Learning new things is almost always fun, and one must try to check one's assumptions at the door.  However, what if your brain assumes something and doesn't come right out and say so?  That's interesting.

Keeping in mind that I am new to ASP.NET 2.0...

I'm experimenting, and here I have a neat little master page with a hidden field on it that I want all the other pages to use, so one page puts data in the field and then transfers control to the next page.  The next page then checks that hidden field and doesn't find anything.  This had me wondering what the darned problem was, until suddenly it occurred to me how on earth I could expect anything to be there?  The master page is not stateful, and it is generated from scratch each time.  Doh!  Somehow it had gotten into my head that the master page was some sort of repository -- despite the fact that I know there is no state preservation or information passing beyond query strings, forms, and session/application variables.  Amazing what assumptions one can make with no justification whatsoever and contrary information and experience in rich abundance from past encounters.  Makes me feel like I just called up customer support with the complaint that my computer's cup holder had broken. 

Doh!

 

Among the trials innovators in teams are expected to go through is the convincing of skeptical team members that a particular technology is something worth considering.  And when that technology is mature, but unfamiliar except through what skeptical team members see as "trendy" buzzwords, the task might be especially difficult.

Take RSS, for example.  Real Simple Syndication provides a pull-model for content that beats static-content models all hollow.  What if you want your users to be able provide content blurbs that only their own customers can see, and allow them to be able to submit the content themselves (going through moderation, to save you from inappropriate content)?  Well, a syndication model works best!  Examine this particular entry, and you will see why!

And what if you are trying to create a way for your customers to put content into an application that their userswill see (and only their customers).  With the additional proviso that their entries have to be approved by a moderator, and that their content can expire. 

One model that could be used is the model of a blog -- with the content accessible via RSS.  It's a thought, at least.

I am pleased to announce that this morning, at 9:20 AM, our new granddaughter, Summer Ruth Clark, made her entrance into the world! 

She was not really as red in the face as the photo seems to show, in fact she is quite the lovely little lady.  And she was so very alert and observant!  It is sometimes said that girl babies tend to want to connect, and it surely is true in her case.  She would hear the voice of someone talking to her, and she would turn towards the sound already.  Just two hours old in this photograph.  It's also a good shot of Daddy Jason's ear, by the way.

I do note that I can see her great grandmother Ruth's eyes in her, so she is well named.  She was a most healthy baby, too.  Vital Stats: 8 lbs 11 oz; 20 inches long.

This litany of questions is what my boss (formerly merely my team member) Tom uses to distinguish between that which is important and that which is not.  I just wanted to make mention of it here to have a good record of The Three Questions.  :-)

Well I have great news!  And that news is a new Grandson.  He was born to my son Daniel and his wife, Linda, this morning at 5:40 am.  A nice weight, 7 lbs 3 oz, length 21 inches, and the docs couldn't find a single thing wrong with him.  His name?  Oh, yes:

Daniel John Clark

When your children start having children, THAT's when the fun begins.  And a few weeks from now, maybe right at Christmas, our son Jason and his wife Larene will be presenting us with another grandbaby, this time a girl, whose name has already been picked out: Summer Ruth Clark.  I can't wait!

 

Kevin Hammond got back to me with a comment about how if a web project is the default (startup) project, then the OTC is not enabled.  The solution is to make some other project, including a class library, the startup project.  I find this odd, but I'm sure there's a good reason for it.

I just heard of the Object Test Bench in Visual Studio 2005 (in Kevin Hammond's blog), and hurried to use it, but ran into a small problem, in that the context menu off the class diagram I don't have a "Create Instance" item!  Am I perhaps doing something wrong, or is this OTB tool only available in a higher version of VS2005 (I'm running VS2005 Professional)? 

Here's a picture of what I get, which does NOT include the Create Instance:

Anybody with any clue is invited to comment...