Al Nyveldt

5 iPhone apps that have changed the way I work

Al Nyveldt — Thu, 28 May 2009 23:19:33 -0400

I've been a big fan of my iPhone since I got it back in October 2007. It was a game changing device for me back then. I went from carrying a phone and an iPod to work to a single device. I had mobile web browsing, good email access, and a solid phone which was a major upgrade from my Audiovox Smartphone and I could load up my audio as well.

After 3rd party apps became a reality, I've slowly started to add some to my device. As I was driving home from work today, I was thinking about all the different ways the iPhone has change my work day. Since most people are already aware of the included iPhone apps, I thought I'd share some of the 3rd party apps I use on a regular basis and have added them into my routine.

Todo - This is the most expensive iPhone app I've purchased and it is also the one I'd miss the most if I lost my iPhone. The iPhone doesn't have a good todo list option and I really need something to help me management my tasks. I've become a huge fan of Remember the Milk (RTM) for managing all my tasks, but the RTM iPhone app just wasn't exactly what I wanted. Todo is. Someday I'll likely write a detailed post on my task management process which after many years of struggles, I'm really happy with.

Jobs – Jobs is basically a fancy timer. It helps me keep track of time I spend working for clients. I keep my hours log right there and I don't have to bother to remember how long I spent on this, I simply need to start and stop the timer. I got onto this system using the Freshbooks app, but since I stopped using Freshbooks, Jobs is my time tracker of choice. This is another area that I always struggled with until I got into a system with the iPhone.

Bible - I really like reading the Bible on my iPhone for some reason. I think it was the first app I downloaded and I still use it all the time. I haven't tried any Bible apps other than this one, but I can’t imagine finding anything better. I love how I quickly change versions of the Bible and search to find the verse I was looking for. It is a great reading or studying tool.

Simplify Music 2 - This is an incredible app. I have an 8GB iPhone and I like to leave space for music, podcasts, audiobooks, apps, and files. I don't get to carry all the music I might want to listen to while at work or on the road, but with this app, I can just stream it off of my Mac or PC at home.

Air Sharing - I picked this one up when it was a free app while I thought it was neat I didn't realize the flexibility it gave me. Its basic function is to give you a wireless "USB key", but when you put files on it, you can read them or listen to them as needed. I use the file transfer on occasion as it is a nice option, but I'm more likely to download something I want to listen to on the way home from work or read a document I stored on it from this app. I use this the least of the apps listed here, but I'm always amazed by how it really transforms the iPhone to a computer in my mind. I no longer need to move the file to PC or sync it up to actually access the file.

There are other apps that I use on a regular basis, but I don't view them as routine changing. What iPhone apps have really changed your work habits?

BlogEngine.NET 1.5 Upgrade Guide

Al Nyveldt — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 19:40:52 -0400

With the final release now out the door, I want to take a little time to walk you through the process of upgrading your version of BlogEngine.NET.

As you’d expect, the upgrade process is fairly easy, however, I try to go into lots of details to cover as many different scenarios as I can. While the following guide is long, I fully expect, most of you will be able to skip a section or two along the way and be upgraded quickly and painlessly.

This guide was written from the perspective of upgrading from 1.4.5 to 1.5. If you were one of the people who tried out the 1.5 release candidate, this will work fine for you too. If you are using an older version, it would be best to read this over, but also to look at some of the past upgrade guides to learn about some other important changes.

1. Backup

This is my favorite step in the process. If you do this, there should be no fear of upgrading and in the horrific case of a problem, you can just revert back to your backup.

If you can’t bring yourself to backup the whole blog, be sure to at least get your App_Data folder, your themes and extensions, and your web.config file.

2. Download BlogEngine.NET 1.5 (web)

I’m sure you have already done this step, but if you haven’t, this is the time. You can download it here.

Once you have it downloaded, go ahead and unzip it and then remove the read only check in the properties. (apply to all subfolders and files).

3. Update your data and configuration

If you use the default XML data storage, you can move along to the next step. If you are not sure, you are likely using the default option, so you should move on too.

Welcome database person. It is time to update your database. It is a small change, but required.

In the newly downloaded BlogEngine folder, you will see a Setup folder. In this folder is a folder for each of the supported databases, MySQL, SQLite, SQL Server, and VistaDB. Find the one for the database you use and open the folder.

There is a readme.txt in the folder with instructions on upgrading. There should also be an upgrade script for your database and a new web.config file that you will need to put in place.

The web.config has changed since 1.4.5 and it is easiest to just use the new version that is included in the download and add your connection string info to it. If you made other changes, than you are on your own.

If you are using the SQLMembershipProvider and SQLRoleProvider, you’ll want to make sure you make this change in your web.config. We are defaulting to the DbMembershipProvider and DbRoleProvider to keep things simple.

4. Update your web server

We should be ready to start copying files to our web server. If you skipped step #1, this is your last chance to do that.

I find it smoothest to remove all the blog files and folders I don’t plan to keep first. Since I have a backup, I keep my App_Data folder and remove the rest. (I will put back my themes, extensions, and widgets later.)

Uploading to a remote web server can take a while. Be patient.

5. Security

This is not something to be concerned about unless you are upgrading from an older version, but I wanted to mention it for those coming from 1.3.1 or older. Please read the old guide to get the scoop. If you are a more current user, you can hold your head up high and move on to step #6.

6. Themes and Extensions

If you are using a custom theme, you will need to upload it right away. Any special widgets or controls you might be using will need to be there too for the theme to start up properly.

Make a note of what files you are putting out to your web server in case you have issues. If trouble arises, I’d start by switching themes to the Standard theme to make sure the default setup is working for you.

7. Open your site in your browser

It will take a few moments the first time around, so don’t panic if it does not come up right away. In a moment or two, if everything is well, you will see your blog.

If you have an error or display issue, take a look at the troubleshooting section below.

8. Clean up

If you didn’t copy all any themes, widgets, or extensions out, now is the time to do so. Refresh your browser once they are copied to have them take effect.

9. Theme updates

If you are not using one of the default themes, you’ll want to take a look at the comment form. A few tags were changed here and you may want to change the css for the comment section. Also, if you plan on enabling Nested Comments (see the Settings page), you will want to make some adjustments to your theme to handle it. See the comment view documentation page on our wiki.

Enjoy the goodness that is BlogEngine.NET 1.5!

Troubleshooting

Don’t fret. Any problems you’ve had have likely been seen before. Below are a few common things to check. If these don’t help, please head on out to the BlogEngine forums. If you can’t find the answer searching there, make a new post and ask for help.

Compile Errors:

Are you running MySQL, SQLite, or VistaDB? Are you sure you are using the version of the DLL listed in the web.config?
If you are using MySQL or SQL Server, do you have the correct connection string in your web.config?
Did you clean out all the old BlogEngine files or did you just overwrite them? Did an old file get left in place?
Did your FTP program miss a few files? It would be a good idea to make sure everything is uploaded.
Did you have a customized web.config before? Did you merge the changes in? Or are you using your old web.config?

BlogEngine Issues:

Can’t login? Were you using the SQLMembership Provider before and forget to configure it? If you are a DbMembership or XMLMembership user, you can clear out the password and log in with “admin”.
An application restart might help if you are locked up.

If you are still having an issue, please head on over to the forums. Search first as someone has likely already had the same issue, but if not, please ask.

Good luck and Happy Blogging!

BlogEngine.NET 1.5 Released

Al Nyveldt — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:21:00 -0400

The BlogEngine.NET team is pleased to announce that the final version of BlogEngine.NET 1.5 is now available for download. We had a good test run with the release candidate released earlier and after making a few small updates and bug fixes, the final version is ready to go.

As I mentioned in my previous post, this release has some great features and lots of performance improvements and bug fixes that make 1.5 a great upgrade for the existing BlogEngine user and wonderful option for someone just starting out.

The main features are:

Nested Comments can now be enabled.
BlogEngine.NET runs on Mono 2.4 out of the box.
Windows Live Writer support is superb and includes the new tagging feature that only BlogEngine.NET and WordPress support.
TinyMCE was updated for the web based writer.

You can download it here and then watch the installation screencasts if you need any help getting started.

Installation screencasts for BlogEngine.NET 1.5

Al Nyveldt — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 23:14:38 -0400

New version, new screencasts. (Yes, that is plural as I have many screencast ready to go.)

With BlogEngine.NET 1.5 RC being made available, I decided to update the installation screencast and a few of the database setup screencasts that commonly follow.

Installing BlogEngine.NET 1.5 Screencast

Setting up BlogEngine.NET 1.5 with SQL Server

Setting up BlogEngine.NET 1.5 with VistaDB

Setting up BlogEngine.NET 1.5 with SQLite

If you have questions or are running into problems, please check out the BlogEngine.NET forums. There are lots of helpful people there and tons of great information available.

Good luck with your BlogEngine.NET installation.

BlogEngine.NET 1.5 Release Candidate available

Al Nyveldt — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 22:17:23 -0400

This evening, the BlogEngine team made the release candidate available for BlogEngine.NET 1.5. This release was a long time in process and we felt is was best to make a release candidate available first.

I’m personally very excited about 1.5. The highlights include:

Improved Live Writer Support (including the new Tagging feature).
TinyMCE update
Ready for Mono 2.4.
Nested Comments are now available.
Better database support out of the box.
and, of course, lots of bug fixes, performance improvements, and other updates to make your blog experience better.

Please download it and give it a spin.

Installing BlogEngine.NET with the Microsoft Web App Gallery

Al Nyveldt — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:28:37 -0400

Today, Microsoft announced the new Web Application Gallery where you can browse and install web application right to your web server.

We were honored to have BlogEngine.NET included in the initial release of the gallery and enjoyed working with the team at Microsoft to get it ready for the Mix 09 release.

I made a quick screencast tonight to show you exactly what it is like to install BlogEngine using the new installer. It is now even simpler to get setup with BlogEngine.NET as the installer will check your dependencies and make sure you have everything you need in place to get up and running.

The installer will setup your blog with an XML backend at this time. You can then convert it to use SQL Server, MySQL, SQLite, or VistaDB after you’ve got up and running with XML. We will work on getting more options available for the release of BlogEngine.NET 1.5.

Updating to VistaDB Express 3.4

Al Nyveldt — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 22:23:48 -0400

As I’ve stated in the past, I use VistaDB Express to store the data for this blog. I really like the clean gui interface and the fact that it matches the SQL Server data types so well. It has been a pleasure to work with from my perspective.

I have not taken the plunge and purchased a full license as I don’t need it. I have been checking in on VistaDB’s blog and forums however. They have been busy making updates and fixed a minor issue I had been having with the express edition. While the progress was great news, it didn’t help me as the express edition hadn’t received any of these updates. Finally, last week, just a few days as I was planning a workaround to my issue, the updated Express edition was released.

Tonight, I finally got around to updating my blog from VistaDB Express 3.3 to 3.4. The process was pretty simple.

Backup your blog. Not really needed, but skip at your own peril.
Download and install VistaDB Express 3.4 to get the updated VistaDB.NET20.DLL.
Edit your web.config and change the VistaDB assembly from “3.3.1.54” to “3.4.2.77”. My web.config had this in information in 4 places. The DbProviderFactories section, the runtime section, and the system.web assemblies section.
Upload and overwrite the edited web.config (root) and the VistaDB.NET20.DLL (Bin folder).

There aren’t a lot of benefits to the this update that you’ll notice in BlogEngine.NET 1.4.5, but BlogEngine.NET 1.5 setup will be expecting the latest version in the default config.

Making time for open source

Al Nyveldt — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 22:25:44 -0400

Earlier this evening, after my wife and I got the kids to bed, I fired up my laptop, opened my twitter client of the day and started my Vista Dev VM to get working on my favorite open source project. As I often do, I read some of the past tweets while waited for Vista to get ready.

A number of twitter friends had just responded to question about finding time to contribute to open source which came from Sara Chipps and a blog post she had just made on the subject. I quickly read her post and read the conversation it generated and then my wife sent me to the neighbor’s farm to get a few gallons of milk leaving me a nice chunk of time to think about the open source question which is near and dear to my heart.

Can you really find the time?

I think we all make choices about what we are going to make time for. If I really want to do something, I usually find a why to get it into my schedule. It really depends on how bad I want it or feel I need it.

Everyone is different though and the amount of available time always seems to be less as I get older and my family grows. Unless, you are blessed with 50 hour days like some rock star developers seem to be, you just need to fit it in if it is important to you.

I’d bet you’d find you had a bit of filler time (TV, gaming, sleeping in, etc) that you could trim down. You’ll likely find that if you working on something you are excited about, most of the time you put into it will be as relaxing and enjoyable as some of your filler activities.

Is it really worth the effort?

It might seem like an incredible hassle to try to free up some of your valuable time to work on some open source project. Why would you even bother? There are actually a number of reasons, but one of the biggest is you grow as a developer through the process.

Most people who have read this far are likely interested in becoming a better developer. The experience you gain working with an open source project, on your own time and at your own pace, is very rewarding. This usually means working with existing code and learning from what someone else has done, but it can be creating something completely new and putting it out there for the world. Either way, you gain from the experience and you quickly learn better ways to do things either from feedback from others or from researching for better ways before you post your code to the world.

I think it helps to have another new problem set to think about. I have my main day job projects, but I like to have a number of different things to work on and think about. Being exposed to different ideas and other approaches to a problem will only help you improve.

But...

There are lots of excuses that can be thrown out at this point and how to get started is another blog post, but I encourage you to give it a try. If you don’t think your code is good enough or fits into the project, or would even be accepted, it doesn’t matter. I spent a lot of time working with open source code that never became part of the overall project, but I still gained a lot from it. Sometimes the contribution you want to make is not part of the vision of the base project and you can just make it for yourself or share it on your blog or on the forums.

Last year, I spent a number of evenings putting together a online BlogEngine theme installer. (The type of thing where you browse available themes from inside the admin panel, download and install right from the interface.) I knew it was not likely to ever get used, but I wanted to see how I could do it and I had a great time doing it. It was one of the most fun things I’ve worked on in the BlogEngine project and other than my long suffering wife, no one has ever seen it. While it wasn’t an open source contribution, it was a great experience and I learned a bunch doing it. (And yes, who knows, maybe someday, that code may be useful to the project, but don’t count on it.)

I can honestly say that open source work is one of the most rewarding things I’ve done over the past few years in the development world. The experiences I’ve have had and the people I’ve had the chance to work with have challenged me to get better and continue to do so.

CodeMash 2009

Al Nyveldt — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:26:39 -0400

I spend most of last week at CodeMash 2009. CodeMash is a great 3 day developer event held every winter in Ohio at Kalahari Resort. It not a .NET focused conference and I went with an idea to take in some of the non .NET world and learn a bit about Ruby, Groovy, and whatever else hit me as interesting.

PreCompiler

I arrived Tuesday evening in preparation for the PreCompiler on Wednesday. The PreCompiler was a extra day of full day or half day sessions which focused on a variety of things. I found these sessions to be among the best of the conference as there was so much time to get in to the topic and I was very torn as to which sessions to go to.

My first choice was the iPhone Development session, and I decided to hit the Ruby session in the morning as it was a full day session and I figured I'd be better off being there for the start then the last half. The Ruby session was different than I expected but very good none the less. We ended up downloading a series of tests and code and spent the morning fixing tests and learning Ruby. It was a self paced thing with the instructors just helping people as they got stuck. Since I had already played around with Ruby a little, I was able to quickly move through the exercises and got a good way through before lunch.

After lunch was the iPhone session. It was taught by Chris Adamson, who is co-authoring an iPhone book I've already been reading, iPhone SDK Development. While I had covered most of what Chris went though, it was really good to be able to pick up some shortcuts and to get a better handle on some of the concepts.

Sessions

Thursday and Friday were filled with some great sessions. I heard a number of people saying there were just so many good opinions for each time slot they had no idea which one to go to. There were also some interesting open spaces conversations going on at the same time which made the choices tougher.

A few of the highlights here for me were Mary Poppendieck's session on Thrashing (and a lunch table chat as well) and Venkat Subramaniam's talks. Venkat is a great speaker and very enjoyable to listen to.

People

It is hard to go to a conference like CodeMash and not meet a bunch of great people. I had a number of interesting conversations with people from all over and really had a nice time. CodeMash was so large that a few of the people I had hoped to meet, I never did run into or find again. Having to leave early on Friday didn't help matters in this area I'm sure.

Overall

I had a fantastic time at CodeMash 2009 and hopefully, I'll be able to attend again next year. I also hope my family can come as well as the Kalahari was awesome and the kids would have had an excellent time. If it all works out, I'll try to make sure I can stay until Saturday and have a relaxing day with the kids at the water park.

Live Writer Tagging Feature in BlogEngine.NET

Al Nyveldt — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 22:14:17 -0400

This week, the Live Writer team released the first release candidate for Live Writer 2009. The latest version has continue to build on the betas from the fall and is just a really nice blogging tool. The update has a new look and bunch of new stuff you can read about other places, but I wanted to write about the new server-side tagging feature that is available for the BlogEngine.NET bloggers using 1.4.5.9 and beyond.

When using the newest Live Writer and a fairly current build of BlogEngine.NET you will get a new Tags entry box right next to the categories drop down. While BlogEngine.NET users have always been able to enter tags in Live Writer using the Keywords box, the new box does a lookup as you type so you can see the tags you’ve already entered and select them from a list. Our complete tag list button is still available for viewing all your tags, but this new list is pretty handy.

I really like the way the Live Writer team is pushing the API and allowing developers to enhance the Live Writer experience. If the cool stuff Live Writer allows your favorite blog software to do isn’t enough, there are 100s of plug ins that add even more functionality. I look forward to seeing what new functionality they offer us next.