News
For a while now I haven’t spent any time on this blog even though I have been thinking on a regular basis “that was interesting and I need to blog about it”. But then there has always been something that has come in between and I forgot what it was that was so interesting…
Some weeks ago I finally made a push to get the release of MSMQ Studio out through the door and I was going to make a blog post about it just to realize that I was not able to post it! I had moved the blog to a new webhost about a year ago and now there was a problem with the login provider. So I went off to try to debug the code for the blog, but I couldn’t find it! After a while I managed to retrieve it from a really old backup thanks to my Windows Home Server! So now the code is up on TFS Preview so I have some control of it. Backups AND good source control is a god send sometimes!
So when I had this sorted out I added Google Analytics logging to the blog just to see how traffic was flowing from the blog to my company site (http://archonaut.com). This was really one of the best things I have done to get some inspiration to start blogging again! When I looked at the results from the first day and checked out the referrals I noticed that there are some old blog posts that people are still finding useful and are linking to those! This made me happy that they are still providing value to someone!
This blog has existed for almost 10 years now and I will do my best on keeping it up and running and adding more valuable content!
|
MSMQ Studio has now left the BETA stage and is now a released product with a proper license and support. This version includes only bugfixes on features that was released in the previous version. To download this version please visit http://www.archonaut.se.
|
I decided that I wanted to move http://www.archonaut.se to another hosting provider. The reason for this is that I am fed up with PHP at the moment. It’s not that I do not like it, but it is to much context switching for me when I need to fix something on the site. I mainly do development in C# and that’s what I am mostly comfortable with and when I have to do something in PHP I need to think for a while before I remember how to do it.
When I move the site to another hosting provider I will be able to use and learn development techniques that I can re-use in my day-job as a software architect and developer at Sogeti.
I will also be able to get a more streamlined release process for MSMQ Studio as well so I get less friction when I release a new version and it gets automatically published on the website. The current process requires to many manual steps for me at the moment. Although all this is also possible to do in PHP, but it will be easier for me to do it in .NET.
So if you experience any downtime at the http://www.archonaut.se it is due to the move and it will soon be online again.
|
I was at Microsoft TechDays in Sweden last week and got some inspiration to create an application for Windows Phone 7. The week before I found the oData API for accessing the session data for MIX 2010. And when Tim Heuer released the MIX10 Online Silverlight Viewer I got the idea that it would be really cool to the make the same but for WP7!
I started by using the Windows Phone List Application template in VS2010 where I populated the list of sessions using the oData SDK for Windows Phone 7.
When you select a session you will get to the details page where the video is displayed in a MediaElement, which can be controlled by a play and a pause button in the application bar.
You can download the sample code at MIXSessionViewer.zip.
|
This release contains new functionality for setting a filter on a queue to only display messages that was received within a certain date range. There is also a bug fix for a crash that happens when connecting to a remote computer and the user has insufficient access rights on the computer.
Download at http://www.archonaut.se
|
In this version there is a new feature added which allows you to search in any queue for text in a message. This may come in handy when you have a lot of messages in a queue and need to find a specific message. It will search both in the label and the body of the message. At the moment the search functionality is very basic and does not handle any language specific encodings.
Download at http://www.archonaut.se
|
Now it is possible to purchase a beta license (30% off standard price) for MSMQ Studio. When your order is completed a license file will be sent by e-mail to you.
Visit http://www.archonaut.se to purchase a license!
|
I just released the 14-day trial version of MSMQ Studio BETA now. With this version I will be able to deliver updates more frequently and you will be able to purchase a license that will remove all time limits from the product. MSMQ Studio is still in BETA, so until I release a final version there will be a 30% discount on the licenses.
For more information see http://www.archonaut.se.
|
I just read Joel Spolsky’s article A Little Less Conversation, which is a good article. Although there is another problem which can arise from having a manager who is co-ordination the conversations and that is when he is stopping all conversations until he decides that they are needed!
In my current assignment I have been brought into a project to make a revision of the current software architecture. This project is about migrating a legacy application to .NET, but in the 9 years the project has been going on this has not yet been finalized. The guy who is now managing the project has been in it almost all the time, but he shows us over and over that he has no understanding about software development at all.
The biggest mistake he does at the moment is that he has taken total control over who should discuss what and with who! When we finally get to meet the key stakeholders, he has spent a large amount of time on inventing solutions for the topics that we are discussing and quite early in the meeting we all dismiss them because they are totally wrong! He spends so much time controlling the project and the work that we do, most of it he hasn’t got a clue about what it is, so that we feel like we have got our hands tied behind our backs. And when something goes bad, he blames us for it!
This and a lot more issues we are having with this project manager is very frustrating and it does not make you perform your best! If there is another assignment coming up I will not hesitate to move on!
|