Free eBook Essential Skills for Agile Development

I stumbled upon this freely downloadable EBook (though you can also buy it at Amazon in Print) called Essential Skills for Agile Development (external). You can download it as PDF from www.AgileSkills.Org (external)I haven't read it yet, but it seems like a nice recap of some of the most essential skills a developer would want to learn first. they specifically state they are going for the 80-20 rule: teaching the 20% of skills that gets you 80% there in terms of agility.

Scripting automatic startup for virtual machines under Virtual Server

Virtual Server allows you to configure virtual machines to startup automatically when the host system boots.  However in order to enable this feature you need to configure a user account to run the virtual machine under first (as when the host system boots there is no available user session to run the virtual machine under).  Below is a script that will configure a virtual machine to start automatically when the host system boots - if it was running when the host system shutdown:

Set objVS = CreateObject("VirtualServer.Application")
Set objVM = objVS.FindVirtualMachine("VM Name")
objVM.RunAsDefinedAccount = True
result = objVM.SetAccountNameAndPassword("DOMAIN\Username","Password")
objVM.AutoStartAtLaunch = 2

If you want the virtual machine to always start (whether it was running before or not) you should set AutoStartAtLaunch to 1.

source: http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2006/03/16/550717.aspx (external)


Pure CSS Scrollable Table with Fixed Header

Ran across this cool bit of code.  I could have used this for some of the projects that I have where paging of data is not an option. 

http://www.imaputz.com/cssStuff/bigFourVersion.html


Useful RUN commands for windows

Useful Run Commands for Windows

To Access Run Command
Accessibility Controls access.cpl
Add Hardware Wizard hdwwiz.cpl
Add/Remove Programs appwiz.cpl
Administrative Tools control admintools
Automatic Updates wuaucpl.cpl
Bluetooth Transfer Wizard fsquirt
Calculator calc
Certificate Manager certmgr.msc
Character Map charmap
Check Disk Utility chkdsk
Clipboard Viewer clipbrd
Command Prompt cmd
Component Services dcomcnfg
Computer Management compmgmt.msc
Date and Time Properties timedate.cpl
DDE Shares ddeshare
Device Manager devmgmt.msc
Direct X Control Panel (If Installed)* directx.cpl
Direct X Troubleshooter dxdiag
Disk Cleanup Utility cleanmgr
Disk Defragment dfrg.msc
Disk Management diskmgmt.msc
Disk Partition Manager diskpart
Display Properties control desktop
Display Properties desk.cpl
Display Properties (w/Appearance Tab Preselected) control color
Dr. Watson System Troubleshooting Utility drwtsn32
Driver Verifier Utility verifier
Event Viewer eventvwr.msc
File Signature Verification Tool sigverif
Findfast findfast.cpl
Folders Properties control folders
Fonts control fonts
Fonts Folder fonts
Free Cell Card Game freecell
Game Controllers joy.cpl
Group Policy Editor (XP Prof) gpedit.msc
Hearts Card Game mshearts
Iexpress Wizard iexpress
Indexing Service ciadv.msc
Internet Properties inetcpl.cpl
IP Configuration (Display Connection Configuration) ipconfig /all
IP Configuration (Display DNS Cache Contents) ipconfig /displaydns
IP Configuration (Delete DNS Cache Contents) ipconfig /flushdns
IP Configuration (Release All Connections) ipconfig /release
IP Configuration (Renew All Connections) ipconfig /renew
IP Configuration (Refreshes DHCP & Re-Registers DNS) ipconfig /registerdns
IP Configuration (Display DHCP Class ID) ipconfig /showclassid
IP Configuration (Modifies DHCP Class ID) ipconfig /setclassid
Java Control Panel (If Installed) jpicpl32.cpl
Java Control Panel (If Installed) javaws
Keyboard Properties control keyboard
Local Security Settings secpol.msc
Local Users and Groups lusrmgr.msc
Logs You Out Of Windows logoff
Microsoft Chat winchat
Minesweeper Game winmine
Mouse Properties control mouse
Mouse Properties main.cpl
Network Connections control netconnections
Network Connections ncpa.cpl
Network Setup Wizard netsetup.cpl
Notepad notepad
Nview Desktop Manager(If Installed) nvtuicpl.cpl
Object Packager packager
ODBC Data Source Administrator odbccp32.cpl
On Screen Keyboard osk
Opens AC3 Filter (If Installed) ac3filter.cpl
Password Properties password.cpl
Performance Monitor perfmon.msc
Performance Monitor perfmon
Phone and Modem Options telephon.cpl
Power Configuration powercfg.cpl
Printers and Faxes control printers
Printers Folder printers
Private Character Editor eudcedit
Quicktime (If Installed) QuickTime.cpl
Regional Settings intl.cpl
Registry Editor regedit
Registry Editor regedit32
Remote Desktop mstsc
Removable Storage ntmsmgr.msc
Removable Storage Operator Requests ntmsoprq.msc
Resultant Set of Policy (XP Prof) rsop.msc
Scanners and Cameras sticpl.cpl
Scheduled Tasks control schedtasks
Security wscui.cpl
Services services.msc
Shared Folders fsmgmt.msc
Shuts Down Windows shutdown
Sounds and Audio mmsys.cpl
Spider Solitare Card Game spider
SQL Client Configuration cliconfg
System Configuration Editor sysedit
System Configuration Utility msconfig
System File Checker Utility (Scan Immediately) sfc /scannow
System File Checker Utility (Scan Once At Next Boot) sfc /scanonce
System File Checker Utility (Scan On Every Boot) sfc /scanboot
System File Checker Utility (Return to Default Setting) sfc /revert
System File Checker Utility (Purge File Cache) sfc /purgecache
System File Checker Utility (Set Cache Size to size x) sfc /cachesize=x
System Properties sysdm.cpl
Task Manager taskmgr
Telnet Client telnet
User Account Management nusrmgr.cpl
Utility Manager utilman
Windows Firewall firewall.cpl
Windows Magnifier magnify
Windows Management Infrastructure wmimgmt.msc
Windows System Security Tool syskey
Windows Update Launches wupdmgr
Windows XP Tour Wizard tourstart
Wordpad write

source: http://weblogs.asp.net/dvravikanth/archive/2006/01/18/435764.aspx(external)


Create a Data Access Layer in less than 15 minutes

Rob Howard put together an article and a video tutorial that shows how you can create a Data Access Layer that implements the Microsoft Patterns & Practices recommended data access techniques (including use of the Enterprise Libraries) for you database in less than 15 minutes. ...and 12 minutes of that time is spent downloading the software!

source: http://weblogs.asp.net/rhoward/archive/2006/02/13/438156.aspx (external)


Free online SQL Server 2005 courses

You can now take online SQL Server 2005 courses for free - https://www.microsoftelearning.com/catalog/itproDev.aspx#sqlServer.  I have not tried any of the courses yet but typically the online MS courses are decent.


Visual Studio 2005 Code Snippets

Microsoft has released a set of new C# code snippets that encompass a vast majority of common scenarios. http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/downloads/codesnippets/default.aspx (external).  I have not tried any of these since I am not working with VS 2005 yet but they did look cool.

Fixing Blank Pages in CHM files

I needed to look something up in a chm that I had downloaded but when I opened the file all I saw were blank pages.

I did some searching and found that you have to do the following to allow the content in the .chm to be displayed.

1. Right click on the file and choose Properties
2. Click the Unblock button


SQL MythBusters – MSDE/SQL Express has a 5 concurrent user limit

Pretty cool blog post on the history the MS MSDE database and how the SQL Express edition has changed.

http://blogs.msdn.com/euanga/archive/2006/03/09/545576.aspx (external)


Cool tip to hide your desktop icons

If you are like me and have a bunch of icons on your desktop, it can be distracting when you are giving demos.  Instead you can follow the steps below on how to hide the icons.   

To make your desktop clean:

  1. Go to a clear area on your desktop.
  2. Right Click
  3. Select “Arrange Icon by”
  4. Select “Show Desktop Icons”
  5. Follow the Same Steps to show the Icon again after your demo is over.

source: http://blogs.msdn.com/midatlanticcrm/archive/2006/03/15/Microsoft_CRM_Demo_Tip_Cleaning_your_desktop.aspx (external)