I'm over here now!

I've changed my blog hosts, so I'm over here now! Cometh!!

Spring 2007 Podcast

Hey folks. Sorry for the delay. My podcasting has gone something like the Albion - was looking fine around Christmas and has just stuttered since. Life is busy nowadays, so I'll probably do casts every few months or every quarter. Hey, maybe less frequency will mean higher quality?

I had podcasters block for quite a while with this one, though eventually settled on the following selection. This podcast has been influenced by the recent two Audio Therapy sampler albums - go check them out. Also, if you like this podcast then you'll also like the Sequential compilations by Hernan Cattaneo, and Balance compilations by Jimmy Van M and James Holden.

If you enjoy the cast then don't forget to leave a comment in my iTunes profile!

1. Beastman - Bushwacka!
2. Estrange - Dousk
3. Lion Steps - The Timewriter
4. Royal House - De Stijl & Gui Boratto
5. Wrong - Jamie McHugh
6. Its Automatic - Zoot Woman
7. Outhouse - Nathan Fake
8. Easy - Kubic & Trick feat. Valeska
9. Dirtbike - Loafer
10. Unplugged - DJ Remy

iPod Shuffle 2 Error: Disk could not be read from or written to

Had a bit of a problem getting my iPod Shuffle 2 set up.

Turns out theres a known problem the first time you attempt to sync the cutie. Its all about enabling hard drive use and applying the change before the Shuffle finishes syncing.

Theres a very easy to follow set of instructions here, which goes like this.......

Stage 1

1. Close iTunes
2. Disconnect iPod
3. Go to Start
4. Right click My Computer
5. Select Manage
6. Double click Services and Applications
7. Double click Services
8. Find iPod Service in the list and select it
9. Click Stop the service OR right click and select Stop

Stage 2

1. Connect the iPod
2. Go to Start
3. Select My Computer
4. The iPod should appear in the drive list. Right click and select Format…
5. Press the Start button and erase all data
6. Disconnect the iPod

Stage 3

1. Go to Start
2. Right click My Computer
3. Select Manage
4. Double click Services and Applications
5. Double click Services
6. Find iPod Service in the list and select it
7. Click Start the service OR right click and select Start

Stage 4

1. Open iTunes
2. Connect the iPod
3. The iPod Setup Assistant window will be displayed
4. Enter a name for your iPod
5. Leave the checkbox ticked for Automatically choose songs for my iPod and press OK
6. As the iPod proceeds to Autofill, quickly select the Settings tab before it finishes
7. Tick the box that says Enable disk use
8. A message window will appear. Press Ok
9. Press Apply
10. Once Autofill is complete, disconnect the iPod
11. Close iTunes

Stage 5

1. Open iTunes
2. Connect the iPod
3. Problem should be fixed allowing you to update and upload your music to the iPod

November Podcast

Not much to say about this months cast folks, other than I switched from MixMeister 6 to MixMeister Fusion for this one, which enabled me to extend the Madonna track with Fusions new looping. I was lovin the track so much that I didnt want it to fade out, so I looped an extra 10 bars onto the end of it, and ended up with a monster 5 minute mix into the final track. I can only speak for myself, but it sounds pretty damn fine from here! Enjoy....

1. Dub Trees - Buffalo (Kick Inside RMX)
2. Last Rhythm - Last Ryhthm (Martijn Ten Velden Remake)
3. The Drum Club - Sound System (Underworld Remix)
4. Gorillaz - Dare (Soulwax Mix)
5. Stylophonic - Baby Beat Box (Audiofly Remix)
6. Bent - As You Fall (Micah Remix)
7. Charlie May - Seal Clubbing (Sasha Mix)
8. Madonna - Jump (Massimiliano Abramo Vocal Dub)
9. Audiofly ft. Priscilla - Circles

Cling Film

Plastic wrap, known as cling-film in the United Kingdom, is a thin polymer material, approximately 0.13mm (0.003in) thick, typically used for sealing food items in containers to keep them fresh. The wrap, typically sold on rolls in boxes with a cutting edge, clings to many smooth surfaces and can thus remain tight over the opening of a container with no adhesive or other devices.

Whilst ripping the Bill Conti's "Rocky - Original Motion Picture Score" into iTunes , I did some quick research on cling film. Wow, I didnt know they made cling film of different thickness? I found a company in Malaysia named "Lizard Business Trading" (?) who can supply it from as little as 10 microns.

No comments please. I know.

Authentic Stormtrooper outfits

Wow, I think I'm going to re-write my christmas list! Hot Stuff Magazine have an article on authentic Stormtrooper outfits with helmets made from the original 1976 movie moulds!

I'm not sure I have a spare £1300 for one of these, or enough weddings to wear it at, but if anyone wants to consider joining a syndicate for shared ownership then who knows!

"These aren't the fancy dress outfits you're looking for."

Sep / Oct 2006 Podcast

The opening 2 tracks by The Shamen take me back to the turn of the 90's when I was just leaving the indie world to discover this strange new music that Martin introduced me to, called House. It was bands like The Shamen and remixers like Weatherall and Steve Proctor that bridged the two genres for me, remixing various indie artists such as Mock Turtles, James, Primal Scream and That Petrol Emotion. Before I knew it, I had swapped my Dr Martens and James t-shirts for trainers and Michiko Koshino.

The first dance compilation I ever bought was Warehouse Raves 4, which contained the brilliant Brazil - Spectrum, and here I've used it in an unsuspecting mash up with Duran Duran.

I've finished this cast with the brilliant title track from the recent Hybrid album, though I have to say I was very dissapointed with the remainder of the album.


1 Make It Mine - The Shamen
2 Make It Mine - The Shamen
3 It's Good For You To Meet Pepople Like Us - Golden Boy with Miss Kittin
4 Initiation - Orbital
5 Brazil - Spectrum
6 All She Wants Is - Duran Duran
7 Moisture - Headman
8 Encore Les Oeufs - The Egg
9 Times Square (Phonebooth OST) - Harry Gregson Williams
10 Too Much Information - Duran Duran
11 Hayling - FC Kahuna
12 I Choose Noise - Hybrid

Xabi Alonso goal vs Newcastle

Ridiclous long range shot by Alonso.

It was degrading playing for West Brom - Kanu

"SUPER Eagles striker, Nwankwo Kanu has said it was a trying experience for him to have gone as low as playing for West Bromwich Albion last season."

Cheers mate. You hardly bagged a plethora of goals either. (Though amazing skill on the ball!).

Way Of The Exploding Johnson

It seems that since switching from Albion to Leicester over the summer, Andy Johnson has added a new dimension to his game. I think they are called "special moves" in computer games. This photo shows Andy executing his "Yie-Ar Round House" on a mercy-begging Ronnie "Pele" Walwork. Other than that move, it was his usual "Run Around Like A Headless Chicken But Never Know What To Do With The Ball Once I've Won It" move. He got a rousing reception upon his return. We got a rousing reminder of why we let him go. Acually thats a bit harsh. His job is to close down players and then release the ball to the creative players, and thats what he does.

Rumour Mill - Mr Peace is close mates with Curbishley, and he's on stand-by should Robbo mess it up. You have to take these things with a bag of salt though - last year I was also told on good authority that Kamara was on his way back from the African Nations Cup with the rest of the Senegal squad. It seemed ashame to spoil the rumour and inform them that Senegal hadn't even played their first game at that point. Oh well. Its all good fun spreading these rumours! I heard a rumour that Curtis Davis is actually the love child of Carlton Palmer......

There's no such thing as free phish food.

Next time you pick up a tub of ice cream that has "50% extra" written all over it, don't just assume that it means 50% extra free. Silly me thought I was getting more phish food for my money. Silly me was just buying more of the expensive ice cream due to devious desert marketing.

I was quite annoyed with their clever trick, but then I chewed a phish and felt better.

Cheers Mr Dazs.

East Lothian Adopts Bearwood Street Cleaning Initiative

"Regular street sweeping in an East Lothian town has been suspended in an attempt to shock residents into not dropping litter."

Judging by the state of my local High Street, Bearwood must have been running this scheme for a number of years now!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/5329330.stm

Spot The Difference - Stuarts Desk Edition

Oh no, something is amiss! 5 things have gone missing from Stuarts desk! Can you help Stuart find them?

Airfix models are a good background for military life

Apparently, building Airfix models are a good background for joining the RAF. I would have thought the ability to drop paveway bombs onto villages, straff a convoy people running along a brige, and medevac bit of soldiers limbs would be better skills than glueing your fingers together and sanding rough edges of model wings?

"I have no doubt that the skills and good habits I'd acquired from building the Airfix kits gave me a head start in adapting to military life which certainly reinforced and expanded them, and they have stood me in good stead both during those six years and since." - Akilah Skevington

Guess Im wrong.

Ben Thatcher Elbow On Pedro Mendes

Having read so much about it, I thought it was about time I saw it for myself. Ouch!

Whilst reading up on it, I found a reference to Albions Kamara on a Man City blog. Seems that Kamara is a past victim the infamous Ben “Hatcher” Thatcher: The article contains a great quote from Frank Clark’s autobiography: Minutes before an important European match, my captain Stuart Pearce is in the dressing room shaking his fists and screaming at the rest of the players. He’s been listening to his punk rock music and he’s all psyched up. Sitting in front of him are an array of different nationalities: Dutch, Norwegian, Italian, Scottish, Welsh, Irish. Pearce is shouting at them all, explaining why we’re better than the French opposition and why we’re going to win. He punches the air. ‘Because we’re English!’ he screams. ‘Because we’re English!’ The factual inaccuracy of the statement doesn’t seem to occur to Stuart. I’m not sure if it occured to his Norwegian, Dutch, Italian, Scottish, Welsh and Irish team-mates, but if it did, none of them seemed in much of a hurry to point out his mistake. In fact, from the nervous looks on their faces, a few of them might have been considering changing nationality. The full post is at www.purelymancity.com.

August 2006 - 8 points and 6 stitches

For those of you reading this in iTunes, check out the tracklisting and full comment at http://scootville.blogspot.com.

Its August, the football season kicks off, and Im back in seat 52 for another sweet 'n' sour season of entertainment at the Hawthorns. The Baggies are 8 points closer to safety already and the month isnt over yet. With Kevin Phillips snatched under the noses of Sunderland just 6 days before we go down to the Stadium Of Light, I don't see Mr Quinns lads wanting to make that 11 points for the month. A 33 year-old striker on a 2-year deal? Sounds like Kevin Campbell all over again, though apparently he was a good talker in the dressing room. Expensive words.

A big thank you to all the lovely staff at Sandwell General, who made my day trip to "Newton 2" a good trip. They put two of those wristbands on me, though I couldn't seem to find any big rides to go on. According to the red wristband, there was a ride called penecillin somewhere.

General anasthetic. Wow, that's good stuff. I don't know what was in it, but it was great. The first thing I remember when I came round was the hospital DJ asking if I wanted anything playing. I could hardly string 2 words together, let alone have a meaningful conversation, so after a few gurns, I managed to construct the words "The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again". He didnt have it, and was just relieved to be on his way to Hernia John opposite me. John had come down off the ceiling an hour before me, so the DJ got more constructive dialogue out of him.

I really had "mixers cramp" doing this podcast. Really struggled to put stuff together, so I'm not sure what I think of this one. It won't go down as one of my faves, but hey, you're not paying for it so what the hell. That said, theres a few gems still on here. "Silver City - Shiver" is a great builder. Doesnt do a great deal but does it great. Later on the podcast peaks around some great tunes by Spiller, Lostep (wow this rocks) and finishes on a modern rework of the classic "Take Me Away". Yeah the rework is a bit cheesy, but you wait till the piano breaks and make your mind up after!

1 Take Me Away - Final Cut ft True Faith.
2 Fine Day (James Holden Remix) - Opus III.
3 Shiver (Ewan Pearson Remix) - Silver City.
4 Mango - Kooler.
5 Moltobelt - Neverdogs.
6 Why Should I Think About The Rain (Chocolate Puma Remix) - Dutch ft Lisa Fischer.
7 Acid House Memories - Greyson Shipley.
8 Jumbo - Spiller.
9 Little Peaking - Lostep.
10 Take Me Away (Stonebridge Remix) - Haji & Emanuel.

Cafe Del Bearwood - July 2006

"Cafe Del Bearwood".

There's a waft of warm dog poo coming from the park and there's a wasp in the bathroom. Yep, it must be summer in Bearwood again.

The temperature may have risen, but I'm dropping the BPM's and cooling you down with some low-tempo tracks for the back garden.

I've put together some favourites from over the years, from more known bands like Orbital and FC Kahuna to some lesser known outfits such as Momu and LHB, whose album "Tell 'Em Who We Are" is just great from start to end. This version of Air's Casanova 70 was remixed by Brendan Lynch and just rocks - I found it on an old SourceLab compilation and had never heard of it before.

"Hammer House Of Hip Hop" is another unknown great track, which was found on a compilation called "Son Of A Bastard Tracks" - a compilation from Brummie label Different Drummer. It was given to me along with some other titles for fixing the record labels computers back in my student days.

Right then, time to do some beer gardening.

1 Remember Me - Elak.
2 Casanova 70 - Air.
3 Hammer House Of Hip Hop - Schizoid Man.
4 Bug Powder Dust - Bomb The Bass.
5 North Pole Transmission - FC Kahuna.
6 Olivia Newton Christ - LHB.
7 Cry Baby - Spiller.
8 Pressure - Playgroup.
9 Funny Break - Orbital.
10 Sunsicle - Momu.
11 Alone - Tennis Hero.
12 Hide And Seek - Imogen Heap.
13 Between Us And Them - Ulrich Schnauss.

Failed to enable constraints. One or more rows contain values violating non-null, unique, or foreign-key constraints

-------------------

Failed to enable constraints. One or more rows contain values violating non-null, unique, or foreign-key constraints

Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.

Exception Details: System.Data.ConstraintException: Failed to enable constraints. One or more rows contain values violating non-null, unique, or foreign-key constraints.

-------------------

This error is a right pain in the arse as its not very detailed, and if you don't know what you're doing (like moi) then its a bugger to debug. Heres how to get to the root of the problem.

Either use a TRY...CATCH block to catch the System.Data.ConstraintException, or use set the DataTables EnableContraints to false, so that it doesnt fall over with an ConstraintException.

Once the ConstraintException has occured then debug as follows.

In the catch code, for each DataTable, check the value of its DataTable.HasErrors property. This will tell you which DataTables are erroring. Then use the DataTable.GetErrors to find out exactly what the errors are.


try
{
reportResults.Merge(report);
}
catch
{
if(reportResults.Reports.HasErrors)
{
foreach (DataRow row in reportResults.Reports.GetErrors())
{
Console.WriteLine(row);
}
}
}

August 2005 - Insect House and a Trip to Lux.

If Carlsberg ran nightclubs then they would be based on Lux in Lisbon - what a club! This mix was put together last August for the car drive down to the airport, on the way to Portugal. On that journey, Paul 'Pablo' Hamilton and myself listened to 'Come To Me', and the term insect-house was born! Listen to it and you'll know what I mean.

Big shout doing out to Mr Moore - these podcasts are the only way you gonna get me back in that gym! If you like house music then have a listen to "Bontempi Radio Köln" and "The Tape" podcasts.

Enjoy.

1. Rippin Kitten - Golden Boy feat. Miss Kitten
2. Ghosttrack - Tiefschwarz
3. Manilla - Seelenluft
4. Hazy Way - Alex Dolby
5. Benedict - Tiefschwarz
6. Wall - The Egg
7. Down - Street Technique
8. Electromagnetic - Freeform Five
9. Come To Me - Holden & Thompson

Scoots March Mix

Its a freezing cold March, and can you get a pair of gloves from ASDA, Tesco or Sainsburys? No. "We've got the summer clothes in now luv", she said. Funny, I couldn't see anyone wearing flip-flops outside.

A quick shout to a podcast I listen to called LittlePixel. Was great to hear 'NY Lipps' on their cast, in fact, so much that I've chucked it into this podcast too. Hey, LittlePixel have 42 listeners - thats 10 whole more listeners than me! Maybe I can get zombies to subscribe for me.....

This months March mixmeth merriment line up is as follows.

1. Hide And Seek - Imogen Heap
2. Lost In A Melody - The Delays
3. Ready 2 Wear - Felix Da Housecat
4. Same Man - Till West & DJ Delicious
5. Silent Shout - The Knife
6. Where You End - Moby
7. NY Lipps - Soulwax
8. Destroy Everything You Touch - Ladytron
9. Ladyflash - The Go! Team.

Looking at the artists in this playlist, this podcast is a good reflection of me at the moment. The vocoder vocals on Hide And Seek have no need for any supporting instruments, and the album version makes for a great acapella. Ready 2 Wear is probably my definition of perfect house music - its deep, has longevity, and just has an aura of respect to it. NY Lipps - wow, just great, full of energy. The mix finishes on two great artists of last year - Ladytron and the Go! Team....

.....Go! Stream!

"Unrecoverable build error" when building Visual Studio Deployment Projects

Arrgh, this one had me banging my head on the screen for ages. Start here... http://support.microsoft.com/?id=329214 ... as it seemed all I had to do in the end was close down all the widows in VS, even the Start window.

If this doesnt fix your problem, then you may find you have problems with images and their folders. Try excluding all your images from the project, getting the build to work, then adding back the images bit by bit, until you find some offending images. Then just try blitzing them from the project and sourcesafe and re-adding them.

Preview CD for Brads Porn Stars Party

There's another coin boiling session going in February....

Brad has decided to throw a post Christmas party to wipe away those post holiday blues. As part of my role of sorting out the music for the party, which is to be held in a nice little lounge in Birmingham called Red, I've had to quickly throw together a sampler CD for the venue to listen to. They're probably worried that we're going to play something which goes completely against the ethos of the venue...now would we do that?

I had a quiet weekend in this weekend, and used the time to download a few nice little porno interludes for the party, and start thinking about the playlist for the night. Heres some of those, which make up the sampla CD...

Dick Dagger's Theme - The Girl Next Door OST.
Cruising - Crazy Penis
69 Police - David Holmes
Unknown Porn Soundtrack
Blondie - Heart Of Glass
Training With Dick Cannon - Detroit Grand Pubahs
Hey Ladies - Beastie Boys
Another Excuse (DFA Mix) - Soulwax
When Will I Be Famous - Sascha Funke
Life To Live - Layo & Bushwacka
I Feel Love - Donna Summer

SmartNavigation to maintain scroll position across postbacks

All of us know that asp.net controls postback to the server and hence the page is reloaded everytime an event is triggered.

Supposing we have a very long page with lots of controls. A user is in the middle of the page and triggers an event (say click event), which causes the page to postback. Then the page will be reloaded and the position would go to the top.

This could be particularly annoying if the user has to scroll down long and repetitively.

To avoid this, ASP.NET provides the SmartNavigation property for the page which takes care of the scroll position.

SmartNavigation also avoids the flickering of the page when the page is reloaded.

It can be enabled by simply setting smartNavigation to true in the page directive.

For more details, follow this.

DataGrid Delete Button - Confirm Prompt.

Having created a datagrid with an EditCommand Column to provide Update and Delete functionality, I wanted to add a confirm popup for the delete button.

As the EditCommandButton had no ID property, I was scratching my head for a way to get a handle on the delete button in order to add an onClick attribute to it.

In the end I gave up and did this workaround: On the ItemDataBound event, Ive checked each item looking for Items or EditItems. Instead of doing a FindControl (remember, theres no ID on the button to find), I've worked out which cell the control is in, and hard coded it.

Remember to trap an EditItem as well as an Item, otherwise the delete confirm wont work on a row which is in edit mode.

Add a touch of salt and pepper, and then bring to the boil for around 20 minutes, until the skin starts to come away. Give the occasional Stir. I've found a bottle of Chateau Neuf Du Pap goes nice with this......

private void grdIntranet_ItemDataBound(object sender, DataGridItemEventArgs e)
{
if(e.Item.ItemType == ListItemType.Item || e.Item.ItemType == ListItemType.AlternatingItem)
{
LinkButton btnDel1=(LinkButton)e.Item.Cells[3].Controls[0];
if(btnDel1!=null)
{
btnDel1.Attributes.Add("onclick","return confirm('Are you sure you want to delete?');");
}
}
if(e.Item.ItemType == ListItemType.EditItem)
{
LinkButton btnDel1=(LinkButton)e.Item.Cells[3].Controls[0];
if(btnDel1!=null)
{
btnDel1.Attributes.Add("onclick","return confirm('Are you sure you want to delete?');");
}
}
}

Second Test Podcast - A Sasha / DMC Influenced Mix of House Nostalgia

Having successfully posted the first podcast, I thought I'd continue the testing by adding another mix. This time I've thrown together a few old house tunes which remind me of the early 90's when we used to trap down to some of Birmingham's early house nights like Pure Records "A Better Way" at the Institute, and DJ Dicks "Breathless" and "Safari Club" nights at Coast to Coast and Snobs respectively. Aaah the good old days eh?

Anyway, this mix is heavily influenced by the early Sasha, Steve Proctor and DMC remixes that were going round at that time. Some house snobs may turn their nose up and consider the ital piano cheese influence a bit stale now, though they probably weren't around to here Sasha dropping these babies with great dance floor devastation!

Robert Owens - I'll Be Your Friend (Original Def Mix)
Gat Decor - Passion - (Original Mix)
Soul Family Sensation - Other Stuff (Steve Proctor Remix)
Paul McCartney - Deliverance (Steve Anderson Dub Mix)
D-Ream - U R The Best Thing (Sasha Dub Mix)
OST - The Spy Who Dubbed Me (Agents On The Run)

I've quite enjoyed putting together this piece of nostalgia, so I'll probably revisit this period for some more mixes soon.

First Test Podcast! - A House Mix Featuring Mylo, Mish Mash & LCD Soundsystem

Having enjoyed a few other podcasts I've subscribed to, such as Ricky Gervais and Hex The Dex, I thought I'd find out a bit more about this podcasting malarkey and knock up a Scootcast of my own..

I've stuck together a 30 minute mix of some recent house tunes, inspired by the likes of Mylo, Tiga and LCD Soundsystem.

The track listing is as follows....

Williams - Picadilly Circuits
Mylo - Muscle Car (Tiga Remix)
Mish Mash - Speechless
Mylo - In Your Arms (Sharam Jey Remix)
Chris Lake - Changes
LCD Soundsystem - Tribulations (Tiga's Out Of The Trance Closet Mix)

Enjoy!

Creating link dropdowns

//Build the drop down from the AllEonInfo dataset...
arowEonInfoLinksRow=(DataSets.AllEonInfoEntity.EonInfoLinksRow[])dstAllEonInfo.EonInfoCategories.FindByCategoryGuid(guidIntranetKey).GetChildRows("EonInfoCategoriesEonInfoLinks");
linksDropDown.Items.Add(new ListItem("Select...",""));
linksDropDown.Items.Add(new ListItem("-Intranet Sites",""));
Label l = new Label();

foreach(DataSets.AllEonInfoEntity.EonInfoLinksRow objRow in arowEonInfoLinksRow)
{
linksDropDown.Items.Add(new ListItem("--" + objRow.LinkName,objRow.LinkUrl));
}
linksDropDown.Items.Add(new ListItem("-Internet Sites",""));
arowEonInfoLinksRow=(DataSets.AllEonInfoEntity.EonInfoLinksRow[])dstAllEonInfo.EonInfoCategories.FindByCategoryGuid(guidInternetKey).GetChildRows("EonInfoCategoriesEonInfoLinks");
foreach(DataSets.AllEonInfoEntity.EonInfoLinksRow objRow in arowEonInfoLinksRow)
{
linksDropDown.Items.Add(new ListItem("--" + objRow.LinkName,objRow.LinkUrl));
}
}
catch
{
errorLiteral.Text="There was an error building the drop-down hyperlinks. Please refresh the page or if this problem continues please contact FirstCall";
Controls.Add(errorLiteral);
}


//add an attribute to the dropdown items to fire the hyperlink. The if statement makes sure theres a url value before hyperlinking, just in case theres some labels in there.
linksDropDown.Attributes.Add("onchange", "if(this.options[this.selectedIndex].value!=''){window.open(this.options[this.selectedIndex].value,'_blank');}");

Emailing CEO's

Having had a few annoying run-ins with dumb-ass call centre staff who either dont give a monkeys or arent up to the task of conversing with me, I wondered how easy it would be to just go straight to the top dog?

Seems that you can get various email addresses for CEOs, though I imagine that these emails are screened by PAs....

http://www.connectotel.com/marcus/ceoemail.html

Use Enter key to postback given webpart

This example shows how to submit a webpart (containing a textbox) by hitting the enter key.

1 Knock up an .js include file for your webpart...
http://scootville.blogspot.com/2005/05/includng-javascript-js-files-in-your.html

2 Add an attribute to the textbox which traps all keydowns. The attribute calls a js function, passing the control clientID as its parameter......
googleTextBox.Attributes.Add("onKeyPress", "javascript:handleEnterKey('" + submitBrandButton.ClientID + "');");

3 The js function. If the return key was pressed (keyCode 13) then redirect to whatever href is stored in the passed control

function handleEnterKey (myControl)
{
if((event.which ? event.which : event.keyCode) == 13)
{
window.navigate(document.all[myControl].firstChild.href);
}
}

Biscuits

Whilst sharing a Garibaldi biscuit with Dan at work, we wondered where the name of this perforated fruit biscuit originated. Whilst looking, Dan found http://www.nicecupofteaandasitdown.com/biscuits/index.php3

Error: 'Page_Validators' is undefined

This pesky message keeps popping up now and again in webparts when ive added the part and then carry on to click around in the toolpart.

Seems that Im forgetting to RENDER THE BLOODY VALIDATOR CONTROL....

(textBoxValidator.RenderControl(textWriter);

...GRRRR!!!

Includng Javascript .js files in your Webpart

Heres a good sample on msdn for creating javascript include files and referencing them into your webpart....


http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/spptsdk/html/CreateWPClientScript_SV01003713.asp

Changing aspx form field values from code behind

I keep forgetting this, as I do it so rarely, so I wont forget any more!!....

...Forget what??



A non-aspx form (no runat-server)...

form method="post" action="http://ehr.corp.pg.eon.net/portal_default.asp" target="_blank" name="form"

input type="text" value=<%=password.Value%> name="password" size="10" id="password"
input type=submit value="Go"

/form

code behind to modify the password field....

protected HtmlInputText password = new HtmlInputText();
password.Value=(uuCodec.uuDecode(Request.QueryString["pin"])) /..or whatever

The request failed with HTTP status 401: Unauthorized

"System.Net.WebException: The request failed with HTTP
status 401: Unauthorized".

If you use an authentication on your webservice like Integrated Windows Authentication, you may have to pre-authenticate before using your webservice:



WebService.webClass myWC= new WebService.webClass();

myWC.PreAuthenticate = true;

myWC.Credentials = System.Net.CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials;

Headphone adapter reviews

Reviews, details, pros and cons of various 2.5mm headphone adapters available.

http://pdaphonehome.com/forums/showthread/t-5690.html

Including and deploying images in web parts

1 Include the image into the root of your web part project.

2 Include the image in the manifest.xml in order for the image to be deployed..




3 Reference the image in your code using this.ClassResourcePath..


4 Allow 30 minutes for the code to set, serve with ice cream.

Blogging via email

Apparently you can post blogs via email, like I have for this one!!

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Registered in England & Wales No. 2366970

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Registered in England & Wales No. 4178314

E.ON UK Trading Ltd is regulated by the Financial Services Authority to carry out investment activities.

Telephone +44 (0) 2476 42 4000
Fax +44 (0) 2476 42 5432

Stop your validation controls from interfering with other web parts or the tool part.

Q: Got your single webpart validation controls working great in isolation, only to see them get in the way of other web parts and the tool part when you bring a few web parts together?

A: Set the validator.EnableClientScript to false when you load the web part, then on the click event of your submit button, carry out the validation manually, so that its only validating on your button and not every other buggers buttons!

Page.Validate();
if(Page.IsValid ==true)
{
//Submit your form or whatever
}

Detecting when SPS page is in design mode

When the user is using a SPS page in design mode, you may want to execute some code to disable some of your web part functionality such as validation controls or buttons...

if(this.BrowserDesignMode)
{
FromValidator.Enabled=false;
ToValidator.Enabled=false;
ContinueButton.Enabled=false;
}
else
{
FromValidator.Enabled=true;
ToValidator.Enabled=true;
ContinueButton.Enabled=true;
}

Creating toolpart properties for your webpart

Creating a dropdown property for your web part...

1 - Create an enumerator.

public enum ColourEnumerator
{
Red=0,
Green,
Blue
}
protected ColourEnumerator myColour;




2 Create a property accessor...

[Browsable(true),
Category("Layout"),
DefaultValue(UKWeather.DisplayModeEnum.Single),
WebPartStorage(Storage.Personal),
FriendlyName("Map Layout"),
Description("Specify the layout of the maps on screen.")]
public UKWeather.DisplayModeEnum Wibble
{
get
{
return MapDisplayModeEnum;
}

set
{
MapDisplayModeEnum = value;
}
}


See http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/spptsdk/html/CreateWPCustomProperties_SV01003710.asp for a more detailed example.

Buffer your WebPart output just in case it brakes the page!

If something goes wrong with your code while you are rendering output in the RenderWebPart method, you may end up with tags not closed, funny looking html, and even worse, any other Web Parts on the page may not render.

Buffer your output before rendering. This way if something goes wrong you can display a polite error and not render any of the half rendered output.

protected override void RenderWebPart(HtmlTextWriter output)
{
// create buffer for output
StringBuilder buffer = new StringBuilder(10240);
StringWriter InnerWriter = new StringWriter(buffer);
HtmlTextWriter BufferWriter = new HtmlTextWriter(InnerWriter);
try
{
// call method to write HTML to buffer
WriteWebPartContent(BufferWriter);
// write HTML btach back to browser
output.Write(buffer);
}
catch(Exception ex)
{
output.Write("Web Part Error: " + ex.Message);
}
}



protected void WriteWebPartContent(HtmlTextWriter output)
{
output.WriteLine("yadder yadder");
}

Accessing querystrings with Javascript

It took me a while to find and example that I liked, so I'd better blog it for future reference...

//Chop up the the querystring parameters into easy to access array...
//They can be then accessed by Parameters["Name"]
var sSearch = window.location.search.substring(1);
var Parameters = new Object();
var sNameValuePairs = sSearch.split('&');
var sNameValuePair;
for (var i = 0; i < sNameValuePairs.length; i++)
{
sNameValuePair = sNameValuePairs[i].split('=');
Parameters[sNameValuePair[0]] = sNameValuePair[1];
}

Now the parameters can be accessed using Parameters["Name"]

POSTing to another URL and returning the form results

I was trying to post my own form to another website and did more than I intended. I managed to post the data and get the form results back to my site....

Namespaces...

using System.Text;
using System.Net;
using System.IO;

Code....

private void PostAAForm()
{
string databaseString, fromPlaceString, toPlaceString, viaPlace0String, viaPlace1String, towingString, avoidMotorwayString, avoidTollsString;
string url_to_be_posted = "http://www.theaa.com/travelwatch/inc/planner_main_redirect.jsp";
string form_post_data;
byte[] data;
string result;
databaseString = "B";
fromPlaceString = "Birmingham";
toPlaceString = "Coventry";
viaPlace0String = "";
viaPlace1String = "";
towingString = "";
avoidMotorwayString = "";
avoidTollsString = "";
form_post_data = "&database=" + databaseString + "&fromPlace=" + fromPlaceString + "&toPlace=" + toPlaceString;
try
#region
{
ASCIIEncoding encoding = new ASCIIEncoding();
data = encoding.GetBytes(form_post_data);
HttpWebRequest myRequest = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(url_to_be_posted);
myRequest.Method = "POST"; //You can use GET as well
myRequest.KeepAlive = true;
myRequest.ContentType = "application/x-www-form-urlencoded";
myRequest.ContentLength = data.Length;
WebProxy MyWebproxy = new WebProxy("proxy.corp.pg.eon.net",true);
myRequest.Proxy = MyWebproxy;
Stream newStream;
newStream = myRequest.GetRequestStream();
newStream.Write(data,0,data.Length);
newStream.Close();
HttpWebResponse objResponse;
objResponse = (HttpWebResponse)myRequest.GetResponse();
StreamReader sr; sr = new StreamReader(objResponse.GetResponseStream());
result = sr.ReadToEnd();
Response.Write(result);
sr.Close();
objResponse.Close();
}
#endregion
catch (Exception ex)
{
// Error handling code
Response.Write(ex.Message );
}
}

Localisation - storing strings in resx resource files

Whilst trying out FXCop to review my code, the bugger kept moaning about localising button labels etc. Seems worth remembering for the future, so....

1 Right click your project. Add New Item, Assemsbly Resource File. Add a string into the resx file.

2 Add namespaces System.Resources & System.Reflection

3 System.Resources.ResourceManager res = new ResourceManager("Namespace.ResxFileName",Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly());

4 ContinueButton.Text= res.GetString("ContinueButtonText");

5 Put into an oven, gas mark 7........

Orphaned SharePoint Web Parts after Changing Virtual Server Settings

If you decide to change your SharePoint virtual server settings (for example you decide to re-configer your server to use host headers instead of port numbers) be sure to uninstall any webparts before your reconfiguration, otherwise you'll have orphaned web parts and and you'll have problems working (re-registering) the web parts. If its too late, then you'll have to go back to your original web server settings, then un-register the parts, then go to your new server settings and then register again....

http://groups.google.co.uk/groups?hl=en&lr=lang_en&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2005-04,GGLD:en&threadm=e%24RdLrHSEHA.1388%40TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl&rnum=2&prev=/groups%3Fq%3Dsharepoint%2Bthe%2Bconfiguration%2Bdatabase%2Bcould%2Bnot%2Bbe%2Bupdated%26hl%3Den%26lr%3Dlang_en%26rls%3DGGLD,GGLD:2005-04,GGLD:en%26selm%3De%2524RdLrHSEHA.1388%2540TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl%26rnum%3D2

Hello
We are running SharePoint on a Windows 2003 server with IIS 6.
We installed a SSL certificate and the portal runs fine using HTTPS://
We installed some third party web parts before we installed the certificate.
Everything worked fine an all the webparts showed up under the virtual
server gallery.
As soon as we enable SSL (under directory security in IIS6) all the web
parts in the virtual server gallery are disapeard
We even can't install new WebParts using STSADM. It results in "The
configuration
database could not be updated." error.
It' seems that we need to use the virtual servers IP address instead of the
FQN (https://wss.test.com/) since the the URL listed in the virtual serve
list changed from SERVERNAME to the IP
Address.
Does anybody know a solution to this problem???
Emil
Message 2 in threadFrom: JustinM (JustinM@discussions.microsoft.com)Subject: RE: SSL and Configuration Database Error

View this article onlyNewsgroups: microsoft.public.sharepoint.portalserverDate: 2004-06-28 21:35:52 PST Hello Emil,
I am experiencing the same error message. However, I am not using SSL. This error appears to have started this afternoon. I had been unloading and loading webparts all day and then suddenly I started getting this message.
Did you find a solution to your problem?
"Emil Lüthi" wrote:
> Hello
>
> We are running SharePoint on a Windows 2003 server with IIS 6.
>
> We installed a SSL certificate and the portal runs fine using HTTPS://
>
> We installed some third party web parts before we installed the certificate.
> Everything worked fine an all the webparts showed up under the virtual
> server gallery.
>
> As soon as we enable SSL (under directory security in IIS6) all the web
> parts in the virtual server gallery are disapeard
>
> We even can't install new WebParts using STSADM. It results in "The
> configuration
> database could not be updated." error.
>
> It' seems that we need to use the virtual servers IP address instead of the
> FQN (https://wss.test.com/) since the the URL listed in the virtual serve
> list changed from SERVERNAME to the IP
> Address.
>
> Does anybody know a solution to this problem???
>
> Emil
>
>
>
>

Message 3 in threadFrom: Emil Lüthi (emil@mailinator.com)Subject: Re: SSL and Configuration Database Error

View this article onlyNewsgroups: microsoft.public.sharepoint.portalserverDate: 2004-07-06 09:03:40 PST No Justin sorry. No solution so far. Emil
"JustinM" wrote in message
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=E35C001D-BFD9-4450-8E8E-93D029C9C5E3%40microsoft.com...
> Hello Emil,
>
> I am experiencing the same error message. However, I am not using SSL.
This error appears to have started this afternoon. I had been unloading and
loading webparts all day and then suddenly I started getting this message.
>
> Did you find a solution to your problem?
>
>
> "Emil Lüthi" wrote:
>
> > Hello
> >
> > We are running SharePoint on a Windows 2003 server with IIS 6.
> >
> > We installed a SSL certificate and the portal runs fine using HTTPS://
> >
> > We installed some third party web parts before we installed the certificate.
> > Everything worked fine an all the webparts showed up under the virtual
> > server gallery.
> >
> > As soon as we enable SSL (under directory security in IIS6) all the web
> > parts in the virtual server gallery are disapeard
> >
> > We even can't install new WebParts using STSADM. It results in "The
> > configuration
> > database could not be updated." error.
> >
> > It' seems that we need to use the virtual servers IP address instead of the
> > FQN (https://wss.test.com/) since the the URL listed in the virtual serve
> > list changed from SERVERNAME to the IP
> > Address.
> >
> > Does anybody know a solution to this problem???
> >
> > Emil
> >
> >
> >
> >
Message 4 in threadFrom: JustinM (JustinM@discussions.microsoft.com)Subject: Re: SSL and Configuration Database Error

View this article onlyNewsgroups: microsoft.public.sharepoint.portalserverDate: 2004-07-06 12:49:10 PST Emil,
I managed to solve my problem. I figured out that a change I made to IIS resulted in some of my webparts getting orphaned in the config database. By orphaned I mean that there are webparts in my config DB associated with a site that no longer exists. I found this by running the following commands....
stsadm -o enumwppacks
--this will show you the installed webparts (.cab file name) and the virtual server where they are installed
--note the virtual server urls associated with your webpart
now run
stsadm -o enumsites http://
or
stsadm -o enumsites https:// if you are now on ssl
the virtual server url returned by "enumwppacks" must be in the list returned by "enumsites". If not then you will not be able to remove webparts using stsadm that have an orphaned virtual server. This would be the case if you have a webpart that was added to http:// or globalinstall prior to changeing to https. After the change you cannot delete the webpart for the virtual server that was changed.
The only way I got my issue resolved was to get the virtual serve name back in sink with the webpart and then delete the webpart. Then I made my change and readded the webpart.
Please note that my issue was not an SSL issue. I had changed IIS to use a specified IP instead of "All Unassigned". This changed one of my virtual server names from to the IP address. I had added webparts while the virtual server was . These webparts could not be removed from that virtual server after the change, which caused the error when I tried to add the webparts back into the site. I guess you can't add webparts into the site if there are orphaned webparts.
I hope this helps your situation. And I hope this is clear.

Karl Jenkins

Cool piece on Classic FM over the weekend by someone called karl Jenkins. Think it was called something on the lines of "Man At Arms"??

Nathan Barley

Must get when the DVD comes out, along with Curb Your Enthusiasm - seems that HBO do all the great ones, like Sops and Band Of Brothers..

That music from Champions League football...

...is cool. Seems its by a guy called Zainal Abidin, though it sounds very much like a Handel piece called Zadok the Priest or something. Must downl...er...buy it!

New News Delivery Concept....

....http://www.tenbyten.org/10x10.html

What a good SharePoint consultant should know

http://timheuer.com/blog/archive/2005/02/24/1691.aspx