provides a solution.

http://weblogs.asp.net/despos/archive/2005/08/08/421868.aspx

Aptana for PHP and the Aptana Cloud

I just downloaded the Aptana IDE and then sebsequently installed the php plugin.

www.aptana.com

One thing I noticed is that for under 30 bucks, you can deploy a php/mysql app to the Aptana cloud! There is a free one month trial, I will check it out.

The cloud supports SVN, state and production servers out of the box, if it works that is a pretty nice turn key solution to for getting apps out there.

I think I get cloud computing now...

List of Countries, US States, Canadian and Mexican Provinces

Here is a zipped Excel file with data for a list of all Countries and their 3 letter codes (per the UN), All US State/Armed Forces and Canadian Provinces, and also a list of Mexican Postal provinces.

Zip File

Mod_Rewrite

Here is a quick and dirty guide to using apache's mod_rewrite module

http://www.workingwith.me.uk/articles/scripting/mod_rewrite

The Benefit of Having Many Choices

Well, once again I'm faced with a new year where I try to get myself motivated to build some web applications. I've been farting around with some tech decisions, and I've come up with the following for one of my projects.

I'm going to use the Abyss web server, PHP, and SQL Express 2008. It is cool to be able to not have to stick with one platform. I like Abyss because I can run it on any platform, and it is easy to use. I like PHP because so many people have done so many great things with it, and you can use PHP both in OOP mode or more like spaghetti classic ASP, which I actually was a master at. I think I'll stick with MS SQL Server for now. MySQL has come a long way, but it isn't quiet comparable to SQL Server yet IMHO. And lastly, on the client side, I'll make heavy use of jQuery. I might also use phalanger to boost the speed of my php if it will work with Abyss.

Pretty cool.

php.net?

php.net? Well, kind of-

http://www.codeplex.com/Phalanger

For more info to get what Phalanger can do in perspective, try here-

http://petesbloggerama.blogspot.com/2006/12/aspnet-20-vs-php-etc.html

Unicode Character Reference

Unicode Value Name Symbol

\u0009 Tab
\u000B Vertical Tab
\u000C Form Feed
\u0020 Space
\u000A Line Feed
\u000D Carriage Return
\u0022 Double Quote
\u0027 Single Quote <'>
\u005C Backslash <\>

http://www.webreference.com/js/tips/000126.html

IE vs Firefox Font Rendering...What Gives?

I looked at an application today in both IE and Firefox. Well the fonts look like crap in Firefox, and seem to always look like crud in Firefox. So I finally googled why...turns out the problem is with Windows XP and not Firefox.

Here is the 5 second fix if you can wade through the ads-

http://liveslick.com/2007/09/22/why-is-internet-explorers-font-rendering-so-much-better-than-firefox-and-opera/

Wish I would have googled this a long long time ago...

[Update]
Note if you change the settings, the setting change is global and will affect more then just Firefox. You might possibly be able to download the power toy here-

http://www.microsoft.com/typography/cleartypepowertoy.mspx

Which might give you some additional options, but I haven't played with it.

XAMPP for Windows

Well, I decided to start playing with php and mySQL. I did a little bit of research, and it looks like if I want to stick with the windows side, the easiest way to go about things is to download and install XAMPP, which is a package provided by "Friends of Apache". XAMPP is an almost idiot proof installer that contains php 5.x, mySQL 5.x, openSSL, apache, and a few other items. XAMPP is available for winblows, macs, and linux. You can get yourself a copy to play with here.

http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html

So far things worked pretty much as advertised, except that I had to change the apache default port from 80 to something else because I'm running IIS (you can do that in the ini file, google it). I noticed that even though Apache is running on port 85 when it loads in the control panel it still says it is running on port 80 even though it isn't, minor glitch.

The second issue I had is with the winMySqlAdmin control I kept getting an access violation that would pop up every 15 seconds or so. The quick fix is here, though I'm sure there is another way you can setup mySQL so you don't have to run it as root.

http://phpbugs.wordpress.com/2008/01/24/access-violation-address-10002593/

So far XAMPP is great, and at least initially it looks pretty easy to install and configure.

An alternative to XAMPP would be to get the Abyss web server up and running, which supports pHp and even classic ASP with a shareware add in. I like Abyss because it is one of the few non-IIS windows web servers that supports ASP.Net. Flavors of Abyss come for Windows, Macs, and Linux.You can check Abyss out here-

http://www.aprelium.com/

And then there is always the option to take the non-mac/windows approach and go with Linux, which php and mySQL were really built for. So far I'm favoring the following two distros, but I don't have a data free box yet to install them on.

http://www.ubuntu.com/
http://www.pclinuxos.com/

Next up, actually doing some php development. I need a good IDE, I hear eclipse has a php plugin that gives you intellisense.

[End of Tech Part of Post]

Who knows? Maybe I'll even play with the open source Flex SDK, JavaFX, and the .Net ports of Linux. I feel like I'm kind of stagnating, and I all of sudden I feel the need to explore what else is out there besides M$ products. Don't get me wrong, I don't see C#, ASP.Net, VS Studio, and Sql Server becoming anything but my primary development tool set anytime soon, but sometimes its good to cross pollinate. New ideas and new ways of doing things start to flow that way.

The only show stopper is that I think it is about time to start playing with MS Silverlight. I really want to wait till version 3 comes out, but I'm not sure I'll have time as we might start using v2 3rd party products here in the next few months at work. So all the above might get shoved aside for a bit while I come up to speed with Silverlight.

Anyway, I greatly admire what the open source community has done with php. I'm not so sure about mySQL, but it is free and large scale apps use it, so we shall see. The sweet spot for me on some personal projects that I want to develop might be using abyss to run php and MS SQL Express on an old XP Pro box. The advantage of having a lot of technologies to choose from.

Tired of All Those Hidden Processes and Sypware?

http://4sysops.com/ blog alerted me to some new software called Process Lasso which can be downloaded here-

http://www.bitsum.com/prolasso.php

Process Lasso is awesome, it is a system tray program with a gui that allows you to set process cpu priorities, cpu affinitities, you can auto terminate processes, and has a host of a bunch of other features.

The program is free for academic and home use. Five out of five stars.

Tutorial Sites

http://www.freewebmasterhelp.com/tutorials/

Basic ASP.Net: Viewstate Variable Pattern

Here is a simple example of how to store a variable in view state for easy access. The example is using a string but any object/type can be used.

private string GTR
    {
      get
      {
        object o = ViewState[ "GTR" ];
        return ( o != null ? o.ToString() : "" );
      }
      set
      {
        ViewState[ "GTR" ] = value;
      }
    }

Some Game Design Tidbits

Here are a few game design tidbits-

http://www.mmorpg.com/blogs/dcostello/122008/2981_MMORPG-importance-of-aspects

I've got additional thoughts, but those will have to wait.

Fallen Sword: A Quick Review

So to continue on with my latest trip, browser based MMO’s, I’m doing a quick review of the Browser based MMO Fallen Sword. I’ve played only for a little over a week, but the game is highly addictive. I’m only level 17 so there is still a lot of game I would like to see.


For a casual RPG game, I would rate this game 5 out of 5 stars.
Here is a very quick recap of what I liked about the game.


What I like

• The Game is easy, there is a somewhat clear path of quest to gain items
  
• It is easy to level up
  
• PvP is kept at +- 5 levels
  
• The graphic artistry is very good
  
• Like the items and the powers they provide
  
• Guild system is awesome
  

What Could Be Improved

• The map is kind of small, could be ajaxed
  
• Don’t like the Guild Text alerts.
  
• Group combat could be improved, obvious add in
  
• If you belong to powerful guild and are a low level character, things are too easy in combat
  
• Combat grind can be tedious
  
• Skill/Spell tree could be expanded
  
• Broken items are kind of a nag
  
• Could offer a live chat for guild
  
• There was kind of a gap where you had to grind through slowly at around level 8 and level 14 which might cause some players to drop (actually this gap is experienced a few latter on too, where you are to powerful for the monsters of your level but your are too low a level to do the next batch of quest).
  

What is Unique/Interesting

• No classes
  
• Can cast “skills” on other characters

For more info, go to fallensword.com

Another Virtual Hook Up Story: A Trend That Will Get Bigger

Some chick in England hooks up with some dude in Second Life, meet him in RL, then dumps 'em. Then she gets mad two weeks later when she checks his avatar out and he is already hitting on someone else. She then deletes the software.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1091450/How-I-romance-man-I-met-bizarre-internet-fantasy-world-Second-Life.html

Ahh the tangled webs we humans weave! As virtual spaces like Second Life and its follow ons continue to evolve, I expect to see all sorts of things come out of them.

The good-

• People finding each other virtually and then successfully starting long term/marriage relationships in real life (like me).
• People making money selling virtual goods.
• Numerous multinational friendships being made.
• Companies using virtual spaces to help further globalize the work force.
• Virtual outreaches to people who need help (including Christian outreaches, counceling, entertainment for isolated people).

The ugly

• People abusing each other in real life after meeting virtual (including broken hearts, rape, murder, kidnapping, etc...)
• Virtual prostitution with a blur between virtual and real.
• Addiction...people have no sense. If they like something, they will give all they have to it. Their time, their jobs, their families, their savings.
• Organized crime using virtual spaces for meeting, planing.
• Blackmail
• All sorts of gender bending weirdity, "furry sex", more creepy stuff that will inevitably spill over into real life.
• The list goes on.

Welcome to the 21st Century people!

My New Kick, Browser Based Games

I found an excellent browser based MMO called Fallen Sword-



I didn't think just HTML and PHP could pull off a game that is very fun but they have done it. Best of all it is expansive, offers many features, and is free. Plus it is easy to jump in and jump out of the game, making it a great game for more casual players like myself.

Check out http://www.huntedcow.com/ , they make quiet a few BB games, all of them look pretty good.

AQ Thanks Iran for Its Support

I know many in the left don't want to link Iran and Al Qaeda, but AQ doesn't seem to have such a problem.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/3506544/Iran-receives-al-Qaeda-praise-for-role-in-terrorist-attacks.html

DARPA to Develop SKYNET

Remember the movie the Terminator? SKYNET was the AI in charge of Norad that decided that ALL humans were a threat, not just America's enemies, and thus started a nuclear war to try to rid the world of humans.

Well it looks like DARPA is trying to build SKYNET. Heck, you could even have this Slashdotted article as a movie prolog leading up to the early days before SKYNET.

Read onward here-

http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/21/2137244&from=rss

And for some fun reading to prep you for the release of Terminator 4: Salvation, click on the image above to take you to a site that has some great writing based on the original Terminator Movie.

Basic: Adding JavaScript Confirmations to an ASP.Net Button

Adding Javascript generated confirmations to your ASP.Net buttons is easy, but I always seem to forget how to do and my first and second guesses are usually wrong. So instead of using google to find the answer next time, I will use google in a new way (my blog) to store the answer. Ok here goes.

  btnCancel.Attributes.Add ( "onclick",
   "javascript:if(confirm('" + CancelMessage + "')){do stuff;return true;}else{return false;}" );
     

Not All Mysteries Have Been Solved

Scientist find a new species of dolphin in Australia

http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/new-dolphin-oz/

Also, check out cryptomundo.com, it is a great site, and they post new species discoveries, weird sightings of creatures, and other oddities that bring a little mystery back into our digital age.

The ACLU Lost One, Let's Hope The Trend Continues

The ACLU in my book is pretty much an enemy of the state, which is a shame, because they should be providing a needed service to protect people's rights rather then be involved in societal transformation.

Anyway, they lost a court battle. Excellent.

http://www.theindychannel.com/news/17999573/detail.html

Campaign Coverage Leans Left: Suprise!!!

One major newspaper admits it, but without appology.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/07/AR2008110702895.html

After all, when you are on the side of righteousness, who dares question you? [sarcasm]

File This Under...We Will Think About It Later

This is one example of many of the types of things that pop up on the radar from time to time that just doesn't fit into a secular humanist's world view. So how do our secular humanist scholarly scientist types deal with this stuff? Dismiss, deny, forget.

Prayer Helps with Fertility-

http://www.obgyn.net/newsrx/womens_health-Fertility-20011018-16.asp

Breakthrough: Organs Grown to Order

Look like they can grow replacement organs in a lab now. Drudgereport.com posted three links. Check 'em out.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/3479613/British-doctors-help-perform-worlds-first-transplant-of-a-whole-organ-grown-in-lab.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/health-news/the-medical-miracle-1024576.html

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article5183686.ece

Silverlight vs. Flash...Silverlight 3 May End The Battle

I like Flash, though I've only used it to do progressive video streaming and a few other minor text spins on a page. I don't like Flash's IDE. Flex's eclipse might be better, but I did one check of it and it didn't offer full intellisense (even though it is advertised as such), so at the time I decided to back burner learning Flex.

Well, I'm glad I did. Flash 10 supports quasi 3D, but it looks like Silverlight will support full 3D. Read towards the end of Scott Guthrie's Blog here-

http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2008/11/16/update-on-silverlight-2-and-a-glimpse-of-silverlight-3.aspx

Very signifigant. I've been looking for the holy grail platform to do browser based game development for a long time. Flash works, but you have to hack at it. And you don't get true 3D. MAYBE, just MAYBE, Silverlight 3 will be the killer web game app, as well as business RIA creator, that I've been waiting for.

After Christmas it is time to start diving in to Silverlight.

Access Stored Proc Output Parameters in a SQL Data Source

The following Blog sheds light on how to access an Stored Proc output parameter from a SQL Data Source.

http://www.velocityreviews.com/forums/t86158-re-how-to-retrieve-an-output-parameter-using-sqldatasource-control.html

Some JavaScript Plugins/Code Worth Checking Out

I can't vouch for these, but over the course of the last few months the following links have shown up on my RSS radar, and they look promising. Take a look for yourself.

Spin JS, which turns textboxes into clickable number up and number down boxes-
http://acidmartin.wemakesites.net/?pageId=SpinBoxJs

A Javascript Graph Plotting Tool-
http://www.jslab.dk/plottool.htm

A jQuery based Color Picker-
http://acko.net/dev/farbtastic

Easy Google Map Marker Creation-
http://ajaxian.com/archives/google-maps-utilities-for-creating-markers-and-loading-kml

Javascript/PayPal supported Simple Shopping Cart
http://www.thewojogroup.com/2008/10/simplecartjs-paypal-e-commerce-in-minutes/

Another Javascript Table Sorter
http://www.leigeber.com/2008/11/javascript-table-sorter/

CSS Menus
http://lwis.net/free-css-drop-down-menu/

Thanks to Ajaxian and Web Resources Depot (see sidebar under useful links) for making me aware of these resources.

Auto Ajaxify A Static Web Page

Ajaxifying a web page by just dropping a javascript class onto the page? Sound to good to be true? It probably is, but the author seems to have allowed for exceptions by including the ability to create rules for the javascript class.

Looks worth checking out-

http://www.bydust.com/examples/com.bydust.ajax/

Source: http://www.webresourcesdepot.com/

So I won't forget this the double split

coming back and editing this later. nothing that anyone couldn't figure out on their own, just something I bump into, here for ref

declare @p_value_rows as varchar(300)
set @p_value_rows = '234f~asd4adsfa~0dfsg'


      SELECT
          SUBSTRING(value_desc,0,CHARINDEX('~',value_desc))
        , SUBSTRING(value_desc,CHARINDEX('~',value_desc)+1,LEN(value_desc) - CHARINDEX(value_desc,'~'))
      FROM [db splitter function here](@p_value_rows, '')

Obama Wins

Sighs...

Well, the dems have the white house. I will try to be positive. Some good things I saw.

1) High voter turn out. A good sign, I hope the trend continues.
2) All in all things were civil.
3) A Minority is elected President. That is a good sign that America, for the most part, is moving beyond skin color and ethnicity in judging and individual.

Enjoy your victory democrats, both in the presidency and in various other offices. I and many others will be watching.

Work Begins On A River UUV

Check out ARES blog for info about a new river patrol unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV).

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3aab9fb812-1470-4983-ae14-687b08d9ebd0

Next Administration Needs to Spend A Lot On Defense

Great article on the future defense spending. Think the dems, if elected, can rise to the challenge?

Restocking_For_Another_Decade_Of_War_Part_One

Georgia Leaves the CIS

Georgia decided it hasn't had enough @ss whipping by the Russians, and has decided to leave the Commonwealth of Independant States.

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Analysis_Georgia_leaves_the_CIS_999.html

Metal Returns to Iraq

Yes, Heavy Metal is back in Iraq. A good sign for any nation.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/2008-10-29-iraq-heavy-metal_N.htm

Libya Offers Russia A New Base

Sensing U.S. Weakness, Libya decides it can now cozzy up to Russia.

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/
Libya_offers_to_host_Russian_military_base_report_999.html

Saving XML to SQL and the Dreaded Parse Error

I recently at work tried to save an XML string to SQL Server 2005 and I kept getting the following error...

XML parsing: line 1, character 38, unable to switch the encoding

Turns out the solution was to just change the paramter datatype that I'm passing to the stored proc to a varchar (even though the stored proc expects XML) and the problem goes away and data is saved fine. Example of the parameter I passed to the stored proc-


SqlParameter p_xml = new SqlParameter ();
p_xml.ParameterName = "@p_xml";
p_xml.SqlDbType = SqlDbType.VarChar;
p_xml.Value = "your xml string";


The issue has to do with my string XML being UTF-8 based, and SQL 2005 wanting UTF-16. The above hack fixes the issue, and you can still pass UTF-16 based XML and the varchar handles that as well.

Credit for the fix goes to Bob Beauchemin at this link-

http://bytes.com/forum/thread498342.html

Starting A Busines in Michigan

Saving this link for reference.

http://ref.michigan.org/medc/services/startups/?m=12;7

Real Time Marine Open Source Intelligence?

Here is another great application built on Google Maps. It is an open source marine vessel tracker.

Check it out here-

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?level0=100

Source -

http://informationdissemination.blogspot.com/2008/10/maritime-open-source-intelligence-cyber.html

Interesting...

For me, blogging is a fun diversion. I do track my stats, respond to comments, and post often. I wouldn't call my blog any where near a "professional" blog. If it was, I'd spell check and read things thrice before posting, get a real code poster, and put more effort into posting items that tend to get the most hits. I would also keep my politics to myself, as most coders (the majority of my hits) aren't interested in what I have to say, and probably not politics in general.

So in the history of my blog, I've only ever got one negative comment before today, and that is when I hot linked to some one's image. They didn't like it, I delinked, and everybody was good. Interestingly though, now that I put my "friends don't let friend's vote democratic" link up, I've gotten a few more negative post, not about politics, but about technical stuff. I think it is "pay back" for my obvious political stances.

Just an interesting observation on human psychology.

Well, the anti-democratic side bar stays up till after the election. Not that this is an endorsement for McCain, but I just can't see giving the democratic party another chance at electing activist judges, not funding our military, further ruining the schools, limiting free speech, letting 80k abortions a year happen, redefine marriage, etc... Sorry, can't do it, no matter how much I'm at odds with the repubs some times. I even worked for the repubs in college but I saw their version of corruption first hand so I quit.

So a lot of people want change, and again I'm not saying the repubs are the answer, just that the dems aren't. Change might come, but be careful what you wish for.

The Shape of Things To Come?

A lot of us have heard about RIA's (Rich Internet Applications). They are the way of the future, though even with broad band speeds I think the responsiveness of RIAs needs to be as snappy as desktop applications for RIAs to really take off. They are getting close.

We now have Silverlight, Flash/Flex, and improvements in Javascript/Javascript Frameworks to make things start to happen. Many visionaries have invested a lot of time in Flash/Flex/Actionscript because they see this as the way of the future. Here is one minor example or a RIA that just came online.

http://www.windowshop.com/ (Amazon run shopping site that uses Flex I believe).

Another trend is the blending between the desktop and the web. Adobe Air is an example, and now Yahoo has come out with their own plaform.

http://browserplus.yahoo.com/

Grrr...I swore off yahoo 'cause they pissed me off, but I guess I will have to check it out.

Some even argue that RIAs are Web 2.0, and that Web 3.0 will be the "game web" (virtual reality, game like interfaces, big use of 3D, increased responsiveness). This is where I'd like to be developing, but just like VRML in the 90ies (which still lives, kinda) user acceptance of this type of stuff isn't quiet there yet, and probably won't be for a long time. Too bad, because developing these technologies could be actually easier. Hacking out websites using a combination of HTML/JavaScript/Server Script/Action Script etc... tend to be complex and take a lot of time. Gametech, though complex, could produce through competition some really good Web 3.0 tools. There are some great start ups working on this (I can't for the life of me right now remember my favorite one, which right now is Mac only on the dev side, I was going to post a link to it), so I keep watching and hoping.

First Known Glow Cat Created

Scientist created a glow in the dark cat.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/27338236/?GT1=3001

soapUI: Nice Web Service Testing Tool

In my saga of abandoning WCF and regressing back to an ASMX web service for a current project I had a very knowledgable web service person from a telecommunications company send me an invaluable tool for testing webservices.

http://www.soapui.org/

The cool thing is you can mock web service request, or even send soap request to a webservice through soapUI. The tool has a gazillion features that I haven't even scrated the surface of yet.

I highly recommend it. At first you will open it up, be a little bummed that it is written in JAVA, and you will come to an inteface without knowing really how to proceed. Download a WSDL from a web service and save it, then in soapUI create a new WSDL project and load your local version of the WSDL. You will see how valuable the tool can be.

There is a Pro version with more features, though I haven't checked that out.

SAC is Back, Kind Of

The Air Force is establishing a new nuclear strike command.

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/US_air_force_to_establish
_new_command_for_nuclear_forces_999.html

Note From an Old Dog

I found this post on a game forum, but I feel it applies across the whole programming spectrum.

http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=25748

Great Game Demographic Site

I stumbled upon the daedalus project today -

http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/

There is an RSS feed, and there is some pretty interesting data. I hope Nick continues to add more.

Stored Procs vs Dirty SQL

Every once in a while I stumble across a blog that says stored procs are no longer the way to go in database development. I believe I see this for a few reasons

1) This view is often exposed by younger developers who, though extremely talented, do not have heavy enterprise data manipulation experience.

2) Advocates of this view typically are heavily into auto code generation tools, which don't play well with stored procs.

Here is an example of the type of scare crow testing I see (make a weak comparison, beat it up, then declare your opinion superior).

http://www.blackwasp.co.uk/SpeedTestSqlSproc.aspx

Wow, a select statement is almost as fast with dynamically generated SQL then with a stored proc, and even in some cases, a stored proc might be slower.

Well, if you work with data heavily on a regular basis, you wish you were writing select statements all day :) The case of comparison here is bogus. If select and basic CRUD on a single table is all you are using SQL for, you probably shouldn't talk about how your are an expert on the intricacies of SQL performance.

In my enterprise experience, it is not uncommon for a query will pull back data from five or six tables, which often times aren't tables at all but subqueries themselves. CRUD operations sometimes spam five or six tables. Putting all your code in a stored proc allows you to have a single place to change things, and often times updating the database in an enterprise environment is a lot easier then touching production code. I also don't believe that these types of queries are faster with dynamic sql. The dynamic SQL must be generated on a webserver or a client, so you take a hit there that isn't often factored into test data. Execution plans are generated at query runtime, while a stored proc has its execution plan cached. Big performance boost. Though, as pointed out, sometimes dynamically generated plans might run slightly faster. With complex SQL operations, I doubt that though. You also are slightly more open to SQL injection attacks by building your app using dynamic SQL, but if you know what you are doing you should be able to avoid vulnerabilities there. Stored procs also aren't invulnerable to attack either, they just tend to be more so. Also by using dynamically generated SQL you are loosing out on the CLR integration into SQL Server (if using MS tech), and depending upon what you are trying to accomplish using CLR stored procs might be a powerful, fast option that you are passing up.

So, if you are fortunate enough to be able to pull off simple queries for your application, and you have a robust app that is responsive and meets your client's needs, good for you. Keep at it. I'm not a huge fan of code generation tools, as it seems like when you go outside of the vanilla, you end up spending a lot of time and effort getting your non-vanilla task done. If you know the base tech really well, typically you already have a library of code that acts almost like a code generation tool. Plus there is the additional learning curve of a code generator, do I want to spend all the time learning something that's features might be included in future versions of visual studio? Or will my code gen tool be around five years from now? What if I want to pass my code of to a junior developer? Will I have to spend time teaching them, or allocating time for them to learn, a code gen tool that might be eclipsed by another tool that is more in vogue that wasn't around when my base code was written? But that is neither here nor there. Separate discussion.

I've written dynamic SQL apps before, and they have worked well. If your app works well with dynamic SQL and using dynamic SQL allows you to gain efficiencies by using your code gen tools, good for you. Keep at it. But save your lectures about stored procs being dead, because depending on your environment, they are far from dead. Often times stored procs are the only practical way to go.

More Media Bias

Once again, our "unbiased" press at work.

McCain coverage mostly negative-

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/14829.html

Reporter rips press-

http://www.ldsmag.com/ideas/081017light.html

Dems want to muzzle opposing view points all in the name of "fairness"-

http://www.breitbart.tv/html/203333.html

And then we have our bogus polls trying to manipulate voters-

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122463210033356561.html?mod=djemEditorialPage

The result of all this? Declining consumers of their crap-

http://www.drudgereport.com/flashnf.htm

Libs, so righteous in their cause that distortion and manipulation are valid tools to achieve their ends. Sad.

More MOD UFO Files Released

The British Ministry of Defense released some more UFO files today.

Main story-
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/ufos/article1830761.ece

Alledged Photo (most likely a fake in my view)
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/ufos/article1830727.ece

Sabre Ordered to Attack a UFO (most likely a legit story in my view)
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/ufos/article1830727.ece

A more recent Jet's brush with a UFO
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/video/article307898.ece?channel=Sky+News&clipID=1347_SUN10799

Somewhere in the links there is a story about some person who was going to marry an alien. This story is easy to dismiss as the person having serious problems. From my experience, this story is probably LEGIT, at least from the perspective of the person describing the encounters. However, the beings are not aliens, they are must older, and more malevolent.

Teleflip is Dead?

Well, it looks like Teleflip.com is down. This is a shame because Teleflip made sending SMS messages through email very easy. Say you wanted to text someone, you could just email the person's phone number like so.

13335551212@teleflip.com.

The only drawback was that teleflip put a small plug at the end of the SMS message, which took up about 10% of the available message characters. But hey, what do you want for free?

I hope this is a momentary outage, but I have a feeling teleflip will not be coming back. Sometimes a good thing for free ends up being a bad thing for the business offering the free service.

Anyone know of something similar?

Sad: The Left's Quest for Victory Destroying Voter Confidence

Here are a few headlines from Drudge-

Ohio elections chief asks US Supreme Court to intervene; dispute over voter registration...200,000 have discrepancies...

SEATTLE: 24,000 Felons Getting Ballots, Despite Eligibility Questions...

You KNOW this is all generally related to activist lefties trying to win at any cost. The price of their victory might be our republic.

I'm not saying the right doesn't engage in questionable practices at times, but they are the JV team when it comes to this type of stuff compared to the left. And the stories of corruption and tampering are generally buried in the media. The bigger news sources will only start talking about this now that Drudge has highlighted it.

Basic: A Recursive Function to Find All Control ID's in a Control

Sometimes you might have a control that has a lot of other controls burried in it. Here is a small very basic recursive function to find all the control id's. I'm posting it more for my reference. Just pass in a string builder and an int.

void RecurseFindControls(Control c, ref System.Text.StringBuilder sb, ref int iLevel)
    {
      if (c.ID != null)
      {
        sb.Append ( c.ID + "[" + iLevel.ToString () + "];" );
      }
      if ( c.Controls.Count > 0 )
      {
        iLevel++;
        for ( int j = 0 ; j < c.Controls.Count ; j++ )
        {
          RecurseFindControls ( c.Controls[ j ], ref sb, ref iLevel );
        }
      }
    }

Flash Cookies

For all you paranoid folks out there who are worried about cookies, here is something that will make you spill your milk too. Flash also has a version of cookies, and guess what? They don't expire, and they can contain unlimited amounts of data.

Here is a link where you can remove Flash cookies on your system, albeit one at a time.

Flash Cookie Remover

Source: Slashdot-

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/14/1656251&from=rss

Radgrid Column Name Changing

At work I ran into a scenario where we couldn't use our customized Radgrid which handles localization behind the scenes. So I had to use the standard Telerik Radgrid. Here is a link to how to deal with columns-

http://www.telerik.com/help/aspnet/grid/grdusingcolumns.html

For some reason changing the header text as suggested in the example for me didn't work. I need to change the header text names at runtime due to the headers need to be translated into the viewing clients language. But in fooling around I found a neat trick that did work. It might not be too efficient, but it got what I wanted to get done done.

My Radgrid was bound to a sqldatasource. So I added a new selected event handler on the Page.Init like so-

protected void Page_Init (object sender, EventArgs e)
{
  myDataSet.Selected +=
  new SqlDataSourceStatusEventHandler (myDataSet_Selected);
}
    void myDataSet_Selected (object sender, SqlDataSourceStatusEventArgs e)
    {
      foreach (GridColumn column in myGridView.Columns)
      {
        if (column.UniqueName == "some name" )
        {
          (column as GridBoundColumn ).HeaderText =
  "whatever the translated text is";
          break;
        }
      }
    }

It works! Hope this helps someone.

For Reference: Getting a Datatable Programmatically from a DataSource

I've used this before (that is, pulling a datatable directly from a datasource), but always forget how when I need to. So for reference.

http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=228386&SiteID=1

Just remember to update your datasource paramaters.

DataView view =
  (DataView)SqlDataSource1.Select(DataSourceSelectArguments.Empty);
DataTable table = view.ToTable();
DataSet ds = new DataSet();
ds.Tables.Add(table);

Decent WCF/JSON Chat Application

Here is a pretty good JSON/WCF interop example chat application with source code provided.

http://blogs.msdn.com/bashmohandes/archive/2008/01/05/using-webhttpbinding-json-support-in-wcf.aspx

Random Photoshop, CSS, and UI links

Here are a bunch of random UI, CSS, and Photoshop links.

http://trevordavis.net/blog/tutorial/the-6-most-important-css-techniques-you-need-to-know/
http://sixrevisions.com/graphics-design/photoshop_text_effect_tutorials/
http://sixrevisions.com/resources/cheat_sheets_for_web_designers/
http://designreviver.com/tutorials/50-excellent-body-enhancement-photoshop-tutorials/
http://psdtuts.com/web/20-insane-comic-book-style-photoshop-effects/
http://speckyboy.com/2008/08/28/75-powerful-adobe-fireworks-extensions-it-really-can-be-as-great-as-photoshop/
http://psdtuts.com/tutorials-effects/40-dark-and-futuristic-photoshop-effects/
http://www.sitepoint.com/article/top-ten-css-tricks/
http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/30-nicest-photoshop-photo-effects-part-ii/
http://www.noupe.com/css/form-elements-40-cssjs-styling-and-functionality-techniques.html
http://www.photoshoptechniques.com/texp/fireptk.php

Misadventures in WCF

Well, I started off on a simple task of creating a test WCF service hosted in a windows service that was secured by https and was compatible with older clients.

Here were my hurdles. I'll come back and post links to each step.

1) Getting a WCF Service Working
2) Getting a Windows Service Working
3) Getting my WCF service class working in a Windows Service
4) Getting SSL working
5) Getting basicHTTBinding anonymous username/password working

Here is where I started running into trouble

6) Getting XML enums to serialize correctly in WCF.
7) Possibly needing to flatten WSDL files
8) WCF clients can connect to the mex and discover the service, but displaying the description or the WSDL in a web browser returns 400 or 415 errors (could be related to #7).

So, I decided at least for now to say "f it" and drop the project. Instead I will use an ASMX old school service hosted on IIS.

So far the WSDL issues went away, the challenge will be testing SSL (since I don't have IIS running on my box). I will give myself bonus points if I get the ASMX service working with SSL in a Windows Service, but that is a low priority at this point as time is a'wasting. I get super bonus points when if I'm done and have any time left, I can circle back and get the WCF working.

The lesson here? WCF is great...going forward. If any part of your tech lies in the "legacy" realm, <sarcasm>like Java or non MS clients </sarcasim> don't listen to all the folks towting how great WCF is and how it is backwards compatible, go ASMX.

Disappointment with Yahoo Answers

I like(d) yahoo answers. It was a good waste of time and I liked answering people's questions. Today I got suspended because I gave a general answer to a hacking question. I appealed by suspension, but I got a form response from "Jane" telling me my account will not be reinstated.

Well, to be honest, that pisses me off. It actually makes me want to take out a little anger on Yahoo. Well, if they don't reinstate my account, the following will happen.

1) I will tell everyone what happened and why I am disappointed in Yahoo.
2) I pay for Yahoo mail. Yes I'm like one in five people that do. That will end.
3) Yahoo API's and Javascript? Ha! Think I will use their API's anymore? Nah... Think I will recommend using that stuff at work? Nah...

Yahoo = Facist.

UAV Tankers? What is next.

As Boeing and Northrop/EADS battle it out for the contract for the Air Force's next generation of Tankers, other folks are quietly tinkering with new ideas that might make manned Tanker craft a thing of the past.

Here is the first UAV to UAV refuelling that I'm aware of. Pretty cool. Read more here on the AWS&T Ares blog-

link

I'm still waiting for the first UAV to UAV combat engagement.

There are two UAV to Manned Aircraft combat situations that I'm aware of. One a Russian MIG shooting down a Georgian UAV, and the other an Iraqi MIG 25 shooting down a predator drone I think in '03. The UAV tried to launch a Hellfire at the MiG, but I think the UAV got splashed first. In both instances the UAV's were designed for RECON and long loiter times, not Air combat.

In the post Vietnam area they did some experiments with UAV vs Manned Fighter combat in testing. I guess the UAV's used were target drones. From what I've heard the UAV's generally came out victorious.

Angelican Church Apologizes for Believing the Bible

Yes, the Angelican Church, in a round about way, is apologizing for its beliefs in the account of Creation found in Genesis.

What a sad day for the Angelician "Church".

Read more here.

http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/16/211239&from=rss

Flash/Flex vs Silverlight: The Winner Is...

I like Macromedia's Flash. I like it a little less now that it has been bought out by Adobe, as I think Adobe has gone a long way from its humble beginnings to becoming a tech holding company.

I don't like Silverlight...yet. To me I'm not real clear on what exact tools I should use to build Silverlight applications, what state those tools are in, changing code from beta 1 to beta 2 version 1 and version 2, etc... I'm going to ride things out a bit before taking the plung with Silverlight, and in the mean time I plan to do some more Flash/Flex work, just so I don't forget what little I know.

Anyway, to add fuel to the which one is better argument, Flash/Flex or Silverlight, I found this link-

http://www.shinedraw.com/flash-vs-silverlight-gallery/

It looks like what is better, at least from this side by side comparison is completely up to you. What do you like to program in I guess would be the answer, because the results are very, very similar.

I'm sure there is more to it then that, but it is good to see that algorithims for 3D waves and stuff can be ported between the two with not to much hastle. That is a good thing.

Also, Shine Draw includes downloadables for each example presented, which I will definately squirl away in my code library.

Happy Flash/Flex/XBAP/Silverlight programming!

For Reference: MakeCert.exe documentation

Here is the documentation of MakeCert.exe. I'm sure I'll look for this again in the future.

UN Wants to Track You

A UN agency wants to enact a global ping back feature. Wonderful.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10040152-38.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

Never Forget

I've seen a couple other Bloggers do this, so I will too.

Never Forget

It is telling that even the Drudge Report didn't have any 9-11 stories on its front page. Our memory is too short.

Those who don't learn from History are doomed to repeat it.

Carbon Dating Flawed? No.....

Yep, another article on how Carbon Dating, the corner stone in the foundation of modern evolutionary theories, is flawed.

This one fails to mention a few other interesting tidbits, like sending shells taken from recently deceased animals to labs for Carbon dating have having the labs indicate that the shells were millions of years old. Another blog post I guess for that one.

Read onward.

http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/10/2257242&from=rss

Oh yeah, scientist just found a whole forest, fossilized and underground.

http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/10/2020226&from=rss

Massive forest fossilized and shoved under layers of sediment...evidence of a global flood/catastrophy?

IT Innovation At Work: IT Worker Racks Up 220k in Phone Sex Charges On Other People's Accounts

Yep, us IT folks sometimes are crafty. Check out this latest example of our "craftiness". A Verizon x-employee racks up 220k of sex phone call charges on other verizon customer's accounts. IT innovation at work.

Read onward.

http://idle.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/10/1541200&from=rss

Education Going OpenSource? Additional Signs

How many times does the knowledge base of what needs to be taught in a High School physics course change? Maybe an update here or there once a decade? Or how about Calculus? Never?

So how come there are litterally thousands of High School physics and calculus books out there?

You know the answer, $$$.

Well, hopefully that will change, and I think things are slowly starting too. I dont' want to see there be one global secondary education book for calculus or physics, but we don't need thousands. Why not collaborate and come up with a really good book? Why not make it open source? Why not make it electronically downloable from the web so school districts and students can save money on books?

All good questions, and the Common Wealth of Virginia is on the ball and already decided that there were no good reasons for not doing the above.

Read more here on Slashdot here-

http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/10/1556242&from=rss

Vista Aero 3D and Linux Beryl Envy

I recently did a lot of reading about Beryl, the cool 3D virtual desktop program for many Linux distributions. So I did a little digging. There had to be some sort of equivalent for winblows right? Specifically for XP hopefully.

Well, there is, quiet a few of them. The best free one I found for XP is yod'm. There is the free version which goes up to version 1.4 and a commercial version (I think it is at http://www.deskspace.com/ ) if you want to pay a little and help the developer out.

You can find links to both plus more information here-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yod%27m

Also, if you like Aero 3D on Vista, why not run it on XP? You can by going here.

http://winflip.stylekings.de/

I ran both in tandem today and they work fine. Yod'm doesn't quite have all the cool features that Beryl has, but I hear there is a Beryl port for windows coming. Yod'm or the commercial version with more features should hold you till then.

WCF Axis Interop Null Problem

I had a small project where I used a WCF web client to connect to an Axis/Coldfusion web service. I could add the service reference and call the web method fine, but the return string (that let me know if the data passed to the web service was processed correctly on the Axis end) always returned null.

I did some logging of the SOAP calls (see previous post) and the service was sending me back the return string, just my automatically generated classes were not reading it for some reason.

So after pooling my hair out for a LONG time, I finally figured out (with the help of a few bloggers) what the issue was.

Well apparently WCF basicHTTPbinding (and possibly other binding types as well) doesn't like rpc style web services. I thought "awww crud" I'm going to have to ask the service company to rewrite their web service, which probably wouldn't go over very well. But then I found this blog.

http://www.vistax64.com/indigo/54127-wcf-client-does-not-read-streamed-response.html

Note in the second post, the poster said he went in and changed the behavior's operational style to use document and literal, and the null problem went away. I did that in my auto generated proxy class (it is hidden by default, you need to click the show all files icon, then it should be named something like References.cs).

I change this-

[System.ServiceModel.XmlSerializerFormatAttribute(Style=System.ServiceModel.OperationFormatStyle.Rpc, Use=System.ServiceModel.OperationFormatUse.Encoded)]

to this -

[System.ServiceModel.XmlSerializerFormatAttribute ( Style = System.ServiceModel.OperationFormatStyle.Document, Use = System.ServiceModel.OperationFormatUse.Literal)]

And wallah! The return string went from null to a value.

Hope this helps someone.

WCF Soap Logging

I read a few articles about logging your outgoing and incoming SOAP messages. The simpliest way I found to trace SOAP messages is here-

Rick Stahl's Blog - http://www.west-wind.com/weblog/posts/205198.aspx
More Info from MS - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms730064.aspx

Another useful tool called Web Services Studio Jason from the Arizona .Net User Group pointed me too-

http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/webservicestudio20

- is also very useful for debugging older web services (though it works with a lot of WCF stuff too).

GameQuery?

Check out GameQuery, a jQuery based javascript framework for game development.

http://gamequery.onaluf.org/

Another Reason Not to Buy A Dell

Another traitorous bean counter wants to outsource production so investers can drive new porches. This time the hancho is the new Dell CIO.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10033584-92.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

America cannot remain a super power if we do not produce anything.

Dinosaurs Took Hundreds of Thousands of Years to Die Off?

I caught this little gem on Slashdot.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080103090702.htm

In the article, it points out that there are major problems with the sudden catastrophy theory as to way the Dinosaurs died off. I guess there is ample evidence that dinosaurs took hundreds of thousands or years to die off. So now scientist have decided that insects and disease may have killed the Dinosaurs.

This brings up some interesting points.

1) I don't buy the whole timeline of billions of years. I'm a Christian, and a creationist. Just to let you know where I'm coming from.

2) If there is ample evidence that it took a REALLY LONG time (though I doubt the amount of time our scientist are telling us, but rather I believe the timeline is more like thousands of years, and scientist are misreading and giving us a huge timeline. Just compress it), then why isn't this information well known? A lot of people are believing inaccurate stuff because this little factoid isn't being widely distributed.

3) To me this is just another chink in the armor concerning evolution. Evolution will fall once the timeline commonly presented is crushed, which there is already plenty of evidence of it being inaccurate.

Coldfusion on .Net?

Yep, a company called New Atlanta is releasing a version of Coldfusion that runs on the .Net CLR.

Read onward here-

http://www.newatlanta.com/products/bluedragon/index.cfm

WCF SSL Password Negotiation Errors

Ok, I'm using WCF to try to connect to a basic webservice hosted on a coldfustion server. The webservice that I'm connecting to communicates over https and expects a username and password. So, after bumping around and doing some research, I was able to come up with this.

Again, sorry about the code display. If you select and copy/paste the code will be much more readable.

First, in your config file (or in code I guess, my example is a config file), replace whatever was automatically generated for your security setting in your binding when you added the service with the following.

  <security mode="Transport">
    <transport clientCredentialType="Basic" />
  </security>

Next, you have to pass the username and password to the webservice. This I did in code, you can probably put the username and password in your config file somewhere as well. Here is a sample page_load method I did for a web page to do a test of the webservice.

Here are the namespaces that I referenced as well.

using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Configuration;
using System.Data;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Security;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.HtmlControls;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts;
using System.Xml.Linq;
using System.Net.Security;
using System.Net;
using System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates;

protected void Page_Load ( object sender, EventArgs e )
    {
      //http://developers.de/blogs/damir_dobric/archive/2006/06/29/585.aspx
      //ServicePointManager.ServerCertificateValidationCallback += new System.Net.Security.RemoteCertificateValidationCallback ( customXertificateValidation );
      TheService.proxyname t = new TheService.proxyname ();
      t.ClientCredentials.UserName.UserName = "someusername";
      t.ClientCredentials.UserName.Password = "somepassword";
      t.Open ();
      try
      {
        Response.Write(t.SomeMethod ( "123456789", 123 ));

      }
      catch ( System.Exception ex )
      {
        Response.Write ( ex.ToString () );

      }
      finally
      {
        t.Close ();
      }

Lastly, if you don't have the root certificate setup, uncomment out the ServicePointManager line and add the following method. This will override any sort of certificate goofiness on your end.

private static bool customXertificateValidation ( object sender,
      X509Certificate cert, X509Chain chain,
System.Net.Security.SslPolicyErrors error )
    {
       return true;
    }

And walla! You should be able to connect. Hope this helps someone.

Google's Chrome

Google released a new web browser today, as I'm sure most of you have heard-

http://www.google.com/chrome/

It is based on webkit, which is an open source HTML render platform that powered the horrible Safari browser. Webkit is maturing I guess, and like IE's render engine before it, Webkit has come out with some new non standards features that are kind of nice.

As far as Chrome goes, I'm sure under the hood there are a lot of great and useful features waiting to be discovered, but nothing except a clean interface really jumped out at me. I spent about 20 minutes playing around with Chrome, said to myself, "huh", and closed it. I have a feeling at least for now that is where my relationship with Chrome will end. I'll give Google enough credit to leave open the option that perhaps in the future Chrome will wow me. Till then it is back to IE and FF.

On the about Chrome page, check out the Chrome comic if you want to se an example of the culture described in the book "What White People Like" in action telling the masses how to program. Funny and annoying.

Virtual Worlds Video

On Terra Nova someone recently posted a video that does a pretty good recap of all the social networking virtual environments out there today. There were a few that I hadn't heard of before.

Take a peak-