I've decided to abandon VS.NET's MSI package and venture out and try to use NSIS. After a bit of researching, trying different things, and searching the archives for examples, I've finally got my first install script for my custom controls. I'm starting to like NSIS, and the executable it builds for installation runs, installs, and uninstalls so much faster than the MSI that is produced from the Setup Projects. I'm still learning how to do some stuff, but if you've had some experience with installing .NET assemblies & using NSIS, drop me a line, I should would appreciate some help.

LEGO has released a press release stating that they will not be dropping the MINDSTORMS product line and that it was a misunderstanding about future product policies. Good, would have hated to see this product go away!

I decided to spend a little money to ensure that my controls source code is thuroughly safe on my home server. The other week I purchased a APC BR800 and it came in today. I tell ya what, this isn't a huge monster, but it does weigh a substantial amount. I hooked it up at work just to try it out, and with no problems at all, well except for getting the battery back in after you connect it, I had it up and running and connected to my laptop & monitor.

Without a monitor, it could support my laptop for about 80-90 minutes, but as soon as you hook that monitor up, it drops big time...down to 39 minutes...I never knew a monitor could draw so much energy. Good thing I let my monitors go to sleep after 10-20 min...saving a ton on electricity.

Anyways, I decided to give it a power outage to see what happens. Well, it started beeping and whala!, it kicked in and supplied power...nice. Now, I just hope things go just as smoothly when I hook it up to my server tonight. So, if you're looking for a good, semi inexpensive UPS system for you home, check out UniStorage as I got this one for $140 shipped, cheapest on the internet.

I did my monthly check on CodeLib to find out that my version (5.7) was highly outdated and 6.2 was just released on 1/12. Its a good thing too, because I went from 5.6 to 5.7 and there were a TON of bugs, so I'm happy to see that they were all fixed. Ohh, and user administration is now fully functional.

What I would like to see for this product, and it may be too much work, would be a Server/Client just like Vault, so I could install a database on my remote server and have web service access without opening up SQL Server across my router. How about it?

Over the past few weeks, I found it very difficult for me to keep track of all the bugs or enhancements that I wish to put in place for my next release.  So, I set out to find a (free) task list program that would suit my needs.  Well after a small Google search, I came across a Microsoft side project named TaskVision.  This server/client based program was fairly simple to setup and start using.  There are some weird quirks that I don't like, like not being able to remove projects or users as well as not having separate categories within projects.  Another thing that bugged me, was that after the installation of the client, you had to manually modify the App.config file to point to your personal server.  To me, this is a pain, and should have a configuration within the application to allow this.

The good thing about TaskVision, is that it is open source...so I guess if I wished to take the source and modify it to my needs, I could...though I think I should spend my time working on my next release.  Either way, its a good starter utility that uses Web Services to handle everything.  Other cool features are the ability to go “Offline” if need be...which is something else I wanted since I develop on my laptop with no internet connection sometimes.

So, if you're looking for a good free task list program, I suggest using TaskVision.

For those of you who do not live in Illinois, this may be of no concern to you, but I do have a crazy assumption of why our Gov. pushed the “Left Lane Law” through, so please read on.  Those who don't know the law that was put into effect on January 1, 2004, it states that for any four or more lane highway, motor vehicles cannot drive in the left lane unless overtaking another vehicle.

To me, this is just crazy...why do we need a law for this type of thing...well I've come up with a few assumptions of why:

1. People are stupid, and some people like to drive the speed limit in the left lane, thus inhibiting other people to pass them on the left and make us pass them on the right.
2. It allows police officers to more easily determine the “speeders” out on the road (like me).
3. We just needed another stupid law to put some extra money in the senator's pockets.

Driving back to my parents house tonight numbers 1 & 2 were just plain obvious, as I had to pass several cars on the right hand side and slow down several times as my Valentine One started blaring in my ear.  Either way, I think this law is just plain stupid. What are your thoughts?

Hello to everyone!  My name is Matt Hawley and I'm the sole developer at Excentrics World producing those wonderful controls we all love.  I wanted to take a second and thank Scott for giving me some blogspace over here and give you a brief history of me. 

I've been working with .NET since late Beta 2, and have loved every minute of it.  Just recently I passed my last test to obtain MCAD for Microsoft .NET, and it only took me 8 months to do it -- I just couldn't get myself to pull through the Windows Test.  Over the last year I've found my prime passion, building Custom Server Controls.  It all started with CalendarPopup, and I just started finding more useful controls that everyone has a passion to use, but no time to ever build. 

Hopefully my stay here at Weblogs @ ASP.NET will produce more popularity for my controls and future endeavors and help me build a more robust set of controls.  So, if you haven't been by to check out my controls, do so now, and enjoy the cost - FREE!