How to easily create the CSS and image for a CSS Sprite

CSS Sprite is a technique to reduce the number of requests the browser makes to the server by combining 'many' images into a single image. CSS is then used to display a portion of this large image to the user in place of the single image.

This is all well and good but for most people sticking together lots of images and working out the display co-ordinates won't be a whole lot of fun. Enter CSS Sprite Generator.
- http://spritegen.website-performance.org/

With this web site you upload a zip file containing all your images, it gives back a single image along with the requisite CSS to display. Resulting in a faster loading web site with minimal effort.

There are a few other sites that have the same functionality
- http://csssprites.com/
- http://cssspritegenerator.net/
- http://www.spritecow.com/

Determine a browser CSS3 capability and degrade gracefully using Modernizr

Support of HTML5 and CSS3 is improving all the time with the regular release of new browser versions. However this does make it difficult to keep up to date with what is supported by what.

The following two web sites provide similar functionality to help you determine what is fully or partially supported in what browser.

- http://html5please.com/
- http://caniuse.com/

Modernizr is described in wikipedia as

"Modernizr is a small JavaScript library that detects the availability of native implementations for next-generation Web Technologies"

From the Modernizr download page you can now select only the tests you are interested in, reducing the footprint of the Modernizr file.

I chose just the CSS3 opacity test which generated a 14kb custom Modernizr file to download - "modernizr.custom.80211.js"

The following CSS3 sets rounded corners and opacity on all img tags.

img {
opacity: 0.5;
border-radius: 5px;
}

The following JavaScript will use Modernizr to determine if the browser supports the CSS3 opacity tag, if not it will download JQuery and use JQuery opacity function.

Modernizr.load({
test: Modernizr.opacity,
nope: ['/Scripts/jquery-1.8.3.min.js'],
complete: function () {
if (!Modernizr.opacity) {
$("img").css("opacity", "0.3");
}
}
});


The following is a screenshot of the network tab in IE Developer tools using IE9 standards, we can see modernizr being downloaded and an image with rounded corners and opacity set.




The following is a screenshot of the network tab in IE Developer tools using IE8 standards, we can see JQuery being downloaded, the image still has opacity set but the corners are no longer round.

IE Proxy Settings shortcut

To set up a shortcut on the desktop to IE Connections Tab,

• On the desktop, right click and select "New Shortcut" 
• In "Type the location...." enter the following "C:\Windows\System32\control.exe Inetcpl.cpl,Connections,4" 
• Give it a name. 

And thats it.

70-583- Designing and Developing Windows Azure Applications.

Yesterday I passed this exam - Exam 70-583 Designing and Developing Windows Azure Applications. More details here.

Visual Studio Remote Debugging - Reminder Checklist

Steps to implement remote debugging.

1. You need to run msvsmon.exe on the remote pc
   1. Share this folder C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\Remote Debugger
   2. Go to remote and navigate to shared folder
   3. copy Remote Debugger folder onto remote pc
   4. run the relevant 32 or 64 bit version of msvsmon.exe
   5. Not sure on the permissions required for this but I know it works if you are an Administrator on this machine.
2. Double click msvsmon.exe on remote pc
   1. Go to Tools > Permissions and add the user that is logged onto the dev machine.
   2. Go to Tools > Options and copy the string that is in server name box - eg "DomainName\username@machinename"
3. Start the web app to be debugged on the remote machine
4. In Visual Studio on local machine - Debug > Attach to process
   1. Leave Transport as Default and in the Qualifier paste the server name copied in Step 2.2 above and click Refresh
   2. Select w3wp.exe to attach to
5. Start debugging.

Internal names of columns in SharePoint list

To find internal name of a column in a list you can use Visual Studio 2010 or SharePoint Manager 2010 (spm.codeplex.com) To get to Server Explorer CTRL W L and Select sharepoint connections and you can navigate down to the list in question. When running SharePoint Manager 2010 run as administrator and again you can navigate down to the list in question and determine the InternalName property of the column.

Exam 70-667: TS: Microsoft SharePoint 2010, Configuring

Today I passed the first half of the MCITP qualification, Exam 70-667: TS: Microsoft SharePoint 2010, Configuring

More details here.

Update 17 June 2011, I've now passed the other half of the MCITP qualification, Exam-70-668 PRO: Microsoft SharePoint 2010, Administrator.

I'm now MCITP SharePoint Administrator 2010.

More details here.

I'm now MCPD Microsoft SharePoint 2010

Today I passed this exam - Exam 70-573 -Microsoft SharePoint 2010, Application Development. More details here.

Together with the 70-576 exam I passed last month, I'm now MCPD Microsoft SharePoint 2010.

Exam 70-576 - Designing and Developing Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Applications

Today I passed this exam - Exam 70-576 - Designing and Developing Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Applications. More details here.

SharePoint 2010 upgrade

Some Useful stsadm/PowerShell

Pre upgrade audit

1. stsadm -o enumcontentdbs –url http://server01
2. stsadm -o enumallwebs
3. stsadm -o enumallwebs –includewebparts
4. stsadm -o enumsolutions
5. stsadm -o preupgradecheck
6. Test-SPContentDatabase -Name dbname -WebApplication http://server01

other

• stsadm -o setsitelock -url http://server01 -lock none
• stsadm -o addcontentdb -url -databasename
  make sure you spell databasename correctly

Some Useful links

Technet/Microsoft links

• Test-SPContentDatabase
• Attach databases and upgrade to SharePoint Server 2010
• Checklist for database attach upgrade (SharePoint Server 2010)
• Upgrade process overview (SharePoint Server 2010)
• Attach databases and upgrade to SharePoint Foundation 2010
• Upgrading to Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 - Manual

Tools

• WssRemoveFeatureFromSite
• Upgrading to 2010: Feature and WebPart Inventory Reports

Blog posts

• SharePoint 2010 Upgrade: Test-SPContentDatabase - Key to Successful Upgrade
• SharePoint 2010 PreUpgradeCheck - Web Part Whack-a-Mole
• SharePoint 2010 Upgrade Simplified - Q & A
• SharePoint 2010 Upgrade: Test-SPContentDatabase - Key to Successful Upgrade
• Extracting dll’s out of the GAC
• Upgrading your Content Database to SharePoint 2010 – Database Attach method
• Checking for broken links in SharePoint
• Fix Pre-Upgrade Check errors
• List of all Windows SharePoint Services and SharePoint Server Pre-Upgrade Checker knowledge base articles

Windows Azure Training

I have just attended a 2-day partner training @ Saxons training centre in Sydney.
Instructor: Ryan CrawCour - Intergen NZ
@RyanCrawCour

The course was taken from presentations and labs within the Windows Azure Platform Training Kit. The kit includes a lot of Labs, Presentations, Videos and Demos. It also has a dependency checker to ensure local environment has all it needs to do Azure development.

The following powerpoint presentations were shown over the two days (they were 95% the same as the ones in the training kit)

1. Windows Azure Platform
2. Windows Azure Compute
3. Windows Azure Storage
4. Intro to SQL Azure
5. Windows Azure App Fabric
6. Storage Strategies
7. High Performance Applications
8. Advanced Web and Worker Roles and the Windows Azure VM Role
9. Windows Azure connect

Links - mentioned during course

• Windows Azure Platform Training Kit

Two recommended blogs

• Steve Marx
• Wade Wegner

Azure management links

• Azure Management Portal
• Azure database management
• Developer preview of App Fabric Labs
• App Fabric Labs

Other sites/articles

• Azure tools from LOKAD
• LOKAD on codeplex
• Windows Azure Market place - DataMarket
• Windows Azure Market place - Applications
• Azure Pricing
• Differences Between the Storage Emulator and Windows Azure Storage Services
• Smarx on Channel 9
• Sync Framework - SQL Server to SQL Azure Synchronization
• Ground to SQL Azure migration using MS SQL Server Integration Services
• Azure tools (Not free) - Cerebrata.com
• Windows Azure Table Storage – Not Your Father’s Database
• Partitioning Scheme (Azure Table Service)
• Shared Access Signatures Are Easy These Days
• Using the New Windows Azure CDN with a Custom Domain
• Programmatically Changing the AppPool Identity in a Windows Azure Web Role
• Windows Azure Connect from scratch video
• Windows Azure Virtual Network
• Channel 9 - Cloud Cover

JQuery Posts Updated to use JQuerify

• JQuery Predicates - Attribute contains
• JQuery Predicates - Attribute starts with
• JQuery Predicates - Attribute ends with
JQuery Predicates - Attribute equals
• JQuery - Count Paragraphs
• JQuery - Basic Show and Hide
• Learning Simple JQuery - Part 4. - There are many plugins developers have created to use with JQuery, including this one "tablesorter"
• Learning Simple JQuery - Part 3. - This example demonstrates using JQuery selectors to add css classes to specific html table row elements.
• Learning Simple JQuery - Part 2. - This example uses JQuery to set the background-color of input text boxes, and attaches the focus/blur events to those text boxes with a "required" class.
• Learning Simple JQuery - Part 1. - This example demonstrates using an jQuery id selector on anchor tags to attach a click event. It also uses an id selector to attach the slideDown and slideUp JQuery functions to a html div element.

• Here is a blog post from encosia.com on how to learn JQuery with FireBug

Prince2 Foundation Exam Success

Last week I went on PRINCE2 training in Sydney, I found it pretty interesting all in all at the end of which I took the PRINCE2 foundation exam and passed.

C# - yield

The yield keyword was introduced with C# 2.0.

Here is some further reading;

• from C# reference -yield (C# Reference)
  
• from stackoverflow - C# - Proper Use of yield return?
• from stackoverflow - What does “yield break;” do in C#?
• from stackoverflow - Yield keyword value added?
• from C# in Depth - Sample Chapter 6 - Implementing iterators the easy way

Visual Studio 2008 Shortcuts

Following on from earlier post - Visual Studio Keyboard Shortcuts

CTRL W S - Solution Explorer
CTRL W L - Server Explorer
CTRL W E - Error Explorer
CTRL W X - Tool Box
CTRL W O - Output Window

CTRL D I - Immediate Window
CTRL D C - Call Stack
CTRL D W - Watch Window

CTRL E F - Format Selection
CTRL E \ - Delete white space
CTRL E S - View white space
CTRL E C - comment selection
CTRL E U - uncomment selection

CTRL U - To Lower
CTRL Shift U - To Upper

CTRL + \ D - Code Definition Window
CTRL + \ M - Team Explorer

CTRL ALT B - Breakpoints window
CTRL ALT ↓ - Files Open List

Firefox Add-Ons

• Adblock Plus
• CodeBurner for Firebug (Extends Firebug with reference material for HTML and CSS)
• ColorZilla (Advanced Eyedropper, ColorPicker, Page Zoomer and other colorful goodies)
• CoLT (Makes it easy to copy link text and locations)
• Delicious Bookmarks
• Dictionary Search
• FiddlerHook
• FireBug
• FireFTP
• LeechBlock
• Shorten URL
• Tab Preview
• Web Developer
• YSLow
  

Useful Utility programs

A good place to start would be Scott Hanselman's 2009 Ultimate Developer and Power Users Tool List for Windows.

This is my list from 18 months ago - Utility Programs, Tools, Add-Ins plus other stuff.

Updated list.

• Ninite - Pick from a big list of utility programs ninite will go get them all for you, install them and make sure the crapware toolbars and ebay links are not installed. Reviewed on HowToGeek.com.

• Unlocker Assistant - When you try and delete something and you get the file locked message, the Unlocker Assistant will pop up, giving you the option to unlock the files and perform your delete. Download from here
  

• DiffMerge -is an application to visually compare and merge files for Windows, Mac OS X and Unix. Download from here
  
  • If using DiffMerge with Subversion, the following settings can be used to 'Diff' and 'Merge'
    
    Diff Viewer
    

    C:\Program Files\SourceGear\DiffMerge\DiffMerge.exe /t1=%bname /t2=%yname %base %mine

    
    Merge
    

    C:\Program Files\SourceGear\DiffMerge\DiffMerge.exe /m /r=%merged /t1=%yname /t2=%bname /t3=%tname /c=%mname %mine %base %theirs

• Sysinternals Suite - Has many useful tools including


• AutoRuns - This utility shows you what programs are configured to run during system bootup or login. Download from here.


• BgInfo - is a little tool that displays a load of your system information as a bmp on your desktop. More information from here




• Daemon Tools - Mount iso image
  

• Regular Expression Workbench - a utility that lets you experiment with .NET regular expressions.

• SqlScripter - simple, low-cost tool for quickly exporting data
  


• Foxit - a pdf reader
  


• Paint.Net - a free image and photo editing software for computers that run Windows
  

• CCleaner - removes unused files from your system.

• Driver Max - find updates for your drivers, also backup and restore them.

• LinqPad - A great way to learn LINQ.
  

• Microsoft Security Essentials - its a virus checker, and its free, reviewed here
  

• Moo0 System Monitor - An easy way to monitor your computer’s system resource usage. Reviewed here.
  

• MWSnap - free screen capture software
  

• Reflector - If you dont know about reflector, you probably dont need it.
  

• Secunia Personal Software Inspector - Scans your machine to find out of date software that you are using, this could have security implications for you. Is covered in this article from HowToGeek.com
  

• VHD Resizer - Heres a how to from Serverfault.com.
  

• DBAN - Boot and Nuke - DBAN will automatically and completely delete the contents of any hard disk that it can detect, which makes it an appropriate utility for bulk or emergency data destruction.

Some random HowToGeek Links

• How To Keep Your Windows PC Updated
  
• Command Line Hack for: "Terminal Server Has Exceeded the Maximum Number of Allowed Connections"
• Disable Fast User Switching on Windows XP
• Dual Monitors: Use a Different Wallpaper on Each Desktop
• Enhance Productivity With Extensions For Windows
• Find Domain Information the Easy Way with Win32Whois
• Find Out What Keywords are Bringing Visitors to Your Site with Google Analytics
• Find Out Which Articles Are Most Popular on Your Site With Google Analytics
• Geek Reviews: Monitor And Benchmark Your PC with PC Wizard
• Prevent Annoying Websites From Messing With the Right-Click Menu in Firefox
• Spice Up that Boring about:blank Page in Firefox
• Understand Words Using DictionarySearch
• Add "Open with Notepad" to the Context Menu for All Files

What is WCF?

• What is WCF?
• Writing the WCF Hello World App
• Writing your first WCF client
• Host a WCF Service in IIS 7 & Windows 2008 - The right way
  
• Dot Net Rocks TV - Keith Elder Demystifies WCF
  

Certified Scrum Master

Last month I attended a certified Scrum Master course facilitated by Kane Mar

It was a two day course well run and enoyable, at the end of which after taking the Scrum Master exam I can now call myself a Certified Scrum Master. A bit of a grandiose title maybe but I feel the knowledge learnt was definetly worthwhile.