MOSS2007 and Virtual Earth

I came across this article on Dev Live for intergrating Virtual Earth with SharePoint 2007 lists. I've changed the mapcontrol script file to run with v6 rather than v4. It was a bit of b***h at times to get it run but I had to change the list to include longitude and latitude for the addresses I wanted mapped - but not big deal.

Progressing with the creation of a complete Internet MOSS site for April '08 and a demo to do before the end of December. The MOSS install is on a virtual machine it takes ages at times for things to run.

Call of Duty 4:Modern Warfare

Just realised that I haven't posted in a long while. Well Halo3 has been and gone and now I'm getting into Call of Duty 4:Modern Warfare. The game play in CoD4 is much better in my opinion than in H3 - it is also a lot more fun. The single player is quite short but there are 4 ways of playing it, Recruit, Regular, Hardened and Veteran. So once you have played a level through you can go back and change the class. In multiplayer various game types are opened up as you progress and gain experience points. Also different weaponry is available, along with perks, as you progress.

It is one great game - let's do this :)

Weekend

After some Halo3 online play at the weekend I'm still bad at it.

There has been much written on the Bungie.net site about the stats not updating - well it's not surprising because of the sheer amount of data collected and the weekend is always likely to be the busiest time, but it's getting frustrating along with the lag in the game. There were several times that I got the first hit in only to take one and get killed.

So I would recommend the game but as these problems persist I'm looking forward to CoD4:MW which has a November release date. Hopefully they won't be as swamped as Halo3 servers in XBL.

Finished the Fight

Finished the Fight - Halo3 - last night. I must say that I was a bit disappointed in the last mission. Very little shooting and more about driving - oh well you can't please all of the people all of the time.

So it's now time to get all the skulls and terminals - whilst also looking at getting some MultiPlayer action in to get the rankings up.

Ajax Calendar Extender and Master Pages

I thought I might as well share this, if it's not common knowledge.

If you have a MasterPage.page and you want to include styles based on the child page you can add the script into the page but this will result in an issue with viewing the designer in Visual Studio 2005. I eventually found a solution to add the stylesheet to the header in code:


protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
HtmlLink cssLink = new HtmlLink();
cssLink.Href = "~/default.css";
cssLink.Attributes.Add("rel", "stylesheet");
cssLink.Attributes.Add("type", "text/css");
Header.Controls.Add(cssLink);
}

On the calendar extender I was puzzled to see that when a user selected the date the control remained visible. To get round this use an image and the PopUpControlID of the extender and the control will disappear. By setting the text boxes to Enabled=false the user only has the option of using the image to get the calendar to show. I suppose you could use the TextChanged event but this would not stop user error.

Halo 3 Weekend

Had a few hours on Sunday to get through some more of Halo - only 2 levels to go then I can concentrate on the Skulls and other achievements.

Haven't had much chance to play the MultiPlayer but it's looking a bit tough to get the experience points needed when you have to finish 1st or 2nd in a 4 player game. Some people, on the Bungie.net forums, are asking if it would be possible to have more than 4 in a FFA (Free For All).

Halo 3 skulls

I found this if anyone is interested in Halo 3 skull collection. I haven't tried these so I can't say if they are accurate but judging by the detail ... I'm giving it a go.

Halo 3 Skull Locations

Halo 3

Had the opportunity to play last night - though not for long as there was a double episode of Heroes on.

First impressions are that it is good. Played through part of the first campaign and then a bit of on-line action (finished last with the least number of kills - which is not surprising as I haven't played Halo in ages)

The Beta of COD4:MW ends on Sunday at 12:00am PST.

So looking forward to tonight and some more fun - hopefully I get some better scores.

50/50

Well it's a 50/50 split - got Halo3 this morning and will be looking forward to getting a look at it later. That's the good news now the bad... some b*****d nicked my bike yesterday. I'd only had it a month and it was double locked to some railings. I was getting used to cycling in as it saved so much time.

Hopefully they'll get there just rewards for such a thing.

XBox Live

Just realised that I hadn't posted in a long while. Work commitments and game play have taken up such a lot of time. Been having fun with the Beta release of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, improving on GRAW2 and getting into Rainbow6: Vegas.

Firstly on GRAW2 well got some more ranking points and have improved. On the COD4:MW the ranking is OK but there are times when the lag means that despite having gotten a 'kill' two shots from them and you're gone, on the killcam you just look to be standing there and they are on full auto. Well that said it is an awesome game and should provide hours of funs when it arrives in November.

The big on this week is the release of Halo3 - got the preorder in and can't wait to get on it.

XBox Live

I don't how I got along with gaming before I started on Live. Having finished the course and settled into the new job I decided to get back into gaming. With the 360 having sat around unloved for quite a while I bought Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 and an XBox Live subscription (to take advantage of the wireless broadband I have in the house). After getting to grips with the gameplay I decided to jump into the online play.

The first couple of games were pretty bad finishing last in the solo elimination round but as I played more, and gave up on sleep as there don't appear to be as many games hosted until the US gets online, the better I got and now it is becoming a small obsession to getting ranking points and achievements.

Sharepoint 2007

It's looking like the SharePoint 2007 project is on hold for a while as the budget might not be forthcoming. Oh well such is life. Fun whilst it lasted and who knows the budget could be found again.

Well onto other things - guess you've all had a play with the wizard control. By combining that with AJAX controls it is relatively easy to get prototypes up and running and just plug in the code.

SharePoint 2007

Just a quick note - I'm starting a new project at work dealing with SharePoint 2007 and Excel Services.

Mid July

All settled back in the UK. Started the new job in the first week of July, time seems to have flown since I got back and it was nearly three weeks since I got back.

Different things to get used to in the job. Some of the code is VB.Net 1.1 and other C# 2.0 and a whole new infrastructure to get used to. Also used are Microsoft Application Blocks which I've got to read up on.

I've got some emails to catch up on so I'll finish later.

Day 15

Well the last day is over and the last exam taken and passed. This is the last evening here and I'm returning to the UK tomorrow evening. This afternoon a few of us went into Atlanta to see the Georgia Aquarium and The World of Coke. The aquarium was big and interesting. The World of Coke was more a case of pay $15 and see our advertising, though you do get to taste some of the more interesting flavors that Coke produce around the world.

The last exam, 70-549, put some of the previous ideas into practice and introduced new ones. On the whole it wasn't so bad. Most people have left already and the last of them are leaving in the morning on internal flights, so by the afternoon I'll be the last to leave as I'm on an international and with all the stuff going on should make for an interesting 12-14 hours travel if the plane leaves on time.

It has been a good time and I've met some interesting people and had a good few laughs. Hopefully we'll keep in touch for a while via an online group and exchange ideas about how we can put all into practice what we've learnt over the past two weeks and add it to the experience we already have.

As I'm off home tomorrow this will be the last entry from here and I expect the next post will be in the middle of the week as I'm starting a new job on Tuesday.

Day 14

A slightly shorter day today getting ready for the final exam tomorrow morning (8am if anyone is interested).

The experience has been great and the time and money invested worthwhile. Though on a cautious note I would suggest that anyone thinking of doing this would need a fair bit of real world experience and some in-depth knowledge, possibly outside there current work environment. What I mean by that is that if you just program UI then you'll need to have an understanding of both the business and data layers. You'll need to be prepared to work hard and absorb lots of information in a short space of time.

Having seen some of the course on SQL2005 I would recommend it and especially as our instructor, Chester Flake who no doubt will become a legend at CED, is taking it, it will cover the subject matter and more with all the enthusiasm that he has shown over the past two weeks.

Well after the storm that blew through last night today has been warm and sunny, up to the mid 90's.

Day 13

Well almost there. Today was the test on 70-549, which I passed though I didn't feel that comfortable about it as I found some of the security a bit difficult to get my head round.

There is a big storm passing through here at the moment but the rest of the day has been good with the temperature up in the 90's.

Going to visit the Atlanta Aqurarium before I leave as I figure whilst I am here I might as well do it and the flight back doesn't leave til gone 9pm on Sunday. Oh the joys of the overnight flight back to the UK :(

Day 12

Sorry about that but I had the days totally mixed up and yesterday was day 11. Today was a lot of practical to do with WSE 3.0. Some of the practicals in the book required some additional parts to make them work plus some figuring out as to what they were trying to acheive.

In the problem areas Flake stepped up to the mark and resolved our issues and answered our questions.

Tomorrow is another day :)

Day 6 - 12

Sorry about the lack of postings. Been rather busy :)

It is the final stages of the bootcamp and it has all gone rather quickly. I would recommend CED and if you get a chance check out the instructor before you get here. The one we have is Chester Flake and he keeps the classes light, fast and informative. I know he does other classes (SQL etc).

If you are prepared for the time you need to put in then it is great and I think it was good for me to get away from everything and concentrate on the camp. Some here have work related issues to deal with in the evenings and get calls from work they have to deal with.

As for the progress it's three down two to go! Passed 70-536, 70-528 and 70-526. There is another exam on Thursday the 70-529 followed a few days afterwards with 70-549. Looks like some more late nights and early mornings.

More study tonight.

Day 4 and 5

I meant to post last night but we had just started a new module and there was a lot to get through and as always some reading and labs in the afternoon.

Today wasn't to bad though the Serialization takes a bit of time to get your head round if you never used it before.

Day 2 and 3

That's Sunday and Monday over with :) So far it has been fast paced and very informative.

There is the first exam tomorrow morning so some last minute cramming tonight. Hopefully it will go well be who knows with these things until you actually sit there in front of the test.

Last night was a late finish at 11:30pm and a 7:15am start this morning, I'm going to get off earlier tonight as there is no point in getting too tired and not remembering anything. After the test it is straight back to class to start on the next section which is 70-536 Application Development Foundation. Oh what an exciting life :)

Day 1

Day 1 over and it is now Sunday morning. Up late last night reading, taking practice tests and labs. Though to be fair the labs took last place.

Enjoyable day - lots of information to take in. So now onto Day 2 and some more of 70-526.

As it is Sunday it is a late start and early finish from class - still lots to do back in the room for the rest of the day (see above).

The schedule for Moday thru Friday looks pretty brutal to be honest, 8am starts and 6pm finishes with reading and practice in the evenings so I'm guessing on a 14-15 hour day for the next two weeks.

Sleep who needs it - well I think you do as there is little point in getting chronic fatigue and not concentrating in class.

Well more reading and tests to do before class starts this morning.

Arrived in Atlanta

Well, the time is finally here. I arrived in Atlanta this afternoon and the orientation is tomorrow morning at 8am and the class starts at 9am.

The first module is 70-526 Window Development. Looking forward to it but need to get some sleep as there is a -5 hour time difference from the UK to the US and with all the hassles of security at both airports.

May need to get some revision in tonight but first a shower after all the travelling.

Web-Based Client Development 70-528

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/930739/en-us

I've just started on the Training Kit for 70-528, above is a link to the errata for the book.

Not long to go now till the start of the bootcamp and I finish work on Friday and have a week off before the camp. Lots of study to get through.

My Birthday

It's my birthday today!!

Enough of the celebrations already. Plowing through 70-529 last night and this morning and 'enjoying' the symantics of the SOAP header, envelope etc.

The course dates that seemed some time away are approaching rapidly and I'm realizing that even though I thought I would be well prepared, having used .Net since it's original Beta 1 public release there is so much to the Framework that I haven't even looked at. Oh well more long nights of study ahead.

Getting Forgetful

It happened this week, something that I had said I would try and avoid at all costs - I forgot someones birthday!! With the study and work I thought I had plenty of time to sort out some arrangement for their birthday but suddenly it was that day and I had done nothing.

So sorry to you (you know who you are) :( and hopefully see you in Atlanta in a couple of weeks :)

The study is going well - though I did find the use of UML and ORM a bit daunting at first as I hadn't had to think about those kind of things for a number of years.

svchost.exe going mad CPU maxed

I have an issue with the following file, svchost.exe, going mad and using 100% CPU. It looks as though it occurred after a recent Windows update. I have turned off automatic updates and installed the hotfix mentioned below and the 'error' seems to have cleared itself, though not on the first restart.

http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb%3Ben-us%3B932494&x=11&y=10

Errata

I have just found the errata pages for the MCTS 70-536 self paced training kit it runs to two!! pages so you might want to check out which edition you have.

Here is the link http://www.microsoft.com/learning/exams/70-536.mspx

Just a short update this morning I'll post more later on. Looking forward to the weekend as we have a holiday here on Monday so should be able to get two days of study in.

70-536

I have started the study, lots to take in. As there aren't that many days till the course it looks as it will be a busy time as there is a lot to read up on and examples to run. Still have to fit in work and life.

Books

I had signed up for a bootcamp with CED Solutions in Atlanta GA and the books arrived today. The exams are Exam 70–526, Exam 70–536, Exam 70–528, Exam 70-529 and Exam 70–549

Should be fun :) now have to work out my study schedule.

End of April

I have signed up for a MCPD bootcamp in Atlanta GA for the end of June. Having worked with .Net since it was released as a public beta, I decided it was time to take the plunge and go for some certification.

You're most probably wondering why as I am in London did I go for the Atlanta course - well, two fold really, the strength of the pound to the US$ and also as I am away from home there will be no distractions.