Okay, so its not as dramatic as if Clippy was returning, but if you've been doing any VS2005 work recently, who am I kidding...who isn't now that its released, and you've been trying to figure out how to create your own code snippets (and if you've not heard of them, have you been living under a rock?), enter "Snippy". A powertoy released that's actually a standalone app that allows you to create your own code snippets. Simply enter the title, shortcut, the code & the literals/objects - save it to “~\My Documents\Visual Studio 2005\Code Snippets\LANGUAGE\My Code Snippets” and you’re good to go. Just open up VS2005 after that and type in your shortcut to see your code snippet appear before your eyes. Cool.

So the last couple weeks, I’ve gotten the chance to play around with the Atlas bits and during that time, I’ve come across a few“gotchas” that aren’t documented anywhere that I’m sure people would love to know about…

• You can attach into Page Methods just like Web Service Methods in the declarative syntax by using pageMethod instead of serviceMethod. When doing this, there is no need for defining the URL.
• When binding properties from pageMethod’s or serviceMethod’s in the declarative syntax, you should set the dataPath to “response.object”. I’ve been told that this will be changed in the future, to make it easier to get the data.
• If you’re using Page Methods, you should be aware that the current state of the form (including ViewState) is posted to the server. Not only that, but the entire life cycle, minus Render, is taken place (Page.IsPostback == true). While it makes it easy to get form data, it can be inefficient if your form has a lot of data. To circumvent this, you can register page as being a Web Service which will, in turn, have no context
  
  Page_Load:
  Microsoft.Web.Services.WebServiceManager.RegisterWebService(GetType(), this);
  
  Javascript:
  Namespace.PageName.MethodName(OnWebRequestComplete);
• If you want to do anything relating with page or service methods, you currently have to write the declarative XML-Script yourself. There’s currently not an Atlas control that interacts with page or service methods.

With that in mind, here’s some resources that I’ve found invaluable while working with Atlas…

• Nikhil Kothari - Blog | PDC Slides and Demos | Architecture Overview
• Wilco Bauwer – Atlas Class Browser | Bindings | Page Loading
• Atlas Quickstart Tutorials

So, make sure you download the latest bits (uninstalling any older versions first – which actually means just deleting the ZIP files contained in “~\My Documents\Visual Studio 2005\Templates\ProjectTemplates\Visual Web Developer\[CSharp,VisualBasic]”) and giving the latest CTP a whirl. Here’s some notes on the latest drop if you’re interested in the change list.

Over the last 7 months, I’ve been locked away for countless hours working on the v.Next wave of products for Microsoft’s partners. I’m happy ecstatic to announce that we’re finally shipping v.Next of Microsoft’s Partner Program portal, rather the Partner Membership Center. While I can’t talk specifics about the release just yet, I will let you in on some new teasers to wet your noggin’ with…

• A brand new, streamlined way of managing your organization, competencies, individuals, references and products which enriches the Partner user experience.
• A brand new way and vast improvement of competency enrollment.
• A brand new “point engine” that calculates a partner’s points on-the-fly giving the most accurate and up-to-date information to the Partner.
• A simplified and easier way of enrolling and re-enrolling within the Partner Program.

So there you have it. A great user experience is coming your way. So, when it goes live, I urge you to log onto https://partners.microsoft.com, enroll, and start your partnership with Microsoft. In the mean time, check out the Microsoft Partner Program Enhancements page for more information.

So I too ran the cool little tool that calculates your blogs worth, but didn’t feel like spamming my worth. Much to my amazement, I made Roy’s Top 31 list! Really, I think he was just being nice, and it should have been top 30, but – I made it. (Link to original worth listing by Jon)

So, you’ve just installed VS2005 and have been trying to figure out how to deploy your ASP.NET project, and its nothing like VS2003. Yup, your experience is expected, and the ASP.NET team (or just a few of them) have been working on a VS2005 plugin project that brings VS2005 web deployments back to the VS2003 roots. Check out Scott’s lengthy post on this new plugin project which will be available later this week.

<obligatory marketing ploy>Lastly - you can still use Unleash It with VS2005 & the new project.</obligatory marketing ploy>

Just blogged over here, and just released moments ago, check out Atlas now!

Today I've seen something I've never seen before that raises the bar on geekness... XML for signatures. One was XAML and another was a VS.NET Styled XML signature. Heh, crazy - okay back to work.

Following up from my last post, the end is no longer in sight. I’ve gotten approval (quickly I might add) from the ASP.NET Product Group concerning my continued development and distribution of my controls. So, once again I’m in the holding pattern of getting my moonlighting request approved on both ends. Hopefully this time, things will go a lot quicker.

As an aside, my site will remain as-is until I get final approval. It has been such a pleasure seeing the support that the community can bring in. So, just a few weeks more

Wow, it’s been awhile since I last blogged…I guess my new job has seriously been keeping me that busy. It’s unfortunate that I have to announce such a depressing moment after such a long absence…

If you’ve been to my website recently, you will already know this…but for the rest of you, tune in. I have a saddening problem that has really struck me home. The legal department at Microsoft has denied my outside employment for Excentrics World. This includes, continuing development of my custom server controls, stoppage of selling my custom server controls source code, and lastly (the heart-hitter) the inability to distribute my free compiled assemblies.

This sucks, it seriously does…as for the two and a half years, Excentrics World has provided the community with valuable tools, and this grand vision is fading quickly. The only light at the end of the tunnel that I can see, is that the ASP.NET Product group has to give the big thumbs up for my controls before I can even discuss things with the legal department again. Yes, this means getting in contact with the ASP.NET product group about things, which I hope will be a simplistic task – and possible savior.

However, I wish to get as much community support rallied behind Excentric’s World cause, so please head on over and Support the Controls. As my website says, please follow these three things in the meantime…

1. Abide by my legal bounds by not distributing the controls yourself
2. Be patient
3. And lastly, Support the Controls

Thank you to the entire ASP.NET Community, it’s been a pleasure serving you.

Boy is that a good question, and I’m sure my fiance would like to know as well. Wow, its been over a month now at my new position within Microsoft, and I’m happy to announce that I’ve been apart of releasing my first build here! It’s been a stressful/exhausing past week and a half as we prepped our stuff for my team’s first build. I spent about 75 hours working 2 weeks ago, as well as about 70 hours this week. Yeah, I’m glad I have a weekend now…as I worked for about 15 days straight.

So, what am I working on? Well, its the next version of the Microsoft Partner Program website, and no, I can’t give specifics – but our partners will be VERY happy when this puppy releases later this year. It was a treat to be brought on right before development started, because it gave me some time to get used to the culture, as well as how their SDLC process actually works (BTW – I’m actually going to training on this process on Monday, as its basically so new, that we’re the only division/project that has used it so far).

I’m really enjoying my job out here, as it is constantly challenging me, and making me realize that I can be up to my full potential. It is such a treat to work with some of the best in the industry, and know that my, now, peers can look to me for advice and ideas. To better help you understand, I was primarily brought on for my custom control development expertise, and have recently been working on several controls as well as the application in entirety. It is truly amazing how many people come to get advice about how things should be done correctly, and I’m glad I can be there to answer their questions.

So off I go to enjoy my weekend, as our next “heavy” build is due in several weeks. It’s best that I enjoy this time & spend as much time as possible with the fiance prior to that, because it sure is a hard life. So, until next time…