Reliable Version Control 0 comments

Now, every time we release an application, our debug version of our library is referenced in our released application!! If we use the release version, we can’t debug it easily. How can we setup our projects so it knows what to use?

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Debug And Release - How Not to Do it! 0 comments

You might think we can simply…

1. Add the Debug folder or the Release folder as well to the project and check it in.
   
2. Then re-branch the built DLL’s to the application solution.
   
3. Check in…
   
4. Re-reference the debug and release versions in their respective configurations…
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Even changing the default alias!! Doesn’t work…

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Debug And Release – The Best Way 0 comments

Setup the Build Project for the Shared Libraries

1. Open the LabelLibrary solution and add an empty project called Build.  This will contain the build products of the other projects in the solution. 
   

   I wish adding a solution folder would work.

2. Change the build path of the both Library projects to ..\build\Debug and ..\build\Release for each configuration.
   
   
3. Rebuild the Library projects in both configurations.
4. Show all folders of the build project.
   
5. Include the Debug and Release folders in the project and check in. This will cause an automatic rebuild and label from the build server.
   

Reference Your Application to a Specific Build

1. Branch the Build project folder to a sub folder called LabelLibrary of the Dependencies folder of the App1 project folder. Be sure to select the latest label.
2. Check in the branch.
3. Open the App1 solution.
4. Delete the references to the old libraries and add new references to the libraries in the new folder structure of the Dependencies folder.
   
   

   Some might note that we could have used Reference paths for the project to pickup where the DLL’s are, but note that the reference paths are only for the current user and are not checked in.

Reference Debug to Debug and Release to Release

1. Open the project file in notepad or select Edit Project File from the Context Menu.
   
   
   
   
2. Click continue…
   
3. Modifiy the HintPath element to use $(ProjectDir) and $(Configuration) as noted below.
   
4. Save and Reload the project
5. Notice that when you change your configuration, the references also change!!
   
   

Finally!!

1. Check in and watch it build!!!
   

<Intro> / << Prev

Resize Virtual Hard Disk 0 comments

1. Booted up using the SYSRECCD from http://www.sysresccd.org
2. Executed 'fdisk -l' to see both the partitioned drive and the unpartitioned drive
3. Executed 'dd if=/dev/hda of=/dev/hdb' (may be sda and sdb)

4. Executed 'fdisk -l' which now showed hdb as a partitioned drive

5. Rebooted
5. Used gparted to resize the first parttion to use the full 10GB disk
7. Booted up to windows again and as expected it ran a disk check (do not!!! stop it)

My New Preferred Free Virtualization Software 0 comments

After spending several days trying to get Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 SP1 working properly on a HP laptop, I (reluctantly) tried Sun's VirtualBox. Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 SP1 was pretty much unusable. The mouse in the guest OS would not move fluidly. Each action was pretty slow. I disabled SpeedStep, enabled background threads, tried to optimize the guest OS, turn off everything on the host OS, but nothing worked. To my amazement, Sun's VirtualBox just worked they way I expected and experienced Microsoft's product on a desktop. Now, I am still a fan of VMWare's products, but sometimes a free alternative suffices. Sun's product also has builtin support for guest additions on many different OS's without searching for them. My only beef (and a small one) with VirtualBox is that you can't paste into the guest OS without installing the guest additions.

Virtual PC 2007 slow on laptop 0 comments

From http://vdachev.net/2008/12/02/virtual-pc-2007-on-a-laptop/

Add <enable_idle_thread type="boolean">true </enable_idle_thread>

to the <virtual_machines> section in the options.xml file located in %userprofile%\Application Data\Microsoft\Virtual PC

Cool Free Tools 0 comments

Development

Virtualization

Oracle’s VirtualBox

Files

WinMerge is my favorite diff/comparison tool.  Pretty and simple.

If TFS is not an option, definately use Tortoise SVN.  You can install a Subversion server to speed access for multiple users (Book).  Also use TracAdmin to manage your project’s issues, milestones, and documentation.   Continuous build is pretty easy with CruiseControl .Net.

Javascript

Developing and managing Javascript code is simplified with ScriptSharp.  This has a small learning curve associated with it, but it is worth it.    These javascript libraries are a must: jquery, prototype, and extjs.

The C# 2008 Poster is a nice wall paper (the real kind).

Web

Aptana + ZenCoding (How To) is interesting.

 

 

Internet

Chrome is my choice for best browser.  (Need to add plugin list).

Dump Adobe Reader for FoxIt Reader.

 

Utilities

Files

7-Zip handles all of my compression needs. 

Notepad++ is a handy notepad replacement.  To bad it doesn’t do hex.  Maybe use HxD for hex.

Use Truecrypt for financial data. (How To)

Use Defraggler to defragment large files.  CCleaner really cleans your system. Recuva undeletes files.

Duplicate File Finder or Duplicate File Cleaner to clean duplicate files.

Space Sniffer finds where the space on your hard drive went to.

SyncToy 2.1 allows you to setup directories to be synchronized.  Useful to use a USB Drive as a briefcase or for simple backups. 

Copy Path

System

ScreenHunter is a simple yet effective replacement for print-screen, but for more features Faststone’s Capture v5.3 is better.

Use this Background Switcher if you don’t have Ultramon.

Driver Backup backs up your drivers before you reinstall.

CD/DVD’s

ImgBurn is an excellent Nero replacement.  Use with WinCDemu Mounter or Pismo File Mounter as well. System Rescue CD is a handy tool to keep around as well for partitioning and system repair.

 

Productivity

PDFTools joins, splits, encrypts, decrypts PDF’s.

JPG2PDF Converter also converts and merges TIF files.  Handy for scanning documents.

FreeOCR

PDF->Word extracts a PDF’s content to word.

Image Editing

Photography

InfranView with the RIOT (Image Optimization) plugin is a great program for batch conversions.

SmillaEnlarger is an excellent way to increase photo’s without very much distortion.

Paint.Net is a good alternative to Photoshop. (Need to add plugin list).

Microsoft Image Composition Editor stitches images together.  Consider using PTGui & PanoTools with Hugin.

RAW Codecs – installs the camera specific interpreters for the RAW image format.

Use Picasa to organize your photos.  You need PhotoGallery, Collage and PhotoStory  to accomplish the same from Microsoft.

Amok Exif Sorter

MagikLantern

Icons

Ico FX is an Icon Editor.  Convert PNG to ICO with ToYcon (change ftp to http when downloading or click here)

 

Video & Music

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/features.php?cat=video

http://mpc-hc.sourceforge.net/media-player-features.html

http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=MP3packer

http://videoconverter.hamstersoft.com/en/

Basenji catalogs CDs/DVDs

Handbrake

Dvd Decryptor

 

Macbuntu