I heard some people expressing the interest to increase the width of Community Server skins. I use the paperclip skin, so I wanted to modify that. Searched a bit and came across this post from Dennis van der Stelt. He explains in detail how to change it, and also have a .png file that you can download and use to modify the header. I couldn't change the header yet, so didn't apply the changes, but here is the css override that you need to apply:

#nav 

{ 

  width: 1092px; 

}

#main 

{

  width: 834px;

}

#content

{

  width: 1092px;

}

#masthead 

{

  background-image: url(/Themes/Blogs/paperclip/images/myimage.jpg);

  width: 1104px;

}

For the better part of the past 2 years I've mostly been involved in a custom dev solution for one of the major banks... I started out during the initial analysis phase as a dev on the project, then our Team Lead left and I had to fill that gap. The team changed quite a bit, and while we were busy on this project our team also grew to include a couple of SharePoint and BI people. (Working on other projects) More people, more work :) To tell you the truth it has been quite difficult trying to juggle different projects, development and managing a team. Can't say that I didn't find it exciting, I did and am still learning a lot and I love it. The plan is to get back into blogging as much as possible, the theme of the writings will probably just be a bit different, we'll see :)

This Monday we will be taking this solution into production and next Monday it will be opened up to users. Confident that all will go well, believe we've covered all the angles, tried planning for every obscure situation that may arise, tested till the users were fed up with us, but there is always this slight apprehension with something this big. Been involved since the beginning and am proud of sticking it out and seeing it through to the end.

Thinking about not being involved in this project is a strange feeling, there's so many other things that I want to concentrate on and put my efforts into and never really had the time for, but it will still be like a child leaving home (haha, I imagine). Looking forward to what the future might hold :) And you'll see more of me!

Sorry Steven, stole this from you, but I found it very funny and applicable...

While trying to install SharePoint on a Windows 2003 server , I got the following error: "Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file.  You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item."
What I did was download the file, copy it over to the server, logged in via Terminal Services and I tried to install from there.

Now the thing that I didn't know is that it blocks the file as it came from another computer... To fix:

• Right-click file --> Properties
  
• On the General tab, right at the bottom is a Security notice informing you that it came from another computer
• Click Unblock
  

In view of my prior frustrating experience upgrading a Microsoft product (complete reinstall), I was pleasantly surprised when I found out how you upgrade a SharePoint install from the Standard edition to Enterprise: just change the license key!!! Wonderful, I look forward to seeing this kind of simplicity when upgrading their other products!

Change the License Type
 Go to Central Administration à Operations.  Select Convert license type.
 Enter the license key for the Enterprise Edition
Enable Enterprise Features
 Go to Central Administration à Operations à Enable Enterprise Features
 Choose Enterprise and click Ok.
Enable Enterprise Features (Existing Sites)
 Go to Central Administration à Operations à Enable Enterprise Features on Existing Sites
 Check the box and click Ok.

(Once you upgrade, you can’t downgrade to Standard again)

After receiving an invitation from tagged.com through a friend of mine, I first ignored it as I usually do with these kind of things. Then today, while I was busy with something else, I scanned through my mail while waiting and opened the tagged mail that I received. I clicked yes mostly because the damn thing makes you feel guilty not to click the button ("Please respond or your friend may think you said no :("). In my absent mindedness I supplied them with my email details - yes, in hindsight it was very stupid.

On the next page it displayed my friends that was already caught out by this screwed up site tagged, so I decided to only send a 'tag' back to them, no one new. The page layout is as follows: at the top it lists your friends that are registered on tagged, with a big red button next to it saying "Add Friends", which is what I clicked before I scrolled down... when you scroll down you will see that it has included each and every email address in your address book, even people you mailed once 2 years ago... :( So, tagged.com sent out a "Thea has tagged you! :)" to almost 200 addresses, including some mailing lists, the IT Manager and PM of our current client, previous clients, colleagues and bosses. If I have tagged anyone that reads this, please accept my sincerest apologies!!

I can not understand how people like this can sleep at night... I immediately closed my account and gave them a piece of my mind, wondering how much hate mail they get each day. O, and I changed my email password...

After a quick search on google - some other people who was caught by tagged:
Confessions of a Shiftless Mind
Power to the People

More as a reference for myself, the basic steps to FTP files through the Command Prompt:

C:\Documents and Settings\tburger>ftp
ftp> open yoursite.co.za
Connected to yoursite.co.za.
220 Microsoft FTP Service
User: theab
331 Password required for theab.
Password: [type password]
230 User theab logged in.
ftp> ls  (lists all files in current directory)
200 PORT command successful.
150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for file list.
aspnet_client
bin....
photos...
ftp> cd photos
250 CWD command successful.
ftp> put "C:\Photos\Test.jpg"
200 PORT command successful.
150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for T1.jpg.
226 Transfer complete.
ftp: 13647 bytes sent in 0.00Seconds 13647000.00Kbytes/sec.

For a full list of commands go here...   

Background
While I mostly use Firefox, I'm sometimes forced to use IE 7 because of two things, 1: SharePoint sites don't work so well on FireFox and 2:  I have this strange problem at work where I can't access any secure sites through Firefox. At home it works 100%.

Irritation #1: Close button position
One thing that I can't understand is why the position of close button in applications changes the whole time. At first it was fine, Firefox and Visual Studio's close was on the far right. I was used to it and I was happy. Then IE7 was released and every tab had a close button, and I was irritated and I cursed IE7. And then, low and behold, Firefox 2 was released and it ALSO had a close button on every tab. Well, at least my two browsers are the same, but Visual Studio is not and I find myself looking for that little x on every tab... irritating.
Solution:
Don’t know of one… any suggestions?

Irritation #2: IE Search
Another thing that I hate is IE's search, it is just so obtrusive and in its own a reason for me not to use IE.
Solution:
I complained about it earlier to Armand, and he send me this link, Inline Search with IE! Quick download, easy install, mimics Firefox’s search and shortcut keys stays the same – VERY COOL! 

Irritation #3: SharePoint sites in Firefox
Reauthentication on every single page – the irritation speaks for itself.
Solution:
•    Type about:config in Firefox’s address bar
•    Look for network.automatic-ntlm-auth.trusted-uris
•    Add comma separated list of servers that it should authenticate

Less irritations, happy browsing :P 

These stuff just rocks... and makes a developer's life much easier. No design skills? No urge to spend days trying to create a decent design while you know in your heart that it is anyway going to look like crap in the end? 

Although we're busy on a Smart Client app, the client needed a small web interface for some functionality. So I didn't want to spent to much time on it and found these: ASP.Net Design Templates. I used the second one and it was very quick to set up. A hick-up here and there, but still much easier than designing your own from scratch... 

Something else that I came across and want to try out is the Commerce Starter Kit.  It is an open source e-commerce storefront written specifically for ASP.NET 2.0. It features out-of-the-box product catalog and shopping cart functionality that allows website owners to setup, run, and maintain an online store with little or no costs, license fees, or limitations. Sounds cool, will give updates... 

So many stuff these days that can save you time - for free!!  

We installed the 180 day eval copy of Windows Server 2003 on our development server a while ago. Now I've received the license key I want to upgrade the eval version to a retail version. I definitely don't want to reinstall.

In a KB article I found the following: "To remove the 180-day expiration period for an evaluation version of Windows Server 2003, upgrade your computer to the full retail, released version of Windows Server 2003." Ok, mooi, so how do I do that? And then it tells you to go to the Windows Server home page. I've also tried the Windows Server forums, but to no avail. Only solution I found there is to put the full version cd in and upgrade it. BUT, I don't have a new cd, only the license key. And no one replied on my post. It can't be that difficult, or am I missing something here? 

So as a last resort I contacted MS Support - the guy was very friendly and helpful, but his solution was that I wait for it to completely expire as it will give me the option to enter a license key then. Only problem with that is the server reboots every hour and it is still another 28 days to go... I am running out of ideas, and I can't believe that this is an uncommon problem?

I just want to congratulate all my friends that got married in the last month! Alice & Hendrik, Maryke & Janus and Derek & Sasha. Yes, the Spring thing obviously did it for them - the last month was hectic to say the least. 3 bachelors, 3 bachelorettes, 1 kitchen tea PLUS the weddings. Everyone looked spectacular, I saw a lot of people that I haven't seen for years and we had a great time till the early morning hours. Even the brides and grooms stayed till very late. Alice and Hendrik just made their flight, only to realize that he forgot his wallet in South Africa! Hmm... Maryke and Janus had to organise their whole wedding from the UK... well done!  

Ek hoop julle is almal vir ewig en ewig gelukkig saam, net soos in die fairy tales! Cheers!!!  

(Jammer Derek, Sasha, ek het nog nie 'n foto van julle s'n nie!) 

[UPDATE: A little bit of advertising, my friend Alice is a professional photographer and takes wedding photo’s as well. If you are interested in wedding photo’s or any other photo's for that matter, let me know... Some examples here, here and here. Have a look at her portfolio on her website: www.alicecraven.com.] 

Looking over the main page of my blog it feels like I am only blogging when I attend training or a community event So here I go again: I attended VSTS training last week which was just excellent. The trainer, Adrian Jakeman, was very knowledgeable and made the classes a lot of fun. 

I haven't actually worked with VSTS previously and was quite impressed. At the moment we use the following tools for our development and surrounding processes:

While these are working very well, it would be wonderful to be able to combine all of these. Which is exactly what VSTS does, plus reporting. 

We didn't actually install Team Foundation Server, and I hear that it can be quite a nightmare. At this stage I am waiting for a server and then I'll try my hand at that :S  I don't foresee us moving our current project into VSTS, but will rather start by doing some internal projects with it. Don't have the time for any unexpected nasty surprises! 

A couple of things that I would like to improve, mostly to do with the unit testing capabilities:

• When you right-click in your regular project and select Create Unit Test, it doesn't pick up the language you are working in.
• I don't like all the additional test attributes and instructions it adds to each test. There is probably a setting somewhere to remove that.
• Would be useful to right-click and in test class or in test method to run only that test. Yes, I am spoiled by TestRunner.
• The detail in the email alerts is really limited. I am used the information that I get from CruiseControl, and not getting the test results (only summary 20 passed/5 failed in VSTS), no coverage results, etc frustrates me. I don't want to open the test manager every time to see that detail.
• To configure Continuous Integration with VSTS is quite a hack, but it works. I presume this will be improved in the next version.
• I know our Project Manager is going to feel that the integration with MS Project is not sufficient at this stage, especially because of 2 things: can't group tasks and use predecessors with the work items. But I have been told that this is one of the main priorities for the next version.

O and a very cool tool for editing the process template: Process Template Editor (original )

As soon as I have it installed I will blog some more about our experiences... any of you using it currently? 

I just attended the XP Forum that the JCSE holds every month. Topic this time around was XP Approach to Design by Morkel Theunissen, which I was very interested in as this is a problem I have experienced a couple of times... especially when trying to explain to management.

A couple of interesting ideas arose out of the conversations that followed, and numerous debates on the topic. Some people believed that you shouldn't even decide on the architecture at all before starting to develop, e.g. web/smart client, etc. I disagree with this, when you go and see the client, or get some form of user requirements, things like performance, scalability, offline availability, etc will come up which will steer you into a direction. And even though there is not such a formal design as in traditional development, when you see the requirements, you already start to think of ways to implement it, so in essence you are starting to think about a design. (Which you can always refactor as you go along)

In the project I'm working on currently we decided not to follow a strict XP approach, but rather combined aspects from XP and FDD, where FDD brings a bit more formality to the process. In a quick summary, our process is as follows: 

• Gathering User Requirements: The outcome of the process is a list of features.
  
• Design and documentation: Our documentation consist of a central repository where developers update documents with all information sourced, programming tasks and timelines per feature.
• Development and Testing, which includes iteration planning, unit tests, coding, refactoring and code reviews.
• Deployment: After each iteration.
  

This is our first agile project and so far it is working very well, except for our customer who isn't always as available as one would have liked on a project like this... 

To find out more about the XP Forum, contact Fazel Mayet (fazel at psybergate dot com). This forum has just been listed as the first XP group in Africa.

Article by Martin Fowler which has been quoted a couple of times during the discussion: Is Design Dead?  

Came across something now which was quite funny... I dynamically add controls to my form, and I also need the option to remove them again. So at first I did this, which seemed logic as it is exactly how I add them: