$49

I'm a tools junkie! Anything that helps be work more efficiently is HUGE for me since every 10 minutes I can "save" in a day is 10 minutes with my Children, talking to my Wife, on my Harley, in the gym, etc.....

I've been a Visual SlickEdit user for many years, you can set it up to look/work like Visual Studio and it has syntax highlighting for EVERYTHING (even stuff I've never heard of) and there are versions for Windows, Mac OSX, Linux, Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, etc.

Introducing SlickEdit Tools for Visual Studio.

Now they've come out with 2 tools add-ins for Visual Studio.

• Editing Tools
• Versioning Tools

Each is priced at $49

You can read full feature lists here.

The versioning stuff is interesting but for me the Editing Toolbox ROCKS.

Here are the highlights from their site - download the trial, if you decide to keep it, it's only %40

Aliases and Acronyms:
Use directory aliases to save keystrokes and mouse usage when opening files. Use acronym expansion to save keystrokes when typing class, namespace, or function names in your code.
Auto Code Doc Viewer
Extract header comments into MSDN-like documentation, fully linked HTML help that can be browsed in Visual Studio as a tool window and exported for sharing with others.
Code Annotations
Insert comments and notes about code without actually modifying the source file.
Comment Wrapping
Enable automatic wrapping of any type of multi-line comment as you type. You can also reflow existing comments in the current file.
Icon Extractor
Simplify the task of finding quality icons and applying them to your applications.
Quick Profiling
Fine-tune your profiling to get information about a specific section of code. This feature allows you to time many cases that are not possible with standard profilers, such as timing complex loops, recursive functions, and the time between an object’s creation and disposal.
Regex Evaluator ( *** a must FOR all web developers)
Interactively create and test regular expressions, which are used to express text patterns for searching.
Code Navigation
Use keyboard shortcuts to jump from a symbol to its definition and to list all references for the current symbol.
Word Completion
Use commands to search for and insert additional text from a matching string.

Why not do it in writing.

Scott's blog is one of the most widely read developer blogs in the world and is already translated into a few non-English languages.

·         Blog Posts in Chinese

·         Blog Posts in Japanese

·         Blog Posts in Spanish

Would you like to translate Scott's Blog into YOUR language on weblogs.asp.net? Virtually bring Scott to you country !

http://weblogs.asp.net/Portuguese ??

http://weblogs.asp.net/french ??

http://weblogs.asp.net/klingon ?? : )

Click HERE and email me to volunteer!

Wendy Tanaka wrote an interesting piece in THIS Forbes on line article where she suggests that negotiating with Yahoo may not be worth the hassle and she suggests some other things that Microsoft could choose to do with the $40 Billion.

Here are some of her suggestions.

--Hire 40,000 engineers, at $100,000 apiece, for a decade

--Acquire Facebook (estimated to have a market value of $15 billion), along with just about any other meaningful social networking site, including MySpace, Bebo, Hi5 and LinkedIn. There would still be enough money left over to pay some consultants to help with integration.

--Spend eight times more than Google did last year to acquire traffic--and presumably make traffic more pricey for Google, to boot.

--Hire 80 million workers in China to do nothing but click on Microsoft properties and related ads for 10 years.

--Promise a free Big Mac to everyone who clicks on a Microsoft ad--and give away 14 trillion of 'em.

Have you ever tried to set up a web site and use 2 popular ASP.NET applications ?

Did you get THIS ?

I did.

I set up BlogEngine.net in c:\inetpub\wwwroot - it worked fine !

Then I set up ScrewTurnWiki in c:\inetpub\wwwroot\wiki.

Now, ScrewTurnWiki is really simple to install and it's always worked for me before but this install failed (though as you'll see the problem is ASP.MET and the applications.)

The error messages that I was getting when trying to load the wiki were about not being able to resolve a BlogEngine.net assembly !

The problem is this......

ASP.NET applications have a distinct and complete configuration hierarchy. This is very useful if you are taking advantage of it, but can be a real pain if you are not.

The application in the subordinate directory inherits the entries from the root application. So, extensions, handlers, providers, etc.

The solution is a little counterintuitive. You would think that you could tell the subordinate application (Wiki) to ignore any configuration changes that are made higher up in the hierarchy, but you can't.

You need to tell the root application not to send configuration to any subordinate applications.

It looks something like this.

<configuration>
    <configSections>
        ...
    </configSections>
    <location path="." inheritInChildApplications ="false">
        ... rest of config
    </location>
</configuration>

Many thanks to Nikhil and Clint for the data !

With more code to write than time to write it, I'm a huge fan of anything that helps me code.

Someone recently sent me a link to Home Tomato's Visual AssistX for Visual Studio.

This is a great example of how the 3rd party ecosystem makes the .NET platform great for developers.

I'd type a list of features here but the list is HUGE.

Instead, check it out here http://www.wholetomato.com/products/default.asp

Personal Licence is $99

You've heard it. JavaScript is not a REAL programming language.

Well, it is NOW. Programming in JavaScript is inevitable.

And why not.

• It is ubiquitous. (Supported by all major browsers.)
• It supports good Object Oriented Development.
• There is TONS of code out there.
• There is a rapidly growing collection of rich, high quality JavaScript Frameworks and Libraries available.
• It's been good enough to be implemented out of the browser in client technologies like Flash (ActionScript is for all intents and purposes ECMAScript, which is the new name for JavaScript)and SilverLight 1.0)
• And, Server side technologies like Aptana's Jaxer

While I concede that "Web 2.0" technologies like SilverLight 2.0 (Programmed in C#, VB, or any .NET language), and Flash/Flex, and JavaFX have a strong place in the future of the web..... programming the DOM with JavaScript is here to stay.

I think we need to stop trying to avoid JavaScript and start embracing it, even if only for it's universal availability.

Microsoft is embracing JavaScript

• We've added great development and debugging support fir JavaScript in Visual Studio (see links below.)
• We've developed a GREAT set of JavaScript Extensions that are server independent, free, and open. [More Info Here]
• Created a JavaScript friendly controls framework. [ See videos #62, #63, and #64 HERE. ]

So, if your ready to take JavaScript beyond the basics, here are some of my favorites to get you started.

Some Books on JavaScript beyond the syntax !

Some JavaScript Tools

Aptana IDE (A GREAT, free AJAX IDE, great for JavaScript even if you're not doing AJAX)

Antechinus JavaScript Editor

SplineTech JavaScript Debugger

Internet Explorer 8 Beta (With great built in developer tools.)

Some Microsoft JavaScript Links

Microsoft JScript Blog

Microsoft JScript Reference

Video: JavaScript Debugging in Visual Studio 2008

Video: JavaScript Intellisense in Visual Studio 2008

A few better than average JavaScript Web Sites

JavaScript.com

W3 Schools JavaScript Tutorials

JavaScript Kit

Dynamic Drive

I love CMS applications!

I've played with more than a hundred free and commercial CMSs written in VB, C#, PHP, Python, Perl, Ruby, you name it !

It's taken me a while to put Graffiti through it's paces, but I did so last weekend.

Here is a quick list of my first impressions.

PROS

• Install is a SNAP.
• The BlogML import facility imported my hundreds of posts flawlessly.
• The administrative user interface is intuitive.
• It's FAST
• The FREE version is not crippled (just limited authors and a couple advanced features off.)
• Widgets are EASY !

CONS

• Some of the downloadable themes I found were not "seamless" (community provided code varies in quality.)
• I missed the ability to create a completely standalone .aspx page that inherits nothing but the theme, (Plan to try this manually.) 

All in all, this has been one of the best "first impression" experiences I've had with a 3rd part ASP.NET application.

Since the free version is REAL and doesn't even require registration to download and install, CLICK HERE and give it a try !

The PowerPoint Decks and the First Webcast are now available on-demand.

Visual WebGui: An Enterprise AJAX application in 20 minutes PPT Deck.

View it On-Demand. (The webcast starts at 10:45 into the video.)

Visual WebGui: Silverlight for line-of-business application PPT Deck. 

Do to a recording error, this webcast is not available on-demand.

One of my test machines that is still running Windows XP just HUNG while performing Windows Update Today.

At the "Checking for latest updates" page it just kept checking and checking and checking.......

It turns out that it was some bad files. Maybe a prior failed dowload or something.

Here are the steps I used to solve the problem.

Viola !

When you first open an ASP.NET 2.0 website in Visual Web Developer / Visual Studio 2008, VS asks you if you want to upgrade the project to 3.5.

As some of you who are using Microsoft AJAX and who say YES to upgrade to 3.5 have noticed, when you go to run your newly upgraded application (which worked fine before the upgrade), you get build errors !!!

The build error complains that it can't load System.Web.Extensions Version 1.0.61025.0

That's the OLD version of Web.Extensions (AJAX)  that works with ASP.NET 2.0.

You'll note a number of references in your web.config file to this old version. Since before the 2008 release wave, MS AJAX was loaded via separate assemblies and since it is now "baked in" to ASP.NET, it's hard for the upgrade tool to know that you don't need the referenced version.

So..... In your web.config change all the 1.0.61025.0 version references to 3.5.0.0 (unless you are using some CTP or Futures Version)

If you are using the AJAX Control Toolkit there is still a bit of work to do.

You will now get this error on your Toolkit Control instances.

Download the version of the AJAX Control Toolkit that is built for ASP.NET 3.5

Note: There are separate versions for ASP.NET 2.0 projects and ASP.NET 3.5 projects.

If your are running Windows Vista, Right-Click the .zip file, select properties, and "Unblock" the file.

Then unzip the files to the location of your choice.

Make sure the Visual Studio Toolbox Tab that you create for the controls is with the 3.5 version.

Now you need to upgrade your project to use the new tool kit. The easiest way to do this is to let Visual Studio do it for you.

SWITCH TO SOURCE VIEW and drag and drop any Ajax Control Toolkit control into your page.

When you get this dialog SELECT APPLY TO ALL ITEMS and click yes.

Then delete the control you just added.

Visual Studio will have updated your controls reference and you should now be good to go !

AJAX World was a great confirmation for me. AJAX, RIA, or whatever term you use to describe this "new" way of building web applications is here to stay.

Relative to Microsoft, here are a few of my big take-a-ways.

• Security matters even MORE than it has to date.
• Web Development frameworks like ASP.NET that facilitate secure development are crucial.
• Interest in Microsoft Silverlight is reaching a feverish level !
• Alpha Geeks (even the ones who aren't exactly MS fans) are digging the new stuff in IE 8, especially the developer features. 

Thanks to everyone who attended my sessions. Having spent so much of the last 10 years focused on web security it's great to see the interest and awareness continue to grow.

Below are links to both my PowerPoint decks and all my code, including all the security code I showed you. I don't think I've ever released the security stuff before.

WARNING: This code is NOT finished code. I don't even suggest it's "good" code. It's stuff I assembled for illustrative purposes. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK and don't include it in your production applications. All standard disclaimers apply ! :)

ASP.NET AJAX Security [Demo Code] [PowerPoint Deck]

ASP.NET AJAX Patterns [Demo Code] [PowerPoint Deck]

Please joind me for these 2 webcasts this Thursday and Friday. VWG is a cool FREE set of tools to accelerate your ASP.NET AJAX and Silverlight Web Development. Guy Peled, CTO of Visual WebGui is joining me and he will build applications live during the webcats.

Click below to register - attendance is FREE !

Live From Redmond: Visual WebGui: An Enterprise AJAX application in 20 minutes.

It is all about simplicity: Simplicity in programming next generation complex AJAX application that makes the productivity difference.   In this Webcast we will demystify Visual WebGui. We will build a fully blown application in less than 20 minutes, and strip off the covers, showing you how you can cut your development cycle by as much as 90% .   Visual WebGui is open source, so you can dive into the code. Throughout the webcast we will demonstrate that while VWG enables rapid application development (RAD) , the developer is free to create custom controls, wrap third party controls , invoke HTML resources and interop with standard ASP.NET applications like DNN and others, all in a matter of minutes.

3/27/2008 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada)| Duration:60 Minutes

Live From Redmond: Visual WebGui: Silverlight for line-of-business application.

In this webcast we will "light up", in minutes, the fully blown line-of-business application that we built in our previous webcast adding the rich look and feel of Silverlight as well as its enhanced performance. You will see how we accomplish this by a "push of a button". We will demonstrate how to make WinForms controls available to your web application and  how you can style your UI by using fully enabled Expression Blend. The outcome is a very light footprint client, unaffected by application size and weight, and as a bonus, secured by design.  You will be shown how you  can, extend, invoke, interop and customize your application using Visual WebGui. 

3/28/2008 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada)| Duration:60 Minutes

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About the Live From Redmond series. This series of Live Meeting presentations are designed specifically for the community by members of the Microsoft product teams. The presentations are all done by actual team members working on the specific technology, and are a great way to hear from and ask your questions directly to the product team.