- TrIpLeZoNe -

Changed blog

2005-04-07T12:56:00.000+08:00

Hi guys. Blogger has been giving SO MANY PROBLEMS lately, with not letting me post when I need to, I've decided to migrate to SgDotNet's blog space. All of you can get my blog at http://community.sgdotnet.org/blogs/triplez. Rss Feed and ATOM Feeds are at http://community.sgdotnet.org/blogs/triplez/rss.aspx and http://community.sgdotnet.org/blogs/triplez/atom.aspx respectively. I'll be migrating my entire blog over there this weekend. I hope you guys continue to support me and update your feed links. Thanks!!!

SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Articles

2005-04-04T15:45:00.000+08:00

Here's a link to Patrick Tisseghem's Blog on some Sharepoint Articles.

http://blog.u2u.info/DottextWeb/patrick/articles/211.aspx

A few good articles to take note is the "Building Web Parts for Sharepoint Services".

An Object-Aware Memory Architecture

2005-04-04T10:58:00.000+08:00

A paper published on February at Sun's site, by Greg Wright, Matthew L. Seidl and Mario Wolczko: An Object-aware memory architecture. Quoting from the abstract:

Despite its dominance, object-oriented computation has received scant attention from the architecture community. We propose a novel memory architecture that supports objects and garbage collection (GC). Our architecture is co-designed with a Java Virtual Machine to improve the functionality and efficiency of heap memory management. The architecture is based on an address space for objects accessed using object IDs mapped by a translator to physical addresses. To support this, the system includes object-addressed caches, a hardware GC barrier to allow in-cache GC of objects, and an exposed cache structure cooperatively managed by the JVM. These extend a conventional architecture, without compromising compatibility or performance for legacy binaries.

Advanced Personalization Services in ASP.NET 2.0

2005-04-04T09:52:00.000+08:00

Advanced Personalization Services in ASP.NET 2.0 Part1

Advanced Personalization Services in ASP.NET 2.0 Part2

Advanced Personalization Services in ASP.NET 2.0 Part3

Summery: Learn about personalization, how to implement the first aspect of personalization features in your web applications using membership object provided by ASP.NET 2.0.

A fantastic article on Personalization in ASP.NET 2.0 by Khaled Hussein.

Enjoy.

Minimizing Applications

2005-04-03T23:44:00.000+08:00

I've done this before so many times and I've always forget. It's high time I jot it down. Most of the times during startup applications, I want those applications to start up minimized, and usually these applications will minimize into the tray. So how do I do it? Very simply -

1) Right click on the shortcut
2) Click on Properties
3) Under Shortcut tab, change Run option to "Minimized"

As simple as that. I use it to load my Outlook during startup into the tray, and my Task Manager too! Well, mostly those 2 only. :)

Try it out. Task Manager is a MUST-HAVE during start up.

Finally! I can BLOG! Updates on SgDotNet!

2005-03-31T16:32:00.000+08:00

Hey guys and girls! It's been so long since I blogged. Anyway I've been busy getting Community Server up and working for SgDotNet. The link for the new forums is http://community.sgdotnet.org/forums.

I'll be switching my blog as soon as I can figure out how to migrate all my posts here to the Community Server Blogs @ SgDotNet.

Well, anyway, my new blog url is @ http://community.sgdotnet.org/blogs/triplez. There's nothing up yet until I write the code to migrate. A lot of people I know are waiting for this migration code. Well, I'll try my best to write it this weekend.

I have to get the SgDotNet Website up ASAP, because we're having a meeting next thursday. I achieved something today with the website, I've fixed the Single-Sign-On issue between cross-sites, the website and the community server. :) I rock. Yeah I do! :)

Till next time, hopefully you'll see me in my new blog space. Cyaz!

Content Management System - Is creating one viable?

2005-03-28T12:33:00.000+08:00

A friend of mine was telling about creating a commercial Content Management System is a good way to go. Then I was asking myself, why would I want to pay for a CMS which is so expensive, when I can get a CMS which costs $0, has online support, and many resources on how to set the system up.

One of them is the Mambo CMS created using PHP and MySQL which all runs on Apache. Here's a recent review on it.

Open source Mambo CMS succeeds admirably

All these are free. Another one of them is the DotNetNuke created using Visual Basic.NET and runs on IIS which isn't much of a CMS but there are modules to convert it into a CMS which can also interface with MySQL. The same goes with PHPNuke.

Just do a google search for "Content Management System Opensource" and you'll get back so many results. So now I ask you, why should I spend time creating my own, and selling it? One way to make money from CMS would be to take one of these Opensource free CMS, and provide the service of customising it for the client. It's much faster, reduces cost, and it's already easy and ready to use.

Now I want your opinion on this.

What's the rationale for creating your own CMS? Even if the rationale is that CMS is meant for big enterprise-level businesses, and most SME aren't really taking for it, as previously mentioned, there is the niche market there to push into. But why would I want to spend time creating a CMS from scratch, then customising it, then selling it?

And why should I as a businessman want to buy the CMS from Microsoft when it's so complicated, difficult to setup, and most of all, EXPENSIVE? Integration is one thing, but that's all I can see as the advantage, which I don't quite need really for CMS.

Comments please. :)

Discovered (??) CSS Hack - Loading Logos First

2005-03-28T00:13:00.000+08:00

I've always had problems putting links on css backgrounds. For example, a simple logo like this.

<div id="logo">
<a title="SgDotNet For Cool Developers" href="/">
<span class="alt">SgDotNet For Cool Developers</span>
</a>
<div>

with the CSS...

#logo a { background: transparent url(../Images/logo/sgdn.jpg) no-repeat left top; }

The logo will render the background image LAST! Now, as a main website logo, we don't want that do we? We want it to be rendered first. So here's what I changed.

#logo { background: transparent url(../Images/logo/sgdn.jpg) no-repeat left top; }

This will render the background image FIRST, but the anchor is gone. This isn't what I need.

So this is what I did... I added both CSS in. And it renders FIRST, plus the anchor is still there.

#logo { background: transparent url(../Images/logo/sgdn.jpg) no-repeat left top; }
#logo a { background: transparent url(../Images/logo/sgdn.jpg) no-repeat left top; }

And this is all I did. It worked perfectly fine. If there's such a hack already discovered out there, please forgive me for my ignorance.

Hee, feeling proud I discovered this myself.

BrainGate - Science Fiction becomes Reality

2005-03-25T16:16:00.000+08:00

Have you ever watched sci-fi movies that show interaction between computer and human just by thought alone? Or plugging into the computer through a jack like the Matrix?

It's becoming reality.

Check out the research here.

Cyberkinetics - Neurotechnology Systems, Inc.

Cool huh! Check out the demo video.

Google OS?!? And advice for Imagine Cup teams

2005-03-25T12:57:00.000+08:00

For those participating in Imagine Cup 2005, I wished you would have given me something like this.

A Google OS by 2010?

I was just talking to another group of participants in IC2005 about an idea similar to that article up there, though it's not coupled to a specific OS. Apparently this article came up soon after. LOL. Great minds think alike.

You guys want dissolving boundaries? That is your ultimate idea. Why didn't anyone from Singapore think about that? Or something similar, or even something of the same granduer. Think grand scale, think innovation, think out of this world.

What was mentioned in the article is just waiting to be implemented, to be used, to be wide-spread. The idea has been going around since ages ago. We have webservices, we have SOA, we have the .NET Framework, we have Java, we have Linux. The technology is out there already. We're waiting for it to happen.

Come on people, I was very disappointed with most of your proposals that I judged. Apparently Singaporeans have very little ambition, and are quite polluted by the fact of marketing and business. Think of out the box, please!! I had an agonizing time reading all the proposals I got.

Anyway, I wish all of the teams who got into the Semi-Finals of Imagine Cup 2005 in Singapore all the best, and please go all out to impress.

A good idea is only good when you yourself are excited over it.

Accepted into University!!

2005-03-24T16:18:00.000+08:00

Yesterday I just got news that I've been accepted to University of Waterloo. I did it!!

1 hour later, I got news that I've been accepted to University of Toronto @ Scarborough (UTSC) too!! Stress! Now I've got to choose which one.

Anyone knows which I should go? Anyone knows which is better? Stress!

And furthermore, now that I got in, I've got to consider about paying for my education. I'm wondering if there's any grants or scholarships around for my lowly results. Because all I see is scholarships asking for high A level results, with S-Papers and such. Oh well, I'll do my best searching for some $$$. Each university also has scholarships and grants over there. So I might be applying for those too.

Well, congratulations to me! WOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

Game Developer Conference 2005 Slides

2005-03-23T16:05:00.000+08:00

The Microsoft DirectX slides are available for download here.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=8e9d5a43-a045-4ed8-99ae-09f3d69211ee&DisplayLang=en

This download includes presentations given by the Windows gaming and graphics team at the Game Developers Conference 2005. Included is the Microsoft DirectX Developer Day content and the High-Level Shader Language (HLSL) Workshop content.

The nVidia slides are available for download here.

http://developer.nvidia.com/object/gdc_2005_presentations.html

The ATI slides are available for download here.

http://www.ati.com/developer/techpapers.html#gdc05

Enjoy.

Zeta OS Deluxe Edition Screenshots

2005-03-23T15:01:00.000+08:00

A few days ago I posted some news on Zeta OS, the successor of BeOS. Here are some screenshots to follow.

http://shots.osdir.com/slideshows/slideshow.php?release=223&slide=1

I'll be ordering my Zeta OS v1.0 when it's officially released on the website.

Cool looking Pub

2005-03-23T14:56:00.000+08:00

Here's a cool looking pub in Poland.

http://www.living-images.org/livingimages/beer/goodbeer.html

Take a look at it. It looks damn cool. :P

lex / YACC on .NET?

2005-03-23T12:26:00.000+08:00

I was trying to find a lex or YACC or bison equivalent on .NET, and lo ho and behold I finally found it, by accident.

It's called The Compiler Generator Coco/R, or just Coco/R in short. Here's the link to it.
http://www.ssw.uni-linz.ac.at/Research/Projects/Coco/

It has ports to C#, Java, and others. It does things slightly different from lex or YACC or bison, but it still serves the same purpose. To parse text/code.

So that's that. This is actually for a project that MIGHT be doing in future. Check out the thread here.
http://forums.sgdotnet.org/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=10570

Design Patterns C#

2005-03-23T12:10:00.000+08:00

I think it's high time I posted this up.

Design Patterns C#
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0321126971/002-3952322-5488036
This book covers all the 23 patterns in the Gang of Four book.

Here is an online resource for the 23 patterns in C#.
http://www.dofactory.com/Patterns/Patterns.aspx

Learn the basic design patterns and appreciate it. Every developer needs to have this book.

Routing Secured SOAP Messages Through Multiple SOAP Intermediaries Using WSE 2.0

2005-03-22T23:17:00.000+08:00

Routing Secured SOAP Messages Through Multiple SOAP Intermediaries Using WSE 2.0

(snip)
Route secure SOAP messages through multiple HTTP SOAP intermediaries using "Next-Hop" mechanisms, and use the ExtendedSecurity function to form a secured chain of SOAP nodes through which messages must pass.
(/snip)

--
Well, this is my friend's, Softwaremaker, or he'll like me to call him William Tay instead, article on MSDN!! Well, I've read it, and it's one great article. But it really needs indepth knowledge of the internals of web services. So be prepared for one hell of a ride.

Here's his blog about this article.
http://www.softwaremaker.net/blog/PermaLink,guid,efeecf7b-a2bc-45bc-8e71-3f16e586ce15.aspx

Good stuff. Thumbs up!

Atom Resources

2005-03-22T22:53:00.000+08:00

Hey ho. I'm back again with more things. Here I am getting interested in Atom.

Here are some resources to read up on.

Note that the current version of Atom is v0.3, and the Atom WSDL specs are for v0.3, and not the drafts.

Atom WSDL
---------
After reading, this link seems to have the most updated WSDL file for Atom.
Randy Charles Morin
http://www.kbcafe.com/iBLOGthere4iM/?guid=20040614174016

This is link is some fix up before the top link, and provides some c# client code.
Sam Ruby
http://intertwingly.net/stories/2003/12/18/AtomAPI.wsdl

And some thoughts from Christopher Ferris about the old Atom WSDL before the top link was revised.
http://webpages.charter.net/chrisfer/2004/02/some-thoughts-on-atomapi-wsdl.html

For those playing with WSDL 2.0, here's the updated WSDL file.
Dave Orchard's Blog
Atom 0.3 WSDL 2.0
http://www.pacificspirit.com/Authoring/wsdl/atom3.1.wsdl2

And lastly, this is the official WSDL that everyone uses. IMO, the first WSDL file posted up there is still the latest and updated one.
http://atomenabled.org/developers/api/AtomAPI.wsdl

Atom .NET API
-------------
Atomizer
Atom.NET

Atom Specifications
--------------------------
New Atom Format Draft
Atom Publishing Protocol (txt) (html)
Current Atom v0.3 Specifcations

Atom Resource/Website
---------------------
AtomEnabled
The Atom Project Wiki

From what I see, the Atom community activity seems to have stopped for a while, web-presence I mean. Whereas in the mailing list and such, they are very much active.

That's all folks. Note to self, get softwaremaker to take a look at the Atom WSDL file.

You guys might be wondering why the sudden interest in Atom, and the WSDL. You'll find out soon. Hee! Man I took 1 hour to type out this post.

Cheerios

ManWrap Library - Managed Code in Unmanaged C++!?!

2005-03-22T19:02:00.000+08:00

Use Our ManWrap Library to Get the Best of .NET in Native C++ Code

(snip)
The Managed Extensions for C++ make it possible to mix native and managed code freely, even in the same module. Wow, life is good! Compiling with /clr, however, has consequences you may not want. It forces multithreading and dispenses with some useful runtime checks. It interferes with MFC's DEBUG_NEW, and some .NET Framework classes may conflict with your namespace. And what if you have a legacy application that uses an older version of the compiler that doesn't support /clr? Isn't there some way to reach into the Framework without the Managed Extensions? Yes!

In this article, I'll show you how to wrap Framework classes in a native way so you can use them in any C++/MFC app without /clr. As my test case, I'll wrap the regex classes from the .NET Framework in a DLL and implement three MFC programs using it. You can use RegexWrap.dll to add regular expressions to your own C++/MFC applications, or use my ManWrap tools to wrap your own favorite Framework classes.
(/snip)

--
WOW! THIS IS COOL STUFF!!!!! I ALWAYS WANTED TO DO THIS; THE OTHER WAY AROUND FROM MANAGED TO UNMANAGED!! Enough of CAPS. This is cool. Alot of C++ guys will love this. Maybe I should fire up my passion for C++ again, since C++ is actually getting SOME recognition in the .NET environment, finally.

The Trustworthy Computing Security Development Lifecycle

2005-03-22T15:28:00.000+08:00

The Trustworthy Computing Security Development Lifecycle

This paper discusses the Trustworthy Computing Security Development Lifecycle (or SDL), a process that Microsoft has adopted for the development of software that needs to withstand malicious attack. The process encompasses the addition of a series of security-focused activities and deliverables to each of the phases of Microsoft's software development process. These activities and deliverables include the development of threat models during software design, the use of static analysis code-scanning tools during implementation, and the conduct of code reviews and security testing during a focused "security push". Before software subject to the SDL can be released, it must undergo a Final Security Review by a team independent from its development group. When compared to software that has not been subject to the SDL, software that has undergone the SDL has experienced a significantly reduced rate of external discovery of security vulnerabilities. This paper describes the SDL and discusses experience with its implementation across Microsoft software.

--
4 words - Read it. Use it.

Klipfolio

2005-03-22T15:21:00.000+08:00

My friend icelava had asked me what's that blueish thing with so many headlines at the top right hand corner of my laptop screen. That, is KlipFolio.

Download it here.

http://www.serence.com

You can get more klips here at KlipFarm.

Klips are just getting changes from anything and everything under the internet skyline. :) That's about it.

Cheerios.

IE7 and CSS: the Acid2 test - Microsoft has now been challenged

2005-03-22T15:08:00.000+08:00

This is just something my friend Kit Kai was interested. So I thought maybe you guys might be interested too.

IE7 and CSS: the Acid2 test - Microsoft has now been challenged

In a public effort to encourage Microsoft to add as much CSS 2 support as possible as its developers embark on IE7, Håkon Wium Lie (CTO of Opera Software and the father of CSS) and the Web Standards Project have begun the development of a test suite, known as “Acid2.”

"To ensure that IE 7 does not become another failed promise, the Web community will issue a challenge to Microsoft. We will produce a test page, code-named Acid2, that will actively use features Web designers crave, such as fixed positioning of elements.

...To the IE 7 developers, I want to say:

You are smart and talented. You know Web standards as well as anyone. You were capable of fixing IE in the past, but your managers didn't let you. You now have a new chance to get it right--don't waste it. Download Acid2 when it's released and get in touch if you think it's unfair for any reason. Resist pressure from management to ship before you are done--spend the extra time it takes.

...To the Web community I want to say: Microsoft has now been challenged. They will respond, if enough people remind them of the challenge. Please remind them. And, when IE 7 is released, make sure this is the first thing you type into it

http://webstandards.org/testsuites/acid2/"

--
What do you guys think? For me, I support the web standards committee to push IE 7 to be as compliant as it can be. I like the current CSS 2.0, and XHTML 1.1 standards. It's clean, simple, and good.

Infrared Programming Using the .NET Compact Framework

2005-03-22T11:51:00.000+08:00

This is quite old, but it seems quite a few people are asking how to do it. It's written by Lee Wei Meng from Singapore. Yay! 3 Cheers.

Here's the link.

Infrared Programming Using the .NET Compact Framework

Oh btw, if I'm not wrong there are some changes for Infrared and Bluetooth programming on .NET Framework 2.0. I'll have to check that out.

Changelog from .NET Framework 1.1 to .NET Framework 2.0

2005-03-22T10:49:00.000+08:00

Here's the changelog link for the changes from .NET Framework 1.1 to .NET Framework 2.0.

http://www.gotdotnet.com/team/changeinfo/default.aspx

Cheerios.

Microsoft Solutions Framework v3.0 and v4.0 Resources

2005-03-21T16:41:00.000+08:00

If anyone realise yet, I'm bored and tired. So I'm just searching stuff to read.

Here's a link of resources on MSF v3.0 and v4.0(still under beta).

MSF v3.0 Resources

MSF v4.0 Resources

I'm sure you guys will benefit more from the v4.0 resource. I've been trying to find stuff about v4.0 and this guy's all I've got.

If anyone has more links, please feel free to post them under comments.