ASP.NET 2.0 CSS Friendly Control Adapters 1.0

Well, it's not a brand-new release (1.0 was released 20th of November), but i still felt like writing a little about it. ASP.NET 2.0 CSS Friendly Control Adapters 1.0 is a great add-on to visual studio for those of you out there that develop websites and keep to css styled sites. Basically, what it does is that it hooks on to existing controls as a control adapter and instead of generating annoying table/tr/td etc tags it transforms the output into css friendly elements. Really good addition to your visual studio installation. More info & download: http://www.asp.net/CSSAdapters/Default.aspx P.

"WPF/E" CTP

Seems Microsoft just announced the first CTP of "WPF/E" (codename), their new cross-platform/xaml/wpf combo.. thingy.. something.. If you find it interesting (like i do), you'll find it at http://msdn.microsoft.com/wpfe P.

The Panel

I like microsoft's "The Panel" initiative, it's quite cool to see different XAML applications and also to get your hands on the sourcecode to see how it's implemented. Gathered that some require massive CPU & RAM it's still awesome and enjoyable to test it, if your computer is XAML capable that is. Right now i'm trying the UniveRSS application, and yep, it's cool alright. http://www.microsoft.com/emea/msdn/thepanel/featured/universs.aspx The Panel: http://www.microsoft.com/emea/msdn/thepanel/default.aspx

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.