Update: Another example, this one after Alt+Tab switching from another app back to Firefox.
Tags: Firefox 2.0
10.28.2006
Weird tab bug in Firefox 2.0
In Firefox 2.0, with two or more tabs open, roll the mouse pointer over a tab caption and up into the Bookmarks Toolbar. Sometimes the icons and text from the Bookmarks Toolbar will overlay the tab caption (see image below). Doesn't always happen, but has happened several times. Looks like a bug?
Update: Another example, this one after Alt+Tab switching from another app back to Firefox.
Update: Another example, this one after Alt+Tab switching from another app back to Firefox.
10.26.2006
FeedDemon 2.1 Beta
With my Southwest Fox conference presentations behind me, my laptop machine is once again fair game for fun new stuff including beta releases. At least, for beta releases of software I've grown to trust, which includes FeedDemon. Tonight I installed FeedDemon 2.1 Beta 3a, replacing the latest release version 2.0.0.25 on this machine. My immediate first impression is that it's a lot faster, both at downloading feeds and at moving among them in the reader once the feed cache has been updated. Browsing feeds on this machine has always been a bit sluggish, which I've always attributed to a relatively slow processor (800 MHz) and a relatively large number of feeds (480, with a cache size somewhere north of 135MB). If the speed difference is real and not just a difference in my perception it'll be a welcome improvement. Release notes for v2.1 Beta 3 are here.
Tags: FeedDemon
Tags: FeedDemon
10.24.2006
Southwest Fox 2006 Wrap-up
It's Monday morning and I'm back in the office again, a bit bleary-eyed after yesterday's return trip from the Southwest Fox conference in Phoenix. Getting up this morning to face 35° and overcast here in Illinois after leaving 85° and sunny in Phoenix was not easy, but living in the Midwest this time of year builds character (or at least that's what we tell ourselves).
Southwest Fox 2006 was a great conference. Organizer Bob Kocher put together a top-drawer lineup of speakers and sessions, and I got to see many of them when not doing one my own presentations. In addition to the speakers whom I always look forward to seeing at VFP conferences, this year saw the return of Jim Booth to the speakers circuit after a long hiatus, Mike and Toni Feltman were both there as speakers, and Christof Wollenhaupt came all the way from Germany to give two sessions. Unfortunately the schedule had me speaking during the same time slots as Christof for both of his Security Cookbook sessions, which I had really wanted to attend. I did get to see his session on Crashing VFP and Preventing Crashes, and Christof certainly lived up to his reputation as the "Foxpert". It's amazing what he's figured out about FoxPro internals. I also enjoyed the opportunity to meet and get to know Christof in person for the first time. I hope he will come back to the U.S. and speak at a VFP conference again in the future.
Doug Hennig's sessions are always well attended, for good reasons, and this conference was no exception. I went first to his session on Inno Setup. I've been using Inno Setup for years, and have written and given presentations on using it with VFP myself, but I know I'll always learn something new from Doug and that was true here, too. His session on adding IntelliSense to an application was also full of cool ideas. Doug's point in that session was that we developers love the benefits of IntelliSense as we work in VFP, so why not deliver some of the same benefits to our customers in our own apps?
As already noted by many Fox bloggers, Ken Levy presented Doug with the FoxPro Community Lifetime Achievement Award at the opening session on Thursday evening. The quantity and quality of Doug's contributions to the FoxPro community over the years is truly astonishing -- there's a summary on the FoxPro Wiki -- and I think everyone agreed this is a well deserved award. Congratulations, Doug!
Rick Schummer did his usual excellent job in his sessions, too. I attended Fishing With a Project Hook, which explored how to -- and more importantly, why you would want to -- hook into the VFP project builder and access the project file. I've used Rick's Project Builder tool for a long time because it makes building the VFP EXE simpler and easier. His Project Builder is now part of the more comprehensive White Light Computing (WLC) Project Builder and ProjectHook tool, available (and still free) on his web site.
The way the speakers' schedule worked out, I got to sit in on both of Mike Feltman's sessions. In Where Do You Want to Go Today (Mike's comment: I want to go back to bed!) he discussed the pros and cons of several software development tools and presented some interesting statistics on the relative size of the job market for each one. Mike also mentioned some of the lesser known and newer development tools that bear watching, particularly in the area of Web development, such as Ruby and the Rails framework. Mike's other session on VFP and AJAX was also of considerable interest to me since I do a fair amount of Web development in conjunction with my VFP work. Judging by the overflow attendance in a very small room, so do a lot of other VFP developers.
The other session I was able to attend was Toni Feltman's Using Version Control with Visual FoxPro. Toni's been using version control software a lot longer than I have, so I was really interested in her take on ways to use it effectively with VFP. I took more than a page of notes in this session and came away with a lot of ideas and resources to follow up on.
As for the sessions I couldn't attend, I'm anxious to view the slides and read the papers. There's a ton of good material there.
The closing session featured the usual round of heartfelt thanks to all involved, some great prize drawings, and the presentation of a special gift from the FoxPro community to Mike and Toni Feltman, who are expecting to instantiate another little Feltman in the near future (whether it will be a sub-class of Mike or Toni was not revealed). Many speakers and others contributed to the gift basket of baby items and gift certificates, and I think Mike and Toni were truly surprised. Thanks to Cathy Pountney for her efforts in putting it all together.
An important benefit of any good conference like this is the chance to meet new friends or make face-to-face acquaintance with people you may have only known online. I enjoyed meeting Mike Lewis from the U.K. and Esparta Palma from Mexico, as well as seeing again several other friends and colleagues I've met before at other conferences.
As always, it's back to work now with renewed energy and appreciation for all the many ways VFP makes it possible for us to write great apps and deliver excellent solutions to our customers.
Tags: Southwest Fox, FoxPro, VFP
Southwest Fox 2006 was a great conference. Organizer Bob Kocher put together a top-drawer lineup of speakers and sessions, and I got to see many of them when not doing one my own presentations. In addition to the speakers whom I always look forward to seeing at VFP conferences, this year saw the return of Jim Booth to the speakers circuit after a long hiatus, Mike and Toni Feltman were both there as speakers, and Christof Wollenhaupt came all the way from Germany to give two sessions. Unfortunately the schedule had me speaking during the same time slots as Christof for both of his Security Cookbook sessions, which I had really wanted to attend. I did get to see his session on Crashing VFP and Preventing Crashes, and Christof certainly lived up to his reputation as the "Foxpert". It's amazing what he's figured out about FoxPro internals. I also enjoyed the opportunity to meet and get to know Christof in person for the first time. I hope he will come back to the U.S. and speak at a VFP conference again in the future.
Doug Hennig's sessions are always well attended, for good reasons, and this conference was no exception. I went first to his session on Inno Setup. I've been using Inno Setup for years, and have written and given presentations on using it with VFP myself, but I know I'll always learn something new from Doug and that was true here, too. His session on adding IntelliSense to an application was also full of cool ideas. Doug's point in that session was that we developers love the benefits of IntelliSense as we work in VFP, so why not deliver some of the same benefits to our customers in our own apps?
As already noted by many Fox bloggers, Ken Levy presented Doug with the FoxPro Community Lifetime Achievement Award at the opening session on Thursday evening. The quantity and quality of Doug's contributions to the FoxPro community over the years is truly astonishing -- there's a summary on the FoxPro Wiki -- and I think everyone agreed this is a well deserved award. Congratulations, Doug!
Rick Schummer did his usual excellent job in his sessions, too. I attended Fishing With a Project Hook, which explored how to -- and more importantly, why you would want to -- hook into the VFP project builder and access the project file. I've used Rick's Project Builder tool for a long time because it makes building the VFP EXE simpler and easier. His Project Builder is now part of the more comprehensive White Light Computing (WLC) Project Builder and ProjectHook tool, available (and still free) on his web site.
The way the speakers' schedule worked out, I got to sit in on both of Mike Feltman's sessions. In Where Do You Want to Go Today (Mike's comment: I want to go back to bed!) he discussed the pros and cons of several software development tools and presented some interesting statistics on the relative size of the job market for each one. Mike also mentioned some of the lesser known and newer development tools that bear watching, particularly in the area of Web development, such as Ruby and the Rails framework. Mike's other session on VFP and AJAX was also of considerable interest to me since I do a fair amount of Web development in conjunction with my VFP work. Judging by the overflow attendance in a very small room, so do a lot of other VFP developers.
The other session I was able to attend was Toni Feltman's Using Version Control with Visual FoxPro. Toni's been using version control software a lot longer than I have, so I was really interested in her take on ways to use it effectively with VFP. I took more than a page of notes in this session and came away with a lot of ideas and resources to follow up on.
As for the sessions I couldn't attend, I'm anxious to view the slides and read the papers. There's a ton of good material there.
The closing session featured the usual round of heartfelt thanks to all involved, some great prize drawings, and the presentation of a special gift from the FoxPro community to Mike and Toni Feltman, who are expecting to instantiate another little Feltman in the near future (whether it will be a sub-class of Mike or Toni was not revealed). Many speakers and others contributed to the gift basket of baby items and gift certificates, and I think Mike and Toni were truly surprised. Thanks to Cathy Pountney for her efforts in putting it all together.
An important benefit of any good conference like this is the chance to meet new friends or make face-to-face acquaintance with people you may have only known online. I enjoyed meeting Mike Lewis from the U.K. and Esparta Palma from Mexico, as well as seeing again several other friends and colleagues I've met before at other conferences.
As always, it's back to work now with renewed energy and appreciation for all the many ways VFP makes it possible for us to write great apps and deliver excellent solutions to our customers.
Tags: Southwest Fox, FoxPro, VFP
10.23.2006
Installing IE7 Release Version over RC1
I've been running IE7 RC1 since it was released, and have had no issues with it. In fact, it was stable enough that I felt confident basing a significant portion of a conference presentation about RSS on it ("RSS: Catch the Wave", presented at Southwest Fox 2006 in Phoenix over the weekend).
Naturally, I was anxious to see and show the final version of IE7, but in a case of ironic timing, the final version was released the day before the conference began. I always follow the rule never to install anything new on a presentation machine within a week of the conference, so I had to force myself to wait and do the presentation based on RC1 as planned, hoping that what I showed in RC1 would be substantially similar to what people would see in the final release version. Looks like it was.
Back from the conference today, I decided to install the IE7 release version on my presentation laptop machine. The release notes/FAQs for IE7 indicate it will automatically uninstall a pre-release version, so I simply downloaded the setup package and fired it off. As expected, it uninstalled IE7 RC1, and then asked for a reboot.
After the restart, the machine began automatically downloading "required updates for IE7". Huh? Didn't I just download the latest installer for IE7? This machine is running a fully patched version of Windows XP Pro SP2, so I'm not sure what updates it needed, but of course I let it continue. Eventually it finished downloading whatever it was (I'll have to investigate that later) and began installing IE7. This was followed by another reboot, after which the machine came up apparently as usual.
Upon first launch, IE7 wants to take you to a URL at go.microsoft.com. This page timed out, which wasn't entirely unexpected given the likely huge number of IE7 updates being done today, although to be fair I suspect I'm having DNS and firewall issues on this machine that are unrelated to IE7. I bookmarked the URL so I can go back later and see what it is. Probably just a welcome screen, but likely with some additional information and links that might be useful. [Update: After the IE7 install is complete, the browser opens a run-once page where you can customize your settings. Closing that page takes you to a welcome page with links for a tour of IE7, a page of add-ons, or your home page.]
The next site I tried is one of the localhost sites on my own machine from yesterday's conference presentation. A bit of a surprise here: IE7 popped up a phishing filter warning and asked if I want to turn it on before visiting this site. RC1 didn't do that. I guess localhost is an unknown site and therefore suspicious as far as the phishing filter is concerned. Hmmm... thanks for protecting me from my own machine, I guess.
I bring up my sample autodiscovery page in IE7. The RSS feed icon lights up as expected, so nothing's changed there. Clicking on the feed icon brings up the feed in IE7, also as expected. This particular sample feed (available online here) is a list of sessions at the Southwest Fox conference. It demonstrates the Simple List Extensions (SLE) extension to RSS, which is implemented in IE7. I find the feed looks and behaves the same in the IE7 release version as it did in RC1, so we're good there, too.
I'm not going to post any "first impressions of IE7" here because I already formed my first impressions based on RC1 a couple of months ago, and they're largely positive. IE7 of course comes with tabbed browsing, which is almost indispensable IMO and a big reason I use Firefox, so it's good to finally have it in Internet Explorer too. At first glance the IE7 release version interface looks just like RC1. If there are any significant visual changes I haven't spotted them yet.
The news here is that IE7 release version installed successfully over IE7 RC1, the interface looks the same as RC1, RSS and SLE work as they did in RC1, and you won't lose your favorites folder in the uninstall/reinstall process.
Tags: IE7, RSS, SLE, Southwest Fox
Naturally, I was anxious to see and show the final version of IE7, but in a case of ironic timing, the final version was released the day before the conference began. I always follow the rule never to install anything new on a presentation machine within a week of the conference, so I had to force myself to wait and do the presentation based on RC1 as planned, hoping that what I showed in RC1 would be substantially similar to what people would see in the final release version. Looks like it was.
Back from the conference today, I decided to install the IE7 release version on my presentation laptop machine. The release notes/FAQs for IE7 indicate it will automatically uninstall a pre-release version, so I simply downloaded the setup package and fired it off. As expected, it uninstalled IE7 RC1, and then asked for a reboot.
After the restart, the machine began automatically downloading "required updates for IE7". Huh? Didn't I just download the latest installer for IE7? This machine is running a fully patched version of Windows XP Pro SP2, so I'm not sure what updates it needed, but of course I let it continue. Eventually it finished downloading whatever it was (I'll have to investigate that later) and began installing IE7. This was followed by another reboot, after which the machine came up apparently as usual.
Upon first launch, IE7 wants to take you to a URL at go.microsoft.com. This page timed out, which wasn't entirely unexpected given the likely huge number of IE7 updates being done today, although to be fair I suspect I'm having DNS and firewall issues on this machine that are unrelated to IE7. I bookmarked the URL so I can go back later and see what it is. Probably just a welcome screen, but likely with some additional information and links that might be useful. [Update: After the IE7 install is complete, the browser opens a run-once page where you can customize your settings. Closing that page takes you to a welcome page with links for a tour of IE7, a page of add-ons, or your home page.]
The next site I tried is one of the localhost sites on my own machine from yesterday's conference presentation. A bit of a surprise here: IE7 popped up a phishing filter warning and asked if I want to turn it on before visiting this site. RC1 didn't do that. I guess localhost is an unknown site and therefore suspicious as far as the phishing filter is concerned. Hmmm... thanks for protecting me from my own machine, I guess.
I bring up my sample autodiscovery page in IE7. The RSS feed icon lights up as expected, so nothing's changed there. Clicking on the feed icon brings up the feed in IE7, also as expected. This particular sample feed (available online here) is a list of sessions at the Southwest Fox conference. It demonstrates the Simple List Extensions (SLE) extension to RSS, which is implemented in IE7. I find the feed looks and behaves the same in the IE7 release version as it did in RC1, so we're good there, too.
I'm not going to post any "first impressions of IE7" here because I already formed my first impressions based on RC1 a couple of months ago, and they're largely positive. IE7 of course comes with tabbed browsing, which is almost indispensable IMO and a big reason I use Firefox, so it's good to finally have it in Internet Explorer too. At first glance the IE7 release version interface looks just like RC1. If there are any significant visual changes I haven't spotted them yet.
The news here is that IE7 release version installed successfully over IE7 RC1, the interface looks the same as RC1, RSS and SLE work as they did in RC1, and you won't lose your favorites folder in the uninstall/reinstall process.
Tags: IE7, RSS, SLE, Southwest Fox
10.16.2006
SLE-enhanced session feed for Southwest Fox 2006
Only three days to go... Southwest Fox 2006 kicks off on Thursday! But you don't have to wait: if you're running IE7 RC1, you can get a sneak preview today of something I'll be talking about in my session on RSS, namely Simple List Extensions. SLE is a set of extensions to RSS created by Microsoft to provide sorting and grouping functionality for feeds that are intended to be used as lists. By way of example, I put together a list of all the Southwest Fox 2006 sessions in SLE-enhanced feed format. The feed is available online at www.ita-software.com/SWFox2006/Sessions.xml.
You'll need IE7 RC1 to see this feed the way it's intended, with sorting and filtering capabilities as shown in the screenshot below. Other browsers won't recognize the SLE extensions and will render the feed either as unformatted XML or as a regular RSS feed, depending on how you view it. FeedDemon and other feed readers should see it as a regular RSS feed, too, but the fun stuff is only available in IE7.
SLE is only one of many things I'll be talking about in my session on RSS. If you're coming to Southwest Fox, I hope you'll drop in.
You'll need IE7 RC1 to see this feed the way it's intended, with sorting and filtering capabilities as shown in the screenshot below. Other browsers won't recognize the SLE extensions and will render the feed either as unformatted XML or as a regular RSS feed, depending on how you view it. FeedDemon and other feed readers should see it as a regular RSS feed, too, but the fun stuff is only available in IE7.
SLE is only one of many things I'll be talking about in my session on RSS. If you're coming to Southwest Fox, I hope you'll drop in.
Tags: Southwest Fox, SWFox, IE7, RSS, SLE
10.11.2006
Inno Setup updated
Inno Setup gets an update to v5.1.8 with some enhancements for Windows Vista and (at last!) an HTML Help file to replace the old-school Help file. Read all about what's new in this version or go straight to the download link.
Tags: Inno Setup
Tags: Inno Setup
10.10.2006
Keyword search feeds in FeedDemon
I've been using FeedDemon since its pre-release days, but only recently learned of its ability to create keyword search feeds. A keyword search feed is a subscription to a search engine feed that informs you when references a specified phrase or keyword show up.
For example, I created a keyword search feed to check Technorati for references to FoxPro. Presumably, whenever anybody tags something on Technorati as pertaining to FoxPro, it shows up in this feed. This is a very efficient way to keep up with what's being said about topics of interest.
Side note... Today my FoxPro search feed came up with the following: Request Error, no posts match "FoxPro". I guess knowing nothing was said is a form of information, too. < s >
Tags: FeedDemon, FoxPro, Technorati
For example, I created a keyword search feed to check Technorati for references to FoxPro. Presumably, whenever anybody tags something on Technorati as pertaining to FoxPro, it shows up in this feed. This is a very efficient way to keep up with what's being said about topics of interest.
Side note... Today my FoxPro search feed came up with the following: Request Error, no posts match "FoxPro". I guess knowing nothing was said is a form of information, too. < s >
Tags: FeedDemon, FoxPro, Technorati
10.05.2006
On the importance of trying
Seymour Cray, founder of Cray Research and architect of the Cray line of supercomputers, died ten years ago today on October 5, 1996. His was a well known name in computer science throughout the second half of the 20th century, and many industry publications noted his passing. Among them was Computerworld, whose article contained a quote from Cray that I clipped out and have had on my office wall ever since.
"You have to be prepared to fail, and I have failed about half the time, I guess. But you simply have to pick yourself up and go at it again with whatever insights you've gained from failure. If you do keep trying, you will occasionally do something worthwhile."
Good words to live by.
Tags: Seymour Cray, Cray supercomputer
"You have to be prepared to fail, and I have failed about half the time, I guess. But you simply have to pick yourself up and go at it again with whatever insights you've gained from failure. If you do keep trying, you will occasionally do something worthwhile."
Good words to live by.
Tags: Seymour Cray, Cray supercomputer
9.21.2006
Mary Jo Foley is All About Microsoft
Ed Bott posts the feed URL for Mary Jo Foley's new blog All About Microsoft. Glad to see Mary Jo back online so soon. Both her blog and Ed Bott's Windows Expertise are on my required reading list.
One request, Mary Jo: please publish the full text of your articles in the feed. Judging by your first two posts, the feed has only summary descriptions. Those of us who read news feeds in a feed reader usually don't want to switch to a browser to get the full article.
Tags: Ed Bott, Mary Jo Foley, All About Microsoft, Windows Expertise
One request, Mary Jo: please publish the full text of your articles in the feed. Judging by your first two posts, the feed has only summary descriptions. Those of us who read news feeds in a feed reader usually don't want to switch to a browser to get the full article.
Tags: Ed Bott, Mary Jo Foley, All About Microsoft, Windows Expertise
9.19.2006
Southwest Fox 2006 is only a month away
SET EXCITEMENT ON!
The Southwest Fox 2006 conference in Phoenix, Arizona is only a month away. Conference organizer Bob Kocher says the hotel is filling up fast, but there's still time to sign up and attend what promises to be another outstanding event. I'm a speaker again this year, but I'm also an attendee and I'm not exaggerating when I say I'm really pumped about the sessions I'll be able to attend when I'm not doing one of my own. The depth and breadth of technical content at this conference looks to be outstanding.
If you need incentives to attend -- besides the benefits of getting together with other VFP developers, immersing yourself in high-level technical information for three days, hanging out with friends and colleagues in after-hours bull sessions, etc. -- there are some great prizes to be given away. Bob announced earlier today that Craig Boyd, head honcho at SweetPotato Software, Inc., will give away a Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite with MSDN Premium Subscription during the Keynote Address on Thursday evening, Oct. 19th. And in connection with my session on Automating the Build, VSoft Technologies has donated a copy of FinalBuilder 4 Professional, a $499 value, to be given away during the conference. I don't know for sure, but I wouldn't be a bit surprised if there are going to be other goodies, too.
If I'm reading the registration form correctly, you can still save $25 on the cost of registration if three or more members of your FoxPro Users Group are attending. If you have a user group meeting between now and October 19th, be sure to let your members know about this.
In case you can't tell, I'm really looking forward to Southwest Fox 2006! Hope to see you there.
Tags: Southwest Fox, Visual FoxPro, Visual Studio, FinalBuilder
The Southwest Fox 2006 conference in Phoenix, Arizona is only a month away. Conference organizer Bob Kocher says the hotel is filling up fast, but there's still time to sign up and attend what promises to be another outstanding event. I'm a speaker again this year, but I'm also an attendee and I'm not exaggerating when I say I'm really pumped about the sessions I'll be able to attend when I'm not doing one of my own. The depth and breadth of technical content at this conference looks to be outstanding.
If you need incentives to attend -- besides the benefits of getting together with other VFP developers, immersing yourself in high-level technical information for three days, hanging out with friends and colleagues in after-hours bull sessions, etc. -- there are some great prizes to be given away. Bob announced earlier today that Craig Boyd, head honcho at SweetPotato Software, Inc., will give away a Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite with MSDN Premium Subscription during the Keynote Address on Thursday evening, Oct. 19th. And in connection with my session on Automating the Build, VSoft Technologies has donated a copy of FinalBuilder 4 Professional, a $499 value, to be given away during the conference. I don't know for sure, but I wouldn't be a bit surprised if there are going to be other goodies, too.
If I'm reading the registration form correctly, you can still save $25 on the cost of registration if three or more members of your FoxPro Users Group are attending. If you have a user group meeting between now and October 19th, be sure to let your members know about this.
In case you can't tell, I'm really looking forward to Southwest Fox 2006! Hope to see you there.
Tags: Southwest Fox, Visual FoxPro, Visual Studio, FinalBuilder
Truncated descriptions in feed
I discovered yesterday that the descriptions in my last seven posts were truncated in the feed. This means if you were viewing the posts in a feed reader you saw only about the first 255 characters of the post. If you were viewing the blog as a web page you saw the full post.
This isn't the first time Blogger.com has done this to me, and I'm not the only one it's done it to. I rechecked my settings, which haven't changed (Settings | Site Feed | Description | Full). I have no idea what's causing this to happen, but it's annoying.
This morning I republished the truncated posts and confirmed the feed now has full descriptions. They were reposted with the same date, time, and title as the originals, so this shouldn't cause duplicates in your reader.
If anybody knows why this happens, please leave a comment.
Tags: Blogger.com, truncation
This isn't the first time Blogger.com has done this to me, and I'm not the only one it's done it to. I rechecked my settings, which haven't changed (Settings | Site Feed | Description | Full). I have no idea what's causing this to happen, but it's annoying.
This morning I republished the truncated posts and confirmed the feed now has full descriptions. They were reposted with the same date, time, and title as the originals, so this shouldn't cause duplicates in your reader.
If anybody knows why this happens, please leave a comment.
Tags: Blogger.com, truncation
9.16.2006
Inno Setup #include directive
I just discovered the #include directive in Inno Setup is case sensitive. If you use #INCLUDE you get an error that says, in part:
I checked a couple of other directives in Inno Setup and found they are not case sensitive. For example, the compiler accepts APPID and SOURCEDIR in the Setup section as well as the more conventional AppID and SourceDir, and in the Files section parameters such as Source and DestDir are not case sensitive either. I'm not sure why #include should be different, but it is.
Tags: Inno Setup
To be able to use directives other than '#include'As a VFP developer I'm accustomed to case insensitive syntax, so I had to read the error message a couple of times and double check my script before I understood that #INCLUDE is not the same as #include. The #include directive is a native part of Inno Setup and does not require the ISPP.
you need to install the Inno Setup Preprocessor (ISPP)
I checked a couple of other directives in Inno Setup and found they are not case sensitive. For example, the compiler accepts APPID and SOURCEDIR in the Setup section as well as the more conventional AppID and SourceDir, and in the Files section parameters such as Source and DestDir are not case sensitive either. I'm not sure why #include should be different, but it is.
Tags: Inno Setup
9.11.2006
IIS Admin service - problem and solution
I ran into a problem with the IIS Admin service on my Windows XP SP2 laptop PC yesterday. After some digging, I found the solution. If you run into the same problem, maybe this information will be helpful.
The first sign of a problem was localhost not responding. I checked to see if the web publishing service was running, which it wasn't. When I tried to start it I got
Running sc query iisadmin from the command prompt showed the service stopped with an exit code of 0x8007000d.
I don't know what MetaBase.bin.beforexmlupg is. I checked another Win XP SP2 machine and it didn't have that file. From its name and date stamp I figured it might be related to a security update I applied on or about that date, but that's pure speculation on my part. A search for that file name on MSDN and TechNet turns up no hits.
I'm no IIS expert, but assuming MetaBase.bin was invalid I moved it to a temporary directory (in case I needed it again) and copied MetaBase.bin.beforexmlupg back to MetaBase.bin. I figured this was risky, but I didn't have a lot to lose at that point. I then started the IIS Admin service: success. I started the web publishing service: success. And of course, localhost was back in business, too.
I certainly can't guarantee this solution will work on other machines or in other situations, but it did work in this case. I'm still searching for more information to find out what caused this problem in the first place.
Tags: Windows XP SP2, IIS Admin, MetaBase.bin, 0x8007000d
The first sign of a problem was localhost not responding. I checked to see if the web publishing service was running, which it wasn't. When I tried to start it I got
Error 1068, dependency service or group failed to start.I checked the IIS Admin service and found it wasn't running, either. When I tried to start that service I got:
Error 13, the data is invalid.I checked the system event log and found IIS Admin has been failing to start for several reboots. I don't access localhost on this machine very often so I'm not surprised I didn't notice this sooner.
Running sc query iisadmin from the command prompt showed the service stopped with an exit code of 0x8007000d.
SERVICE_EXIT_CODE: -2147024883 (0x8007000d)A search of the Web for some reference to that exit code turned up a suggestion the problem might be related to the metabase file in windows\system32\inetsrv. I found two files on my machine: MetaBase.bin.beforexmlupg, at about 225KB, and MetaBase.bin at over 2.5MB. A clue was the date stamp on MetaBase.bin was about the same as the date the event log showed the IIS Admin service began failing to run. The other file, MetaBase.bin.beforexmlupg, had an earlier date.
I don't know what MetaBase.bin.beforexmlupg is. I checked another Win XP SP2 machine and it didn't have that file. From its name and date stamp I figured it might be related to a security update I applied on or about that date, but that's pure speculation on my part. A search for that file name on MSDN and TechNet turns up no hits.
I'm no IIS expert, but assuming MetaBase.bin was invalid I moved it to a temporary directory (in case I needed it again) and copied MetaBase.bin.beforexmlupg back to MetaBase.bin. I figured this was risky, but I didn't have a lot to lose at that point. I then started the IIS Admin service: success. I started the web publishing service: success. And of course, localhost was back in business, too.
I certainly can't guarantee this solution will work on other machines or in other situations, but it did work in this case. I'm still searching for more information to find out what caused this problem in the first place.
Tags: Windows XP SP2, IIS Admin, MetaBase.bin, 0x8007000d
9.09.2006
Fox Sighting
[set humor on]
What's the most recommended database development tool from Microsoft? According to the Recommended Downloads that showed up at the bottom of the page when I downloaded Internet Explorer 7 RC1 a couple of days ago, it's Visual FoxPro! VFP comes in at number 2 on the list, just edging out SQL Server 2005.
[set humor off]
The image below is split for size considerations. The highlighting is mine, but the image is real.
I don't know how Microsoft generates that list but I have to believe it's dynamic. I wonder if anyone who doesn't already have VFP installed would ever get this same list? But anyway it's always nice to see the Fox show up in unexpected places.
What's the most recommended database development tool from Microsoft? According to the Recommended Downloads that showed up at the bottom of the page when I downloaded Internet Explorer 7 RC1 a couple of days ago, it's Visual FoxPro! VFP comes in at number 2 on the list, just edging out SQL Server 2005.
[set humor off]
The image below is split for size considerations. The highlighting is mine, but the image is real.
I don't know how Microsoft generates that list but I have to believe it's dynamic. I wonder if anyone who doesn't already have VFP installed would ever get this same list? But anyway it's always nice to see the Fox show up in unexpected places.
9.07.2006
It's all about imagination
Rod Paddock hits the nail on the head in his Axes and Imagination editorial for the Sept/Oct issue of CoDe Magazine. Writing about software development and the need to stay sharp, he reminds us that "...the main ingredient in [our] profession is imagination." Absolutely right, Rod.
Without question, software development is a creative process. Sure, there are mechanical and technical aspects to it as well, but at its core being able to design and develop good software depends on being able to imagine it first. Solutions flow from our minds to our keyboards. As I've often said, "You've got to create it here (pointing to head) before you can create it there (pointing to computer)."
I liked this editorial because I think it's important to be reminded about the creative aspect of our profession from time to time. Software development requires a good deal of mental energy and sustained concentration, and sometimes it's easy to get overwhelmed by the details. Being reminded that it's a fundamentally creative process helps us recognize and avoid burnout. When the creative energy isn't flowing, Rod says it's probably time for an "imagination refill." Translation: take a break, do something different for a little while, go have some fun!
If you don't subscribe to CoDe Magazine, you can read Rod's editorial online at www.code-magazine.com/Article.aspx?quickid=0609011. Be sure to check out the cool photo of Rod with his "imaginary" friends from Family Guy, too. Looks like fun. < s >
Tags: Software Development, CoDe Magazine, Rod Paddock, Family Guy
Without question, software development is a creative process. Sure, there are mechanical and technical aspects to it as well, but at its core being able to design and develop good software depends on being able to imagine it first. Solutions flow from our minds to our keyboards. As I've often said, "You've got to create it here (pointing to head) before you can create it there (pointing to computer)."
I liked this editorial because I think it's important to be reminded about the creative aspect of our profession from time to time. Software development requires a good deal of mental energy and sustained concentration, and sometimes it's easy to get overwhelmed by the details. Being reminded that it's a fundamentally creative process helps us recognize and avoid burnout. When the creative energy isn't flowing, Rod says it's probably time for an "imagination refill." Translation: take a break, do something different for a little while, go have some fun!
If you don't subscribe to CoDe Magazine, you can read Rod's editorial online at www.code-magazine.com/Article.aspx?quickid=0609011. Be sure to check out the cool photo of Rod with his "imaginary" friends from Family Guy, too. Looks like fun. < s >
Tags: Software Development, CoDe Magazine, Rod Paddock, Family Guy
8.31.2006
Universal Thread lowers its prices
Good news from Michel Fournier of Level Extreme Inc., who announced a reduction in the price of the Universal Thread subscription, aka the Premier Universal Thread Membership or PUTM. The price of a monthly subscription drops to CAD$9.95 after the first month, while an annual subscription is reduced to CAD$99.95 (about USD$90.05 at today's exchange rates). The official announcement is at www.universalthread.com/news/subscription.asp.
This should be welcome news for everyone who subscribes to the UT, as well as for those who may have been thinking about subscribing but were put off by the price. For my part, I have always considered a PUTM subscription to be well worth the price, and now even more so. I literally can't count the number of times I've quickly found a solution to a problem or a valuable reference for an issue on the UT. It's a real time saver.
Evidently Canadian GST tax still applies to all subscriptions including international (i.e., not Canadian) residents. This has long been a source of contention but is outside Level Extreme's control. Michel said today that the appeal of this ruling is still in progress.
The only thing I'd question here is why the first month should cost more (CAD$14.95) than the standard monthly rate. It seems to me one good way to attract new subscribers would be to offer the first month for free instead of charging more for it. OTOH I suppose some people might take advantage of this, so maybe that's why it's the way it is.
Tags: Universal Thread, Visual FoxPro, VFP
This should be welcome news for everyone who subscribes to the UT, as well as for those who may have been thinking about subscribing but were put off by the price. For my part, I have always considered a PUTM subscription to be well worth the price, and now even more so. I literally can't count the number of times I've quickly found a solution to a problem or a valuable reference for an issue on the UT. It's a real time saver.
Evidently Canadian GST tax still applies to all subscriptions including international (i.e., not Canadian) residents. This has long been a source of contention but is outside Level Extreme's control. Michel said today that the appeal of this ruling is still in progress.
The only thing I'd question here is why the first month should cost more (CAD$14.95) than the standard monthly rate. It seems to me one good way to attract new subscribers would be to offer the first month for free instead of charging more for it. OTOH I suppose some people might take advantage of this, so maybe that's why it's the way it is.
Tags: Universal Thread, Visual FoxPro, VFP
8.28.2006
Beyond Compare Update
Version 2.4.2 of Beyond Compare, the great little file and folder comparison utility, was released last Thursday. Readers of this blog know I consider Beyond Compare an indispensable part of my developer's toolkit, so I'm always alert for a new version.
In addition to a number of new enhancements, version 2.4.2 introduced a minor bug that caused zip files within zip files to compare incorrectly - they were displayed as different on each side of the comparison even though they were in fact identical and showed the same size and date-time stamp. Knowing how responsive Scooter Software is, I knew it wouldn't take long for a fix to be posted, and sure enough version 2.4.3 appeared this morning with the fix for the zip-in-zip bug and a couple of other things as well.
If you use Beyond Compare, go get version 2.4.3. The best keeps getting better.
In addition to a number of new enhancements, version 2.4.2 introduced a minor bug that caused zip files within zip files to compare incorrectly - they were displayed as different on each side of the comparison even though they were in fact identical and showed the same size and date-time stamp. Knowing how responsive Scooter Software is, I knew it wouldn't take long for a fix to be posted, and sure enough version 2.4.3 appeared this morning with the fix for the zip-in-zip bug and a couple of other things as well.
If you use Beyond Compare, go get version 2.4.3. The best keeps getting better.
8.21.2006
Presentation Fears and Fiascos
As I work to put the finishing touches on my presentations for Southwest Fox 2006, I had a good laugh at this post on Scott Guthrie's blog this morning. Scott posts a link to The ten worst presentation moments from the Microsoft UK site along with the story of one of his own "interesting" conference presentation experiences. Anybody who's made a presentation to a group of any size can probably identify with these moments, or at least has had the fear of something similar happening to them. On the list of ten, my personal favorite is #4. What's yours?
Tags: Southwest Fox, Presentations, ScottGu
Tags: Southwest Fox, Presentations, ScottGu
8.01.2006
Southwest Fox 2006
Southwest Fox 2006 is less than three months away! Join your friends and colleagues October 19-22 at the Fiesta Inn Resort in Tempe, AZ for this outstanding event. Southwest Fox has earned a well-deserved reputation for excellence in past years and promises to deliver top-notch content and value again this year. Register via the conference website, where you'll also find a full listing of speakers and topics, hotel information, and more.
Tags: SouthwestFox, Visual FoxPro, VFP
Tags: SouthwestFox, Visual FoxPro, VFP
7.18.2006
Comments on Microsoft acquisition of Winternals
Several bloggers are commenting today about Microsoft's acquisition of Winternals and Sysinternals. Ed Bott and a post on Slashdot, among others, both suggest downloading the latest versions of Sysinternals' free utilities while you can, 'cause it's not certain how long they'll remain available. The Sysinternals.com website is, predictably, jammed this afternoon with traffic I assume is from people heeding this advice.
Mark Minasi, author of several books in the Mastering(TM) series from Sybex, comments on this acquisition in his monthly newsletter. Minasi, who discloses that he's been a friend of Winternals' Mark Russinovich for years, says of Russinovich: "This is a good move for him and, I think, in the long run for us all. His presence in Redmond has to be a force for sound architecture, openness and innovation."
Tags: Microsoft, Winternals, Sysinternals, Ed Bott, Slashdot, Mark Minasi
Mark Minasi, author of several books in the Mastering(TM) series from Sybex, comments on this acquisition in his monthly newsletter. Minasi, who discloses that he's been a friend of Winternals' Mark Russinovich for years, says of Russinovich: "This is a good move for him and, I think, in the long run for us all. His presence in Redmond has to be a force for sound architecture, openness and innovation."
Tags: Microsoft, Winternals, Sysinternals, Ed Bott, Slashdot, Mark Minasi
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