The Microsoft Learning site has a number of self-paced eLearning courses on current technologies (e.g. .NET 2.0 & 3.0 and VS2005.) This blog pulls a subset of the developer courses that are free and lists them It is worth taking a look at the full developer catalogue as well.

I am personally interested in Clinic 5046 and 5230.

http://blogs.msdn.com/cbowen/archive/2007/06/20/free-microsoft-online-developer-courses.aspx

I currently work for a company that uses Lotus Notes for email.  I simply can not stand using Notes for Email, it feels and is, in my opinion very old, antiquated and counter-productive.  I therefore break from the company policy and use Outlook 2003, with the Lotus Notes connector for Outlook.

I occasionally experience problems with the Lotus Notes connector for Outlook hanging on the message "Please wait while outlook shuts down".

Do others have access to your calendar or free/busy information (almost certainly!)? If yes then this is a known issue.

This issue can be resolved in two ways as detailed below.  First you need to kill the Outlook process, by using the task manager.  I have personally found option 2 to work best, as I do try to make sure that I am fully patched!

1. Make sure that Office, including Outlook is fully patched.
2. Start Outlook with the /cleanfreebusy command line switch.

I am part of a team working on a very exciting MCMS (Microsoft Content Management Server) 2003 SP2 project.  We are using Visual Studio (VS) 2005 and the .NET Framework 2.0.

The solution has been created and we are all using source control and sharing the project among many developers.  This works fine, except when I try to go to the MCMS template explorer.  I get the following error, but no others do, despite having the same build/setup:

No CMS-Enabled Projects are open

After some reading of some news groups and looking up information posted by the MCMS Gurus (Stefan Goßner, Lim Mei Ying, Joel Ward, Angus Logan), I came across the following:

To enable a MCMS project, from the menu "Website" select "Enable as MCMS Project". - This was disabled for me, so...

In the vwb.WebInfo file, make sure that you have the following:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<VisualWebDeveloper>
<Globals>
<UserProperties CmsEnabled="1"/>
</Globals>
</VisualWebDeveloper>

Again, my project had this!

Another suggestion was to open the project using HTTP rather than the file system.  I tried this also, but to no avail.

I then closed Visual Studio in lost hope...

Then instead of opening the project via double clicking on the solution/project, I simply opened Visual Studio up and from the "Start Page" tab, I selected the project.

Weird... it worked!

Whilst not the best solution at least it allows me to get to the MCMS Template Explorer.  In order to maintain code and source control, I still have to open the original project the original way.  Perhaps later I can find a proper solution.

I arrived at the new work and was immediatley confronted by the fact that the person that I was to ask for when I arrived wasn't there.  Not a good start.  Thankfully someone else in the office, NL, did know I was coming and was able to help me out a little.

I was shown to my new desk and then informed that as it's all happened rather quickly, that they have nothing ready for me.  No computer, no paperwork, no system login, no nothing, not even a pen!  Again NL managed to get me something to do with the job and get on with.  I was given some paper copies of the Induction material for the project that I would be working on, and also a functional specification of one of the MCMS projects that I would probably be working on.

I was rifling through the Induction document and managed to come up with about 20 questions that I need to get answered, and all this before lunch.

The area where the office is is in the middle of a business park.  As such there is very, very little around.  Thankfully they have a sandwich man come around every lunh time with sandwiches, and they have a host of drinks available in the kitchen which is nice.

One of the facilities people for the office came along and gave me a quick guided tour of the office and also sorted me out a temporary security pass.  Will have to try and get this all sorted out, and get a proper pass with my photo on it.

After lunch I decided to read through the functional specification.  I'm glad I had a red pen with me as i went through the document and had dozens upon dozens of questions and suggestions about the specification.  It transpired later on that this is good as re-developing the site will probably be one of my objectives.

Around about mid afternoon the project manager that I was to be working with arrived in the office.  AP was only going to be there for an hour or so as he had a meeting to go to.  Trouble is that he is only here for a short time tomorrow also, and on Friday goes off for a weeks holiday!  So, no doubt I'm going to be left here on my own to get on with things.  Oh well.

I managed to have a decent chat with AP, and through the course of discussions I managed to eek out some objectives that are going to give me something to do.  Firstly, I need to get this desktop that I am using for the moment, all installed up and configured.  I need to install Visual Studio 2005, the MSDN Library, SQl Server 2005, Content Management Server 2002 with SP2, and a few other little pieces of software.  Let's hope that it goes well, and I don't have any technical issues.

My three tasks over the next week or so are below.  As usual, because it has all been rushed, there is no specification.  Therefore it's the old 'wing and a prayer' style development.  I do however, intend to do this right and fully architect and document my development, even though it hasn't been asked for:

1. Build a fully OO based search engine component that can be used in any product that we may build/use.
1. The component must use a search engine called Coveo (never heard of it personally!)
2. The component must provide the UI.  This is the Basic and advanced search interface.
3. The component must provide the search results in XML format.
4. Create a mockup with the component being deployed into both a Web and Windows application.
2. Build a generic component that deals with forms.
1. The component is to use an XML file that dictates the form elements and the validation required per element.
2. The component must wire up the correct events and exceptions.
3. The component must validate the form elements according to the validation requirements.
4. Upon sucessfull completion the form information must be made available to the calling system.
5. Create a mockup with the component being deployed into a MCMS system.
3. Review the Functional Specification for the Web site and the current site developed
1. Write a proposal as to what I suggest that we could do to the site, and why.
2. Create a mock-up of suggested proposals.

All three of these are quite daunting as the specifications are very flimsy.  But, I am sure that I can deliver what they require without too much effort.  I just hope that I can get this computer all built and set-up quickly.  All of the files are taking forever to copy to this machine before I do the install!

I have recently accepted a new contract job.  After a few weeks searching the right opportunity has come along, and I have taken it.  Last week was extremely challenging, as I had 4 different and very good job offers on the table.  I decided to take the contract role, not because of the money, but because it was in a technology area where I was very capable, and also it was located in a reasonably easy to reach location.

Yesterday I did a 'dry run' of the trip to the new job in Northampton.  There is only 1 train in the morning that get's me from Birmingham New street to Northampton on time.  It's at 06:45, and therefore means that I have to get up at about 05:30.  This is probably the worst thing about this new role.  Once I get to Northampton, I can either get a bus or walk.  The walk is quite pleasant but takes about 45 minutes.  The buses however are appaling!  There are only 6 busses all day that go to the office! 

Northampton, Bus Station

07:05

07:27

07:40

08:00

08:10

08:25

Only really the 08:00, 08:10 and 08:25 are viable options.  The return bus is worse, with only 1 real option at all!  These lack of busses are provided by First group.  Shame on you!

Brackmills, Pavilion Drive

16:28

16:48

17:10

17:28

17:48

This morning though as it was my first day I didn't have to start 'work' until 11:00.  So, I still got the same train in the morning and spent the time wandering around Northampton to get familiar with the town, and also have breakfast.  I decided to walk to the new office as the rain held off and it was a pleasant, if overcast day.