Weekly Link Dump (Part 1)

So much for planned daily updates! Weekly updates seems much more do-able with the current workload (even when I'm not working on a specific contract)! Some of the links below are a few months old but saving them here means I can clean down my ridiculously long bookmark list! Alas, these constitute just half my current backlog so there'll be another post in a day or two with the ones that didn't make this blog entry!

Anyway... the biggest news of the week has to be that Visual Studio 2008 is going to go RTM (release to manufacturing) early next week. MSDN Subscribers will be able to download the 'shipping' product, but the rest will have to wait until Februrary 2008 for retail versions!

On a personal note, looking forward to Developer! Developer! Developer! Day 6 at Reading next Saturday - the first time I'll be travelling down by train.

Recently Discovered Useful Links

Apps: Wallpaper Generator - Generate custom wallpaper for your desk-top using your own photo snaps. A neat little WPF application from Joris Kalz.

Apps: WittyTwitter - a useful Vista/XP desktop client application for those of us using Twitter (see right hand side-bar for my most recent Twitter 'tweat's).

ASP.NET: Clean up your use of ViewState - A plea for a tidier and more consistent approach to using ViewState, with an interesting debate in the Comments section of this blog entry from Bernal Schooley.

ASP.NET: ASP.NET and Hierarchical Data - Gunnar Peipman looks into new hierarchical data support in ASP.NET 2.0, focusing on the IHierarchyData and IHierarchyEnumerable interfaces.

ASP.NET: HTTP Error 406 with .Net Framework 3.0 - warning about possible HTTP 406 errors when using the User Agent string with ASP.NET 3.0 from Carlo Cardella.

ASP.NET: Are your VS2005 web applications having an identity crisis? - if you move a webinfo project file to a new location you'll probably find your nice neat ASP.NET web application has reverted to being a more primitive ASP.NET web site. It's all explained here.

ASP.NET: Building your first Server Control (Tutorial) - a good introduction to writing your first ASP.NET server control from Bipin Joshi.

ASP.NET: The ASP.NET MVC Framework Announcement - Scott Guthrie starts to explain the distant 'replacement' MVC framework for ASP.NET. The endless gushing of the MVC pattern fan boys on different blogs has completely turned me off the endless 'let's throw everything away for the latest fad' approach that makes being a Microsoft developer so time-consuming these days. Am I throwing out the baby with the bathwater by ignoring the MVC pattern framework for now, or are Microsoft the ones doing that by over-promoting it? Here's an overview of what it's all about.

ASP.NET: The ASP.NET MVC Framework - More Details (Part 1) - Scott Guthrie dives a bit deeper into specifics of the forthcoming MVC framework.

ASP.NET: ASP.NET Futures: Introduction to the XAML and Media Controls - an interesting post on the upcoming ASP.NET Futures release, but the arguments over Microsoft's poor AJAX support and 'throw the baby out with the bath water' obsession of the MVC fanboys in the comments below it are perhaps more interesting.

ASP.NET: ASP.NET Futures: Use the MVC Framework to Write Web Apps without ViewState or Postbacks - Jeffrey Palermo gives his spin on the recent MVC Framework announcement, in an article written for Code Magazine.

LINQ: Use LINQ with WPF: Styles and DataTemplates in Code - good code samples from Calvin Hsia for those working on the bleeding edge. Make sure you read the comments before rushing in to code!

Misc: Community Antipattern: Gloryhound - the blogosphere seems full of 'glory hounds', and hopefully I'm way too low key (and old) to be one myself. If you're not sure what a glory hound is then read this entertaining article from Scott Bellware to find out.

Office 2007: Guidelines for Creating PowerPoint 2007 Templates - Office 2007 is a whole new world. If you're confused by templates, themes and custom slide layouts in the latest version of Microsoft Office there are some handly links in this blog entry from the Inside Office blog team.

Silverlight: DoJo GFX and Silverlight Test - In my view there are way too many JavaScript libraries out there, but if you're using DoJo then Adam Kinney has been testing it for integration with Silverlight and experienced some encouraging results.

Silverlight: Silverlight 1.1 (Alpha) Developer's Reference Poster - It's pretty, but not entirely sure how useful this rather marketing-oriented 'reference poster' will actually prove to be! Oh well if you have a big colour printer I guess it will look pretty on your wall.

UX: User Experience in the Enterprise - David Isbitski presents a video of his talk from MIX07 as the first in a video series on User Experience in the Enterprise.

VS2003: Uninstall cleanup tool for .NET Framework 1.0/1.1, VS.NET 2002/2003 - A bit late in the day perhaps, but this cleanup uninstall tool for pre- VS2005 versions of the framework and Visual Studio itself may sort out a broken Add/Remove Programs control panel dialogue if you're suffering from a bad uninstall.

Windows Live: Windows Live Tools for Visual Studio 2008 - A Windows Live toolkit for Visual Studio 2008 developers, but you'll also need to install Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX (no worries!) and their ASP.NET Futures beta/alpha/CTP/whatever they're calling it these days (lots of worries!).

Windows Server 2008: Step-by-Step Guides - Windows Server 2008 will soon be upon us. Get a head start by downloading these Step-by-Step guides from Microsoft.

WinForms: Splash Screen Control - Lloyd Franklin has the code and words to enable you to easily add a splash screen to any of your WinForms applications.

WPF: Building WPF Applications with the Page Navigation Framework - "It's just like ASP.NET, but with state" says Phil Winstanley. Judge for yourself after reading through his screenshot tutorial.

.NET 3.5: How to avoid OS Reboot Prompt when Installing .NET 3.5 on Windows Vista - Aaroon Stebner has advice and an explanation of why installing .NET 3.5 on Windows Vista can get very messy very quickly.

.NET 3.5: Possible .NET 3.5 Install Failure if MSXML registration is broken - Aaroon Stebner again has advice on how to diagnose and fix a .NET 3.5 framework installation failure caused by a poor MSXML registration.