first 5.3 site launched

we've just launched our new website for metamatrix // interfolio built on Sitecore 5.3. after working with 5.3 for some time now I can't help but to, yet again, be amazed at what they team at sitecore can accomplish. the site includes hooking asp.net 2.0 ajax extensions directly into sitecore, and even that went extremely painless. really the only thing that caused worry was the usual 'damn, i knew i shoul've checked the layout on a Mac earlier to avoid this headache' issue, but once that was solved the development was moving forward yet again. now i can't wait to move all my ideas over to 5.3 modules, but i doubt i'll have time for that in the near future.. Now, seeing that it's friday, what better way to celebrate a launch than with a few beers after work? :) Have a great weekend, P.

Making the Media Library F.O.B.A.R

who else but me manages to completely mess up the 5.3 media library less than 2 hours after installing a new site? it's a gift. pure talent. for some strange reason i now get a broken image instead of a working one. but: this is only for the published site and the actual image editor, when browsing the media library the image appears and everything's neat and nice and cozy. so, right now to make images work i've resorted to clearing the assigned image from the item i want to publish so that it doesn't show up in the image field, and then re-enter only the text value of the path - making sure not to look it up. needless to say this is -extremely- frustrating.. UPDATE: well, it seems that it's not outputting the db parameter (&db=master) anymore when it's 'visually' assigned. frustration just got a touch of annoyance.. P.

Sitecore Certified Developer

well, I passed. Yay! Was fun and interesting and Kim Hornung was great at holding the certification and presentation. Bring on the next level! Also, now that i know that Kim is at Sitecore, i'll add his blog (http://sitecorekh.blogspot.com) to the bloglist. P.

A new day dawning

Besides the fact that my keyboard kept switching back and forth between swedish & english, and that for some reason blogger kept defaulting my language to spanish (really wierd) there ability to communicate from TechEd was fantastic and really quite impressive. Countless of connected vista computers available, wi-fi in the entire complex and even public laptops and wi-fi at our hotel. Yep, i know. Bizarre way to start a post, but i just thought i'd get it out into the open and make it clear that i'm not going to blame the communication standards in barcelona (even tho it'd been an easy way out) for the lack of a proper post. Well, here goes: Tuesday: Keynote Developing rich Web Applications with ASP.NET Ajax ASP.NET Developer and Designer Ajax bliss with Visual studio and Expression ASP.NET Ajax Tips and Tricks Understanding the Service Modelling Language (SML) Wednesday: ASP.NET: Developing data-driven web applications with .NET Language Integrated Query Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF): Creating Windows and Browser Applications with WPF Connected Systems - Part 4: Presentation and Interactivity Extending ASP.NET 2.0 with Custom Providers C# 3.0: Future directions in Language Innovation from Anders Hejlsberg Thursday: Connected Systems - Part 5: Identity and Access Management An implementation of Windows CardSpace .NET Hidden Treasures Building WebParts the Smart way Friday: Windows Vista for Managed Developers: Beyond .NET 3.0 Microsoft XNA and the Future of Game Development AJAX Patterns with the Microsoft AJAX Library Iron Architect finals The above list defines the sessions i went to, and it was quite the handful of things to see and consider for the future, but more on that later. Now - A special message to Sitecore (seeing they're danish and will probably want strong coffee): Don't go for the coffee inside the building, it tastes a bit like iron combined with cherry, and it was really more like tea than coffee. However, there is a place outside that sells proper coffee, even espresso, and it's just outside between the two buildings. Take my word for it - that coffee will save your day. That's it for now, i'll update this post later to reflect on all the sessions, but now it's time to get Sitecore certified. P.

TechEd - All about the Experience!

Author: Dennis Skantz After spending a couple of days on TechEd in Barcelona it is clear to me that Microsoft now is all about the Experience... User experience for system users (Vistas awesome UI) and deleveloper experience for developers (geat designer tools)... and also... conference experience for delegates to the TechEd Conference... and here I'm thinking about the well planned and executed conference. Microsoft has thought about everything... If you feel thirsty, there are cold drinks everywhere. If you feel cold, they give you a warm nice sweater and to top it all off there are over 250 sessions to choose from! Thats really the only problem here right now. How to select 18 out of 250 all (almost all.. anyway) compelling sessions. Here is what I've learnt so far... Sitecore is way way way ahead! We've been XAMLing now for about a year. Now MS is releasing Windows Presentation Foundation wich is really XAML for windows apps. So for us to adopt WPF is not a hard thing to do. Thank you for that Sitecore! AJAX, AJAX, AJAX! I think I counted 11 sessions about AJAX, that means you could basically spend the whole week just listening to AJAX seminars... This is nothing new to Sitecore partner. Sitecore's been using AJAX for ages. What new now is Microsoft standard framework för AJAX. Comes with a nifty library of clientside scripts guaranteed to work on IE, Mozilla, Firefox and soon Opera (wich can be used stand alone from the Asp.Net Framework) and a lot of AJAX controls to be dragged onto your standard aspx and ascx controls. AJAX is exciting, yes... But is it worth 11 sessions? No. Can we even speak about a AJAX hype? Yes... But still AJAX is cool, and the AJAX library is a good start. For pattern freaks I have good news in the patterns for logics department. You only have to learn three patterns; Call, Queue and Sub/Pub... All other patterns are just variations of these. Of course this is my highly simplified intrepretation of Steve Swarts and Clemens Vasters presentation about Communication, Flow and Logic. For SOA preachers... SOA is not the solutions to all future system design. SOA should be used only in those places in the system where it doesn't relly really slow down the user interface... because... we don't want to spoil the user experience... ;-) For security concerned (arent we all?) I've recently irritated myself on the fact that Sitecore doesnt lock out accounts after x number of failed login attempts. Turns out, thats actually just what the experts suggests. If you have a lock-out function in place, it is really easy to stage a DNS attack against the system. All you have to do is try to login to all accounts and fail doing so and you have soon locked out all editors and administrators from ever reaching the system. So hats of to you Sitecore for that... However, there is still an area where Sitecore (in my opinion) must change and thats in the auditing. It is bad practice not to log failed login attempts. How should you otherwise be able to detect attempted attacks? Sitecore could easily add a bundle of Auditing, and they should, for sake of traceability! Well, thats it for now. My beer is going flat... and there are 50 sessions left to choose between.... /Dennis

Sitecore 5.3

Well, seems it's released now (at least on SDN5). For those of you (like me) that have been eagerly waiting i hope you've already installed it.. seeing i'm currently in barcelona right now i however have a few obstacles to tackle prior to installing it (like getting a hold of a decent bandwith for starters).. oh well... way to go Sitecore! P.

TechEd: middle of day 2

So far so damn awesome it's sick.. this messes with your mind a lot and you'll surely notice it later when i finish up this post.. right now it's back to the sessions. P.

TechEd

Well, tomorrow I'm off for Barcelona where we're going to attend the TechEd conf. It's going to be 5 days of brainmelting-ideainspiring-codecrazy madness, but that's why we're going there :) More posts to come i'm sure once we've arrived and all. P.