BlogJet has released 1.0.0.15 Beta. Download it from here.

BlogJet 1.0.0.15 Beta Release Notes
March 13, 2004

FEATURES
* FeedDemon's "Blog this" support.
* Gutter for code editor.
* Enabled FTP settings for dasBlog.

BUG FIXES
* Fixed bugs with custom images paths.
* Normal/Code tabs blinking eliminated.
* Unable to remove links fixed.
* Fixed bug with voice upload.
* Fixed shortcuts in code editor.
* Other bug fixes.

DevDays was definately worth the wait.  I had a wonderful time learning about security in web applications as well as a brief intro into SmartClients. 

Now for the wrapup...

The opening keynote was geared more towards marketing.  It was such a pleasure to see the different applications that are new and revolutionary - which included VS.NET 2003, InfoPath, BizTalk 2004, and WhiteHorse.  Well, as you can probably tell theres a bit of sarchasim in that statement, but seeing the integration of InfoPath and BizTalk 2004 was pretty cool.  I felt that the speaker (Todd Kimble) hit a lot of "duh" points with VS.NET - this is DevDays for pete's sake, not a marketing blitz - we know what VS.NET is and how to use it!

I then attended the first SmartClient session, where Jon Rauschenberger dissed all web developers - in pure humor of course, so I'm not offended.  This was a great session for me, mainly because I didn't exactly know what SmartClients were, so having it explained to me was a great plus.  I didn't have enough interest, however, to stick around for the other 3 sessions - I was more interested in the ASP.NET Security going on in the other room.

The next session was led by Todd Kimble again, who did a MUCH better job than the opening key note.  It was, obviously, more technically oriented, and basically scared the crap out of everyone in the audience.  He all of us how SQL Injection attacks, Cross Site Scripting (XSS), and input tampering can cause major security risks for all web applications.  This session actually was the highlight of the day for me, as it opened my eyes to what can actually happen, and what data hackers can obtain...very scary stuff.

The third session was led by Jacob Cynamon.  I felt that this session wasn't a bad session, however, it wasn't as breath taking as the last one, so it was hard for me to actually concentrate.  The content Jacob showed was very valuable, though I think I may have to review it at a later date to get the full effect.

The last session was led by Nick Lewis, which basically showed Microsofts OpenHack.  As he stated in his first few minutes, it was kind of a wrapup of the last few sessions - and it was.  The content was great, Nick showed us a TON of code and how to do things, but like the 3rd session - I'm just going to have to delve into the OpenHack source code to get the full effect.

The closing keynote was great! Jon Raushenberger demo'd Whidbey, and this was the first time I actually go to see it in action.  Jeff Key and I were just sitting there picking apart the bugs as they popped up, which was fun.  There were some irks that I noted during this presentation that I didn't like about Whidbey, but I really need to get in and start playing with it before I express my views openly.  That, and it could just be a limitation of the pre-beta release bits too.

So, overall DevDays was great.  It was awesome to meetup with Jeff Key (we actually hung out the entire day), Adam Kinney, Erik Porter, my coworker Brian Bussing, and Ryan Rinaldi. It was a great time at the brewery to just sit back, geek it out, and talk .NET/Longhorn/work and much much more.

Update: Thanks to Ryan, his name is now in the listing!  I tried finding your website, but I was using .com instead of .net

I know Jeff and Adam threw out their plea (is it really a plea?) for attendees of the DevDays, Chicago event next Wednesday, but I really haven't heard back from either of them about a possible meetup before/during/after DevDays.  So, if you're going to DevDays, Chicago on March 10th, shoot me an email.  I'd like to meet anyone and everyone there!

Heres another little thing that VS.NET does that irks me.  Whenever I'm copying and pasting HTML code in the code editor, VS.NET seems to think that if I don't have a ID or Name attribute, that it should add one.  I wish the IDE could be a bit smarter to think that if I didn't have it before, I wouldn't want one now.  Also...why does the IDE think that I want a Name attribute anyways.  How often do you use that attribute...NONE!  Well, at least for me...I know it has its purposes, but I'm just complaining because the IDE isn't that smart.

So - Whidbey team... can this be done?  I don't know how many times I've had to clean up my code after pasting...it shouldn't have to take me this long.

<rant>
I'd like to proclaim that I HATE the charting capabilities in SQL Reporting Services.  I spent about an hour trying to figure out how to do a basic scatter graph with a very small set of data.  Well, after trying about 50 gazillion ways, I cannot get the graph to work.  Just to make sure I wasn't crazy, and actually knew the data I had could be graphed...I copied the  data into an Excel spreadsheet.  After that I inserted a chart, and 2 minutes later I had a scatter graph the way I wanted it.

Why is it so freaking hard in Reporting Services? Why can't they have an easy to use tool like Excel?  Why did I spend so much time to get a chart that didn't work?  I just don't understand it.  I hate it! ARRH!
</rant>

Okay, now that I'm done ranting & raving, does anyone know how to properly chart things using SQL Reporting Services?

Well I finally started to take the first crack at Reporting Services at work.  I'm going to be using it to generate some custom reports that they want, however I've only heard things about Reporting Services and how cool it is.  Well, after downloading, spending 1/2 a day setting up a server, and starting to play around with some basic reports..I'd definately have to say its a pretty cool product.  It is going to make reporting so much easier.  If you haven't checked this product out, I would definately say download the trial version, you'll be very happy.  Also, I'd like to mention that the development team did a SUPERB job on the IDE with integrating it into VS.NET.  Very slick and easy to use.  Now, how do I do those hard reports...

I was asked to provide my scripts that allow me to check for the .NET framework using NSIS.  I'll do one step better, I'll post my custom macros (downloadable of course) that will allow you to plug them right into your NSIS scripts and run required tasks.  Below is a brief introduction to each of the macros, this is so you'll know how to use them mainly:

• eWorld_DetectNetFramework_10: This macro, as the name states, detects the .NET framework v1.0...but due to backwards compatability, it first checks for at least v1.1 of the .NET framework.  If either of the 2 frameworks are not found, the user is prompted and the installation quits.  This macro should be run in the .onInit function of your script, and only when you're installing assemblies compiled under the 1.0 framework.
• eWorld_DetectNetFramework_11: Like its brother macro above, this will only detect for the v1.1 framework.  If the 1.1 framework is not found, the user is prompted, and the installation quits.  This macro should be run in the .onInit function of your script, and only when you're installing assemblies compiled under the 1.1 framework.
• eWorld_DetectPreviousVersion: This will detect a previous version that is installed based on the registry key HKLM \ Software \ {APPLICATION NAME}.  It will also detect if a MSI is installed with a particular application name.  This macro takes 2 parameters, APPNAME and MSIAPPNAME.  If you pass in an empty string for MSIAPPNAME, it will not check for MSI applications.  If this macro detects a previous installation, it will prompt the user to uninstall it.  At this point, it will write a temporary file to note that it is currently uninstalling...then it will launch the uninstaller of the previous version.  This should be used in conjunction with eWorld_LaunchInstaller.  This macro should be run in the .onInit function of your script.
• eWorld_LaunchInstaller: This will remove the temporary uninstall file created by eWorld_DetectPreviousVersion, and will launch the installer.  This macro should be called as the last step in your Uninstall function.

There are a few other macros in this script file, however they're called from the macros listed above, and should not be used in any other manner.

Download the Macros!

My search has finally ended!  I've been looking to either find a Central Illinois .NET User Group, or start one up myself for about a year.  Well, today..by slight chance..the new DevDays portal pointed me to a Central Illinois User Group located no more than 20 miles away from me.  Luckily they're having their 3rd meeting tonight from 6-8:30 PM, so I'm gonna head on out to check it out...free giveaways tonight as well!  So, if you're in the Central Illinois area, and are looking to go, let me know, maybe we could coordinate a meetup tonight.

I've been studying my server logs for usage and just general information this morning, and I have to say that I'm just stunned of the amount of outdated software that is still in use.  As you can tell from the subject, I noticed, in the month of January, that there were 46 visits by people using Windows 3.11.  Why in the world would anyone still be using this, let alone a developer.  What's even more suprising, is that it beat out Linux by 20 visits.

Another thing to note, is the use of outdated browsers.  While the top still stands at IE 6, IE 4 comes in a whopping second place, then Netscape 4, then IE 5.0, then 5.5x.  Why? I just don't understand it.  Although the real older browsers didn't make the top 5, it is interesting to note that Netscape 3 and 2 were in use during last month, maybe by those 46 users using Windows 3.11.  How do these people expect to get the best internet usage or experience using this software, it just baffles me.

Have you run across anyone still using outdated (and unsupported) operating systems or browsers recently?

It seems that Mike Rowe has decided to put 1 copy of the “WIPO book and 25-page letter” he received from Microsoft during their talks and settlement up for sale on eBay.  Mike had to start weeding out the real from fake bids, that exceeded over $200,000 earlier today.  He started by knocking of those who have 0 feedback, then went to pre-approval bidding only to serious bidders.

So far, he has 3 days left, and no one has gotten a real bid through.  It'll be interesting to see if he actually sells this to someone.  Here's the CNet story.