Casa de Vega

Just post it

edgardo — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:00:14 +0000

I was participating in the workshop on How to Become a Person of Influence, hosted by Jo Miller, at Grace Hopper 2009. Throughout the workshop we were asked to exchange ideas and our assignments with those at the table. I was lucky enough to have Stormy Peters (of GNOME fame) at my table. During one of these exchanges on increasing our influence, we were asked to talk about things we knew we should be doing but are not. For me that was writing on my blog. I ended up talking about blogging and why I didn’t do more of it. She really got to the core reason why I wasn’t blogging. She said you are trying to emulate other blogs your read and really like, you are trying to be prefect. She told me to “Just post it”. She was completely right of course. I feel it is more important to actually publish the information and experiences that I have rather that trying to write the prefect post. I have using this mantra since I have updated my blog. I hope she approves of the new blog so far.

jQuery 1.4.1 and Intellisense

edgardo — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:24:36 +0000

If you are looking for the jquery 1.4.1 intellisense file(-vsdoc). It can now be found on the downloads section of jQuery web site. Here is the direct link for the -vsdoc file for jQuery.

In order to get VS 2008 SP1 to automatically use -vsdoc files with intellisense, you will still need to install the patch (I have previously cover this, but rehash it below). If you have VS 2010 support is already built in.

Not having the patch will result in the following warning:

Error updating JScript IntelliSense:

Object doesn’t support this property or method @2139:1

You need to download and install the following hotfix: KB958502-JScript Editor support for “-vsdoc.js” IntelliSense documentation files

You can force Visual Studio to update JavaScript IntelliSense by pressing Ctrl + Shift + J.

Why I switched to Wordpress

edgardo — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:02:42 +0000

Deciding to switch from BlogEngine.Net was something I did struggled with. I felt some loyalty to it though, because primarily I am an .Net developer. So making this decision was not easy at first, but after careful consideration of what was important to me the decision was easy.

I switched to Wordpress because BlogEngine.Net just wasn’t doing it for me. BlogEngine.Net is a great piece of software, but the overhead for me was just too high. I could customize it to my heart’s content such as adding my flickr badge, disclaimer, etc. via code. The problem is I just don’t want to take the time to make it work/look the way I want. I would rather actually write on my blog and not spend most of the time maintaining it (look, feel, versions).

I was able to install Wordpress in a few minutes using the auto installer my blog host provides. Then Import my blog posts to Wordpress. After that I was able to use Wordpress’s great directory of plug-ins and themes to get my blog to work/look the way I wanted. The part that took the longest was actually looking through and searching these directories and finding the plug-ins I wanted (yes I will post which ones I am using later). Also Wordpress has the ability to auto update, which is fantastic. Not only does the core Wordpress auto update, but does the the plug-ins and themes. One click of the button and a few moment later you are done, fully updated, with out having to to anything yourself.

In conclusion Wordpress gets out of my way and lets me just write, which is the point of having a blog right.

Importing BlogML to Wordpress

edgardo — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:00:50 +0000

I was using BlogEngine.NET, so I went to the main administrator page and exported my blog to a BlogML file on my computer.
Make sure your exported xml file is in UTF-8 format.
Install Wordpress on you favorite hosting provider. On many hosting providers this is a few click process that runs an auto installer.
Wordpress does not have a built in way to import BlogML. Luckily Kavida Munasinghe as already written the import module for us. BlogML to WordPress import module. Once you have the zip file on your computer just unzip the file and upload the two files directly into the wp-admin/imports folder. If you have an issues setting it up check his post and the related post he has.
Before you import, make sure you have setup your permalink structure to your liking. Once you import each post will get a new permalink, which will match the structure you setup. You will also get a cvs file with all the old permalinks and the corresponding new ones. You can use this file to create 301 permanent redirects as not to lose your link love.
Create a backup of your database. If you import and thing didn’t import to your liking, you will want to restore from this back and try again.
Now just log into your Wordpress blog and in the Tool section will find Import Menu. Select BlogML, browse your saved BlogML and click the upload and import button.
Now setup your redirects. Depending on the type of hosting you are using you will either have to setup .htaccess file or use something like the IIS 7 URL Rewrite module 1.1 or higher. You can check out the following Wordpress Codex for more information.

Updated the blog

edgardo — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:00:42 +0000

For those of you who actually visit casadevega and not view it through your favorite rss reader, you would have seen that my blog as gone through a complete redesign. What you might have not noticed is that I switch blogging software, from BlogEngine.NET to Wordpress (I will go into why in a later post). There should not be any problems as all my old posts have been imported and I have redirection working. So if you have links to my old blog they should just work. I have always used feedburner so hopefully you all come along for the ride as well. Hope you all enjoy the new look and feel. Let me know what you think or if you have any problems.

Moderating Comment

edgardo — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 09:42:00 +0000

I have decided to start moderating comments after being spamed for the last few days. So if you leave a comment, I will eventually approved it if I feel it isn't spam.

jQuery Ribbon

edgardo — Mon, 25 May 2009 11:25:33 +0000

I just came across another fantastic plug-in for jQuery, my favorite javascript framework. It is the Ribbon plug-in and it looks amazing. It almost exactly like the ribbon in Office 2010.It supports access keys, themes, lists, groups, forms, and dropdown menus. The demo page can be found at http://vinkr.net/ribbon. The code can be found on CodePlex. Many thanks to Mikael Söderström for creating an awesome jQuery plug-in.

Ribbon with Access keys:

Menu:

TechEd 2009 Presenters keeping their cool

edgardo — Thu, 14 May 2009 13:39:26 +0000

I have attended two session where the same repeated problem kept happening to the presenters.

The first SOA201 A First Look at WCF and WF in the Microsoft .NET Framework 4 with Aaron Skonnard. For some unknown reason, the slides where advancing without Aaron actually moving them forward. It could have been an evil trick being played on him or just a hardware glitch, but it was truly annoying for everyone. I have seen him in other talks over the years and he usually does not stay still. I think Aaron figured out that if he would go back to the slide he wanted and hold the key it would move forward. Once he figured this out he was just standing behind his computer holding the back key. At least that is what I think he was doing.

In the second DTL314 Understanding Code Extensibility with Jason Olson. Jason got to deal with two problems. Windows 7 was having a problem with his video drivers and windows would restart the video drivers. Also Visual Studio 2010 would crash out on him and he would have restart the web server or in some instances he would have to restart VS itself.

Both of these guys kept their cool and didn’t freak out. They didn’t let these issues effect their entire presentations. They made jokes, talk to audience, and just kept going. Even though they had these problems their presentations were still top notch. Hats off to both of you.

Getting E-mail to work with Blogengine.net and Webhost4life

edgardo — Wed, 13 May 2009 20:22:58 +0000

I realized, while I was here at TechEd 2009, that email wasn’t working for this blog. I use for my blogging software and my hosting provider is . In order to get it to work just go into your setting in blogengine.net and just type mail.webhost4life.com in the SMTP field and turn off SSL. After that you can test it out and it should work

The T-Shirts of TechEd 2009

edgardo — Tue, 12 May 2009 10:25:42 +0000

After the expo last night, I took photos of all the t-shirts I collected. I have both the fronts and the backs pictured. If there is a shirt that I am missing and want it displayed here, make a comment and I will stop by and pick one up and add it to the photos below.