thanks to Sara Ford

I would like to say thanks to Sara Ford, I have just found her blog (thanks to Alex from devevening.co.uk for telling me about it).

Sara is a microsoft employee who knows way more about the visual studio IDE than most of us developers.....well probably all of us. Her blog has some great tips and tricks about getting the IDE to work for you, some are obvious (I only foun out about the forward/back navigation within documents last week....) others are hidden but all are good to know.

thanks again,
craig

Search Engine Presentation: Devevening.co.uk - .net User Group

If anyone is after the slides from my recent 'Search Engines?' presentation for Devevening.co.uk they are available from the devevening archive .

Thanks to everyone who attended.

cheers,
craig

OCRE vs a new project

The new OCRE platform has been placed on hold as I have been asked to build a social networking/educational/cool web platform for a web startup, I cant mention anything just yet as until its launched its all very hush hush.
Needless to say its a very cool idea and although its a simple UI, the job of coding is a big one.

More details will be addedas soon as I can.

cheers,craig

New metallica album

I dont normally post about new albums and advise people to buy them, but as a metallica fan since high school, well what else could I do.

Death Magnetic is out on the 12th September 2008, you can pre-order the Standard Edition or the Box Magnetic Death In A Coffin Edition from amazon now.

This is going to be the biggest album release so far this year (well at least until ACDC release their one in October!

Surrey .Net user group

I found a link to a local user group and thought I would have a look.

I ended up going the other night to the Devevening group's 2nd meeting and was dropped straight into LINQ and SQL business intelligence presentations (slides and code).
The night was really good, there were around a dozen or so developers, some freelance, some 9-5ers, a really good mix of age and skill levels too.

If anyone is interested in coming along (details for evenings) drop me a mail or contact Alex mackey via his blog or you can register directly.
There are also social gatherings at a local pub on alternate months too!

cheers,craig

dynamic CSS - its a start

Thanks to Christophe @ (http://cfouquet.blogspot.com/2006/06/making-dynamic-css-content-with-aspnet.html) for making my afternoon a little more productive. His blog post about injecting variables into CSS is simplicity at its best.

I had to add one addition to the sample to get it to work on the CSS page (css.aspx) I changed :

<%@ Page Language="VB" %>

to

<%@ Page Language="VB" ContentType="text/css" %>

the full source code for my VB version is here:

--> css.aspx
<%@ Page Language="VB" ContentType="text/css" %>
* { padding:0; margin:0;}
body { font-size:62.5%; background-color:rgb(255,255,255); font-family:verdana,arial,sans-serif;}
h1{ color:red;}
H1 { background-color:<%= ColourManager.Color %> ; }


--> default.aspx
<%@ Page Language="VB" AutoEventWireup="false" CodeFile="Default.aspx.vb" Inherits="dynamicCSS_Default" %>


< script runat="server">
Protected Sub Bt1_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
ColourManager.Color = IIf((ColourManager.Color = "red"), "blue", "red")
End Sub

< html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
< head runat="server">
< title>Untitled Page
< link href="css.aspx" type="text/css" rel="Stylesheet">
< /head>
< body>
< form id="form1" runat="server">
< div id="header">
header
< /div>
< h1 class="tit">hello world
< asp:button runat="server" id="Bt1" onclick="Bt1_Click" text="Change Color">
< asp:hyperlink text="See CSS" runat="server" id="ToCSS" navigateurl="css.aspx">
< /form>
< /body>
< /html>


-->colourchanger (in app_code folder)

Imports Microsoft.VisualBasic


Public Class ColourManager
Public Shared Property Color() As String
Get
If HttpContext.Current.Session("H1COLOR") = Nothing Then
Return "red"
End If
Return DirectCast(HttpContext.Current.Session("H1COLOR"), String)
End Get
Set(ByVal value As String)
HttpContext.Current.Session("H1COLOR") = value
End Set
End Property
End Class

I have never been a fan but now - Identity 'at risk' on Facebook

ANyone who has asked me about facebook has probably heard me say at some stage or other that I am not a big fan of Facebook/myspace etc, I dont know but I like to 'meet' people, not get poked by them and throwing sheep at a mate?

Anyway, it seems the BBC have found a hole in the facebook security, this article is well worth reading if you are a big facebooker (is that a word) as you will be the type of person who adds application to your page without thinking about your personal information....

Advice: only put up the information you wouldn't mind a complete stranger knowing about you.

* Identity 'at risk' on Facebook **
Personal details of Facebook users could potentially be stolen by malicious hackers, BBC's Click discovers.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/programmes/click_online/7375772.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all in one daily e-mail <>

Many changes afoot

Its been awhile since I sat down to write about whats going on at chillfire, well in short 'heaps' of work has taken place.

Ocre 3.1 development has slowed (see below) a little as we have launched 7 new sites using ocre 2.1 (see the top of the portfolio list on the left. They are a mixture of new builds, skinned static sites which now have a CMS and 2 are sites that have been moved from a php opensource CMS to the ocre cms platform.

Its been a long few months, but the all new ocre-cart will be going live shortly on www.nelsonshomeopathy.com its fully integrated with HSBC's e-payment gateway and it looks like there will be approx 1500+ products being uploaded into the cart in the near future.

Ocre-cart will be ported to ProTx for the new ski-link site which is on the drawing board for development, we are looking at releasing this for Gavin and the team during the summer ready for the 08-09 ski season.

The flagship project at visalogic running Ocre 3.0, we recently added support for google web optimiser so they can test adsense campaigns/content etc.
I think the whole marketing management system will be split from out as a standalone system as its extremely powerful and is slowing eclipsing the CMS itself as a strong contender for a fully blown product of its own.

If you are interested in any of the products of have feedback/ideas on any of the chillfire suite please feel free to contact us via chillfire.co.uk.

cheers,
the chillfire team

microsoft.co.uk - live to code?

I check the microsoft site regularily, but this morning i went to http://microsoft.co.uk and something big had changed....


This may be a DNS problem, but the live to code thing is part of channel9/Josh holmes' world.
Its an interesting move by microsoft, or maybe bill is playing a joke on them as he leaves?

any ideas?

New christmas mobo issue

Merry Christmas everyone,

 

There is nothing like treating yourself to a new motherboard for Christmas…. Remember it’s always worth checking the legacy hardware you have to make sure its compatible, even when the manufacturer says yes it is… things can still go wrong. As Steve found out;

 

Message: After I upgraded my mo/bo to asus extreme striker all the h/w seems to be good, but I can't repair windows xp or even get a new installation of it to talk to the modem. Given that this has put me offline maybe calling me would be a good idea...

 

-          I recommended changing the RAM out one by one, as I have had dodgy RAM do all sorts of weird and wonderful things…

 

Thanks for your reply - I stayed up all night last night and fixed it... It was bad hardware but it was the sound card from my old system that was the problem. When repairing windows xp it would try to find drivers for it but then hang so I couldn't tell it to skip it. I ripped the old card out and put the new one from asus in. The old mobo was foxconn with a creative soundblaster sound card. the new mobo is asus extreme striker and a new q6600 processor. Then windows repaired itself - I got all my old stuff back and was able to go on the net as before. Your ram point is also good - an early prob was a bad mixture of ram so I pulled all but the newest stick. It ran like shit but at least it ran. 2Gig of OCZ fixed that. I learned a helluva lot last night... Steve.

 

 

Old hardware can always be a pain, if you are upgrading a large piece of hardware (or even to a new OS) its always a good idea to start with a barebones machine and add the bits and bobs after you get it to boot. It will take longer this way but it will narrow down the bugs as they happen…

 

Happy computing..

 

//craig

Mitel Your Assistant Error on XP SP2

This is the error

System.ArgumentException: Delegate to an instance method cannot have null 'this'.
at System.MulticastDelegate.ThrowNullThisInDelegateToInstance()
at NewHeights.YA3.MainWindowController.OnBootProgress(ProgressEventArgs args)
at NewHeights.BootStrapper.BootManager.ProgressEventHandler.Invoke(ProgressEventArgs args)
at NewHeights.BootStrapper.BootManager.OnProgress(ProgressEventArgs args)
at NewHeights.BootStrapper.BootManager.Shutdown(ArrayList bootables, BootableType bootableType)
at NewHeights.BootStrapper.BootManager.ShutdownImpl()
at NewHeights.BootStrapper.BootManager.Boot()
at NewHeights.YA3.MainClass.Start(BootManager bootman)

My PC is XP SP2, after a Restore to factory settings I installed Mitel Your Assistant, it wouldn't even load up.

Simple fix, install .net Framework 1.1!

Why this is needed as the product states .net 1.1 and later, it should say you can runany version of the .net framework, as long as you install 1.1 as well.

Google Earth easter egg

If you have google earth (version 4.2) and have a few minutes to spare.

danger this could be addictive.

open google earth, hold down CTRL + Windows + A

then goto here for more instructions, its very cool, great idea, microsoft did this once in Excel from memory!

aquent financial scam!!

I just recieved this sms text message:

You have recieved J30 from a friend! To collect them go to AqueuntFinance.com/login, temporary username: a571tnk password: gh2x3
best regards, Aquent Financial


The site is very new although it says copyright 2002 on the bottom, and apparently I had £30 in my account, lucky me!

ALl I had to do was leave my personal details and login in to my bank account via their Flash player widget....so easy......

The best bit is this - http://aquentfinance.com/fastcash/test-esl.swf just before they take your login details....

I smelt a rat so did a few google searches, and came up with aquent UK (http://www.aquent.co.uk/Contact/Locations/Europe/london.html) . They offer services to freelance/IT professionals. So the scammers are being dumb and targeting geeks...

I called Aquent UK and they said it was a fraudulent sms and to ignore it, there is an Aquent Finance in th eUSA but it is not the company running the aquentfinancial.co.uk site.

Aquent UK are investigating the scam, so drop them a lime if you get the sms.

Scamming is now coming to a mobile phone near you.

update: 13:51 BST - WHOIS details for anyone looking to find these guys

Domain Name: aquentfinance.com

Status: ok

Registrar: MELBOURNE IT, LTD. D/B/A INTERNET NAMES WORLDWIDE
Whois Server: whois.melbourneit.com
Referral URL: http://www.melbourneit.com

Expiration Date: 2008-10-04
Creation Date: 2007-10-04
Last Update Date: 2007-10-04

Name Servers:
ns1.aquentfinance.com
ns2.aquentfinance.com

IP Address: 72.232.255.59
Website Status: active
Server Type: Apache 3
Cache Date: 2007-10-05 12:49:05 MST

After being asked everyday 'how to find a good immigration company/consultant?'

I have put together a PDF of a few things to look out for, a checklist if you want to call it that.

How to find a good immigration consultant (pdf download)

its free, there is no advertising, and best of all it will hopefully stop you from being ripped off by dodgy visa companies.

we aren't OISC registered, but then we dont give visa advice make sure they are!!

good luck with the visa!

Workpermit Advice Gateway team

touch local Woking / Guildford, keeping it local

If you live in Woking/Guildford have a look at what we can do for you


http://www.touchguildford.com/business/list/bid/5614098

Honest IT support

Well the need ageek service has started, my aim is simple, to make your IT lives easy.

I get calls from friends and customers everyday asking for help doing what I would call the simple IT stuff, but I do this day in and day out, know most of the shortcuts and generally know how it works inside.

So need a geek was setup to break the barriers of IT mysticism, I dont use techie talk with customers, everything is in plain english. ANd we educate you to make it easier next time.

We deal with all of LOndon and most of surrey, offering IT support, training, Home worker support, networking advice, wireless networking security/setup, home cinema help, virus removal, broadband setup etc etc etc, basically if it plugs in and has buttons on the front we can deal with it.

So dont be afraid, book your date with a geek (we promise they wont turn up with tape holding the middle of their specs toghether) at www.chillfire.co.uk/geek

following on from Outlook via HTTPS://

I missed something off the earlier posts regarding setting up Outlook to connect to your exchange server via https;

When you try and connect (after it asks for your login details) this message appears in a pop up;

There is a problem with the proxy servers security certificate.
The security certificate is not from a trusted certifying authority.

Outlook is unavailable to connect to the proxy server
mail.xxxxxxxxx.net (error code 8)


I forgot to add the certificate that the mail server creates to the trusted certifcates on my laptop. There is probably a fix so this is not a required step, but for me it makes sense as I dont want 'public' access anyway, I can control which PC/laptop/user has access this way.

so to fix: (thanks to some info here: http://www.thebitguru.com/articles/13-Importing+a+Trusted+Root+Certification+Authority+in+Windows+Vista/188-Installing+the+Certificate )

save rar file attachment, extract content (1 file) to c:\


hold windows key and hit the 'R' key
type certmgr.msc
right click on 'Trusted Root Certification Authority' - click 'All Tasks' then 'import'
Click next
click browse - find the .crt file from the mail server
click next
click next
click finish
then ok if it asks you if you are sure you want to do this.

bingo!

Securing IIS with Https

Really easy step by step for securing IIS 6.0 with Https://

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/324069

Pounds SHillings and Sense

A New OCRE site launched - Pounds Shillings and Sense for Cascade Resources Ltd.
This site will form the basis of our new "Small Business Site", please email us at ocresmb@chillfire.co.uk for more information regarding pricing.

Lead time at the moment is approximately 3days/

No access to hotmail from outlook

After 3 days of hotmail and outlook not talking I deceided to find out why and found this

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=7aad7e6a-931e-438a-950c-5e9ea66322d4&displaylang=en

Micrsoft have released their office connector plugin for Outllook 2007/2003. I ahve been using the beta version for quite a while now and it looks like it just stops working without telling you it has.

After downloading th plugin install it, follow all the prompts, then restart outlook.
Got to tools -> options -> mail setup -> email accounts

(your hotmail may have been removed but you have to add it again)

Clcik new, then select the tick box for 'Microsoft Office Connector', on the next screen fill in your hotmail details.

Done.