Sometimes technical, sometimes not, never a kitty

I have a web forms application based on Crystal Reports .NET 2003, and one of the options I present users is the choice between HTML output (using CrystalReportViewer), or export to PDF or XLS.  All the reports from this application open in a new window (see http://aspalliance.com/525), which adds an additional problem with Win XP SP2.  Usually, setting the pop-up blocker to "always allow pop-ups from this site" fixes the problem, but not in this recent case. 

In this recent case, the popup window opened normally, and HTML output worked fine.  For PDf and XLS output, the popup would open and close in an instant, with no prompt to download the file.  We eventually figured out that prompting for file downloads, and downloads themselves, can be disabled with IE6 and XP SP2.  Previous versions of IE allowed you to disable downloads, but the prompt disable was new to me.

Long story short, if your users aren't being prompted to download the output file, change the IE settings by navigationg Tools >> Internet Options >> Security >> Custom Level, and make sure "Automatic promting for file downloads" and "file download" are both enabled.

Technology Usage Improves Businesses - Butler Economy on Resurgence

Butler, PA - Butler's business climate has been on a steady upswing since September, 2005.  Analysts attribute the improvement to better usage of technologies based on Microsoft's .NET platform, among other products.

This technology transfer has largely been through the efforts of consultant Richard Dudley.  Dudley, co-owner of a local flower shop (The Bloomery Florist - www.bloomery.com) and a former molecular biologist, is seemingly a direct pipeline from Microsoft to local businesses both large and small.  Aside from direct interaction with clients, Dudley shares his knowledge and experience through his blog (at http://www.rjdudley.com/blog), articles authored for ASP Alliance, presentations at the Butler Area Dot Net User Group (www.badnug.org), and in the ASP.NET forums and Microsoft newsgroups.

"PDC (Professional Developers Conference) 2005 was great timing for me, " says Dudley, "I was implementing a multi-portal SharePoint Portal Server solution at one company, and participating in the Maestro beta program with another company.  The PDC sessions were invaluable material for both current projects and future planning."

It didn't take Dudley long to bring his PDC-gained knowledge to a large group of small businesses.  In another stroke of lucky timing, Dudley was already scheduled to speak at the Society of American Florists (SAF - http://safnow.org/meetings/convention.cfm) national convention in late September by the time PDC was officially announced.  Dudley's presentation focused on marketing through blogging (something he does with his flower shop’s blog at www.bloomeryweddings.com/blog), but his interactions outside of his panel were just as valuable.  "At SAF, I interacted with a number of businesses that could benefit greatly from Microsoft Point of Sale solutions, Small Business Server, and Microsoft's new Small Business Accounting product.  I was able to make recommendations to my fellow attendees, and help locate experts in their geographic areas.  Being exposed to these products at PDC enabled me recommend appropriate technologies based on the business needs."  Dudley also favors wider adoption of Microsoft's .NET platform.  "The floral supply chain is very international, with products coming from a number of different countries.  The .NET platform's globalization capabilities make it a superb development tool for our industry."

Back home in Butler, Dudley's understanding of business processes and technology have had a positive impact upon his clients.  More than one client cited his ability to automate time consuming tasks.  Replacing a manual process with an ASP.NET and SQL Server-based solution saved one client 9 man-days per month.  "That was huge.  Sometimes, automation is seen as a threat, so it's also part of my job to point out the benefits of what we're doing.  One of my favorite quotes comes from a recent Fast Company article, 'PrairieStone's finely tuned system uses automation in a particularly sophisticated way -- not merely to cut costs or speed up processes, but to free workers from the routine parts of their jobs so they can offer their highest and best contributions.'  It’s a great thrill for me to enable knowledge workers so they can offer their best contributions."

My latest ASP Alliance article has been published: A Simple Passphrase Generator

Passphrases have been receiving more and more attention as part of a strong security policy. When building secure web-based applications, assigning random passphrases to new user accounts can be a bit of a challenge. In this article, we'll build a simple passphrase generator that can be used as part of a web application to set or reset user passphrases.

The sample project is in VB.NET / VS 2003.

That window in the Crystal Reports .NET designer that shows the database fields, formula fields, etc. is called the “Field Explorer”, unless you need to reopen it.  If you need to reopen the Field Explorer, navigate View >> Other Windows >> Document Outline.  In the CR Designer, the Document Outline becomes the Field Explorer.  On other pages, it's just the Document Outline.

I installed Brian Dela's Trackback Spam Blocker, and it rocks.  Picked off 50 trackback spams last night, all pointing to iterations of the same URL, but multiple (possibly spoofed) IP addresses.  Thanks, Brian, you rock.

Note: the following is opinion, based on my personal experiences over the last 20 years in the corporate and academic worlds, using Macs and PCs alike.

In the early days of the Mac, Apple had a chance.  A very good chance.  Many big businesses were already accustomed to the slick interface of Xerox ViewPoint workstations, and the Mac offered a very good facsimile of them.  People found them easy to use, they were comparably priced, and they ran all the popular software (such as WordPerfect and Quattro, and even some Lotus 1-2-3 variant).  But then something happened that made business communication look respectable.  HP brought out a relatively inexpensive laser printer that worked only with MS-DOS or PC-DOS machines.  It's not that HP didn't want to work with Macs, Apple wouldn't open the architecture to let them.  Up to this point, most business printing was done on 9-pin dot matrix printers, which looked crappy.   Quality printing had to be done via a huge client-server beast that had a central printer somewhere in the basement.  HP brought that quality printing to the desktop.  But only for the platforms that wanted it.  At this time in history, PCs were still relatively rare, so being able to communicate from your PC and have it look as good as they IBM Selectric was very desirable.  Business wanted the high quality laser printing in a bad way, but it would be another couple of years before Apple would bring out their first LaserWriter.  By then, it was vastly inferior to its counterpart, the veritable HP LJ III (some of which I'm sure are still being used somewhere).  Even though it would be many more years before Windows 95 would be released, DOS and OS/2 -based machines were already deeply entrenched in businesses.  It would be nearly 10 years before HP's laser printers could be used with Macs that weren't on a network.  And by then, it was way to late.  Was Mac a better interface than DOS?  Hell yeah.  But DOS had better printers.  Say what you will about Microsoft's backroom deals, but IMHO, it was really a combination of a printer and a very closed technology that kept Apple out of the business market.

[UPDATE]

This is a commentary based on advertised features, not a product review.  If you are confused as to what the differences are, stop reading now.  If you can tell the difference, read on.  The comments will attest that some cannot tell the difference.

[/UPDATE]

[UPDATE2]

For a product review, read the Personal Technology column in today's (Aug 4 2005) Wall St. Journal.  Walt Mossberg, who is no great fan of Microsoft, and has actually used this mouse, points out the deficiencies of this mouse.  Some of what I was criticized for saying yesterday (Aug 3 2005) turns out to be true.  Online: http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/ptech-20050804.html.

[/UPDATE2]

I had to see what all the buzz was about regrding Apple's new "Might Mouse", so I checked out Apple's website.  In the past, Microsoft has been accused of simply copying the ideas of others, especially Apple.  Today, I think MS can safely say "back at ya".  Here's the 4 major features of the "Mighty Mouse":

1) "Touch sensitive technology detects right and left click."

Right click!  No way!  How'd they come up with that?  I remember having a Logitech 3 button mouse all the way back on Windows 386 (that would be before Windows 3 for you Regan-era babies).

2) "The innovative Scroll Ball gives you 360 scrolling capability."

The ball's been used before, but admittedly to move the mouse rather than scroll the document.  For several years, MS has had a mouse with the usual click wheel that also tilted to scroll a document left and right (see http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/mouseandkeyboard/features/tiltwheel.mspx).

3) "Horizontal, vertical and even diagonal scrolling offers more control."

I'm not sure if the tilt wheel in #2 scrolls diagonally, but I'm also not sure the scrolling thing bears repeating.

4) "Force sensing side-buttons let you activate apps."

Yawn.  Been there, done that, hate those things because the buttons are right where I grab the mouse to reposition it, and the damn apps launch.  I think they even stopped making that model because it was such an annoyance.  My wife still has hers, and it drives me nuts.

Oen thing that seems to be missing is any element of ergonomics.  It's still pretty much the same shape as the usual Mac mouse.  At least MS bothers to put some comfort into their mouse designs.

During today's regional UG leaders conference call, Stan Spotts announced that Philly will be hosting one of the 10 VS 2005 kick-off events on December 13 at the convention center.  More details as they come available.

For those of you who don't know, those sweet validators we use in WebForms are not available in Windows Forms.  Greg Duncan has a post today that shows how to use an ExtenderProvider to create a RegEx validator in the same vein as the web one.  MVP Billy Hollis had a similar article in 2003, and shows how to create several validators.  For the time-pinched, you can find a current version of the sample at http://dotnetmasters.com/samples.htm.