March 2007 Blog Posts

Coding 4 Fun - Check out this Code

My latest article is live on Coding4Fun.  I wrote an API to interact with public libraries running Horizon Information Portal by SirsiDynix.  It takes advantage of the XML that they expose to search for books, retrieve patron name/address (given user ID and password), checked out books, holds, and blocks.  The library is packaged in a DLL along with a simple test client.  This is part one with a second part to build a more functional UI with the same DLL.  Check it out! Link to Check out this Code

posted @ Wednesday, March 28, 2007 4:53 PM | Feedback (2)

Vista Media Center

  I've recently switched my Media Center box to Windows Vista Media Center.  It's working well for the most part, but it took some work to get it there.  I wanted to reduce the number of utilities and codecs installed as much as possible, and go for free/open software wherever possible.  My biggest problem at this point is that performance just isn't really there.  I went from a 1GHz machine to a 2.4 GHz machine, yet the video seizes up fairly frequently and tears whenever there's lateral movement.  I think the NVidia drivers just aren't there yet, which is crazy considering...

posted @ Monday, March 26, 2007 11:39 AM | Feedback (1)

Tweaking object serialization

If you've ever used binary serialization in .NET, you may have been frustrated with getting it to do exactly what you want it to do.  To start with, you need to mark the entire class with the Serializable attribute.  Then you can suppress a given field from the serialization stream by using the NonSerialized attribute.  This is really handy if you have a class member representing a database connection or some other object that is more than just a stream of bytes.  So if you tell it not to serialize it (which is good), how do you recreate it when...

posted @ Saturday, March 24, 2007 8:34 AM | Feedback (0)

Visual Studio Express Limitations

I never noticed some of the things missing in the Visual Studio Express editions compared to other editions.  As I've mentioned before, there's no icon editor (check out IcoFX as an even better replacement). There's also no incremental find.  This very cool feature lets you initiate a search using CTRL+I.  Then as you type, it locates matches in real-time.  Very cool, but it's not there in Express. I also just recently noticed that the Express editions don't show change tracking in the code editor.  In other editions, the left margin changes color to show where you've made changes in the...

posted @ Friday, March 16, 2007 5:53 PM | Feedback (4)

Steampunk Keyboard Mod

 Slashdot had a link to this sweet-looking brass keyboard hack: I am definitely a fan of good hacks and custom mods.  Very impressive!   Link to Steampunk Keyboard Mod

posted @ Thursday, March 01, 2007 9:51 PM | Feedback (0)

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