For many reasons, but mainly because of the limitations of the WYSIWYG text editor here, I have moved my blog to the following URL:
http://blog.strohlsitedesign.com/
http://blog.strohlsitedesign.com/
Whoa! Free Image editing program!!! (Paint.Net)
Now, I am sure that this post will generate some comments (sent or not) about GIMP. I have not used GIMP because at home I have a full version of Photoshop CS. However, at work right now I do not have any image editing abilities other than what the standard "Paint" application and Microsoft Office offer. Nearly everyone knows that those options are horrible. I tried installing GIMP some weeks ago, but the install conflicted with a GAIM/Jabber (now called Pidgin - that story is yet another reason to HATE AOL) installation I have and I really do not want to mess with that.
I then began searching the web for a "free image editing program". While I cam up with some very interesting and sometimes x-rated results, I found nothing but links and references to GIMP. This is indeed a testament to the user-base of that particular program. I eventually gave up the search.
Just today, a co-worker mentioned another program that I did not find in the previous searches. This program is called "Paint.Net". I just downloaded and installed version 3.05. I must say that although I have not used it to perform any major image enhancements, creations, or alterations, this program has been immediately impressive. I am sure that since I am a Photoshop user, I will soon become disappointed, but I do not plan on needing to perform any major image editing tasks at work anyhow.
Here are my initial impressions:
I then began searching the web for a "free image editing program". While I cam up with some very interesting and sometimes x-rated results, I found nothing but links and references to GIMP. This is indeed a testament to the user-base of that particular program. I eventually gave up the search.
Just today, a co-worker mentioned another program that I did not find in the previous searches. This program is called "Paint.Net". I just downloaded and installed version 3.05. I must say that although I have not used it to perform any major image enhancements, creations, or alterations, this program has been immediately impressive. I am sure that since I am a Photoshop user, I will soon become disappointed, but I do not plan on needing to perform any major image editing tasks at work anyhow.
Here are my initial impressions:
- Easy to use (MAJOR benefit)
- Incorporates some Photoshop short-cuts [place video of Borat saying "That's nice!" here]
Regular Expression - Date
I have another one for you! This one will validate a date within the current century. This should be sufficient enough for most current applications.
The preceding regular expression will, like the previous posting on time, validate most date options. The weaknesses with this one is that it will allow the days to go up to 39 and does not account for leap year. Also, the months can go up to 19, instead of our commonly accepted 12 month year. :)
I designed this expression to validate dates from the year 2000 to 2099. I do not plan on this same code being in place in 2099, so I hope this is sufficient enough...
^([0-1]?[0-9]{1}/[0-3]?[0-9]{1}/20[0-9]{2})$The preceding regular expression will, like the previous posting on time, validate most date options. The weaknesses with this one is that it will allow the days to go up to 39 and does not account for leap year. Also, the months can go up to 19, instead of our commonly accepted 12 month year. :)
I designed this expression to validate dates from the year 2000 to 2099. I do not plan on this same code being in place in 2099, so I hope this is sufficient enough...
Labels: .net, how to, regular expression, tip
Regular Expression - Validating Time
I am just an amateur when it comes to regular expression, but I plan on getting a whole lot better at it. There is too much potential there to not want to use it more often. I just came up with a regular expression pattern to validate time format. It has some small checks incorporated for valid times, but it is not 100% inclusive. Here is the expression:
The preceding pattern will match times such as:
12:29 PM, 12:29 pm, 2:14 AM, 2:14 am, etc.
It will not match:
22:29 PM, 11:69 AM, etc.
However, the catch here is that it will also match times like:
19:00 AM, 13:14 pm, etc.
It may or may not be obvious to you that this not a valid time, but the expression will not find it as obvious. Like I said, I am an amateur here, so let me know if you have a better expression for this.
^[0-1]?[0-9]{1}:[0-5]{1}[0-9]{1} (AM|PM|am|pm)$The preceding pattern will match times such as:
12:29 PM, 12:29 pm, 2:14 AM, 2:14 am, etc.
It will not match:
22:29 PM, 11:69 AM, etc.
However, the catch here is that it will also match times like:
19:00 AM, 13:14 pm, etc.
It may or may not be obvious to you that this not a valid time, but the expression will not find it as obvious. Like I said, I am an amateur here, so let me know if you have a better expression for this.
Labels: .net, how to, regular expression, tip
Microsoft AJAX 1.0 - Common Error
I began playing with the Microsoft AJAX 1.0 features today with an actual project instead of simple test scenarios similar to the AJAX videos offered on the ASP.Net web site. I am using AJAX controls to make an asynchronous call to my server which in turns calls an external web service and repopulates a textarea control. The first click of the button that submits the call works perfectly. The call goes out, and in just 'sec my SOAP response is shown in the textarea without a hitch. However, this is where a big brick gets thrown through the window!
If you click the button again without refreshing the page or removing the text from the textarea, an AJAX error will be thrown in the form of an alert that states:
Now this was a perplexing error since us .Net developers have become so accustomed to reading errors that include some details about how and where the error occurred. That information would undoubtedly leads us to the "why" of the error. However, this alert doesn't give us a whole lot to go on to troubleshoot the problem.
I proceeded to do what nearly all of us do... I Googled the error. I had a handful of appropriate results show up, but most of them were outdated and none of them had a single clear answer as to how or why this happened. I still do not know the how of my error, but I was able to determine the the why with a few hints from a couple of the search results.
After the first request was sent out as a result of clicking the button, the textarea was loaded with an XML web service response. This obviously consisted of HTML characters like the "greater than" and "less than" symbols. If I attempted to send a subsequent request by clicking the button a second time WITHOUT reloading the page, the error would occur because of the HTML in the textarea. Since the textarea is located within an UpdatePanel, the text within the textarea, I am assuming the error occurs because the HTML could contain harmful content.
Now, I am sure that there is a much more elegant and event easier fix to this, but I have not thoroughly investigated this yet. The quick fix I found for this was to inject a JavaScript snippet into the OnClick event of the button. This would look something like the following:
This clears out any text in the textarea before the request is actually sent from the browser to the web service. Now, I said before that this is probably not the most efficient means to do this. I only did this because it is for a test application that is testing my web service. I wouldn't do this for a production application. But this workaround may do something for you in a situation like this.
If you have the actual fix or want to tell me how horrible of a coder I am, leave some comments. :) Until next time...
If you click the button again without refreshing the page or removing the text from the textarea, an AJAX error will be thrown in the form of an alert that states:
Sys.WebForms.PageRequestManagerServerErrorException: An unknown error occurred while processing the request on the server. The status code returned from the server was: 500
Now this was a perplexing error since us .Net developers have become so accustomed to reading errors that include some details about how and where the error occurred. That information would undoubtedly leads us to the "why" of the error. However, this alert doesn't give us a whole lot to go on to troubleshoot the problem.
I proceeded to do what nearly all of us do... I Googled the error. I had a handful of appropriate results show up, but most of them were outdated and none of them had a single clear answer as to how or why this happened. I still do not know the how of my error, but I was able to determine the the why with a few hints from a couple of the search results.
After the first request was sent out as a result of clicking the button, the textarea was loaded with an XML web service response. This obviously consisted of HTML characters like the "greater than" and "less than" symbols. If I attempted to send a subsequent request by clicking the button a second time WITHOUT reloading the page, the error would occur because of the HTML in the textarea. Since the textarea is located within an UpdatePanel, the text within the textarea, I am assuming the error occurs because the HTML could contain harmful content.
Now, I am sure that there is a much more elegant and event easier fix to this, but I have not thoroughly investigated this yet. The quick fix I found for this was to inject a JavaScript snippet into the OnClick event of the button. This would look something like the following:
Dim strScript As String = "document.getElementById('" & _
Me.txtResponse.ClientID & "').value = '';"
Me.cmdSubmit.Attributes.Add("onclick", strScript)This clears out any text in the textarea before the request is actually sent from the browser to the web service. Now, I said before that this is probably not the most efficient means to do this. I only did this because it is for a test application that is testing my web service. I wouldn't do this for a production application. But this workaround may do something for you in a situation like this.
If you have the actual fix or want to tell me how horrible of a coder I am, leave some comments. :) Until next time...
Labels: ajax, how to, microsoft ajax 1.0, tip
Movie: Peaceful Warrior
A couple of weeks ago, my girlfriend somehow happened upon the web site for a movie called "Peaceful Warrior". Knowing that I am a movie buff and perhaps thinking that she might like the movie too, she sent me a link to it. After watching the trailer for it, I was immediately hooked into wanting to see the movie. The trailer made me believe that this was a movie that was right down my alley.
Also on the web site at the time was an offer to get free tickets to see the movie. Since I am one of the many that believes seeing a movie is very expensive these days, I immediately jumped at the opportunity to see a movie for free. Besides, if it stunk, all I would be out is concessions, gas, and toll. (Looking back, that now sounds like a lot too...)
The movie is based on a book/life story of a person named Dan Millman. Admittedly, I did no further investigation on the movie or plot line other than watching the trailer, so going into the movie, I had no idea that Dan Millman actually existed, nor that there were books about this. (Apparently, I also missed the caption in the beginning of the movie that stated this. I was probably swimming in my nachos at the time.)
I was hooked in with this movie from the very first moment. The camera worked was not intrusive enough to take your focus off of the characters, and the plot didn't move too fast or too slow. It plodded right along. (My girlfriend will certainly say that there were points where the movie did indeed slow up too much, but I disagree.) This movie featured a relatively unknown actor named Scott Mechlowicz playing Dan Millman. Also in the film was a surprisingly healthy-looking Nick Nolte and a small role for Amy Smart.
Dan Millman is introduced as an egotistical and overconfident gymnastic athlete who is destined to go to the Olympics as long as he practices as hard as he can every day and party as much as he wants to every night. Nick Nolte's character was sarcastically nicknamed "Socrates" by Dan Millman in the beginning of the movie. The movie ended having never revealed his real name. Socrates sort of mentors Dan Millman into becoming a better person, and in turn everything else in his life would become better.
This movie introduces (or renews) some very basic but important principles in life that we should all recognize and apply in our own lives. For instance, the destination is not important. If we all become what we think we want to be, it would not matter at all. What matters is the journey that took us there. (This is better explained and framed in the film.)
Dan Millman has an unfortunate tragedy occur to him during the movie that changes his life completely and Socrates guides him to begin the journey that Dan Millman did not know he intended to have. He was previously entranced by the destination, but the journey became his focus.
Without giving out any more of the plot, I will tell you this... Nearly all movies have some book that it is based on, or that gets written and released afterwards. I have read some of these books. Usually this was prior to the movie being thought of. However, this is the FIRST movie that made me want to buy the book after. We watched the movie in a mall-type location and there was a bookstore right outside of the theater. The store did not have the Dan Millman books, but I have one of them now.
I encourage you to take yourselves and anyone you care about to see this movie. It is definitely worth the price of admission.
Helpful Links:
Also on the web site at the time was an offer to get free tickets to see the movie. Since I am one of the many that believes seeing a movie is very expensive these days, I immediately jumped at the opportunity to see a movie for free. Besides, if it stunk, all I would be out is concessions, gas, and toll. (Looking back, that now sounds like a lot too...)
The movie is based on a book/life story of a person named Dan Millman. Admittedly, I did no further investigation on the movie or plot line other than watching the trailer, so going into the movie, I had no idea that Dan Millman actually existed, nor that there were books about this. (Apparently, I also missed the caption in the beginning of the movie that stated this. I was probably swimming in my nachos at the time.)
I was hooked in with this movie from the very first moment. The camera worked was not intrusive enough to take your focus off of the characters, and the plot didn't move too fast or too slow. It plodded right along. (My girlfriend will certainly say that there were points where the movie did indeed slow up too much, but I disagree.) This movie featured a relatively unknown actor named Scott Mechlowicz playing Dan Millman. Also in the film was a surprisingly healthy-looking Nick Nolte and a small role for Amy Smart.
Dan Millman is introduced as an egotistical and overconfident gymnastic athlete who is destined to go to the Olympics as long as he practices as hard as he can every day and party as much as he wants to every night. Nick Nolte's character was sarcastically nicknamed "Socrates" by Dan Millman in the beginning of the movie. The movie ended having never revealed his real name. Socrates sort of mentors Dan Millman into becoming a better person, and in turn everything else in his life would become better.
This movie introduces (or renews) some very basic but important principles in life that we should all recognize and apply in our own lives. For instance, the destination is not important. If we all become what we think we want to be, it would not matter at all. What matters is the journey that took us there. (This is better explained and framed in the film.)
Dan Millman has an unfortunate tragedy occur to him during the movie that changes his life completely and Socrates guides him to begin the journey that Dan Millman did not know he intended to have. He was previously entranced by the destination, but the journey became his focus.
Without giving out any more of the plot, I will tell you this... Nearly all movies have some book that it is based on, or that gets written and released afterwards. I have read some of these books. Usually this was prior to the movie being thought of. However, this is the FIRST movie that made me want to buy the book after. We watched the movie in a mall-type location and there was a bookstore right outside of the theater. The store did not have the Dan Millman books, but I have one of them now.
I encourage you to take yourselves and anyone you care about to see this movie. It is definitely worth the price of admission.
Helpful Links:
Interesting Social Networking Web Site Idea
I know this isn't new, but I just recently paid some attention to the LinkedIn social networking site. I found it to be a very interesting and creative spin on using the social networking power found on the Internet to connect co-workers and former co-workers. Not only that, it contains features to help each other advance themselves professionally. I have only been a member for about a week, but my first impression of this web site is very positive.
One immediate frustration I have experienced was when I first began searching for co-workers from a previous employer. Being a programmer and having created my own search services, I wrongly assumed that I could search using all lowercase letters. While the search did indeed work, the site saved this search using the lowercase letters. If there is a way to edit the job title and employer name, it is not easily found. Now, I look incredibly unprofessional on a professional networking web site. Ugh!!!
In case you are interesting, my LinkedIn account is here.
One immediate frustration I have experienced was when I first began searching for co-workers from a previous employer. Being a programmer and having created my own search services, I wrongly assumed that I could search using all lowercase letters. While the search did indeed work, the site saved this search using the lowercase letters. If there is a way to edit the job title and employer name, it is not easily found. Now, I look incredibly unprofessional on a professional networking web site. Ugh!!!
In case you are interesting, my LinkedIn account is here.
Labels: professional, social networking, website
Net Neutrality
I found a good blog post on Net Neutrality today. However, the video it incorporates is even better. This video is a MUST SEE for anyone who likes the Internet even a little bit!
Labels: Net neutrality
I Met President Bill Clinton Today!
I was at the CTIA Wireless Convention this week in Orlando. There are very prominent business people who were giving keynote speeches each morning. Today, we instead had the Former President George H. W. Bush and Former President Bill Clinton. It was awesome to hear them both speak! It was even cooler to meet President Clinton and shake his hand! (A HUGE thank you to my current employer that is to remain nameless at this time.) I will post pictures later. However, has anyone seen the beaded bracelet that Bill Clinton is wearing? It looks like brown string or leather with red and blue beads. I was curious as to what this represents (if anything).
Orlando .Net CodeCamp by ONETUG
The 2nd annual Orlando .Net CodeCamp event completed yesterday as an overall success. I thought it was once again very ell put together and managed. Thank you to the members of ONETUG and especially Shawn Weisfeld, Jessica Sterner, and Ken Tucker. You are all very valuable to the local .Net developer community. Also, a huge thank you goes to Seminole Community College for letting us use their facilities for this important event. We couldn't have had this without you.
Highlight of the event: I brought in children's books for extra raffle tickets and won 4 times. I ended up bringing home 3 nice books and a thermos mug for my hot tea. I guess this makes up for the thousands of raffles that I participated in and didn't win... :)
Low of the event: I locked my keys in my truck and missed some of Shawn's opening comments. :(
Highlight of the event: I brought in children's books for extra raffle tickets and won 4 times. I ended up bringing home 3 nice books and a thermos mug for my hot tea. I guess this makes up for the thousands of raffles that I participated in and didn't win... :)
Low of the event: I locked my keys in my truck and missed some of Shawn's opening comments. :(