April 2008 - Posts

• Fun with ISAPI Filters

  I am a big fan of ISAPI filters and ISAPI_Rewrite in particular. If you are not familiar with ISAPI filters and ISAPI_Rewrite, in a nutshell: ISAPI_Rewrite is a powerful URL manipulation engine based on regular expressions. It acts mostly like Apache's mod_Rewrite, but is designed specifically for Microsoft's Internet Information Server (IIS). For $99 a server, you cannot go wrong (although there is a nice free open source version as well.) There are many SEO and redirect usages of the product. One of my favorites is cleaning up and simplifying urls to make them more readable and emailable. RewriteRule /search/([a-zA-Z0-9\-\._:]*?)/ /search/?q=$1 [I,L] RewriteRule /search/([a-zA-Z0-9\-\._:]*?)/\?p=(\d+) /search/?q=$1&p=$2 [I,L] Using the example code above, I can now build and share search links in my blog (using Graffiti) like this: http://simpable.com/search/graffiti/ (instead of http://simpable.com/search/?q=graffiti). I won't go into all of the ins and outs of ISAPI_Rewrite, but basically: Declare a new rule Provide a regex pattern Provide a url to direct the request to (in this case the Graffiti search url) (optional) Add parameters/settings Posted to Code and tagged as isapi_rewrite Similar Posts Graffiti CMS FAQ What Software do I use on the Mac? DecentURL Posted Apr 28 2008, 07:52 AM by Simpable Filed under: Code

• Demo Code Tools

  Did you ever just want to test a quick piece of code? Prove an idea? Or even just wanted to see the name of a property to answer an email/forum/support request? Here are a couple of free tools which can make it very easy and convenient. I have been a long time fan of Jeff Key's Snippet Compiler. I guess I missed the announcement, but it looks like there was a nice update in December. If you have never used Snippet Compiler, in a nutshell, it gives you the ability to execute and test code without the need to create a dummy VS.Net project. In provides templates, intellisence, managed references, and a near instant start up. As the site says, "Snippet Compiler compiles snippets.". What actually made me thing to check on an update to Snippet Compiler is another similar tool called LinqPad (by Joseph Albahari). LinqPad has quite a bit of functionality, but as the name implies what it really specializes in is quickly writing Linq queries. Tired of querying in antiquated SQL? Well, you don't have to!  LINQPad lets you interactively query SQL databases in a modern query language: LINQ.  Kiss goodbye to SQL Management Studio! Added Bonus: If you want to take your testing code in Snippet Compiler to a new level Travis Illg has published a template that will enable you to write your test code using NUnit. Posted to Code and tagged as linqpad , snippetcompiler , tools , easy-things Similar Posts iPhone vs. BlackBerry What Software do I use on the Mac? Life on a Mac - Five Months Later Posted Apr 25 2008, 08:55 AM by Simpable Filed under: Code

• Graffiti Plugins: Twitter & RSS

  The download link below contains the binary and source for two Graffiti plugins. Twitter - This plugin will update your Twitter status anytime you make a new post. RSS - This plugin will include the information below at the end of posts in your RSS Feed. In addition, it also allows you to customize the layout using a template. Related Posts - The three posts most related to this one (based on the post content). This can sometimes be a hit or miss depending on the amount of content Category - The name of the category and a link to view the other posts made to the category Tags - A list of the tags for the post and a link to each tag specific page If you want to see an example, please check out my RSS Feed. :) Download: ScottWater.Graffiti.Plugins Posted to Code and tagged as graffiti , source-code Similar Posts Graffiti CMS FAQ What Software do I use on the Mac? Mix, Twitter, and Hashtags Posted Apr 24 2008, 08:53 PM by Simpable Filed under: Code

• Life on a Mac - Five Months Later

  It's been about five months since I switched to using a MacBook Pro as my primary machine. So far everything has been going way better than I expected with two notable exceptions. Email/Calendar - On their own, Mail.app, iCal, and Address Book are really nice and simple applications. However, if you factor in the need to work with Exchange it can be a real mess. I had to do some hacky things like use Plaxo and keep Outlook open on another machine to keep things in sync and even then there was too many outliers to justify the complexity. I finally broke down and ordered Mac Office the other day so hopefully that will enable me to keep all of these things in sync with less complexity. The reason this is troubling for me is productivity. Previously I did email and daily development tasks on separate machines. This made it very easy to ignore Outlook. When I started using the Mac having Mail.app and VS.Net in separate windows/spaces made it much easier to ignore. Now they are merged together and I have a harder time ignoring email (I am weak, I know). Blogging - blogging on the Mac is still very weak. Mars edit is OK, but has no WYSIWGY editing experience and offers no ability to configure which features your site supports. The feedback from their supports has been to implement the Moveable Type version of the MetaBlog API, but that is a complete mess and a copout. (note: This is another area where WLW shines. Blog tools can expose which methods/options they support and WLW will auto-configure itself.) When I do blog on the Mac, I use a combination of TextMate and Textexapnder. This requires I write all of my own HTML, but a combination of TextMate short cuts and Textexpander make this almost completely painless. In addition, using a simple template I can tell TextMate exactly which MetaBlog features I need. Nice! Here is my previous list of software I use on the Mac. Other applications I have used regularly: Evernote - I actually use both the Mac and PC version at the same time to keep some simple notes/etc in sync. I just started to get into this one, but so far I really like it. Skitch - OMG, I love this tool. It is free in beta, but as soon as I can send them some cash they will have my credit card number. I have a full post on this in queue, so all I will say is that they (plasq) made taking screen shots fun. Cyberduck - I have not yet broken down and bought Transmit. As much as I like it, these days I do not FTP enough to justify a spending money on FTP. Posted to Software and tagged as mac , outlook , plaxo , evernote , skitch , cyberduck , textmate Similar Posts What Software do I use on the Mac? iPhone vs. BlackBerry Life on a Mac - the Grass is Greener Posted Apr 24 2008, 11:16 AM by Simpable Filed under: Software

• WLW Code Formatting

  As I have previously mentioned, I am a very big fan of Windows Live Writer. I had not yet setup a code formatting plugin on my Fusion VM, so I hit Google and found the this great little plugin. It generates quite a bit of embedded css & markup, but if used sparingly it should make reading code in a blog post much more rewarding.  Of course one other option would be move the style to the CSS file, but then that makes RSS a second class citizen and hurts your most loyal readers. Anyone else using another solution? Or plugin? Posted to Software and tagged as wlw Similar Posts What Software do I use on the Mac? Life on a Mac - the Grass is Greener Unfuddle == BaseCamp For Developers Posted Apr 23 2008, 09:48 PM by Simpable Filed under: Software

• Community Server 2008 Is A Live!

  At Telligent today is much more than just tax day, it is Community Server 2008 release day. However, releasing your flag ship product was not enough for us, so in addition, we decided to completely rebuild the core Community Server site with brand new look. We are very excited about this release and have already been planning v.Next for the last couple of months. Besides new features and other enhancements, the next version of Community Server is going to use a new and improved build process which we expect will enable us to be more transparent with our customers & users and hopefully yield an even better product in the long run. In addition, there is even more coming in the coming months as we release the Community Server SharePoint add-on. Posted to Software and tagged as community-server , telligent Similar Posts Graffiti CMS FAQ Graffiti v. Wordpress - Part II SharePoint Developer Posted Apr 15 2008, 12:13 PM by Simpable Filed under: Software

• Google Design

  I was just reading over some of the documentation on Google App Engine when something very obvious finally set in. When it comes to design & branding I am not sure if any company is nearly as consistent as Google. Every page/app/service is a white background, a couple shades of blue, and a bunch of well placed small images. If you take each page on it's own it is downright boring. However, if you sum up the volume of everything Google it is beautiful in it's simplicity. There are few companies compared as much as Google and Microsoft, so why should this post be any different? Browse around Microsoft.com and you see many varying styles depending on product and markets. Google always seems to get the benefit of doubt, especially when compared to Microsoft, but I personally just find the boringness of Google to be a much better experience. What do you think? Is Google Beautiful? Boring? Posted to Business and tagged as google , microsoft , design Similar Posts Unfuddle == BaseCamp For Developers iPhone vs. BlackBerry What Software do I use on the Mac? Posted Apr 09 2008, 07:53 AM by Simpable Filed under: Business

• Why Google App Engine Will Be a Success

  Unless you were recently hit in the head with the rock you have been living under I am sure you have heard about Google entry into the cloud computing space called Google App Engine. Having Google behind this project certainly increases the hype factor by about a million percent. However, it is not Google's involvement which has convinced me this will be a huge success. Instead it is this statement (emphasis is mine): During this preview period, applications are limited to 500MB of storage, 200M megacycles of CPU per day, and 10GB bandwidth per day. We expect most applications will be able to serve around 5 million pageviews per month. In the future, these limited quotas will remain free, and developers will be able to purchase additional resources as needed. The cost of hosting is declining everyday, but what Google is now saying, if you build it on our stuff, we will completely host it for free until you hit about 5 million page views. It will be very interesting to see the types of services, businesses, and components which all get built around, in-front and on top of this. I have been flirting with both Rails and Django, but I think I have now been swayed. Posted to Software and tagged as google , gae Similar Posts The Value of Being First Unfuddle == BaseCamp For Developers Graffiti CMS FAQ Posted Apr 08 2008, 10:26 AM by Simpable Filed under: Software

• Google Doc's Appliance

  I have been using Google Docs quite a bit in recent weeks to share spreadsheet "maps" (features, resources, roadmaps) used in our (Telligent) product planning. This morning I read Google was finally going to add Gears support. With Google Docs offline (powered by Google Gears), I can take my little piece of the cloud with me wherever I go. Once enabled, I have a local version of my document list and editors, along with my documents. I am still a little shocked that Google Mail does not offer gears support (Hey Google, while you are at it, please work with Apple to add push support with iPhone 2.0 as well), but I have to imagine this is something that will be fixed very soon. However, even with offline support, I still think many businesses will have a hard time trusting Google with all of their data which brings me to the purpose of this post. This is purely speculation, but I am betting we will see a Google Doc appliance in 2008. This would be a similar to Google's current search appliance. IT departments will be able to purchase a machine from Google, drop it behind their fire wall and run all of the various Google applications securely on their own networks. Heck, mix it in with Google search appliance and you could have a killer 1-2 punch. I guess you could call it software as a service...in a box. :) Posted to Technology and tagged as google , gears Similar Posts iPhone vs. BlackBerry What Software do I use on the Mac? Unfuddle == BaseCamp For Developers Posted Apr 01 2008, 08:20 AM by Simpable Filed under: Technology