Ron Dudley's Blog

What am I doing now? Right now...?

Ron Dudley — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 21:18:00 GMT

Wait, I'll answer that. Thanks!

So now that I have the Commerce Starter Kit, the Community Server Kit, FileBot 1.0 all running or ready to go. Now what? I could spend all of my time tweaking things here or there, but that would be too boring to keep me satisfied for too long.

I'll digress here to bring you up to date about what's going on at my day job. Just a bit anyway.

I use .NET, specifically C# at work to develop various applications for end-users. To date all of it has been in the .NET 1.1 Framework.

I lead our company .NET user group and have been embroiled in a test of wills with the IT department over usage of .NET 2.0 for the better part of this year. We are making progress...just not fast enough for some.

I joined a new team this year as well. They use PowerBuilder as there development tool for building isolated apps which automate data processing that is usually done manually. So I am also a PowerBuilder developer now as well...reluctantly so I must say.

I have also found that some data that we need is not available on modern desktop systems and I have had to travel a bit back in time and learn some JCL and some SAS to get at it on the mainframe. Just my opinion here, in case I have offended a SAS user or two.

Today I finalized a deal that also makes me a Java developer using Rational Application Developer 6.0, which should open up some interesting data stores, but I must admit that I was also reluctant to acquire this title as well. My first choice was to mimic the Java calls in .NET, but I was somewhat rebuked for invoking the .NET name into a Java environment.

Well, that was a longer digression than I wanted.

Now I also really want to have a good long look at BizTalk Server 2006 and Microsoft's Dynamics CRM product. I can't decide whether to load them on my primary machine, which has plaenty loaded on it as it is, or to load it on an older machine which I have Windows Server 2003 running on, and sucking the life out of, or to fork over the cash to build a new base system from scratch. I'm leaning towards the new system, but I'm not ready to leap just yet.

So anyway, back to what I want to do this minute...I'll need to think about it while I peruse Newegg's inventory of parts.

Success with Commerce Starter Kit...

Ron Dudley — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 20:38:00 GMT

...sort of.

I have the beta release of version 2 installed and running. I am currently testing with the PayPal sandbox. So far, so good.

The final point release of the Commerce Starter Kit (CSK) 2.0 is due to be released sometime very soon. I am eagerly awaiting its arrival. I will need to make any necessary updates to the existing code I have in place and test it again.

Look for the new store in the near future!

ClickOnce Addiction

Ron Dudley — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 23:01:00 GMT

OK, so I have released my application for sale. Now what? Well, I could have moved on to something else, instead I find myself constantly tweaking the code and uploading the updates.

This is great for people who are interested in the program, as they will have a perpetually better program to use. I must say that it has become quite the un-ending cycle, as I never seem to run out of things to change or add to the program.

This is a wonderful problem to have compared to a few years ago, or currently in non-ClickOnce environments. Prior to ClickOnce any changes would have to have been redeployed to users manually, involve some grand communication scheme to alert the users, and plenty of support items with uninstalling the old program and getting the new one running. The pre-ClickOnce era made making decisions regarding updates to the program easy: don't do it.

For those unaware of what ClickOnce is, you can find out more information at Microsoft's site. Simply put, ClickOnce allows developers to update their programs and have the latest edition installed the next time the program is run. I does this via the ever-present Internet connections that most of us have these days.

My opinion is that ClickOnce is the greatest thing since sliced bread. I have a number of things that I put in that category though, as I am trying to make a whole loaf!

Alas, I need to let the code settle for a bit and lay off updating my web site every couple of hours and move on to something else before I lose all control. I just happen to have that Microsoft Biztalk Server CD lying here that I discussed in my blog a few months back...I think I'll take it for a spin and see if there are any more slices to go in my loaf of bread there!

Ron

More BizTalk Info

Ron Dudley — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 01:45:00 GMT

I just finished taking a skills assessment for BizTalk Server. Upon completion they provide useful links to information.

Official info from Microsoft:

What's New in BizTalk Server 2006
http://www.microsoft.com/biztalk/evaluation/whatsnew.mspx

BizTalk Server 2006 Application Deployment and Management (Downloadable white paper)
http://www.microsoft.com/biztalk/techinfo/whitepapers/bts2k6_appdepwp.mspx

BizTalk Server 2006 Business Activity Monitoring (Downloadable white paper)
http://www.microsoft.com/biztalk/techinfo/whitepapers/bts2k6_bamwp.mspx

BizTalk Server 2006 Runtime Improvements (Downloadable white paper)
http://www.microsoft.com/biztalk/techinfo/whitepapers/runtime.mspx

BizTalk Server 2006 Setup and Migration (Downloadable white paper)
http://www.microsoft.com/biztalk/techinfo/whitepapers/setupwp.mspx

Enjoy!

Ron

BizTalk 2006 Info

Ron Dudley — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 23:48:00 GMT

I am waiting (patiently) for May 1st to arrive so that Microsoft will ship my copy of BizTalk Server 2006. I am excited to start using the product and learn more about it. From what I have been reading so far, it seems to be a great improvement over the previous version (BizTalk 2004) with much better connectivity to data sources and easier setup on machines.

I have been looking for some useful information regarding the details of using BizTalk, but most of the info I have seen relates to the same generalized comments about it being better and coming soon.

One good source of info I found today was the MSDN documentation page for BizTalk 2006. Here.

The developer's reference can be found here.

Matt Hall's blog documents and answers some situations that could cause someone to lose some sleep. A good reference for anyone getting started with BizTalk 2006. Read Matt's blog here.

Here is Top-XML's list of BizTalk 2006 related blog entries.

I'll add more resources as I find them.

Ron

My Code Project Article

Ron Dudley — Sat, 15 Apr 2006 23:40:00 GMT

OK...I guess it would be wrong of me not to have a link to my article on the Code Project web site, even if I am not too thrilled with the article itself.

http://www.codeproject.com/useritems/DataRetrievalKeyless.asp

I am rapidly searching for another topic to be able to redeem myself.

Effective C# Article on Code Project

Ron Dudley — Sat, 15 Apr 2006 23:31:00 GMT

I was browsing the Code Project site today (er, don't we all?) and came across this article with various tips on coding in C#.

http://www.codeproject.com/csharp/effectivecspart1.asp

I am going to review it, and the comments and discussions related to it, and see what useful tips I can glean from it.

Success With Community Server!

Ron Dudley — Sat, 15 Apr 2006 12:12:00 GMT

Well, it took a couple of days, a few reinstalls, countless server tweaks, and a battle of will's, but I was able to get the Community Server 2.0 for ASP.net 2.0 running on my remote host.

My hosting company recently began offering Windows hosting, they are a long time Linux company, so needless to say there were not many resources for assistance there, especially when figuring the .net 2.0 framework into it.

The hosting company does have an install script for Community Server 1.1, but that was another journey in itself, which I did try, but managing a domain running ASP.net 2.0 and having a subdomain running ASP.net 1.1 proved to be an additional challenge I did not need nor want.

Now I just have to populate all the areas with content!