Entries for Lee Dale

New toy, Sony Vaio P Series

Lee Dale — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 09:25:39 GMT

Bought one of these the other day, loving it so far. Built in mobile broadband is a god send, can access internet all the way to work on the train.

Has a Intel Atom processor, 2GB RAM, 128GB SSD. Running Windows 7 Professional with Aero enabled, and the performance is very good for such a small machine, battery life is pretty good also.

Installed Visual Studio 2010 with Office 2010 also.

Anyone want to attend the PDC next month? [Anyone want to attend the PDC next month?]

Lee Dale — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:39:38 GMT

I have had to cancel my registration but unfortunately passed the cut off date for a refund. If anyone else wants to go I will be happy to swap over the names for a discounted fee.

Let me know if you are interested.

Thanks.

in reply to Anyone want to attend the PDC next month?

Building a high spec gaming/dev machine [Building a high spec gaming/dev machine]

Lee Dale — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 11:42:44 GMT

Basically want to build my own gaming machine that I also want to use for development. Anyone got any suggestions on hardware? specifically graphics cards / sound cards and motherboards.

in reply to Building a high spec gaming/dev machine

Anyone going PDC this year? [Anyone going PDC this year?]

Lee Dale — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 07:32:15 GMT

Registered yesterday looking forward to it, also off to the SharePoint conference in October in Vegas. Hope I get to the conference though because I love a bit of Blackjack :)

in reply to Anyone going PDC this year?

How many people use a server OS to develop on? [How many people use a server OS to develop on?]

Lee Dale — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 12:36:32 GMT

I'm waiting for Server 2008 R2 to upgrade from Server 2008, I can only use a server OS with desktop experience enabled to develop on due to doing so much SharePoint development.

Anyone else user a server OS to develop on.

Only problem is with all the services at startup taking longer to boot but I run it within VMWare anyway on OS X, thinking of running R2 natively to make use of 6GB RAM.

When's R2 out anyway October? Think just in time for the SharePoint conference in Vega.

in reply to How many people use a server OS to develop on?

Channel9 & Safari [Channel9 & Safari]

Lee Dale — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 19:46:51 GMT

Can someone please work on supporting Safari, it can't be that hard to get the Reply and New Thread buttons working can it?

in reply to Channel9 & Safari

How strange [How strange]

Lee Dale — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 17:29:02 GMT

in reply to How strange

A Channel9 error [A Channel9 error]

Lee Dale — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 08:33:34 GMT

Anyone else get this when trying to insert a link or image?

in reply to A Channel9 error

Anyone going to the Vista Squad event tonight? [Anyone going to the Vista Squad event tonight?]

Lee Dale — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 08:24:43 GMT

http://vistasquad.co.uk/blogs/announcements/archive/2009/01/12/vista-squad-event-18-february.aspx

in reply to Anyone going to the Vista Squad event tonight?

Looking for decent eBooks [Looking for decent eBooks]

Lee Dale — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 13:17:31 GMT

Hi guys,

Just ordered one of these Sony eBook Reader and wanted to know if any of you have found some decent eBooks around software development, preferably free ones as I will probably be using the WH Smith eBook store to purchase the ones I really need.

I know people have mentioned some free ebooks on here before would be good to get a list to download.

Thanks

in reply to Looking for decent eBooks

Why is C9 so broken in Safari? [Why is C9 so broken in Safari?]

Lee Dale — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 16:02:55 GMT

I use safari as my main browser and it's all messed up :(

Have a look!

in reply to Why is C9 so broken in Safari?

LINQ to XML vs XmlDocument & xpath [LINQ to XML vs XmlDocument & xpath]

Lee Dale — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 11:28:06 GMT

Hi There,

I am building a proof of concept application which makes heavy use of XmlDocument and XML parsing in general, at the moment being a POC I am getting around the performance issue of using Xpath to navigate the XML DOM with the use of caching. My main goal at the moment is just to get the thing working and I have built an API around the companies XML schema to expose an object model to my application. My initial requirement was for it to work on .Net 2.0 only but I want to push for them to adopt 3.5 and one of the reasons is the heavy use of XML and the ability to use LINQ to XML instead.

I have built my object model in a way that allows me to rip out the xpath stuff and stick in LINQ to XML underneath if I get the go ahead. My question is twofold :

1. What kind of performance gains can I see with LINQ to XML over standard XML DOM xpath queries if any.

2. If I can't go the LINQ to XML route can anyone suggest the best way to optimise the XPATH stuff. For instance to keep it simple im making alot of use of XmlDocoument.SelectNodes and SelectSingleNode methods. The application is really slow when coming to refresh the cache and load the XML back up. Any suggestions here would be good.

Thanks

Lee

in reply to LINQ to XML vs XmlDocument & xpath

MOSS 2007 Forms Based Authentication with AD LDS and Windows Server 2008 [MOSS 2007 Forms Based Authentication with AD LDS and Windows Server 2008]

Lee Dale — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 17:44:14 GMT

Hi I have wrote an article on how to implement AD Lightweight Directory Services with Windows Server 2008 and configure MOSS 2007 to use AD LDS as a Forms based authentication store.

"Forms Based Authentication is an attractive option for companies running MOSS 2007 because it means you can give partners and external clients access to your Sharepoint sites without having to give them a full blown Windows domain account, the only drawbacks being it’s quite tricky to set up and most people only see SQL Server as an option for a user store which gives complications with regards to maintenance of them users and less flexibility should you need to migrate them users to a full blown Windows account later on..."

You can read the full article here

http://leedale.wordpress.com/2008/09/11/moss-2007-forms-based-authentication-using-ad-lds-and-windows-server-2008/

in reply to MOSS 2007 Forms Based Authentication with AD LDS and Windows Server 2008

Redesigned company website [Redesigned company website]

Lee Dale — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 15:49:23 GMT

Hi guys, would just like to get some feedback on my new company website which I put "live" today.

http://www.athousandthreads.com/

Constructive critisism appreciated :)

Nice one.

in reply to Redesigned company website

FF3 + C9 [FF3 + C9]

Lee Dale — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 17:05:39 GMT

I know it's probably been said before but it's getting really annoying.

Can navigate to the landing page but navigating to the forums just crashses FF immediately, anyone know what the problem is yet?

in reply to FF3 + C9

Looking for a web developer to work from home on a few bits. [Looking for a web developer to work from home on a few bits.]

Lee Dale — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:56:09 GMT

Hi guys,

I've got a couple of projects coming up that I need a web developer for.

It will be mostly photoshop, html, css etc and anyone with ASP.Net 2.0 would be great.

It will be designing and coding the site from start to finish with myself as a techical lead.

Would be great for someone looking for some extra work or a freelancer, and hopefully there will be more work out of it in the future.

If your interested then feel free to contact me.

email: leedale@athousandthreads.com
msn: leedale8850@hotmail.com
gtalk: lee.jdale@googlemail.com

or leave a reply here.

Thanks

in reply to Looking for a web developer to work from home on a few bits.

Dynamically adding WebParts using WebPartManagerInternals class [Dynamically adding WebParts using WebPartManagerInternals class]

Lee Dale — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:03:34 GMT

I wrote this blog post for anyone having problems in adding WebParts dynamically. I know the problem isn't very well documented by MS and there's lots of forum posts out there with no solution.

Hope this helps a little:

http://leedale.wordpress.com/2008/01/10/dynamically-adding-webparts-using-webpartmanagerinternals-class/

in reply to Dynamically adding WebParts using WebPartManagerInternals class

Downgrading iPod Touch firmware and installing 3rd Party apps [Downgrading iPod Touch firmware and installing 3rd Party apps]

Lee Dale — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 14:17:22 GMT

Not sure if anyone here would be interested but I put together a step by step guide on this.

http://leedale.wordpress.com/2007/12/28/downgrading-ipod-touch-112-and-installing-iphone-apps/

in reply to Downgrading iPod Touch firmware and installing 3rd Party apps

ASPNET user in Vista [ASPNET user in Vista]

Lee Dale — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 12:57:41 GMT

Hi Guys,

Can anyone explain to me under Vista what account does ASP.Net run under with IIS7?

I don't seem to have ASPNET user anymore is it now running under NETWORK SERVICE account?

I've tried to search about but can't find anything. I know the experts on here can give me a definitive answer ;)

Cheers

in reply to ASPNET user in Vista

DropDownList not maintaining state. [DropDownList not maintaining state.]

Lee Dale — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 15:45:22 GMT

Hi guys, I have a problem with a usercontrol im developing.

I'm basically creating and binding a DropDownList within a user control.

I have some test code to illustrate my problem:

protected override void CreateChildControls()
    {
        TextBox box = new TextBox();
        box.ID = "MyBox";
        box.Text = "test";

        CheckBox check = new CheckBox();
        check.ID = "MyCheck";

        DropDownList dropList = new DropDownList();
        dropList.ID = "MyList";
        dropList.EnableViewState = true;

        List<string> list = new List<string>();
        list.Add("test");
        list.Add("test2");
        dropList.DataSource = list;
        dropList.DataBind();

        this.form1.Controls.Add(dropList);
        this.form1.Controls.Add(box);
        this.form1.Controls.Add(check);
    }

In this code, the TextBox and CheckBox maintain their state between postbacks, but the DropDownList does not.

I know it's because I'm rebinding the DropDownList every time the page loads but it seems that other controls get overridden with their ViewState after they are created but the DropDownList won't.

What's the best way round this?

in reply to DropDownList not maintaining state.

Do you think MVC framwork is popular right now? [Do you think MVC framwork is popular right now?]

Lee Dale — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 11:31:03 GMT

http://www.dotnetkicks.com/

in reply to Do you think MVC framwork is popular right now?

Any boxing fans watching the fight tomorrow? [Any boxing fans watching the fight tomorrow?]

Lee Dale — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 10:25:45 GMT

I'm a huge Hatton fan, so excited about this fight can't wait.

Me and the fellas waiting up till 4am to watch it [H]

I reckon Hatton KO in the 5th round ;)

in reply to Any boxing fans watching the fight tomorrow?

Digital photo frames [Digital photo frames]

Lee Dale — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 15:46:22 GMT

So I was down PC World earlier today to pick up some bits, and I saw one of these.

I been wanting one of them for ages so I thought what the hell and got one, I got this particular one because it had Wi-Fi built in.

The Wi-Fi allows you to do media sharing with the device using WMP11 which is pretty cool.

But when I was playing around with it I discovered you can stream photos from RSS feeds, I didnt realise you could do this so I stuck a frew Flickr RSS feeds into it and it works a charm!

I thought this was excellent, it also allows you to enter Windows Live Spaces contact names and automatically streams their shared photos straight to your frame!

I would definately recommend it, anyone else got one?

in reply to Digital photo frames

What do you consider the better practice... [What do you consider the better practice...]

Lee Dale — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 11:24:54 GMT

When declaring member variables inside a class is it better to instantiate the object on the same line as the declaration or within the constructor.

i.e.

public class MyClass
{
    protected ArrayList _myList = new ArrayList();
}

or

public class MyClass
{
    protected ArrayList _myList;

    public MyClass
    {
       _myList = new ArrayList();
    }
}

in reply to What do you consider the better practice...

So I gave Linux another go the weekend [So I gave Linux another go the weekend]

Lee Dale — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 14:34:53 GMT

What a waste of time, I gave up on Linux a while back when I tried a few different distros and none of them supported my built in wireless network card.

Anyway I installed ubuntu on the same laptop at the weekend, yeah it all worked lovely I even managed to connect to my wireless network.

Things were looking up for Linux on the desktop I thought until I connected my external 19" widescreen monitor.

Do you think I could get the dam thing to support 1400x900 widescreen?

I spent a couple of hours in the terminal window using vi to edit xorg.conf files and the like. I used the ncurses interface for setting up my devices I tried everything but couldn't get it to work.

Yeah the linux guys might say I was too incompetant blah blah and I admit I'm no linux guru, but should it really be this hard to get an external monitor to work? Even if I did get it to work, the extended desktop wouldnt have worked either so what was the point?

A complete waste of time IMO and absolute years behind Windows and OS X.

Sorry I needed a rant about it lol!

in reply to So I gave Linux another go the weekend