TariqAyad.com

I am not using Windows 7 (at least not yet), but I am using Windows 2008 R2, which has the Windows 7 shell. I've been using it a couple of days and I like it a lot, I find the new win7 ui-shell very usefull, very productive. There are things I like a lot in it that makes my life easier. Specially 1. Improvements to Windows Explorer, Favorites and Libraries 2. Jump Lists 3. The new taskbar 4. How the Show desktop button is non intrusive, but readily accesible 5. the new tray area with app icons hidden. I think microsoft has a winner here with Win7/UI-Shell

[code]

/// <summary>
/// Gets or sets the site URL.
/// </summary>
/// <value>The site URL.</value>
[WebBrowsable(true),
WebDescription("Url of the site to process reports on"),
WebDisplayName("Site Url"),
Personalizable(PersonalizationScope.Shared)]
public string SiteUrl
{
    get
    {
        if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(siteUrl))
        {
            return SPContext.Current.Web.Url;
        }
        return siteUrl;
    }
    set
    {
        siteUrl = value;
    }
}

[/code]

The above code snippet looks like  a  reasonable WebPart Propperty. In-fact you will find nothing weird with it untill you provision this webpart through a feature.

What happens is the reference to the SPContext…. in the property messes up the WebPart Order on the page and moves the webpart to Order 1 (i.e. first webpart on the zone), no matter what other preference you would have set in your feature.

Interesting eh? Something to keep in mind for future

This is old news but still its a great tip http://www.harbar.net/archive/2007/04/25/Rightclick-a-.WSP-to-Add-Solution.aspx How to get an "Add Solution" option as a shell extention in windows explorer

There is a new version of Office Communicator Mobile available.

But one feature that I really want is still missing, i.e. for COMO (Communicator Mobile) to run of the storage card. Microsoft Guys please can you add this? The main memory on the phones are not huge you know, typically about 100 MB or less, which gets consumed by every other app for some reason or other wanting to dump some files into the /Windows.

Technet points to the folowing

"Can I install Communicator Mobile (2007 release) on my device’s storage card?

No. Installing Communicator Mobile (2007 release) on a storage card is not supported because a device does not necessarily immediately detect a storage card when the device starts. As a result, Communicator Mobile’s auto-start feature cannot function as intended. Installing Communicator Mobile to a storage card is also not supported because when a device’s battery is low, the operating system stops running programs that are installed on the device’s storage card."

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb963948.aspx

But what if I don't want communicator on my today screen or for it to auto start, then can I please still install it on my Storage card.

Over the last few months there has been quite a bit of news regarding Windows Mobile that has focused on 'pumping-up' the platform to compete with everything else out there (including the iphone)

for instance

• Windows Mobile renamed to Windows Phone
• Microsoft Releases Windows Mobile Marketplace to compete with App Store
• Mobile Market place launches with 600 apps
• Windows Mobile 6.5 and how to create widget for WM 6.5
• and this latest white paper - How to port an iphone application to Windows Mobile

But what has me stumped is the cost of breaking into development, the IDE Visual Studio Standard Edition still requires some hard thinking before investing for the hobby developer (which as you would notice accounts for quite a percentage of the Apps on the Apps Store)

Which brings me to the following question "What has Microsoft to lose by making a Visual Studio Express: Mobile Development Edition?". If they do make an express version for Windows Mobile development, wont there be a ROI if the apps developed make their way to the MarketPlace.

Also in my opinion the Windows OS got its leg up against all of its competitor because of the number of applications available for it.

Its been quite a bit of struggle for me to find an accurate way of finding the netbios name of a domain from AD using System.DirectoryServices.

In case you are in the same jam here how you do it.

1. Connect to AD using the following ldap url:

   LDAP://CN=Partitions,CN=Configuration,DC=<DomainName>,DC=<local|com>

2. When querying AD using the Directory Searcher object uses the following filter:

   netbiosname=*

This should give you a record from AD containing the netbios name of the domain as the CN

Explanation

AD stores the the netbios name in the Partitions naming container which is stored inside the configuration naming container.

A more detailed explanation and more samples can be found in the Active Directory Cookbook or its online version

 

Code sample:

From neowin.net I came across this game.

http://pagehunt.msrlivelabs.com/PlayPageHunt.aspx

Its not exactly a great timer waster but its good for a good 5 minutes before you get bored.

What I still don't get is, Bing should take into account any suggestion we may make for returning the page result, instead of saying "no thats not it".