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Easily Save and Retrieve Application and User Settings in VB.NET or C# Apps

January 28, 2011 by 25 Comments

  We used to save our application or user settings in an INI file (dark ages) or more recently in XML files using our own code or classes borrowed from other developers. But applications built with the .NET framework using Visual Studio can take advantage of built-in tools to simplify or speed up access and saving of runtime values. Once common example is saving database connection string information in a configuration file so that it may be changed without need to recompile the application. Here are some simple examples in VB.NET. C# code uses a slightly different syntax the concepts … [Read more...]

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500 – Internal server error from IIS 7.5 on Windows 2008 R2

January 21, 2011 by 25 Comments

You are running an ASP or ASP.NET web application on IIS on Windows 2008 R2 from a remote web browser and you constantly see following error message. While this is the proper results for a production server (you never want to show remote users the details of an error), it is not helpful while testing a new installation…as a developer you need to see the error messages on the remote browser. There is an obscure setting that controls this for both ASP and ASP.NET. I hope the following will help anyone needing to see error details on a remote connected browser. For Classic ASP Errors In … [Read more...]

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Has the Demise of RIM’s Blackberry Already Begun?

December 23, 2010 by Leave a Comment

UPDATE: 12/23/2010 – Cannot update the applications on my Blackberry Tour even after using the latest available version 6.0.1.18. The updates just hangs and never completes. It did this with the previous version of the Desktop Manager but hung at a different place.  My wife has the same phone and syncs with a different laptop. Both of us cannot update or inline or using the Desktop Manager. RIM – With all of your resources… you should be able to make this work. The more frustrated I get the the Blackberry the more attractive the new Android phones look! UPDATE: Leaked copies of Blackberry … [Read more...]

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Is your project team on the same sheet of music?

December 22, 2010 by 1 Comment

Every business or corporate project team has daily issues and tasks to track and resolve regardless of size or industry. What separates the successful teams from the others is how effectively they share the information needed to resolve and complete them. Project teams are like the members of an orchestra. The quality goes way down unless everyone is looking at the same sheet music! Is your business team or project members viewing the same sheet music or are they guessing which notes to play? The Problem Every business group or project teams needs to... Identify issues and tasks … [Read more...]

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The Next Generation of GPS Navigation

May 11, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Well Garmin and Magellan had better be looking ahead or they might just get left behind. Why? Because smart-phone navigation is quickly accelerating past conventional GPS navigation units. Google is one such company pushing this new wave of capabilities. Static Databases – What There is now is all you Have Most GPS units today from Garmin and Magellan (two major GPS manufacturers for GPS for automobiles) use a static map database along with a static Points of Interest (POI) database. The POIs are all the addresses, business locations, restaurants etc. that you can locate using the unit. New … [Read more...]

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Official Twitter App for Blackberry now Available

April 11, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Well if you like to tweet and or keep up with all those you are following while on the go, then it just got easier if you are a Blackberry user. Let’s face it, many of us are using the Blackberry for business needs or because we won’t give up our great call quality with Verizon to get an iPhone with AT&T. But Blackberry users need applications too and while Facebook (also available) and Twitter are not necessarily business applications, they do allow us to track our friends on the social networks from anywhere. Features include: automatic URL-shortening easy photo-sharing push and … [Read more...]

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How to stop inheritance of Web.Config files

February 22, 2010 by 2 Comments

By default, the Web.Config settings placed in a root or parent folder are inherited by child folders. This is true even for virtual directories and Application sites with their own local Web.Config. Problem At first, this seems helpful. But when developing with a local IIS installation on a workstation OS, you may quickly find this becomes problematic. You may have multiple sites running locally for development reasons that will be stand-alone sites once deployed. You later discover that the deployed site no longer works since it now missing the values it was inheriting from a parent … [Read more...]

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Do not use AlternatingItemTemplate Just to Change Row Color

January 22, 2010 by 2 Comments

Very often when using either a DataList or Repeater control, you will see folks using an <AlternatingItemTemplate> template section just to change the background color of every other row. While this is perfectly acceptable, it can become time-consuming , especially if the templated row contains a significant amount of HTML. When it does, you have to ensure that any changes to the HTML in either section (<ItemTemplate> or <AlternatingItemTemplage>) are duplicated except for the background color of the table row of course. If all you are doing is changing the alternating row … [Read more...]

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Review of Garmin nuve 765T GPS Navigation Unit

July 20, 2009 by Leave a Comment

Garmin has long been a leader in GPS navigation. With the soaring rise in popularity of automobile navigation, Garmin has worked hard to maintain that lead despite competition from other manufacturers such as Tom Tom and Magellan. Garmin's current line is named nuve and this review is for the 765T which is around the middle of the pack of their vast offering. Rather than go into detail, I will refer you instead to this excellent review by GPS Magazine. I will limit my review to a few points I think their review overlooked as well as summarize my opinion of the unit. My first unit was a Garmin … [Read more...]

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Building my first high-performance & gaming PC

January 19, 2009 by Leave a Comment

  The Need If you have seen any of the movies in the "Fast and the Furious" series, then you aware of how street racers go to extreme and exotic techniques to trick-out their car to run faster and faster. Well it's no different for building a performance PC. Everything is about performance parts that take you to the next level. Just like the fast street racing cars, there's a whole industry that caters to gamers or multimedia techs wanting to build the next fastest system on the block. While I did not need or want the fastest system around, I wanted to ensure this system would be a … [Read more...]

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