I recently completed a MCPD certification, but I had also wanted to get come training and certification in SharePoint Application Development.  After I got back from India and my MCPD I decided to look for a course that would provide me with the training I was looking for.  I did a lot of research and evaluation on-line for a suitable training company.  I eventually came across Firebrand Training, and after some more research as to their coverage and reviews I decided to go ahead and book with them.  I booked the SharePoint Developer (Dual MCTS) Certification, which was the "Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) 3.0 Application Development" and the  "Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007 Application Development" courses rolled up into one.

I received the usual email literature and was given a login to their Pre-Reading site.  This however did not prove to be assuring, as the site was poorly designed and often came across areas that were confusing, or simply did not work.  The site was based on SharePoint, and as I wanted to go on a developer course for this very subject it did not bode well.

I arrived in St Neots train station on the Sunday afternoon and was picked up by their free shuttle to the training facility at Wyboston Lakes.  From there we checked in to the hotel and had to make our way over to the training centre for the 18:00 induction.  The hotel rooms were very basic but pleasant enough.  After the induction we were ushered off to our relevant training rooms.  This is where I met the other 7 students (they were Daniel, Peter, Aquila, Xavier, Andy, Simon and Carl) and our lecturer Joel Jeffery (See the company JFDI Phoenix Ltd).  It was here that I got a little bit of a shock, as we had now plowed straight into our training!

The training was extremely intense and as Joel stated, there was more material to cover that we could possibly get done in the time, so it was up to ourselves to  learn what we could this week and then the rest after the course.  The training started at 09:00 and continued on until on average 23:00 each night.  This however did not include any time to study, so I was often up until 02:00 reading the supplied books and material, before going to bed.  As such I was quite tired every day, and at the end of the week it was quite tough to concentrate.  The course lasted from Sunday night to Friday afternoon.  This however was where our trainer came to the good.  Joel was very good at his delivery and was very good at keeping us motivated and attentive.  I have no idea however how he managed to keep going for so long and so focused.  No wait, yes I do!  The amount of coffee he drunk   I don't think that there was a point at which during the week that there was an area of the subject where I felt weak, as a result of the lectures.  I personally felt much more confident with the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 part of the course rather than the SharePoint 2007 part, as I was more experienced with WSS3.0.  As a result I did indeed pass the WSS course with a higher percentage than the MOSS exam.

Overall I really enjoyed the course and everything I got out of it.  All of the people on the course and the instructor were all really pleasant and I enjoyed their company.  I think that this really helps when you are in such close proximity, all trying to learn the same thing and it aids learning when you can feel comfortable bouncing questions off each other.

At the end of the intense week, I came away with the following additional Microsoft Certification Status (See my previous post for the other certifications I have achieved):

Microsoft Certification Exams Completed Successfully:

I have been wanting to get qualified for a very long time.  I have been in the "Software Development" industry for a very long time, and specialised in Web Development.  I have however been too busy "doing the job", and not getting the qualifications that say to employers that I am qualified to also do the job.  In todays economic climate I thought that it was about time, and as I had the drive and determination I thought that I would go for it.

My original reasons for going to Koenig were twofold.  Firstly they were recommended to me by former colleagues (Colleagues from Xansa and Capgemini) and secondly it was at a very attractive price!  Originally I planned to go to their training facility in Goa, India in early March but this proved unachievable.  I was not able to attend the training course until June.  As such I thought that going to somewhere like Goa would be simply too hot for me and therefore make it challenging for study.  After some further advice I decided to attend their Shimla facility.  The travel there would be longer, but I think I made the right decision.

Upon arriving in Delhi, India I was hit straight away with the sheer heat and was thankful that I had indeed decided to go to Shimla, India which is much further north and in the Himalayas.  The instant that I arrived in India all of the Koenig staff were polite, courteous, friendly and very informative.  This was to be continued thought my entire time in India with Koenig.

I took the night bus from Delhi to Shimla, which was perfectly fine and gave me my first experience of India, even if from an air conditioned bus and through a window.  Upon arriving in Shimla I was greeted again by helpful and friendly Koenig staff and taken to my hotel, which was the Hotel Willowbanks.  The hotel has big rooms and is right on a main street called “The Mall”.  This made it convenient for entertainment, food, shopping and general sightseeing.  The only problem I had was that on the top floor, during a heat wave/drought, the hotel room became very hot during the night as it did not have air-conditioning but simple fans.  However, when the heat wave broke (and the monsoons came) it was pleasant enough.

Every day you had the option of being driven to the training centre or walking.  The walk from the hotel does require a fair amount of up-hill walking but is pleasant enough and takes about 40 minutes at a leisurely pace.  This is well worth it as it affords some great views and experiences.  The walk back from the training centre is much easier as it is mostly down-hill and takes you through the main market areas.  The cab ride however, for someone from Europe, is quite an experience.  Our driver (Negi?) was an excellent driver and very safety conscious.  He took care of us at all times and made sure that our cab experience was appropriate and pleasant, even if the roads and the other road users were not.  Trust me, if you do not like agressive driving, then this is probably not for you.

The training centre it’s self has a large number of private laboratories that provides for a number of different students to study a number of different subjects.  Each laboratory had its own computer systems and air conditioning facilities.  The examination facilities were also very well organised and very conducive to taking exams and feeling comfortable.  There was also a large dining area where all of the students could eat their lunch.  The food provided by Koenig, especially the “Koenig Special” which was prepared by the chef who provides the meals at the serviced apartments, was excellent.  It was always a disappointment when the chef had a day off and you then had to choose from a different menu!  There was also an available area at the top of the building that you could use to take a break, get some fresh air, watch people in their daily life and take in the stunning and expansive scenery.

I had booked a “Fast Track” course and when I arrived I was expecting to be placed in a group with other students and therefore be subject to learning at the pace of the slowest/least experienced person.  I was pleasantly surprised therefore to find that I was not within a group but on my own and provided with a dedicated lecturer.  As a direct result of this I found it much more conducive to learning.  My lecturer was Ashish Bhardwaj and I found him to be a really nice, extremely friendly, he has excellent English, is very engaging when delivering his material, and most importantly, he really knew his subjects.  At every occasion that I had a question on the subject he was able to directly answer these questions and was able to provide further explanations and where appropriate examples.

As I was the only one receiving tutelage from Ashish we were able to go at a pace that suited me perfectly.  We concentrated on areas where I was weak or had no previous knowledge, whilst going faster over areas where I was stronger and had relevant experience.  Where the official course literature was incomplete or lacking, Ashish provided me with invaluable additional material that really helped me understand the subject.  It was only with the expert help from Ashish that I was able to pass all of my exams and thoroughly enjoy my learning experiences at Koenig in Shimla.  As such I was able to really learn the subjects and not just about the subject and how to pass the exams!

I thoroughly enjoyed my learning experience at Koenig and in Shimla.  Without fail I was provided appropriate support at every stage of my trip and learning experience.  When you look forward to going to training and examinations every day and still have a smile on your face at the end of the day, this says an awful lot about the experience.

At the end of the training I came away with the following Microsoft Certification Status:

Microsoft Certification Exams Completed Successfully:

An article located at http://etech.eweek.com/content/web_technology/top_web_developer_mistakes.html makes really good reading.  It's a slide show, but below is a condensed list of what the article says!

My additional comments are in dark blue, you got any?

1) Click, Click, Click - This is great, someone is at your site and they're ready to make a purchase. Here they go; one click, two clicks, three clicks, just one more! And.... they're gone. Maybe if they could get to where they wanted to go right away you would have made a sale. (I disagree slightly in that as long as the navigation is logical and correct then it should not matter to the user how many clicks...)

2) Just Click on the Magic Compass - It's great that new web technologies make it possible to add lots of cool new navigation and interaction techniques. But don't put access to important features and content behind a strange graphic or icon. People know how links work on web pages. Some icons might as well be in elvish.

3) Don't be too Graphic - The Following Web Content Contains Massive Image Files and Graphics That May not Be Suitable For Visitors With Anything But the Fastest Possible Internet Connections. Toning Down the Giant Graphics Files Is Advised For Site Developers. (This is becoming an increasing problem given that mobile internet is really taking off!)

4) Registry of Lost Web Sites - The legend of the Invisible Web Site. Unseen by search engines, web users or anyone who might actually use the services of the website. It uses the magic of enforced site registration to keep its valuable content hidden from all who might want to use it, especially those who want to give the owners of the site some business.

5) Sticking to the Script - Scripting languages are so useful. They make it possible to do lots of cool things in web design. Click this link for an example. Mmm, getting a script error. If only there was some other way to link to content, you know like an HTML link. Don't use scripting where HTML will work just fine.

6) Too Rich - Animation is great, when it comes to Saturday morning cartoons. On the web too many animations, Flashy graphics, spinning graphs and windows popping in your face is sort of like a sign saying, "Stay away". (100% agree)

7) Welcome To Our Site "image placeholder" - Here's a great idea for the budding web site and application developer. There's this technology that makes it possible to display information to visitors and users. It's called Text! And unlike images and animations used where text would work just as well, text will always show up.

8) What's Your Color Scheme? - Whoa, trippy man. I love the way the orange text looks on that purple background. Dude, that financial firm is just going to love this site design. Or probably not. Unless you're designing for a jam band or some other client that likes wild colors, stick to color matchings that are pleasing to everyone. (Obviously they didn't see the custom colours that I used on the TtG Brokers site )

9) Directionless Navigation - Wow, this site looks like it has lots of great content and products. But where is everything? Can't find related content? Where's that thing I saw the other day? I'm lost! Users of your web site shouldn't need a trail guide. Make navigation clean, simple and easy to find. (All computer users are very aware of hierarchical navigation [Windows Explorer] and also an address bar 'bread crumb', so play to their strengths!)

10) Can We Table This For Now? - Aren't tables great! They provide so much flexibility when laying out web content. And it looks so nice, at one specific resolution on one specific browser. At other resolutions, yuck! When using tables make good use of percentages and make sure the design looks good on all users screens.

11) Sloppy with Text - Wilcom too my grate neww web apliccatiun. Im a perfessinal web dervelper! The greatest coding skills won't help if your web content is full of misspellings and poor grammar. (Being dyslexic, I have no cammant!)

12) Click Here for Click Here - This is such a nice web application that you've built. It will really help our business deploy content to the web. And look it automatically creates links that say things like "Click Here", "More" and "Continue Reading." Now how do we change those to something more descriptive? We can't? Don't call us, we'll call you. (Use your Tool Tip and Alt tags!!!)

13) Putting up a Velvet Rope - This is such as cool web site, can I come in? Oh, you only let in people from the IE click? Us Safari geeks aren't welcome? And I was going to spend so much money. Don't you know that browser-specific web sites and applications are like so five years ago?

14) This is a Web Site, Right? - Now this is what I call a content rich site. Look at the useful information here. Let me click here, wait, this is a PDF document, and this is a Word document. I thought this was a web site, you know, something I could view in a web browser. (What is the point of providing a content managed Web site when half the content the user wants to view is hidden away in PDF and Word files?  I bet 90% or more of content in Word and PDF that are available on the internet would be easy to provide on a Web page and if it was users would read it more!)

15) Over-crowding - You know, when people say that something is like finding a needle in a haystack, they don't mean that in a good way. On the web, too many links and other components can make it hard for a visitor to find the content that they want.

I came across this blog posting today, and just had to share it.  It's a blog posting from Scott Berkun about software development methodologies.  It is such a great read, and I recommend that anyone who has ever been involved in the software development industry have a read.

I also like this Wiki entry for Management Anti-patterns.

Just how many of these development methodologies and management patterns have you/are you experiencing?

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 do a lot of development on my laptop, both at work and ay home.  Both machines are running Windows XP Professional, and have IIS installed.  I often get the error HTTP 403.9 - Access Forbidden: Too many users are connected".  I have done some digging around this, and found that by default IIS 5.1 on Microsoft Windows XP Professional allows only ten concurrent users connected at any one time.

To get around this, you first need to change your default windows script host to cscript.exe:

cscript //h:cscript

Then you can increase the connection limit to 40.  it can't be increased beyond 40 as this is a hard coded windows limitation:

c:\inetpub\adminscripts\adsutil set w3svc/MaxConnections 40

I would then re-set your default windows script host back to it's default of WScript.exe, by:

cscript //h:wsscript

Being in the IT Development industry specialising in Web development, I am always interested in the 'next big trend'. That is, the next piece of development technology that I am going to have to learn and what it's going to be used for. On that note, I came across an article on The News & Observer entitled "3 Internet trends to watch".

The article goes on to describe what in the authors view is the next three themes that will shape the development of the Internet over the next few years. The first trend is as he calls it "the Internet as desktop". This has been bandied about for some time now, but I too feel that this trend is about to take off. He bases a lot of this theme on the introduction of Silverlight , which I too agree about. I think that this theme will permeate the Web rather rapidly, especially by those darned advertisers (which I always block from my browser through a number of means!).

The second theme is about "mashup" where the user is given the ability to take only partial elements from web sites and mash them together with other parts and produce a new piece of content for their consumption. Now, I'm a little worried about this one. Whilst I really can see the benefit for a consumer, but where is the benefit for the Web site owner/publisher who put all their effort into the site? I can see this trend being short lived as the Web site owners start to prevent their site from being mashed so as to protect their intellectual property and profitability.

The third theme I disagree with. Not because of the idea which is fine, but the fact that it will happen in the next few years. This theme is the implementation of search engines that flesh out information with database structure to find relationships between the key word elements of a search. I think that most search engines already try to do this, it is just that there is so much poorly crafted data out there on the Web that it's simply a difficult task to find what you want, because its hard to describe in the same way as everyone else. Everyone has their own way of describing things, and when your descriptions does not match theirs how do you know if there is a match?

Anyway. You head on over and have a read and let me know what you think.

I thought that I'd bring to your attention a couple of great Internet Explorer toolbars/extensions that I use.

Just released is the official release of the Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar (IEDevToolbar).  It has just come out of beta, and available for download here.  If you do any development on Internet Explorer or want to 'dissect' Web sites then this is the tool for you.  I really love the ability to change the client code (HTML, CSS, etc.) dynamically!

The second tool that I use for Internet Explorer is the IE7Pro toolbar.  I've blogged about it before here, and it has been vastly updated and improved since then.  Despite it's name, this also works on IE6, so if you are still on the old browser, give it a go.  You can download the updated toolbar here.

Virtually all development that I undertake is destined for the Web and HTML.  The trouble with the Web and HTML is that to get a great Graphical User Interface (GUI), it takes a lot of design and development effort.  This is also coupled by the usual user download requirements being very high.  That is, unless you use something like Flash.  However, for me, using Flash is really a designers tool and not a developers tool.  It is also restricted in that it's only really available from the desktop.  Thus it is not usable if you are on a Mobile browser or other 'limited' browsing platform.

As such, I have been following with some interest what people are calling Web 2.0.  It is perceived as the second generation Web.  Whilst this is true in some respects it really only means that there is a change in the way that developers are utilising the Web platform.  The main way that I feel this going is in the field of GUI design.

To make a real difference to the user experience of the GUI, we need to radically rework how this Web and HTML thing works together with other technologies.  I was really excited then when I read about the release of SilverLight.

"Microsoft® Silverlight™ is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web. Silverlight offers a flexible programming model that supports AJAX, VB, C#, Python, and Ruby, and integrates with existing Web applications. Silverlight supports fast, cost-effective delivery of high-quality video to all major browsers running on the Mac OS or Windows."

For me if SilverLight takes off, I think that this will deliver what is expected from Web 2.0.  No longer would the Web GUI be limited to large blocs of text, interspersed with some static images, but it will take on a whole new organic life.  The reason I believe this is simply in the implementation of the graphics.  The way that Web 1.0 currently works is that a graphics is in either GIF/JPG/PNG format, and is of a fixed size and resolution.  These graphics do not scale well.  To provide a GUI in Web 1.0 to a different scale, almost certainly is there a need to provide a unique set of graphics per size and resolution.  This is expensive not only for development and maintenance, but also for the end download user.  However, the interesting thing about the way that SilverLight can implement graphics, is that it can be done through the use of Raster graphics.  These graphics are dynamically scalable on different devices and resolutions.  Have a look at some of the video lessons on the subject here, or have a look at "Building rich Web experience with SilverLight".

I honestly can't wait until I can get involved with a project that will allow me to utilise SilverLight.  I already have a personal project in mind, but that is a couple months away before I can really start working on it.  Keep tuned, as I intend to blog my experiences on this development (hopefully with SilverLight).

In my job I create a lot of Content Management driven Web sites.  As part of this process you need to mock-up what various page templates and styles look like.  This can be a real pain to put in some valid content.  Historically I always wondered how the designers that I have worked with managed to put in lorem ipsum to the design to make it more realistic.  Well, a while ago I found the lorem ipsum Web site.

I now use this site all the time to generate some dummy test for inclusion in my mock-ups.

Some details about Lorem Ipsum

Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.

It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using 'Content here, content here', making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for 'lorem ipsum' will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. Various versions have evolved over the years, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like).

To keep up to date with the tools that a developer needs is a tricky thing.  It's made even harder when the core tools that they use are in the rpocess of being upgraded/improved/replaced.

The main development tool that I use is Microsoft's Visual Studio 2005.  There is a new version of this tool being developed by Microsoft, which is code named 'Orcas'.

I have known that there is a beta version of the application available for download for some time now.  The trouble with downloading and installing the beta is that it interferes with your current version resulting in you not being able to do your real work properly.

Thankfully Microsoft have provided an interesting solution.  The Visual Studio team have made Beta 1 of the next release of Visual Studio (codenamed 'Orcas') available as a virtual machine.  Its a 500Mb+ download but it does provide for a relatively easy way to assess the beta version without causing problems for your existing development environment.

A lot of my current job is making sure that all the Web sites I create are AA accessibility compliant, and also cross browser compliant.  As many people who need to do this will already know, to test on many different browsers is difficult at best.  You can't have more than one version of Internet Explorer installed at the same time, for a start.  In my efforts to try and at least do a better job in my development of browser compatible Web sites I came accross Browsershots.org.

Test your web design in different browsers

Browsershots makes screenshots of your web design in different browsers. It is a free open-source online service created by Johann C. Rocholl. When you submit your web address, it will be added to the job queue. A number of distributed computers will open your website in their browser. Then they will make screenshots and upload them to the central server here.

Project output contains files from the Web or Windows applications that must be added to deployment projects. You can choose to add one or more of the following types of project output:

• The Primary Output option adds all .dll and .exe files that have been built from the Web or Windows application.

  Note   In Visual Studio 2005, Web Sites have been modified to exclude .dll and .exe files. Therefore, there is no Primary Output to add to Web Sites.

• The Content Files option adds Web.config, Global.asax, and all Web Forms (.aspx pages) that are created in the Web applications, or App.ico for Windows applications.

  Note   You can also add Documentation Files, Localised Resources, Debug Symbols, and Source Files to the deployment project. However, those project output files are not necessary for deployment.

Content files from your project must be set to be included in Content file in order to be included.  To do this, go to the properties of your Content file and for "Build Action" select the "Content" option.

I have previously been able to successfully deploy to my computer an IIS application, which is written using the .NET 2.0 framework, that is deployed by using a Microsoft Setup project.  As part of the setup project, it creates a new virtual directory for the IIS application.

Since the last successful deployment, I have installed the .NET 3.0 framework.

When I tried to deploy the project again, using the same setup project, I received the following error:

C:\windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727Aspnet_regiis.exe failed to set .net framework script map for W3SVC/1/Root/<virtual folder name> - aborting.

I found that after a bit of investigation that the registration of the .NET framework against IIS was not correct and was causing problems.

As my Web site still required to run under the .NET 2.0 framework, I re-registered the 2.0 framework against IIS, and successfully re-attempted the install.

.Net framework provides an Administration utility that manages the installation and uninstallation of multiple versions of ASP.NET on a single machine. You can find the file in C:\WINNT\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v**\aspnet_regiis.exe

To uninstall current asp.net version

use the command: aspnet_regiis.exe -u

To install current asp.net version

use the command: aspnet_regiis.exe -i

You can tell roughly how old I am, as I was around when DOS was still the main Operation System (OS) and when Windows first hit these shores.  DOS did not have the nice GUI (Graphical User Interface) that we have all got used to with Windows.  As such, most of how I worked on the computer was with a keyboard.  Because of this I still use a lot of keyboard shortcuts, that have made their way from DOS into Windows and been added to since.

I was sitting with someone today whilst they were 'driving' their computer, and it was driving me a little mad.  What was doing it was that they were going the long way around to do some basic windows tasks, such as opening Windows Explorer, minimising every application one by one to get to the desktop, and more.  It wasn't their fault, it's just that like a lot of people out there, they are just 'expected' by businesses to know how to use a computer.  This therefore leads me to the keyboard shortcuts.

Below is a list of keyboard shortcuts that I frequently use (coloured Navy), along with others that exist.  It's probably not fully comprehensive, but pretty good.  They are also very, very handy to know if for some reason your mouse is not working, as you can do everything with the keyboard that you can do with the mouse.

Windows system key combinations

• F1: Help
• CTRL+ESC: Open Start menu
• ALT+TAB: Switch between open programs
• ALT+F4: Quit program
• SHIFT+DELETE: Delete item permanently

Windows program key combinations

• CTRL+C: Copy
• CTRL+X: Cut
• CTRL+V: Paste
• CTRL+INS: Paste
• CTRL+Z: Undo
• CTRL+B: Bold
• CTRL+U: Underline
• CTRL+I: Italic

'Windows Key' keyboard combinations (XP)

• WIN+PAUSE/BREAK: System Properties
• WIN+R: Run dialogue box
• WIN+L: Lock your computer
• WIN+F: Search
• WIN+CTRL+F: Search for computers
• WIN+D: Minimise to the desktop, press again to restore from the desktop
• WIN+U: Utility manager
• WIN+E: Windows Explorer (*My favourite shortcut*)

General keyboard-only commands

• F1: Starts Windows Help
• F10: Activates menu bar options
• SHIFT+F10 Opens a shortcut menu for the selected item (this is the same as right-clicking an object
• CTRL+ESC: Opens the Start menu (use the ARROW keys to select an item)
• CTRL+ESC or ESC: Selects the Start button (press TAB to select the taskbar, or press SHIFT+F10 for a context menu)
• ALT+DOWN ARROW: Opens a drop-down list box
• ALT+TAB: Switch to another running program (hold down the ALT key and then press the TAB key to view the task-switching window - While in the task-switching window hold SHIFT to go right instead of left)
• SHIFT: Press and hold down the SHIFT key while you insert a CD-ROM to bypass the automatic-run feature
• ALT+SPACE: Displays the main window's System menu (from the System menu, you can restore, move, resize, minimise, maximise, or close the window)
• ALT+- (ALT+hyphen): Displays the Multiple Document Interface (MDI) child window's System menu (from the MDI child window's System menu, you can restore, move, resize, minimise, maximise, or close the child window)
• CTRL+TAB: Switch to the next child window of a Multiple Document Interface (MDI) program
• ALT+underlined letter in menu: Opens the menu
• ALT+F4: Closes the current window
• CTRL+F4: Closes the current Multiple Document Interface (MDI) window
• ALT+F6: Switch between multiple windows in the same program (for example, when the Notepad Find dialogue box is displayed, ALT+F6 switches between the Find dialogue box and the main Notepad window)

Printing Commands

• PRNT SCRN: Snapshot the current Desktop view to the clip board
• ALT+PRNT SCRN: Snapshot copy the current active Window to the clip board

Mouse click/keyboard modifier combinations for shell objects

• SHIFT+right click: Displays a shortcut menu containing alternative commands
• SHIFT+double click: Runs the alternate default command (the second item on the menu)
• ALT+double click: Displays properties
• SHIFT+DELETE: Deletes an item immediately without placing it in the Recycle Bin

Shell objects and general folder/Windows Explorer shortcuts For a selected object:

• F2: Rename object
• F3: Find all files
• CTRL+X: Cut
• CTRL+C: Copy
• CTRL+V: Paste
• CTRL+INS: Paste
• SHIFT+DELETE: Delete selection immediately, without moving the item to the Recycle Bin
• ALT+ENTER: Open the properties for the selected object

To copy a file

• Press and hold down the CTRL key while you drag the file to another folder.

To create a shortcut

• Press and hold down CTRL+SHIFT while you drag a file to the desktop or a folder.

General folder/shortcut control

• F4: Selects the Go To A Different Folder box and moves down the entries in the box (if the toolbar is active in Windows Explorer)
• F5: Refreshes the current window.
• F6: Moves among panes in Windows Explorer
• CTRL+G: Opens the Go To Folder tool (in Windows 95 Windows Explorer only)
• CTRL+Z: Undo the last command
• CTRL+A: Select all the items in the current window
• BACKSPACE: Switch to the parent folder
• SHIFT+click+Close button: For folders, close the current folder plus all parent folders

Windows Explorer tree control

• Numeric Keypad *: Expands everything under the current selection
• Numeric Keypad +: Expands the current selection
• Numeric Keypad -: Collapses the current selection.
• RIGHT ARROW: Expands the current selection if it is not expanded, otherwise goes to the first child
• LEFT ARROW: Collapses the current selection if it is expanded, otherwise goes to the parent

Properties control

• CTRL+TAB/CTRL+SHIFT+TAB: Move through the property tabs

Dialogue box keyboard commands

• TAB: Move to the next control in the dialogue box
• SHIFT+TAB: Move to the previous control in the dialogue box
• SPACEBAR: If the current control is a button, this clicks the button. If the current control is a check box, this toggles the check box. If the current control is an option, this selects the option.
• ENTER: Equivalent to clicking the selected button (the button with the outline)
• ESC: Equivalent to clicking the Cancel button
• ALT+underlined letter in dialogue box item: Move to the corresponding item

Now, I did not know that these commands existed, but I found them and thought that I would add them to the list.  You can tell I got the specific keyboard keys from a Microsoft friendly site.

Accessibility shortcuts

• Press SHIFT five times: Toggles StickyKeys on and off
• Press down and hold the right SHIFT key for eight seconds: Toggles FilterKeys on and off
• Press down and hold the NUM LOCK key for five seconds: Toggles ToggleKeys on and off
• Left ALT+left SHIFT+NUM LOCK: Toggles MouseKeys on and off
• Left ALT+left SHIFT+PRINT SCREEN: Toggles high contrast on and off

Microsoft Natural Keyboard keys

• Windows Logo: Start menu
• Windows Logo+R: Run dialogue box
• Windows Logo+M: Minimise all
• SHIFT+Windows Logo+M: Undo minimise all
• Windows Logo+F1: Help
• Windows Logo+E: Windows Explorer
• Windows Logo+F: Find files or folders
• Windows Logo+D: Minimises all open windows and displays the desktop
• CTRL+Windows Logo+F: Find computer
• CTRL+Windows Logo+TAB: Moves focus from Start, to the Quick Launch toolbar, to the system tray (use RIGHT ARROW or LEFT ARROW to move focus to items on the Quick Launch toolbar and the system tray)
• Windows Logo+TAB: Cycle through taskbar buttons
• Windows Logo+Break: System Properties dialogue box
• Application key: Displays a shortcut menu for the selected item

Microsoft Natural Keyboard with IntelliType software installed

• Windows Logo+L: Log off Windows
• Windows Logo+P: Starts Print Manager
• Windows Logo+C: Opens Control Panel
• Windows Logo+V: Starts Clipboard
• Windows Logo+K: Opens Keyboard Properties dialogue box
• Windows Logo+I: Opens Mouse Properties dialogue box
• Windows Logo+A: Starts Accessibility Options (if installed)
• Windows Logo+SPACEBAR: Displays the list of Microsoft IntelliType shortcut keys
• Windows Logo+S: Toggles CAPS LOCK on and off

I've been working on a Web project for some time now, and I have since starting work on it had trouble with IE accessing the Web site.

The Web site is hosted locally on my IIS server (5.1 I believe).  For the project it was necessary to access the Web site using a custom host header name (accessing with something like http://mywebsite/).  For some details on this see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosts_file.

However when I tried to use IE 7 (beta3), I kept on getting a prompt for authentication.  I entered my details, which failed and then got the classic error:

HTTP 401.1 - Unauthorized: Logon Failed

However, it worked OK for FireFox?!? This stumped me!

So I tried adding the site to my Local Intranet and Trusted sites.  No joy.
So I tried changing the settings for User Authentication to set it to "Prompt for User name and password" and all the other settings.  No joy.
I tried doing network packet tracing.  Was all OK.
I looked at the IIS Log files.  Was all as expected (obviously it showed a 401 error!)

I gave up for a while.  After all it was working with FireFox and I could continue development work.

Then I had to write some JavaScript code for the Web site.  As all Web developers out there know (or should know), IE and other 'mozilla' browsers implement JavaScript in different ways (just to make the developers life difficult!).  This was therefore a problem, as I couldn't dilligence test my JavaScript on the IE browser platform.  So, innevitably my code failed on IE and passed on FireFox.!

It was therefore time to try and sort this problem out.  After some more Web surfing, I managed to find this article by Microsoft that put me on the right track.

Apparently in one of Microsofts Service Packs (SP) they implemented a loopback check feature that was designed to help prevent reflection attacks.  Therefore, authentication fails if the domain name or the custom host header (in this instance "mywebsite") used does not match the local computer name (which I wont give away here!).

After following their resolution, I was now able to use IE to gain access to the custom host name!

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 was using MCMS (Microsoft Content Management Server) 2003's Site manager and trying to get a dependent report.  For me it wasn't working, and I couldn't figure out why.  Then it dawned on me...Popup blocker!

Site Manager is actually written using the IE (Internet Explorer) browser control.  As such, when you select to open a Dependent report it is in actual fact opening up a child window.  Therefore, if in IE you have a popup blocker enabled the dependent report will be blocked.

So, to get around this problem, simply disable the popup blocker temporarily!

When IE7 first came out in Beta, there was a facilty where that when you closed the browser, all of the tabs still opened were saved, and when you re-opened IE7 you could restore all of the tabs.  Then in a later update to the beta, this feature dissapeared.  I must admit that I was well dissapointed, as I thought it was a brilliant feature.

Well, I was muching around with my setting's just earlier and noticed that the home page option in Internet Options was a multi line input. Hmm. I thought.  So, I gave it a bit of a try and found that you could enter multi lines of addresses.  Then when you start a new browser, all of these Web sites open up into new tabs.  Perfect!  If like me, you have a list of Web sites that you always want to view, and veiw regularly this is ideal.

There is a limit of 8 URL's that you can have, but I am sure that this is more than enough for people.

What are my list of favourite URL's? In order they are:

1. http://www.internetwideworld.com/Website/ (I get to my blog from here!)
2. http://footage.mcl-dev.com/TeamSheet.asp?tid=2
3. http://news.bbc.co.uk/
4. http://www.newsnow.co.uk/newsfeed/?name=Information+Technology
5. http://www.modaco.com/index.php?act=portal
6. http://www.google.com/reader/view/
7. http://www.snowboardclub.co.uk/
8. http://www.giantgroup.com/

1. cd %systemroot%\assembly\
• From here you may have more that one "gac" directory, so you will have to search within each to find your component.  For me, it is within the "gac_MSIL" directory.
2. cd gac_msil
3. cd <assembly DLL name>
4. cd <assembly version number>__<public key token>
• For example: 1.0.23.456__10dbd0fba6984148
5. erase *.*
6. Say "y" to are you sure.
7. cd ..
8. rd <assembly version number>__<public key token>
9. cd ..
10. rd <assembly DLL name>
    

Was helping someone install a new New site onto one of their systems earlier today.  The installation went OK, but then when they went to the Web administration console, they simply received a "Service Unavailable" message.  It was all rather confusing.  We checked the installation, and re-installed a couple times, to no effect.  We checked the file and IIS permissions, again, no effect.  I then just happened to notice that the application pool that the Web application was running had not been started.  So, started the application pool, and bob's your uncle, it all worked fine.

So, if you get a simple "Service Unavailable" message from a Web application hosted on a Windows 2003 server.  Check to see what application pool the application is running in, and make sure that it is has started.

Earlier I posted an article about using IIS Diagnostics Toolkit.  I've just remembered another tool that I have used in the past, called 'Fiddler'.

Fiddler is a tool that allows you to find out how Microsoft Internet Explorer interacts with your Web application.  It allows you to track down strange performance bottlenecks, gives you information about which cookies are being sent, what downloaded content is marked cacheable, and more.

It is an HTTP debugging proxy that logs all HTTP traffic between your computer and the Internet. It enables you to inspect all HTTP traffic, set breakpoints, and "fiddle" with incoming or outgoing data. It is much simpler to use than NetMon or other network debuggers because it exposes only HTTP traffic and does so in a user-friendly format.

You can find out more information and download Fiddler from here.

Yesterday, I was helping a colleague with some IIS and MCMS (Microsoft Content Management Server) security issues.  Whilst we resolved the security issues relatively easily, we had trouble putting them to test on the server.  Basically, we needed an IIS box, with a private SSL certificate, in order to secure the login page.

Well, we were having a devil of a time getting HTTPS to work.  If you went to the site using basic HTTP it all worked fine.  However, as soon as you tried to go to the site using HTTPS it failed and came up with a message like "DNS error".

I eventually found this tool called IIS Diagnostics Toolkit (x86), from Microsoft which allowed us to find that the SSL Certificate we generated was invalid, and that we needed to create a new stronger certificate.

I had problems restoring a database backup from one server to another, and blogged about the problems here.

Further to this problem, I thought that I would 'finish off' the issue of restoring a database backup from one server to another.

As detailed in my previous post, I detailed how to select the backup file to restore.  Before you select OK to restore the databse, you need to also change a further couple of settings.  In Microsoft SQL Management Studio, the restore database dialog, once you have the "source for restore" selected, you should check a further few options.

Quite often when you are restoring a database from a different server, more than likely the database paths are different.  The backup file has the paths of the original source location contained within the file.  You therefore need to make sure that they map to the paths that are specific to the destination machine.  You therefore need to go to the "options" page and change these paths.

If you are restoring a database over an existing database, then it is probably also a good idea to "overwrite the existing database".  Then in the "Restore the database files as" section, change all of the paths to the destination machines database paths.

For example, if the backup file had paths of the following, I would assume that the SQL data was installed on the H drive.

H:\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\DATA\<database name>.mdf

If the destination SQL server was installed on the C drive along with the data:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Data\<database name>.mdf

Obviously, if you do not set the correct paths, when you come to try and restore the database you will get the following style error:

TITLE: Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio
------------------------------

Restore failed for Server '<server name>'.  (Microsoft.SqlServer.Smo)

For help, click: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?ProdName=Microsoft+SQL+Server&ProdVer=9.00.1399.00&EvtSrc=Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.ExceptionTemplates.FailedOperationExceptionText&EvtID=Restore+Server&LinkId=20476

------------------------------
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

System.Data.SqlClient.SqlError: The tail of the log for the database "<database name>" has not been backed up. Use BACKUP LOG WITH NORECOVERY to backup the log if it contains work you do not want to lose. Use the WITH REPLACE or WITH STOPAT clause of the RESTORE statement to just overwrite the contents of the log. (Microsoft.SqlServer.Smo)

For help, click: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?ProdName=Microsoft+SQL+Server&ProdVer=9.00.1399.00&LinkId=20476

------------------------------
BUTTONS:

OK
------------------------------

I've been having trouble trying to restore a SQL 2005 database.

Background

The database already exists, and I wanted to restore a backup of the 'live' database to my local machine.  So, I copied the file to my local machine.  Then opened up Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio, selected the database and then Tasks > Restore > Database...

I obviously wanted to restore from a "device" (file), so I selected the "from device" radio button, and selected the "..." button to open the "Specify Backup" dialog.  Ensuring that the Backup media was set to file, I clcked on the "add" button and located the backup file.

However, the problem comes when I clicked on the OK button.  I get the following error:

The error

TITLE: Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio
------------------------------

An exception occurred while executing a Transact-SQL statement or batch. (Microsoft.SqlServer.ConnectionInfo)

------------------------------
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Cannot open backup device '<drive>:\<path>\<backup file>.bak'. Operating system error 5(error not found).
RESTORE HEADERONLY is terminating abnormally. (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 3201)

For help, click: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?ProdName=Microsoft+SQL+Server&ProdVer=09.00.1399&EvtSrc=MSSQLServer&EvtID=3201&LinkId=20476

------------------------------
BUTTONS:

OK
------------------------------

The resolution

In my investigations, I have found out a couple things.  Firstly, the mapping text for the error is incorrect.  It should not be "error not found", it should in fact be "access denied".  This error text is the key, and since in my instance for what ever reason it is not being mapped correctly.  This therefore lead me down the route that allowed me to resolve this problem.

As the correctly mapped error text indicated it's an access problem.  Basically, the service that SQL is running under, needs to have security rights to the backup file.  So, simply adding these rights to the backup file resolved my issue!

Conclusion

It appears to be a reasonably common problem where mapping text does not map corretly.  Therefore, if you do get an error, do not rely on the error text, but the error number.  In this case '5'.  Further more, always make sure that if SQL is accessing files from other servers, that the service account has access to those files!

Mouse Gestures

Developer Toolbar

ieSpell

I was having this strange problem last week, and thought that I would share my experience about it with the developer community at large.

I had this project in Visual Studio (VS) 2005, that had two class library components and 1 Web service.  One of the class libraries needed to reference a COM DLL.  As such, when it is referenced within the Web Service it is copied into it's Bin folder.  All fine an fair enough.

However, when I was compiling the Web Service I kept getting this strange error (X is the name of the COM DLL) :

Could not load file or assembly 'X' or one of its dependencies. Access is denied.

Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.

Exception Details: System.IO.FileLoadException: Could not load file or assembly 'X' or one of its dependencies. Access is denied.

Source Error:

WRN: Assembly binding logging is turned OFF.
To enable assembly bind failure logging, set the registry value [HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Fusion!EnableLog] (DWORD) to 1.
Note: There is some performance penalty associated with assembly bind failure logging.
To turn this feature off, remove the registry value [HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Fusion!EnableLog].

So, all I did was use correct username and password details, and it solved my problem!

I thought that I would have a look at the locational statistics for my Web site.  Below is what I have so far!  Are you one of the locations?  If so, let me know, I'm interested to hear from you!  Leave a comment by clicking here!

Visits is the number of visits to my site from the country/region/city. P/Visit is pageviews divided by number of visits.

I found this article on the Web today, and thought that I would share it with everyone.

The original posting can be found here.

Many are content to spend all day clicking fancy looking buttons or menu items in order to get their tasks accomplished, but those who know the correct keyboard and mouse shortcuts can often get around applications more efficiently: Browsing the web with Internet Explorer is no exception. I want to take a minute to discuss a few useful shortcuts already available in IE6 that will help you get around the web, and then list some great new shortcuts we are providing in IE7.

First: Getting around the web in Internet Explorer 6

Basic navigation

Others:

Some interesting hotkeys you cannot see by simply looking in the menus…

* Shift+Mouse wheel up/down also navigates forward and back, so does Backspace and Shift+Backspace
** Did you know that hitting the stop button (or Esc) will also stop background sounds?
*** If F5 doesn’t refresh all content try Ctrl+F5.  This ensures no content is pulled from the cache.
**** In the Preview build we also added Ctrl+Shift+Enter when focus is in the address bar.  This works like Ctrl+Enter from the address bar does today but will append a suffix of your choice to the end of the string instead of “.com” (.org, .edu, .co.uk, etc…).  You can change the default suffix in the Internet Options control panel.

New in Internet Explorer 7

Now that we have basic navigation down, let’s talk about some cool new shortcuts in IE 7. You will notice that for features that exist elsewhere (for example: Tabbed Browsing) we put effort into maintaining consistency where possible.

Tabs:

Zoom:

* If you are using the recent Windows Vista preview you might notice that the 100% zoom hotkey changed from Ctrl+(*) to Ctrl+0

Search:

Favorites Center:

Great new mouse actions in IE7

Even with all these cool keyboard hotkeys we’ve introduced a few helpful shortcuts for mouse users as well.

Tip:
My favorite shortcuts are the middle mouse button actions to close a tab and open links in the background (Those make using tabs fast and easy).

In Summary

Internet Explorer certainly has more than just these shortcut keys.  I’m sure you have some favorites I did not mention, but I hope you found something here that will make browsing the web easier for you. 

Beta 2 of the developer toolbar is now available. Beta 2 includes numerous fixes to improve stability, usability and performance along with a couple of additional features such as the ability to enable and disable CSS on the page.

The developer toolbar has become an essential tool for diagnosing issues with web pages. Being able to click on an element in the page and find out where it is in the element hierarchy is just one of the invaluable facilities it provides.

I recommend anyone who creates Web pages either for work or pleasure, that they download and install this as soon as possible.

Safety Center Beta

I noticed this on the Internet today, and thought that I would give it a try.

Some details on this are:

Get full service for your PC

Windows Live Safety Center is a new, free service designed to help ensure the health of your PC.

• Check for and remove viruses
• Learn about threats
• Improve your PC's performance
• Get rid of junk on your hard disk

Use the full service scan to check everything, or turn to the scanners and information in the service centers to meet your specific needs.

Click here to give it a go!

In Internet Explorer, there is a restriction that limits the number of simultaneous downloads to two downloads, plus on queued download.  This is a real pain!  The following allows you to change this setting to me as many as you like.  I recommend 7, through personal experience.

Warning If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

1. Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe). 
2. Locate the following key in the registry:
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings  
3. On the Edit menu, point to New click DWORD Value, and then add the following registry values:
• Value name: MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server
• Value data: 7
• Base: Decimal
•  
• Value Name: MaxConnectionsPerServer
• Value data: 7
• Base: Decimal
4. Quit Registry Editor.

Microsoft has today done one of their biggest launches in their history.  They have launched Microsoft SQL Server 2005, Visual Studio 2005 and BizTalk Server 2006.  For me, as a developer, this is really big news, and I managed to attend their Launch Tour in Birmingham at the ICC.

Ok, I have know about these for some time now, and also had a good look.  No hand's on, but a good look.  To me, it's not an evolution, it really is an evolution.  No longer is Visual Studio a tool just for the 'code monkey' developers, but is a full product lify cycle product.  It now involves everyone from Infrastructure Architect, Application Architect, Developer, Tester, Project Manager and many more.

The real exciting news, for me and many others is what Microsoft are giving away.  They are giving away all of the Express editions of SQL Server and more excitingly Visual Studio, to the entire world.  Hold on, better is to come.  For all those who attended the Launch Tour, we get Visual Studio Professional, SQL Server Standard, and BizTalk Server Developer Edition.  These have a retail value of: $5,999 for SQL, $799 for Visual Studio and BizTalk is as yet un-priced.  That's over $6,798! Whoo Hoo.