Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1

I just wanted to send out a little note, even though it hasn't been officially announced yet, Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1 is now available here.

I personally will not be installing it for another month or so, but it is nice to know that it is ready to go.

Windows "Mojave" the next Microsoft OS!

Here's a quick "preview" of Windows Mojave, the "next" Microsoft OS. I find this very interesting.

http://www.mojaveexperiment.com/

DotNetNuke Skinning Tutorial Book Review

As a developer one of my greatest areas of weakness is in the area of design. Where I have always been able to make a site functional, my designs have been merely passable.

The author, Darren Neese, takes you from concept to finished product. This book is aimed at beginners, so it is perfect for me, perhaps it will fit your DotNetNuke Skinning needs as well.

First, let me say this, I love DotNetNuke. There, I said it.

Second, I hate skinning DotNetNuke. As a developer that is my weakest area. In fact, to quote Scott Hanselman:

"The difference between a Designer and Developer, when it comes to design skills, is the difference between shooting a bullet and throwing it." - Scott Hanselman with apologies to Larry Miller

DotNetNuke Skinning Tutorial makes the design element of DotNetNuke a little easier. It does not automatically make your designs pretty, but it opens up the mystery of creating a design that is functional and usable.

I must say thanks to PACKT Publishing for continuing to produce books that break down complicated task in a clear and concise way.

If there were one thing that I would add in the next edition of the book, since they use the DotNetNuke Starter Kit install package, is to expose how to install the Starter Kit on Visual Studio 2008, when Visual Studio 2005 is not installed on the PC. I understand that when the book was written VS2008 was not released and by the next release of the book this may be fixed on the DotNetNuke side, but if it is not, there is a small amount of pain to install the package on VS2008.

Since this is my blog, and I have the space to do it here, I'll tell you how to install the Starter Kit on VS2008.

As of DotNetNuke 4.8.4 this issue still exists, the DotNetNuke installation package for the Starter Kit looks for Visual Studio 2005 to make sure that it is installed. They don't look for "At Least" VS2005, they look specifically VS2005. If you try to install the Starter Kit with VS2008 only, like I have on my new laptop, an error occurs because VS2005 is not installed.

The solution to this issue is to install, even if temporarily, the Visual Web Developer 2005. First, it's free, second it's necessary to get the Starter Kit installed.

It's that simple, but it took a little bit of pain, as I mentioned above, to figure that one out.

DotNetNuke Remember Me Not Working

Well, I had mentioned in one of my last posts that I would be starting to redesign the PMCentersUSA.com website with DotNetNuke. One of the issues that I have run into is that the Remember Me option when logging into the website wasn't working. Or at least it wasn't remembering anything for very long.

This issue can be remedied by modifying the web.config Authentication node. The default setting that you want to change is:

Note: Since this is in the web.config this is not truly a DotNetNuke issue, it is an ASP.Net issue.

timeout="60" cookieless="UseCookies" />


The default timeout is 60 minutes. You can change the timeout value to be whatever you need it to be. This will allow you to make sure that people can stay logged into your DotNetNuke website for as long as you want them to be.

The following would be the setting if you wanted your users to stay logged in for 2 weeks, similar to the way Yahoo! mail keeps you logged in.


timeout="20160" cookieless="UseCookies" />


I hope this little tid bit can help you endure that your website keeps users happy.

Another New Adventure

In 25 or so days my contract with Giant Eagle will be coming to a close.  This wraps up a pretty cool gig and opens up some new doors that I'll get to walk through. 

 

One part of the newness will be getting to go back to the main office for a while a do a revamp of the companies websites.  Keep your eyes out over the next couple of months for a facelift to www.consultusa.com and www.pmcentersusa.com.

 

I'll be using DotNetNuke for the revamp of the site, it'll be the first time that I've gotten to use it.  The best part is, after getting DotNetNuke running 80% of my work will be done!  The rest will be updating the pages and the content and expanding the functionalities of the site.  I'm looking forward to getting this stuff moving.

 

I will have to custom code one or two modules, but that shouldn't take long.  So, I say that about 3 - 4 months I'll be back out in the real world looking to get placed in a new contract.

 

Now, to you, my faithful and dedicated readers, if your company is looking to bring in a contractor/consultant in the Pittsburgh area, call me at 412.963.8621.  That is the number for our home office, ask for Shaun Eutsey, I'll call you back when I get the message (I'm off-site at the moment.)  I would like to have my next contract open up some business opportunities for ConsultUSA.  That will do two things for me, one, it'll make me look great in my new .Net Practice Director position and it will allow me to work with you, my faithful and dedicated reader.

 

So, If you would like to see me, Shaun Eutsey, the Viceroy of VB, The Crown Prince of C#, The Sovereign of SQL, come and work for your company... Call Now! 

Heroes Happen Here!

Well, everyone, yesterday was the Pittsburgh Heroes Happen Here launch event for Visual Studio 2008, Windows Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008.  

All in all, it was a lot of fun.  I got to hang out with some friends, meet some new ones and hand out a lot of business cards.  We also got some pretty nice swag.  Check out me holding the cooler that we received, and it was full of food! 

There were three presenters for the developer track.  All three of them were very informative.  They ranged from ASP.Net, AJAX and the AJAX Toolkit to Office Development and WPF. 

The most interesting part of the day occurred before we even arrived at the event.  Apparently, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton decided to show up at a United Steel Workers Union conference that was happening at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, which is attached by a skyway to the Westin Convention Center (the location of Heroes Happen Here).  So my buddies and I decided to leave for the event early to combat the traffic which we were anticipating, and to accommodate the potential walk that we could have.

Well, could have a walk turned into did have a walk.  We parked by PNC Park, the home of the Pittsburgh Pirates.  For those of you who don't know, the Pirates are actually a Major League Baseball team.  About 15 years ago they were actually pretty good, but ever since then they have become the minor league team for the rest of the league.   PNC Park, in distance, isn't that far away from the convention center, but you do have to cross the Allegheny River, and walk about 10 blocks.  It's wasn't too bad, but it would have been really nice to have been able to park in the garage that is, you know, ATTACHED TO THE CONVENTION CENTER.

That really is my only real complaint about the day. All in all, it was pretty cool.  We did walk away with some nice swag and some good information.  The swag included:

• The pictured cooler
• Visual Studio 2008 Standard
• Windows Server 2008
• SQL Server 2008
• Windows Vista Ultimate (not expected)

For all of the things that people can fault Microsoft for, the one thing that you have to say is that they know how to do a launch event and make it work.  If only the presidential candidates would have come a day earlier or a day later my calves would be hurting nearly as bad as they are today.

4 Mid Level .Net Developers Needed!

Hello Everyone!

ConsultUSA has 4 immediate openings for mid-level .Net Developers.

So, I turn to you my faithful readers to help me fill these positions in the Pittsburgh, PA area.  These would be full-time consultant positions with ConsultUSA.  We have great benefits that include paying for continuing education and certifications.

Let me know if you, or someone you know may be interested and I'll have one of our recruiters get in touch.

Thanks, in advance, for any help that you can give.

--Shaun--

Promotion!

Promotion!

 

Well, it's finally happened!  I have been promoted to the position of .Net Practice Director at ConsultUSA in Pittsburgh, PA.

 

This new position has many challenges that I am responsible for accomplishing.  Some of these tasks I will be able to accomplish on my own, but for the vast majority of them, I will need help, from you, my humble, yet dedicated, readers.

 

My first and by far the largest challenge of the new position is to take ConsultUSA from being a Microsoft Partner through the path to becoming a Microsoft Certified Gold Partner.

 

I know, it doesn't sound that difficult, but believe me it is going to be much harder than it sounds.  First we need two Microsoft Certified Professionals (MCP).  We have two already, but only one of them fulfills the next thing that we must gain...

 

Microsoft Competency in Custom Development Solutions (Web Development Specialization).  To get this we also need to acquire three references from current clients.  Well, I'm on site at Giant Eagle and I have been able to get one reference submitted.  This means that I have to get in touch with some of our other clients and get information on other projects that we are doing in other places.

 

The last part of becoming a Gold Partner is to earn 50 Microsoft Qualifying points (for Certified level) and then 120 points for Gold.  This happens when we have more certifications, more referrals and more competencies.

 

These are all things that I need your help, my humble, yet dedicated, reader.  If your place of employ is looking for some good .Net Consultants to come in and help boost your staff, or if you have one or more .Net projects that you would like to have done by an outside consultant, give me a call at 412.963.8621.

 

If you are a .Net Developer in the Pittsburgh, PA area and are looking for an exciting opportunity with the chance to grow, you call as well, we are always looking for solid developers with the desire to learn (we pay for you to be certified as well as give you the opportunity to become a Business Analyst or Project Manager through PMCentersUSA.)

 

In the meantime, I look forward to being of service to you, my humble, yet dedicated, reader!