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Microsoft has Pulled Project Sandcastle for Open Source Violations

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In response to community pressure, Microsoft has removed project Sandcastle from their CodePlex website. This is a temporary move while they contemplate Sandcastles future.
Sandcastle is Microsoft’s answer to JavaDoc. Though in active use at Microsoft for several years, it is still a very rough project and appears to be no where near ready for general deployment. Prior to the release of .NET 2.0 and the announcement of Sandcastle the standard tool was the much more mature NDoc. Unfortunately NDoc is no longer being maintained

In response to community pressure, Microsoft has removed project Sandcastle from their CodePlex website. This is a temporary move while they contemplate Sandcastles future. Sandcastle is Microsoft's answer to JavaDoc. Though in active use at Microsoft for several years, it is still a very rough project and appears to be no where near ready for general deployment. Prior to the release of .NET 2.0 and the announcement of Sandcastle the standard tool was the much more mature NDoc. Unfortunately NDoc is ... Read More

Data Deluge and a Startup’s Glassdoor

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These days, we are deluged with data, and as a result we’re confusing noise with information, and information with useful information. But what many companies fail to realize is that what matters is what you do with that data — and as a result, they are missing out on a tremendous opportunity.

Yesterday was one of those days when I was dragging my feet, mostly because I stayed up way past my bedtime for the launch of NewTeeVee Station and then woke up at my usual time — before sunrise. The foggy state of my brain reinforced how necessary sleep is for connecting the dots and being productive. With the sun shining brightly, a walk along the Embarcadero to the office seemed like the perfect antidote. As Celine Roque writes on WebWorkerDaily, “Being exposed to ... Read More

Silverlight Cream for June 11, 2008 — #297

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The daily list still remains high: Peter McGrattan(3), Lee(3), Dave Relyea with a Dialog Class, Michael Sync raffling off eBooks, Karen Corby’s TechEd material, Pete Brown with a streaming upload work-around, 6 Webcasts by Lindsay Rutter, and Koen Zwikstra on his P2P Library.


From SilverlightCream.com:
Silverlight 2.0 Unhandled Exceptions
I had been tracking an old link for Peter McGrattan and had completely missed some good stuff on his site, so we’re going to play catch-up: First is this short “what to do with an unhandled exception” post, next is Silverlight 2.0 Stock List Demo - Part 3 , good stuff… and links to the others, followed by My Samples Updated to Beta 2 in which he gives out updates to, for instance, the Stock List Demo Part 3 :) … all with source, so enjoy :)
Showing and Hiding Datagrid Columns
Another busy guy is Lee, who is a man of few words :) He’s got some good material, at least code… First this one on Showing and Hiding DataGrid Columns, Next is ComboBox code updated to Beta2 , and finally Animating ListBoxItems using VSM in which he updates his prior article using VSM… all these are code included.
Using Popup to create a Dialog class
Dave Relyea uses a Popup control to make a Dialog Class… how cool is that? … the kind of out-of-the-box thinking that separates us all… I like it :)
Contest: Write an article about Silverlight 2 (beta2) and Win “Silverlight 2 in Action” ebook
Michael Sync has a contest going on his blog to get a free eBook written by my buddies Chad Campbell and Michael Schwarz… read Michael’s (Sync) post to find out how to enter… this is a good book… really a lot of work has gone into this… so would be well-worth buying much less winning!
TechEd Samples
There are presenters (Michael Palermo and Simon Allardice) that I would attend any session they put on, even reading the phone book. Karen Corby falls into a similar category… her presentation material at Mix ‘08 cleaned my clock… I may as well have left at that point… and I’m sure her TechEd material is the same… sight unseen… right now it’s the PPT and code, but watch the link, she’ll be posting videos later.
Problems Uploading Videos to Windows Live Silverlight Streaming when Beta 2 Installed?
Pete Brown talks about a problem uploading videos to Live Streaming and provides a work-around… hard to beat that!
Upcoming Silverlight 2 Webcast Series
I got this by way of Andrew Duthie, and have already signed up for all 6 of these webcasts by Lindsay Rutter— go out and do so yourself… how can you pass up 6 hours of free SL training??
Silverlight P2PLib for SL2B2 now available too
Koen Zwikstra has updated the P2P library he’s been working on to be Beta 2 .. well worth the time to investigate using!

Stay in the ‘Light!


Twitter SLNews | Join me @ SilverlightCream | SL Web Articles | SL2 Web Articles | My Articles | My Tutorials | My Tooltips | My SL2 Articles | My SL2 ToolTips | SilverlightCream


The daily list still remains high: Peter McGrattan(3), Lee(3), Dave Relyea with a Dialog Class, Michael Sync raffling off eBooks, Karen Corby's TechEd material, Pete Brown with a streaming upload work-around, 6 Webcasts by Lindsay Rutter, and Koen Zwikstra on his P2P Library. From SilverlightCream.com: Silverlight 2.0 Unhandled Exceptions I had been tracking an old link for Peter McGrattan and had completely missed some good stuff on his site, so we're going to play catch-up: First is this short "what to do ... Read More

Visual Studio (VS200) loosing it’s source control bindings

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VSTS2008 has, on occasion, lost it’s source control settings - specifically, the bindings to TFS server for a given solution and it’s projects.

This seems to be because the solution and project files are not being updated when you use the TFS Source Control Explorer to do a ‘Get Latest’  - a ‘feature’ of VS2008 which allows you to work disconnected/offline - however it seems to have an issue trying to reconnect itself.

To resolve we simply removed the local source directory and did a ‘Get Specific Version - get latest’.

RickSW had a similar experience.

Tim


VSTS2008 has, on occasion, lost it's source control settings - specifically, the bindings to TFS server for a given solution and it's projects. This seems to be because the solution and project files are not being updated when you use the TFS Source Control Explorer to do a 'Get Latest'  - a 'feature' of VS2008 which allows you to work disconnected/offline - however it seems to have an issue trying to reconnect itself. To resolve we simply removed the local source directory and did a ... Read More

db4o’s Sophisticated Cross-Platform Translation Tool Converts Java Apps to .NET

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Sharpen is a Java to C# source code conversion tool is now available to the public as free software. db4objects has used the tool extensively to generate most of the .NET db4o engine core code and unit test suites from Java sources.

Sharpen is a Java to C# source code conversion tool is now available to the public as free software. db4objects has used the tool extensively to generate most of the .NET db4o engine core code and unit test suites from Java sources. Read More

Realistic Shadows in Actionscript 3

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I have another simple but neat, little tutorial here on Flash CS3 filters. This time I’m not using Tweens at all. Our effect is going to use the MouseEvent.MOUSE_MOVE event to create the illusion of a light source coming from our cursor.

I have another simple but neat, little tutorial here on Flash CS3 filters. This time I’m not using Tweens at all. Our effect is going to use the MouseEvent.MOUSE_MOVE event to create the illusion of a light source coming from our cursor. Read More

How big is your source code?

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Curl compares the size of their source code for a simple application to the code for a similar JavaFX application.
Are other RIA bloggers willing to post the code for their favorite RIA technology? It’s a pretty short program and very GUI centric, but its a fun to compare solutions all the same.

Curl compares the size of their source code for a simple application to the code for a similar JavaFX application. Are other RIA bloggers willing to post the code for their favorite RIA technology? It's a pretty short program and very GUI centric, but its a fun to compare solutions all the same. Read More

How to fill an empty napkin

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Before I bore you with some theory let me quickly show you, how I think you can fill any (!) empty napkin in a minute with a meaningful sketch of a software system, be it completely new or already 30 years old, whether it´s object oriented or all assembler code, and regardless of its size.

Imagine your boss calling you in to talk to you about a new software project. He explains to you his grand vision of a one-size-fits-all “Hello, world!” program. And you can´t hold back your excitement. What a great opportunity for you to show off your skills as a software architect! You go through the requirements with him and make sure you understand every detail. Then you impress your boss with your first architectural sketch. It´s rough, yes, but at least you can show him something right away. You don´t fear an empty sheet of paper (or Visio drawing canvas). Right to the contrary! You love napkins when they are empty!

Here´s what you draw for your boss on the back of a napkin you happen to have brought with you:

image

That´s it. Plain simple, and enough to convey your understanding of his amazing idea.

And what is it you depicted? It´s the whole application, all that you have to develop and don´t know yet how to implement. All the intricacies and complexities of the application are represented by, well, just one “software cell” - the circle with the dot in the middle:

image

I call it a software cell, because it looks like a biological cell with a membrane and a core:

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source: http://www.schule.at/index.php?url=kategorien&kthid=6191

And like a biological cell a software cell encapsulates complex processes and shields them from the outside world. By drawing a software cell you thus distinguish an inside from an outside, a system from its environment.

image

That´s not difficult, isn´t it? But it´s an important first step, since it draws a line in the sand separating what you have to implement from what you don´t have to implement. And it´s important because it starts software development on a level of abstraction your boss is still comfortable with. He´s an important stakeholder of the whole effort, so you want him to feel comfortable and confident and understanding as long as possible. How better to do that by drawing pictures even he understands?


Before I bore you with some theory let me quickly show you, how I think you can fill any (!) empty napkin in a minute with a meaningful sketch of a software system, be it completely new or already 30 years old, whether it´s object oriented or all assembler code, and regardless of its size. Imagine your boss calling you in to talk to you about a new software project. He explains to you his grand vision of a one-size-fits-all ... Read More

A Sneak Peek at Spore, EA’s Ultra-Web 2.0 Game

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I finally understand why Spore has been delayed for so long. Originally expected for a 2007 release, the simulated evolution game from Electronic Arts (ERTS) studio Maxis was suddenly withheld, much to EA’s chagrin. Maxis head Will Wright explained the delay, saying that the company wanted to make the follow-up to its wildly successful […]

I finally understand why Spore has been delayed for so long. Originally expected for a 2007 release, the simulated evolution game from Electronic Arts (ERTS) studio Maxis was suddenly withheld, much to EA’s chagrin. Maxis head Will Wright explained the delay, saying that the company wanted to make the follow-up to its wildly successful Sims franchise more accessible. That turns out to be an understatement, as I found out yesterday at an advance press peek hosted at Maxis’ Emeryville, Calif. office. ... Read More

Dundas chart error databinding: Series data points do not support values of type “myclass”, only values of these types can be used: Double, Decimal, Single, int, long, uint, ulong, String, DateTime, short, ushort.

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The following error can occur when executing the .DataBind() method on a Dundas chart object within an ASP.Net page (.Net 3.0):

Series data points do not support values of type “myclass”, only values of these types can be used: Double, Decimal, Single, int, long, uint, ulong, String, DateTime, short, ushort.

I had set the DataSource property to a generics List of myclass objects (List<myclass>).

It turns out that this error is caused by a mismatch between the type of objects within the list passed to DataSource and the series defined for the chart.

In my case I had create 4 series but the objects within the list only had 3.  I’m guessing the same error would also occur if the property names of these objects to not match the series .ValueMembersY/ValueMemberX property settings.

HTH
Tim


The following error can occur when executing the .DataBind() method on a Dundas chart object within an ASP.Net page (.Net 3.0): Series data points do not support values of type "myclass", only values of these types can be used: Double, Decimal, Single, int, long, uint, ulong, String, DateTime, short, ushort. I had set the DataSource property to a generics List of myclass objects (List<myclass>). It turns out that this error is caused by a mismatch between the type of objects within the list passed to ... Read More