Ryan LaNeve

Big Visible Cruise++

rlaneve — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:12:05 GMT

Inspired by Jeffrey Palermo’s recent post , I figured it was time to finish my post on our “ information radiator ” setup which has been in my drafts folder for about 6 months. When we started using CruiseControl.NET for continuous integration a few years...(read more)

CI with AccuRev and CC.NET

rlaneve — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 16:33:00 GMT

In my last post , I mentioned working with Camtasia to create my portion of a webinar being broadcast later today (3:00 PM EDT). If you're using AccuRev , CruiseControl.NET or both, or just interested in the subject of Continuous Integration or seeing...(read more)

Thinking Like a Programmer

rlaneve — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 11:32:00 GMT

A few weeks ago, I was asked to participate in a webinar being done by AccuRev (the company) around the topic of continuous integration using AccuRev (the software) and CruiseControl.NET. One of the guys on the AccuRev team was preparing a video using Camtasia, and we agreed it would be easier for me to record my part using the same tool and we'd then stitch our two projects together to product the final video. I have used other screen-capture/recording tools in the past for some of our internal training needs, but I hadn't really done one in a while and I had never done one using Camtasia (though I knew of the software and probably tried a demo some years back). So, I grabbed the latest available demo version (5.0) and started playing. First things first: great software. I found it very easy to use, and very easy to put a few "special touches" here and there. All-in-all, a good experience and I recommended to my boss that we switch to Camtasia whenever we get around to making some new training videos. There was, however, one problem I ran into which was a bit frustrating: no way to change a setting which positively had to be changed to make the software usable for my setup. The solution? Think like a programmer....(read more)

BDD Style Specification Reporting via CC.NET

rlaneve — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 16:10:00 GMT

After reading posts by Jean-Paul Boodhoo and Dave Laribee regarding BDD style naming conventions for specifications, my team gave it a shot on a project we started recently. It didn't take us long to agree that we preferred this naming style over the styles (or lack there-of) we had used in prior projects. We even found ourselves catching mistakes - in either the implementation or interpretation of the projects specifications - just by reading through the Dox report generated by the MbUnit GUI runner. We don't generally use the MbUnit GUI, however, and the output of the Dox report, though helpful, was not exactly what we were looking for. Since we have a continuous integration server running builds on every check-in, we decided to take a shot at having something generated during those builds. An example is seen below, which was generated using the MbUnit XML output from running the tests in the NothingButDotNetStore sample Jean-Paul has up on Google Code mixed with a custom XSL file.

We modified the build server's config to add a "specifications" report link when viewing the details of a build, and have definitely found it useful to have such an easy-to-read, always available and always up-to-date list of the specifications currently implemented by the project. While we're not quite to the point of being completely happy with what we've got - still some sorting, naming, organizational issues to work out - we definitely all agree that we are better off using this style of naming and having this report readily available for each build.

Here is a zip containing an MbUnit and NUnit version of the XSL we are using to generate reports like the one shown above. As I said, they really aren't perfect, but should get you started if you're trying out a similar style of naming convention. Let me know if you make any improvements.

App Developer opening in Tampa, FL

rlaneve — Mon, 13 Sep 2004 18:58:00 GMT

Got the chops to juggle multiple projects from design to development to completion? Tired of trying to convince your boss there is actual value in playing...err...*learning* things like Whidbey and Yukon before they're released? Interested in joining a team celebrated by its users as we prepare to build their next generation of applications and tools? Are you in the Tampa Bay area, or always wanted to live in a place you'd be evacuated from several times a year? Then apply now for the Applications Developer position available at Audio Visual Innovations, Inc.!

[Note: the position is incorrectly listed as being in Cleveland, OH right now. It is most definitely in Tampa, FL, and will be corrected on CareerBuilder soon.]

Two parts FlexWiki, one part reflection, shake vigorously...

rlaneve — Thu, 05 Feb 2004 06:50:00 GMT

While working on the FlexWiki project, I became interested in the feature suggestion known as “Wiki Class Pages”. The idea was to enable automatic generation of pages to document/discuss the classes/methods/etc... of a given assembly. Basically, you get online documentation combined with the commenting/discussion abilities of a wiki. This functionality is not quite complete - dare I say, nowhere near complete - but it's certainly at a point to start showing others and testing against various assemblies. The current implementation displays a class' or interface's public constructors, fields, properties and methods using reflection, which is then combined with the information in the XML documentation generated by the C# compiler. My personal site has two assemblies being auto-documented: the FlexWiki engine itself and another GDN project called “DotNETShipping”. My real intent is to use this functionality on my internal development wiki where I work, but it may be useful for public projects such as those I just mentioned.

Made It!

rlaneve — Mon, 27 Oct 2003 01:42:00 GMT

After finding out LAX was closed this morning, we decided to drive from San Francisco instead of waiting around indefinitely. Turns out, it was a good choice. Four hours in the car and now we've arrived.

More to come, I'm sure.

PDC Session List - PDF

rlaneve — Fri, 24 Oct 2003 19:04:00 GMT

I believe Julia is travelling and didn't think she'd have a chance to update her PDF session list, so I went ahead and created a new PDF from my updated XML file. This one is only by timeslot, though - I didn't make one by track like she did. Maybe I'll get a chance on the flight out to San Francisco this evening.

PDC Sessions by Timeslot (PDF)

PDC Session List as XML - Updated

rlaneve — Fri, 24 Oct 2003 15:55:00 GMT

My XML version of the PDC sessions list has been updated, and now includes Pre-Con sessions, BOF sessions and the panels on Thursday. Get the updated file here. (Hopefully, Julia will have a chance to update her PDF versions!)

Job Opening - Tampa, FL

rlaneve — Tue, 21 Oct 2003 14:58:00 GMT

Ok, ok...I promised myself I wouldn't post anything other than .NET related information to this blog, but the job is certainly .NET related!

I'm looking for an Applications Developer in the Tampa, FL area. Apply via CareerBuilder at the link below if you're interested, and feel free to contact me for me for more information.

http://www.careerbuilder.com/JobSeeker/Jobs/JobDetails.asp?SiteID=cbdetshr&did=J357W6FQYG84X08R5L

PDC Session List as XML

rlaneve — Mon, 06 Oct 2003 20:02:00 GMT

For those of you wanting a better view of the PDC sessions list, here's an XML file you can start with. Hopefully, someone will use it to generate the “grid-style” schedule many are wanting to see and share it with us all.

MCSD.NET

rlaneve — Fri, 26 Sep 2003 20:19:00 GMT

In passed my fifth exam today, so now I can label myself an MCSD.NET! I hadn't really intended to take more than a single exam, but I found a momentum building after I got started.

70-316 : Windows-based Applications with C#, taken on 8/29
This one was first, and certainly the easiest for me.

70-315 : Web Applications with C#, taken on 9/4
This one wasn't much worse than the first, and certainly repeated quite a few questions relating to ADO.NET.

70-320 : XML Web Services and Server Components with C#, taken on 9/9
This one was a bit trickier, as I didn't have much experience with Remoting. Still not too bad, though, and again repeated several ADO.NET questions.

70-229 : Designing and Implementing Databases with SQL Server 2000, taken on 9/18
No problems here. I've been using SQL Server for 5+ years, so other than brushing up on a few things I don't use daily there were no issues.

70-300 : Analyzing Requirements and Defining .NET Solution Architectures, taken on 9/26
This one scared me a bit. The change in exam format and question/answer styles made me nervous. Fortunately, this one still used the older style scoring format of a simple “pass/fail”. I don't think I want to know my actual score on this one!

To anyone considering taking some or all of these exams, I would definitely recommend scheduling them in the order you feel most confident of passing. Some might say it's better to get the tougher ones out of the way first, but I'm in the camp who thinks it's better to build-up your confidence as you progress into more difficult territory.

Blogs All Around

rlaneve — Fri, 08 Aug 2003 02:20:00 GMT

My co-worker and I finally had a few minutes to take a look at the .Text source a couple of days ago. Once we had it installed and running (very easy, btw), we started looking at what we would need to change in order to make it useable in our environment. The first thing was the need to login. All of our internal sites use integrated Windows authentication - no one gets prompted for credentials unless it's a highly sensitive app and even then the prompt is for their standard network info, not an app specific ID and password. When it was all said and done, it took us about an hour and only a few small changes among only a few files. The architecture is very straight forward and was quite easy to follow. We setup .Text in the mult-blog format using virtual folders, and each of our blogs is setup as our network ID (e.g., mine would be weblogs.aviinc.local/rlaneve). With our changes in place, no one ever sees a login control but when I go to my blog - and my blog only - I automatically see the “admin“ link. So far so good!

nDoc 1.2 is out

rlaneve — Thu, 31 Jul 2003 02:32:00 GMT

Someone probably caught this before me, but if anyone else missed it nDoc 1.2 (final) was released on the 27th.

Go grab it!

Custom Projects / Project Items

rlaneve — Tue, 29 Jul 2003 05:26:00 GMT

I'm always looking for ways to save a bit of time or monotony when it comes to writing code in the office. The majority of our projects are typical corporate apps (read: boring as h*ll), so any little trick that can save me a few minutes and get me on to more interesting tasks quicker is welcome. With that in mind, I began looking at code templates, customizing project items, etc, etc... some time ago. Initially, I was looking for a way to add a custom project item which would add a strongly-typed collection to the current project. I was working on a project that had quite a few collection classes, and re-writing the same code over and over was groing tiring. Sure, it's not complex code, but there had to be a better way. I'm not much for code generators - I'm extremely picky about the end-result of such systems - and at the time (over a year ago) I wasn't aware of any add-ins that could help me in my quest. With a little help from an article by Chris Sells, I was able to get my custom item added to the “Add New Item” dialogue in VS.NET, complete with an HTML-based GUI allowing me to specify the contained class name, the collection class name, whether I wanted the collection to be read-only and a couple of other options. A few key-strokes and a couple of check-box selections later and my strongly-typed collection was added to my project. All in all, I was pleased. Heck, it even had our corporate logo at the top of the GUI.

This evening, I've spent a few hours exploring another type of customization: custom projects. I wanted the ability to click “New Project”, select “Windows Form (AVI)” from the list and have a project generated with a few extra files, a few extra default references and a few settings different than the standard “Windows Form” project. I considered using my previously gained knowledge of the VS.NET projects/items system to just alter the standard “Windows Form” project, but I don't really like doing such things. I did it with the ST Collection wizard I described above and had to “re-do” it when VS.NET 2003 came out (and even lost the customization once when I hosed VS.NET 2002 and had to re-install, forgetting to save my customizations first). So, I started digging. Turns out, it's not that hard.

Adding a sub-key to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\VisualStudio\7.1\NewProjectTemplates\TemplateDirs\{FAE04EC1-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC} got me a new “Project Types” entry shown when “New Project” is selected in VS.NET. I pointed the key's “TemplatesDir” value to a folder of my choosing where I could store my project wizards so I don't have to worry about losing them. I copied the existing “CSharpEXE.vsz“ file and the “CSharpEXEWiz“ folder into my custom folder and then tweaked the vsz file to point to the location of my “CSharpEXEWiz“ folder. This one required the path to be relative to VS.NET's original path, but the error displayed when it didn't work initially was sufficient to figure out what was going on. Getting custom project items listed was pretty much the same process. First, a new sub-key was added to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\VisualStudio\7.1\Projects\{FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}\AddItemTemplates\TemplateDirs\{FAE04EC1-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}, with it's name matching the previously added sub-key (”/2” for both in my case). Again, I set the “TemplatesDir” value to another folder of my choosing. Next, I copied the contents of the existing “CSharpProjectItems” folder within the VS.NET folder hierarchy into my custom folder, along with the “CSharpAddClassWiz“ folder. Again, I tweaked a vsz file - this time the “CSharpAddClassWiz.vsz” file - to point to my customized “CSharpAddClassWiz” folder. That's about it!

So now, we can go into VS.NET and, after clicking “New Project”, we will see an “AVI Projects” folder with a “Windows Forms” option (only one for now - probably do a custom “Class Library” option tomorrow). Starting from that project instead of the default gets us a customized app.config file, a customized AssemblyInfo.cs file, additional “using“ statements and additional references already added. After that, when clicking “Project | Add New Item...” we're greeted by an “AVI Project Items” folder with our customized options available (such as “Class”, which has our standard “using” statements already added, our standard “regions” defined, etc, etc...). I've left out a few of the details on how this is all done, but anyone who's interested is welcome to ask for help. And anyone who's done some customizations like this, let me know about your own experiences.