Dudo que Fermín Zabala no se haya enterado de las protestas en la red por su participación en las transmisiones del Mundial, pero Zabala fue solo un detalle. Las transmisiones se limitaron a usar la señal levantada en Sudáfrica para agregarles el relato y comentarios.
Ernesto Moreno trató de enriquecer su relato con algunos detalles histórico-estadísticos pero los comentarios de sus compañeros no aportaban nada de riqueza. Frases como “Un partido de ida y vuelta”, “Se nota cansado a….”, “El partido está lento” daban vergüenza a algunos, enojaban a otros y mostraban la pobreza en calidad de nuestra industria mediática.
No pretendo compararlos con las distantes cadenas ESPN y FoxSports, pero no se necesita ingentes capitales ni la tecnología más avanzada para hacer las cosas bien. Ojalá tuviéramos mejores profesionales, merecemos una TV de calidad.
Ahora que el mundial llegó a su fin, me pregunto si los responsables detrás de la cadena de origen cruceño evaluarán los resultados en función de la satisfacción de la audiencia además del resultado de las transacciones comerciales generadas por los derechos.
Un día en mi educación universitaria durante la primera mitad de la década los años 90, una catedrática dijo que nunca más veríamos las cosas como hasta ese momento. La materia se llamaba Lenguaje de la Imagen. Ciertamente las cosas cambiaron respecto a mi visión del periodismo en general y de los medios en particular. Un caso que me parece particularmente curioso es la falta de transparencia en una noticia.
El argumento principal que mantengo es que dentro del compromiso con lectores y audiencias, cuando la fuente de una noticia es una persona u organización relacionada con el periodista o con el medio, se debe revelar tales relaciones y su naturaleza de manera explícita.
Hoy me topé con un ejemplo que aprovecho para ilustrar esta práctica. En en este matutino paceño, en un sector relacionado al entretenimiento, aparece una nota sobre un programa dedicado a música europea. Obviando la falta de forma -no es una noticia, no alcanza a ser reportaje y menos entrevista –, el texto no aclara en ningún lugar que Hannover además de ser la conductora del programa mencionado, es periodista del mismo medio en que sale publicada la nota.
Podría equivocarme, pero por el lenguaje usado y la forma de redacción me parece que la nota fue escrita por la misma Hannover. Por ejemplo, no queda claro si los múltiples datos del programa, como que el programa difunde “una amplia gama de bandas y solistas”-, fueron comprobados por el periodista, provienen de la posible entrevista a Hannover o son tomados de un comunicado de prensa.
No sería novedad que los periodistas influyan en el contenido difundido por un medio, lo importante es que se aclare las relaciones que generan los contenidos. Como simple observación, la relación de Hannover se hace evidente cuando de manera frecuente aparecen notas parecidas a programas de la misma emisora. En si misma la cobertura no es negativa, lo que es criticable es que el espectro de medios y actividades en La Paz no tengan la misma oportunidad.
Si extendiera el ejemplo a otros medios, saltarían a la vista coberturas a servicios, productos o eventos de empresas relacionadas a los propietarios de los medios. En esos casos, aunque sea de conocimiento general, el periodista y el medio están obligados a ser transparentes con sus públicos. El respeto y la confianza se ganan de esa manera.
Básicamente la charla de Jeff Hawkins se resume en que el cerebro aprende en secuencias y luego hace predicciones. Quedan cientos de preguntas por hacer, pero al descubrir esta charla del 2007 me queda increiblemente claro que para aprender cosas se requiere repetir secuencialmente y tiene sentido que uno aprenda de errores y aciertos. En muchos casos predecir los aciertos no tiene valor hasta que un error los valida... Activa los subtítulos y disfruta los 20 minutos de esta charla.
La brillante manera de explicar de Ramachandran hace que aunque salpique de términos científicos su charla, la familiaridad y leve jocosidad conviertan al tema en algo fascinante y comprensible. Desde que TED le agrega subtítulos a los videos, es más fácil saber que este contenido se puede compartir.
Los tres síndromes explicados en estos veintialgo minutos realmente merecen una esperada ovación al final, pero la genialidad de la solución que cuesta 3 dólares para curar el síndrome del miembro fantasma justifica el espontáneo aplauso cuando el científico la relata.
Y pensar que esto tiene 3 años de viejo.
Siempre me ha fascinado explorar más allá de lo evidente, en especial fenómenos que se explican a través del aprendizaje del funcionamiento de las cosas. Por muchos años he visto presentaciones de TED que me ayudaron a calmar esta especie de sed por aprender.
El evento es económicamente prohibitivo para la mayoría. Por fortuna ponen a disposición del mundo muchas de las presentaciones y entre ellas la categoría más interesante es: “How the brain works”. Aunque las presentaciones son inglés, algunas traen subtítulos.
He decidido dejar de perder tanto tiempo en Facebook, dedicar más a TED y además compartir los más interesantes en este blog.
El equipo de SQL ha anunciado la fecha oficial de lanzamiento del R2 de SQL. Los clientes con Software Assurance podrán hacer actualización sin costo a esta nueva versión que incluye mejoras enfocadas a Inteligencia de Negocios y Alta Disponibilidad con funcionalidad aplicable a clientes medianos y pequeños como:
http://www.nestorsanchez.netLos reportes de ataques a Google aprovechando una vulnerabilidad de Internet Explorer fueron noticia de los últimos días. Security Focus anunció la vulnerabilidad el 14 de Enero y Symantec ha anunciado que quienes usan la firma más reciente de IPS están protegidos, pero se recomienda tomar medidas inmediatas para prevenir cualquier daño.
IPS es el sistema de protección contra intrusiones incluido en soluciones como Symantec Endpoint Protection y según Symantec bloqueará cualquier intento de aprovechar esta vulnerabilidad.
Hasta que Microsoft provea un parche existen alternativas para mantenerse seguro. Principalmente se recomienda la actualización inmediata a Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista SP2 o Windows 7; sistemas que habilitan automáticamente DEP (Data Execution Prevention). Paralelamente, Windows Server 2003 y 2008 ejecutan Internet Explorer en modo restingido por defecto lo cuál mitiga la vulnerabilidad.
http://www.nestorsanchez.netLos equipos con Internet Explorer 5.01 SP4, típicamente instalados en Windows 2000 no son afectados por esta vulnerabilidad.
Desde que terminó el 2009, los clientes de Symantec Endpoint Protection han estado actualizando las firmas de protección antivirus correctamente pero siguen mostrando como fecha el 31 de Diciembre del 2009.
En la figura mostrada arriba se puede verificar esto. Las definiciones de los servicios activados muestran la fecha del 31 de Diciembre pero la revisión es la 117 que corresponde al 5 de Enero.
Los usuarios de nuestro servicio de monitoreo pueden también verificar que el número de revisión de las definiciones es el más alto de la lista, pero aparecene en la fecha incorrecta.
En un post reciente, la compañía dijo que están al tanto del problema y estan trabajando en resolverlo. Según la información proporcionada, la protección se mantiene actualizada pues las revisiones se están incrementando aunque la fecha que se despliega es incorrecta.
Actualización Enero 12 Symantec inició las actualizaciones automáticas en SEP y los clientes deberían empezar a mostrar gradualmente las fechas correctas. Si tu sistema no está mostrando todavía las fechas correctas realiza la actualización del servidor de distribución de manera manual.
After learning Silverlight 3 was going to be launched on July 10 I got ready to install it on my dev machine. I went to the official website and was greeted with this message:
Right below that there was a System Requirements link and after following it I saw a chart that did not show support for IE8 in Windows 7 (I forgot to take a screenshot). I quickly sent a tweet (@hooligannes) the info and got replies from two people who didn’t have any problems, so I decided to dive in. Here’s what happened.
Failed Runtime Installation A short while after pressing on the Click to Install button, I was shown a message that said that I could not install Silverlight without updating my development tools first. My guess is that users without a dev environment with Silverlight tools will not see this. I can’t validate though. It is too bad that a link to the dev tools is not provided in that screen. That could definitely be improved.
Silverlight Tools Installation A few clicks later I was on the downloads page for the Silverlight 3 Tools For Visual Studio 2008 SP1
The installer informed that it would prepare the download, get the runtime, clean the installation, uninstall the Silverlight 2 Tools, update Visual Studio, install the SDK and then install the tools. The screens of the installation progress follow:
Naively, I did this install with IE open. I was still on the Silverlight home page, after pressing on the Click To Install button again I was surprised at the failure message. It said that I already had the runtime. Of course, closing the browser and reopening it did the trick and I could see the site like this.
For those who will just need to install the runtime, the screens below show what will happen (Except for the “Finished” screen, which I did not capture):
Touching too many pieces at once almost always causes errors and that became evident when I began to see the error of this post’s title. My VS2008 install was missing the asp.net templates and I could not understand why -later on I realized it was because I had not selected a component during the original install-, and tried several suggestions like running devenv.exe /installvstemplates from the command prompt and resetting VS settings in the Import and Export Settings menu.
Long story short, those brought more problems. I just needed to add the component, but now the VS installer would not run. Avoiding a longer delay I attempted to work on an existing project, but then I could not load the Controls Toolbox without facing three more errors now related to SQL components. Running the SQL Repair halted mentioning a VS problem.
I was doomed. OK, I am being dramatic, but it was a drag!
I decided to re-install VS. And what do you know, I couldn’t run the installer. A forced unsinstall was required now. A short search and Aaron Stebner’s blog post came to the rescue.
After uninstalling VS, I re-installed it, ran SP1 and repaired SQL. I am safe again, so I thought I’d save someone else the effort of finding VS Product GUID and post the command to uninstall Visual Studio Team System 2008.
msiexec /x {80C06CCD-7D07-3DB6-86CD-B57B3F0614D8}
If you have a different version, you’ll need to find it. Just read Aaron’s post and follow the steps to get the msiinv tool and obtain a list of installed applications according to msi.
Note: this is not always what you need to do. It was my last resource, so use it when the re-installation of templates does not work, and causes Packages registration to go awry.
If you are like me and try to be environmentally friendly by not burning DVDs unless it’s really necessary, and you prefer to install apps from ISO images, be prepared for this one about VS 2010.
Like many programs that may need to run additional tasks after the first install pass, VS2010 setup will continue after reboot. Make sure you set your ISO reading software to remount the image on the virtual drive after the reboot, it’ll save you from a surprise when the installer can’t find the necessary files to continue.
Si eres como yo que trato de ser amigable con el ambiente al evitar crear copias en DVD a menos que sea realmente necesario y te lanzas a instalar programas desde copias ISO, entonces toma nota de lo que pasa con Visual Studio 2010.
Como muchos programas que requieren correr tareas adicionales despuñes de la primera pasada del instalador, el programa de setup de VS2010 necesita continuar después del reinicio. Asegúrate de que tu programa de lectura de ISO este configurado para volver a montar la imagen cuando el sistema operativo vuelva, te ahorrará una sorpresa cuando el instalador necesite encontrar archivos que necesita para continuar su siguiente etapa.
I wrote a quick post about a problem that is easy to solve, but can be tricky to realize at first. Read the post at DotnetNuke.com.
I just wrote another post in the DNN Blog. I’ve resolved to keep linking to the DNN posts here to bring more exposure to what I am doing lately. You can read about my first encounter with the 5.1.0 version here.
I needed to create a report in a DNN website to obtain the Total billable hours for a single case in Dynamics CRM. All my previous DotNetNuke modules for CRM had been done in VS2005, which lead me to miss a detail. I published the post at my DotNetNuke blog
Last week, I noticed Dynamics CRM had become slower and my DB had grown too large for the amount of real records I expected it to have. After some investigation I realized it was a combination of things.
The symptoms of a problem There were way too many Matchcode Update records with a Waiting status. The normal System Jobs report can’t show more than 250 records at once and I had gone through several pages already. This simple SQL query showed that there were more than 100.000 records.
Select COUNT(*) As TotalWaitingTasks from dbo.AsyncOperationBase where StatusCode=10
This was going to take a long time to solve. (It took me about 8 hours to have the DB back to a normal size, because its server is not specially powerful).
I found several posts that suggested changing the status, the posts offered code to do it programmatically, but due to the number of records I’d have to modify them to be able to do it in chunks, avoiding a prolonged database lockout. The console utilities were too involved and after doing some investigation I realized that the fields I needed to change were two in a single table. Another simple SQL Query took care of it in a few hours.
Update dbo.AsyncOperationBase
Set StatusCode = 32, StateCode = 3
where OperationType = 12 and StatusCode=10
The OperationType value is for MatchCode Update, later on I found a few other workflows, so I just changed this the corresponding value. The value of 10 in StateCode is for “Waiting” and setting it to 3 is equivalent to “Completed”
I could’ve wrapped this one to do it chunks, but the day was over and nobody would be using the DB until the next day so I left it running.
Day 2 Early next day the update had finished. All System Jobs involved had been canceled. Next steps, delete the records and then shrink the DB.
However before I set out to delete them I needed to find the cause while the data was still there. Another simple query was needed:
Select Top 5 [Message] from dbo.AsyncOperationBase where StateCode = 3
I just get the first five, because obviously the result set would be way to big. In the field the reason was clear, it was a communication problem. The Message field showed an error stack trace:
System.Net.WebException: The request failed with HTTP status 400: Bad Request.
at System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapHttpClientProtocol.ReadResponse(SoapClientMessage message, _ WebResponse response, Stream responseStream, Boolean asyncCall)
at System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapHttpClientProtocol.Invoke(String methodName, Object[] parameters)
at Microsoft.Crm.SdkTypeProxy.CrmService.RetrieveMultiple(QueryBase query)
at Microsoft.Crm.Asynchronous.SdkTypeProxyCrmServiceWrapper.RetrieveMultiple(QueryBase query)
at Microsoft.Crm.Asynchronous.UpdateContractStatesOperation.ExpireContracts()
at Microsoft.Crm.Asynchronous.UpdateContractStatesOperation.InternalExecute(AsyncEvent asyncEvent)
at Microsoft.Crm.Asynchronous.AsyncOperationCommand.Execute(AsyncEvent asyncEvent)
at Microsoft.Crm.Asynchronous.AsyncHostHandler.Handle(AsyncEvent asyncEvent)
at Microsoft.Crm.Asynchronous.QueueManager.PoolHandler.ProcessAsyncEvent(AsyncEvent asyncEvent)
A quick look around and I found that this was due to an incorrect value for AsyncSdkRootDomain in the DeploymentProperties table. Yet another simple query.
SELECT [ColumnName],[NVarCharColumn]
FROM [MSCRM_CONFIG].[dbo].[DeploymentProperties]
Where [ColumnName] = 'AsyncSdkRootDomain'
The value in this field has to be like where “server” matches the name of the host where Dynamics CRM is installed, and port the port used when installing it. The standard default port is 5555. Therefor, for a host called BIGSERVER with a standard install it would be “BIGSERVER:5555”.
After changing the value to the correct one, and verifying that connection was successful I used a query I used this query from Microsoft Support to delete the Cancelled jobs. The query is originally intended to fix a problem with all completed jobs, which includes cancelled and successful ones. When used, some history for workflows will be lost. This was not an issue for me and I ran it with confidence.
The query also took a long time to run, but in the end it did its job. If you inspect it you will see that it appropriately does the job in steps limited to 2000 records and also uses transactions in case any errors happen.
I repeated this steps for other Testing organizations and I went to bed happy with the results of the day.
I worked in broadcasting and journalism long before I got involved in technology and it is another passion of mine. While my love for DNN progressively increased, I would devour as much information as I could find. In the DNN 2.X days, most of the available information was at the asp.net forums where at first I was a lurker, then a question flooder and finally even became a moderator (I still am). I always wanted to get involved with DNN and my
Sources of information have been sprouting (and also dwindling) around. One of my favorites was Seablick’s DNN Friday, but it is lagging behind. The problem is that a set deadline for your publication will almost surely be missed when business endeavors that pay the bills get in the way. Arguably, a huge number of community members are blogging about DNN and there’s no single comprehensive resource. Fortunately, that is bound to change and to start the path I am getting my DNN paws trained again to write read and write about DotNetNuke.
As a self-trained IT/Dev pro I have learnt that setting too high a goal will only doom my commitment. Therefore I’ve made a compromise with myself. I will only publish this round up when material is enough to make it worthwhile reading. Obviously, I have chosen the easiest and most informal way to publish it. It may transmogrify into a whole new animal in time, but I am satisfied to do it in this way, for now. Without any further ado, You can find DNN Round Up #1 at the DotNetnuke Blogs.
Not every organization has the luxury of having a team that includes separate DBA's, developers and IT support. I just found an article that makes it easy for those that dread the moment when restoring a DB is inevitable. Check it out here: http://www.builderau.com.au/program/sqlserver/soa/Restore-your-SQL-Server-database-using-transaction-logs/0,339028455,339282046,00.htm
The caching trap Dotnetnuke is able to improve performance by caching modules. Module caching can have a default value, set in the Settings applied to the Module Definition for the pertinent module.
The value can be overridden in each instance of the module by changing the number in the module settings section.
While developing modules, developers are confused when the module under development works but only when logged in as host or admin. This is another simple thing that falls under the gotcha category.
When using the StarterKit templates, it is usually missed that the manifest for the module contains a default value of 60 for module caching. When a value greater than 0 is set, the module will use caching and therefore you should expect it to perform in that way. Now, here’s the catch: Caching is not enforced for users in the Admin or Host roles.
It is possible to anticipate this behavior and simply have a value of 0 in the manifest, or removing the node altogether, before the module is installed into a testing /development site. If the module is already installed, the value in the individual instance can be changed to 0 as well.
I found some time to start testing the next release of DotNetNuke. While the public has access to a Beta build (5.1.0.266), our team can benefit from the latest checked in bits (Currently 5.1.0.321). After grabbing it from our source control tool, I could not install DotNetNuke, and this was a good thing because I learnt, from the solving process and from my fellow members, that the next version automatically sets itself to use .NET 3.5 if available.
Currently, the install package includes the .net 2.0 version of the System.web.extensions library. This version is located inside the website bin folder and is necessary to start the installation process, which uses AJAX for some of its steps.
After the install is completed, and if the server has .NET 3.5 installed, the assembly is removed and your site automatically configured to use the latest framework.
An informative link about a new feature In the same vein, Twitter is the source of some of the most useful information I am finding both about DNN and other topics I am interested in. I had resolved to post about latest development in the DNN world, but it is not something I always find time to do. Of course, I won’t microblog here to avoid boring the community in general. However this post is already long enough to deserve a bonus shout out to a post about a new feature in DNN 5.1.
There’s a new module targeted at making it easier to manage websites and installs. Although it is a work in progress, it is also an example of the path DotNetNuke is taking. The post is at Learn MS .Net, but I could not find the author’s name. Written by Sam McDonald, it is a good read, with screens and some explanations.
This is meant to be a series. Without ANY ado, let me introduce the first one:
This one mostly happens to newcomers to DotNetNuke development that don’t read, or just do some fast skimming over the instructions for DotNetNuke installation. It doesn’t happen when using the Install package, just with the Source one and will manifest itself when calling the application for the first time from the browser.
The Parser Error Message is vague and specific at the same time, “Could not load type 'DotNetNuke.Common.Global'”. Of course, with some experience, it’s clear that the cause is a missing web.config file.
Look at the Website folder, make a copy of the development.config file and rename it web.config. Then go ahead and install DotNetNuke.
I needed to create a report in a DNN website to obtain the Total billable hours for a single case in Dynamics CRM. All my previous DotNetNuke modules for CRM had been done in VS2005, which lead me to miss a detail.
My code kept complaining about missing the Crmservice type, which after instantiation is the very same web service needed to obtain information from Dynamics CRM. After going through MSDN documentation, posting at the CRM community and searching through the web I was almost giving up.
The cause was not apparent to me because the behavior in VS 2008 was so similar to its counterpart in VS2005. The reason I kept missing it was that I did not pay enough attention to the "Add Service Reference screen.
In all my DNN modules, the Add Web Reference item in the contextual project menu is always present, but notice there’s no “Add Service Reference” item.
However in a new Console project the menu is different. The menu displays two items. “Reference” and “Add Service Reference”. Of course I went automatically to the second one and kept adding the CRM URL there. After connecting and finding the webservice, the reference was added. I did this a few times, but the CrmService error remained.
After wasting a couple of cycles searching the web, I resolved to start from scratch following the Sdk documentation step by step.
In the end, it was very, very simple. I was not adding a Web Reference. And judging from the result there is and important difference. The steps to add a Web Reference are slightly different, but only the first time in a project.
The “Add Web Reference” screen only shows up after clicking on “Advanced…” button in the first Add Service Reference screen and then “Add Web Reference…” in the Service Reference Settings screen.
A third option “Add Web reference” will appear from now on in that project.
In summary, the problem was that I had been adding a Service Reference where a Web Reference was needed.
Bill has checked in changes to Gallery and we are preparing a new public beta of the module. This beta includes security related changes, corrections to the Gallery menu styling, a new simpler theme and a few other minor changes.
Following the DNN move to Codeplex, this public beta will be made available for download from there. All other project resources will remain here at the DotnetNuke site. The release will be posted near the end of this month or beginning the next one and we expect that community members can provide feedback about specific fixes. If no showstoppers are found we will make the final version available shortly thereafter.
After struggling for quite a while and trying every suggestion in several blogs and forums I found that is was quite simple to solve a failed execution message. The interesting part is that everywhere you could see hints about identity. As you will see this is just part of the equation.
I had a small DNN project where I needed to import some source file into SQL. Since Both SQL and IIS are in the same box, identity shouldn’t matter that much as long as the account running the website (Pool Identity in IIS 7) has enough permissions. And THAT is the other side of the equation. After assigning NetworkService to the SQL BulkAdmin role, the package ran fine. I am still trying to find out if there’s a smaller set of perms that can be applied, since BulkAdmin is a server wide role.
After learning Silverlight 3 was going to be launched on July 10 I got ready to install it on my dev machine. I went to the official website and was greeted with a you-have-an-older-version message. (You can see screens of the process in my blog here
Right below that there was a System Requirements link and after following it I saw a chart that did not show support for IE8 in Windows 7 (I forgot to take a screenshot). I quickly twittered (@hooligannes) the info and got replies from two people who didn’t have any problems, so I decided to dive in. Here’s what happened.
The installer informed that it would prepare the download, get the runtime, clean the installation, uninstall the Silverlight 2 Tools, update Visual Studio, install the SDK and then install the tools.
Naively, I did this install with IE open. I was still on the Silverlight home page, after pressing on the Click To Install button again I was surprised at the failure message. It said that I already had the runtime. Of course, closing the browser and reopening it did the trick and I could see the site with full Silverlight magic.
News about the beta will start sprouting everywhere and I am lucky I already downloaded it. Sadly, I ran out of time and energy to install it. This beta is only available to MSDN subscribers at this time and is not feature complete. I am looking forward at the new TFS features, however the only place where I could find information about them is Brian Harry’s blog. With luck he’ll lead me through them all.
Find the original of this one, the first of a series of posts at my DotnetNuke Blog.
While reading the preface to the book “A New Kind of Science” (NKS), I was listening to REM’s song “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” How appropriate to coincide with the official launch of a project of the book’s author, Stephen Wolfram.
I cannot say that I was following this project from the beginning (back in 2000), but I know it is going to generate more news now that it was officially launched yesterday (may 15). This post is a short recap of information that can be found at the project’s website.
The project is called Wolfram/Alpha and it is a computational knowledge engine. With its operations headquarters in Illinois, its objective is to “make all systematic kinowldge immediately accessible and computable for everyone.”
At launch it had more than 10 trillion pieces of data, 50,000 types of algorithms and models and linguistic capability for thousands of domains.
The project is the result of Wolfram’s leadership. To reach this point, after almost 30 years, two previous developments had to take place. Mathematica and NKS.
Mathematica is, according to its own definition, “a computation and visualization system, development environment and deployment engine. Used throughout diverse technical fields, including engineering, science and financial analysis.” Together with NKS, the book that explained the paradigm that made it possible to imagine the very same possibility that Wolfram/Alpha could exist, they are the consequence of the singular vision of this 49 year old ant his Wolfram Research team.
Wolfram/Alpha website claims that the system has the capability to understand free-form input. Presented as both as a technology and a platform, we’ll soon be introduced to developer APIs.
It is indeed a fresh approach to science and knowledge in general. If you want to learn more you can visit its site at http://www.wolframalpha.com. A free online version of NKS can be found at http://www.wolframscience.com/nksonline/toc.html
I worked in broadcasting and journalism long before I got involved in technology and it is another passion of mine. While my love for DNN progressively increased, I would devour as much information as I could find. In the DNN 2.X days, most of the available information was at the asp.net forums where at first I was a lurker, then a question flooder and finally even became a moderator (I still am). I always wanted to get involved with DNN and my sources of information have been sprouting (and also dwindling) around. One of my favorites was Seablick’s DNN Friday, but it is lagging behind. The problem is that a set deadline for your publication will almost surely be missed when business endeavors that pay the bills get in the way.
Arguably, a huge number of community members are blogging about DNN and there’s no single comprehensive resource. Fortunately, that is bound to change and to start the path I am getting my DNN paws trained again to write read and write about DotNetNuke.
Microsoft’s Jason Zander revealed in his blog a few new shots that portray the new look for Visual Studio 2010.
We are treated to new looks every once in a while. What makes this one interesting is that it uses .NET Framework 4.0’s WPF underneath. It’s all new to me cause I did not download the 2010 beta version when it was about to expire in January and I found the workaround too messy.
You can see for yourself in screens posted to Zander’s blog. I like these two:
It’s not a complete redesign from the ground up so the interface looks familiar enough, probably preparing for a more drastic change after the WPF foundation is in place. I doubt that such a change will see the light in the next release, probably one after that. As far as the current cycle of VS 2010 development is concerned, when the new beta is out I’ll tell more about it.
This Wrox book by my DotNetNuke fellow colleague Mitchel Sellers is out and I got my copy yesterday. This 300-page book has 18 chapters and 5 appendixes that walk you through the process of creating a module. I was glad to see that Professional DotNetNuke Module Programming is not just about writing code with DNN. Mitchel’s approach includes the preparation steps like setting up your development environment, understanding the terms used in the DotNetNuke world and several implementation details. WSP or WAP? There are summaries of both and a comparison that will help programmers decide which model to use. Updated Starter Kit details. The last time some info had been documented was when Shaun Walker created a blog post when it was originally released. Mitchell missed a small detail about the Dynamic templates. They can be used without any issues in any Visual Studio version, not just Visual Web Developer. Database configuration. There are different approach to configuring the DB for DotNetNuke and Mitchel shows one of them. Perhaps next edition will see more alternative ones included. Until then, I hope Shawn Mehaffie documents the ones he’s been testing for several years now. But programmers can see from the information that it is one of the most simple steps. I like Mitchel’s take on looking at the basic components of a module. They are grouped in a single chapter instead of being introduced in a scattered way around the book. Localization is a first-class citizen in this book, not a side-thought. This shows the importance of one of DNN’s most important features. Module Navigation and Communication coverage was too short for me. I believe that more should be written about this, because it is one of the areas that module developers invariably find themselves at odds after surmounting the initial learning slope. In DNN, the modular development model does not mean completely isolated pieces. To the contrary. The components of web applications that programmers will write sooner or later are going to need to interact - sometimes heavily –, with each other. Sadly, there’s not enough information anywhere else either. AJAX and jQuery are briefly touched but it should be enough when put together with the wealth of information available about these two web 2.0 mainstays. The recommended Best Practices of Chapter 18 will be useful for both beginners and experienced asp.net programmers that are new to DNN. Based on DotNetNuke 4.9.0, this book is the best complement to the Module Developers Guide from the DotNetNuke website which is based on an earlier DNN 4 version. I know he was under pressure to complete this book and I think that Mitchel’s experience in teaching and writing makes this a great learning tool. The original author was behind schedule and was unable to finish it so it was handed to Mitchel who used a different Table of Contents and module example to write the book within a short time span. The framework has progressed so much that no one single book will have every bit of information about it and that’s exactly what makes this an important addition to your DotNetNuke library.
This Wrox book by my DotNetNuke fellow colleague Mitchel Sellers is out and I got my copy yesterday. This 300-page book has 18 chapters and 5 appendixes that walk you through the process of creating a module.
I was glad to see that Professional DotNetNuke Module Programming is not just about writing code with DNN. Mitchel’s approach includes the preparation steps like setting up your development environment, understanding the terms used in the DotNetNuke world and several implementation details.
WSP or WAP? There are summaries of both and a comparison that will help programmers decide which model to use.
Updated Starter Kit details. The last time some info had been documented was when Shaun Walker created a blog post when it was originally released. Mitchell missed a small detail about the Dynamic templates. They can be used without any issues in any Visual Studio version, not just Visual Web Developer.
Database configuration. There are different approach to configuring the DB for DotNetNuke and Mitchel shows one of them. Perhaps next edition will see more alternative ones included. Until then, I hope Shawn Mehaffie documents the ones he’s been testing for several years now. But programmers can see from the information that it is one of the most simple steps.
I like Mitchel’s take on looking at the basic components of a module. They are grouped in a single chapter instead of being introduced in a scattered way around the book.
Localization is a first-class citizen in this book, not a side-thought. This shows the importance of one of DNN’s most important features.
Module Navigation and Communication coverage was too short for me. I believe that more should be written about this, because it is one of the areas that module developers invariably find themselves at odds after surmounting the initial learning slope. In DNN, the modular development model does not mean completely isolated pieces. To the contrary. The components of web applications that programmers will write sooner or later are going to need to interact - sometimes heavily –, with each other. Sadly, there’s not enough information anywhere else either.
AJAX and jQuery are briefly touched but it should be enough when put together with the wealth of information available about these two web 2.0 mainstays.
The recommended Best Practices of Chapter 18 will be useful for both beginners and experienced asp.net programmers that are new to DNN.
Based on DotNetNuke 4.9.0, this book is the best complement to the Module Developers Guide from the DotNetNuke website which is based on an earlier DNN 4 version. I know he was under pressure to complete this book and I think that Mitchel’s experience in teaching and writing makes this a great learning tool. The original author was behind schedule and was unable to finish it so it was handed to Mitchel who used a different Table of Contents and module example to write the book within a short time span.
The framework has progressed so much that no one single book will have every bit of information about it and that’s exactly what makes this an important addition to your DotNetNuke library.
The title of this blog entry repeats without adornments the title of an article in FastCompany magazine that reports about the imminence of a technology that will absolutely revolutionize the mobile industry and will transcend into other areas. We will soon presence the era of truly wireless devices.
I had been using Vista on a Virtual PC to slowly become acquainted and I had refused to own a notebook, until I was sucked into reality when my wife asked me to take a week off or else... Long story short, I looked for and bought a laptop in less than an hour. I configured it with 4GB RAM an Vista Business 32-bit, since I wasn't prepared to spend more on a 64 bit machine for my first purchase.
After installing Office, it was time to set up my development environment for my DotNetNuke projects. VS 2008, SQL 2005 and Virtual PC 2007. After set up, I started to configure my DotNetNuke environment and experienced issues when trying to install DotNetNuke.
I had two specific issues:
This are just two issues I came across and so far I have been coding away without any issues in Vista and VS2008. I plan to start testing Windows 7 and VS2010 CTP in my first attempt to be an early adopter. Of course, I will post my findings here, stay tuned.
Have you found other issues with Vista and VS2008? Let me know.
I've managed to stay away from Betas for a long time, I could not afford to have downtime but with the entire buzz about Internet Explorer 8 and the recent availability of Windows 7, I decided to give it a go.
I created a new VM with 1GB RAM and a 20 GB Hard drive. The installation process was quite smooth, and I practically did not notice it while attending our DotNetNuke weekly team meeting. I did not even create a DVD; I just captured the downloaded ISO and began installation.
Although in the VM I have to do away with the Aero GUI, I must say that turning Full Screen Mode on and working as if I were directly in the Laptop base OS was just fine.
Some of the features are even more intuitively placed, including the direct access to change the screen resolution. The additional feature that allows automatic rotation of background is nice as well. During the day Windows Explorer did not cause any of the problems I currently have in Vista, like the restarts I have to endure. Finally I found the copying feature more stable and reliable. I copied several hundreds of MB from another machine, going through the Host OS with an apparent increase in speed. The laptop has 4GB of RAM and the VM did better with only 1GB.
On the network side, with the exception of finding out that clicking the "Connect to a Network" links in the Start Menu or the Network And Sharing Center, both open the popup that takes you the Network And Sharing Center (!?)-, I had no problems joining my domain.
After installing the Firewall client, I went to see some of my favorite sites to experience firsthand how the new standards compliance could affect their appearance. None of the sites I visited had any issues. I took more time to visit some DotNetNuke based sites, of course including some I've done for my customers. I am amazed that none of them presented any problems.
One of my best experiences so far was with the Silverlight extension install. I was completely surprised that after downloading and installing it, I did not have to restart IE. Even though the installer finished mentioning that I might need a refresh, Silverlight content was immediately available in some of the browser windows I already had open.
I liked the docking of windows and the automatic behavior that hides or shows other windows when you shake the active one.
Although I was limited because I was running Windows 7 inside of the VM, for a day's worth of playing with Windows 7, I had a pleasant experience. I can see now why there are rumors that a second Beta may not happen and that a RC could be the next version that Microsoft releases.
A product that will complement the current effort to support unit testing in DotNetNuke, is Typemock Isolator. They have an ongoing campaing to start some kind of viral marketing and they are giving their product for free to those who post about it in specialized blogs. So, full disclosure, I want to get the free license and start using the product to test my DotNetNuke modules.