A while ago, I set up a small Microsoft Access database that would track Church committee membership.  It manages basic information about committees and the people who belong to them.  It also includes a couple very basic reports. 

It's far from a 'complete' solution, but it's probably a pretty good starting point for a bigger project.  I thought I'd post it here in case anyone wants to give it a look. 

Church Committees.mdb (1.01 MB)

When you are entering dates in an Excel spreadsheet, you might want to enter just the numeric part (i.e. without any dashes or slashes), hoping Excel would figure out what you were doing and turn it into a 'real' date automatically.  You might think Excel has a built-in cell format you can apply that would handle this for you...it apparently does not. 

You can, however, build your own 'custom formatting' rule for a cell to accomplish this.  So, for example, if you want to type in '112507' but have Excel transform that into '11/25/07', you would set up your custom format (using Excel 2003) like this:

1. Right click the cell, choose 'Format Cells...'
2. In the 'Category' list (on the left side), scroll down and click on 'Custom'
3. In the 'Type' textbox, type in your new rule (in this case '0#"/"##"/"##', with out the single quotes)

Now, when you type in that cell, your date will be reformatted according to your new rule. 

To apply this custom format to an entire column of cells: 

1. Right-click your custom-formatted cell, then click Copy.
2. Highlight the cells you want to apply the format to, then right-click one of them
3. Choose 'Paste Special' from the context menu
4. Click 'Formats' from the 'Paste' group

I'm excited about the new dasBlog (2.0), if only because it promises to give me better control over comment-spammers.  It was pretty satisfying to watch the (dasBlog 2.0) updater tool wipe out all the 'bad words' that had accumulated in this blog's entries, and hopefully now I'll be able to keep a better handle on it. 

If you're reading this, I was able to upload the new blog engine and get things going on the live site!

My Confluence installation requires a JAVA_HOME envronment variable, but ever since I installed Confluence, I've been manually setting JAVA_HOME after every system restart**.  I just ran across this blog entry which suggests setting JAVA_HOME in Ubuntu's /etc/environment settings file. 

I haven't rebooted yet, but this looks like a good solution to my problem.


** ok, there really have only been a handful of system restarts in several months, and always due to my own negligence.  Kubuntu has been solid as a rock. 

Early this summer, I had a customer who bought a notebook PC (an HP) which happened to come pre-installed with Windows Vista on it.  Business requirements demanded that it should have Windows XP Professional instead, so I offered to 'downgrade' (ha ha) to XP Pro for him. 

As I learned (after hours scouring the Internet and chatting with HP technical support), this particular notebook _can't_ have XP Professional installed, because you can't disable 'Native Mode' for SATA in the system BIOS, and you can't install XP while the SATA drive is in native mode. 

That was the third strike for me.  I've had two other bad experiences with Vista 'upgrades', and have lost a good deal of time and money trying to work through it.  I've been a Microsoft Partner for several years, but I just can't support (pun intended) a system that is _so_ broken.  I refuse to recommend Windows Vista to any customers who rely on their computers for more than very casual use. 

Maybe Vista Service Pack 1 will be more useable. 

Whew, what a summer...we've been working (and playing) pretty hard for months...no time for blogging at all! 

I'll try to do better.  Maybe having this post here will force me to try...?

I'm not quite ready to let go of Windows...there are still a lot of unanswered questions, but I'm learning...

I ordered a laptop (for someone else) from Dell on July 3rd...decent deal, including 3-5 day shipping.  When he emailed on the 9th to ask if he could pick it up on the 13th, I had a half-written reponse telling him 'no problem' when I thought I'd better check first.  After all, I had a mediocre experience with Dell delivery once before. 

Sure enough, Dell's web site said the "preconfigured" laptop was in production, and wouldn't ship until 8/1 (29 days after ordering), and wouldn't arrive until 8/5 or 8/6.  Whatever...cancel that order.  Office Depot has HP's with larger displays sitting on the shelf waiting for you. 

The AutoCorrect feature in Microsoft Office 2003 is a handy feature, replacing common spelling errors for you as you happily peck away at the keyboard.  It can also be used to speed up the typing of common, complicated, or lengthy terms.  Essentially, you can use it to create macros that will be replaced with longer, more cumbersome phrases automatically (and without errors). 

For example, you could create an autocorrect for the letters 'hspb', setting it to correct to 'heat sealed plastic bag'.  If you have to type this several times a day, it's easy to see the speed benefit. 

That same set of autocorrect macros is shared by the whole Office suite.  So, if you create autocorrect entries for yourself in Word, they'll be available in Excel, Access, Infopath, etc. 

A coworker of mine recently wondered why her just-added autocorrect entries weren't working in Infopath forms.  They worked great in Word, but Infopath just ignored them. 

The solution I found is that any autocorrect entries stored (in Word) as 'formatted text' will not work in Infopath.  Entries stored as 'plain text' work great.  So, even though Word will turn two-hyphens-and-a-greater-than (-->) into a pretty arrow, if you store that in an autocorrect, Infopath will ignore the whole entry.  Here are a couple screenshots of what I mean:

Formatted text entry

Plain text entry

For this example, I stored an autocorrect entry (shop) that will replace with 'shopping bag'.  I stored 'shopping bag' as formatted text and tested it in Infopath...only to find out it won't work.  Changing the entry (in Word's autocorrect list) to plain text ('shop1' for this example) makes the entry work in Infopath as well. 

Notes:

• It looks like you can tell the 'formatted text' entries in the autocorrect list by the asterisk (*) at the end of their text (aside from selecting each one and noting the 'Formatted text' radio button is selected). 
• Access the autocorrect feature by clicking Tools>Autocorrect Options in Microsoft Word.

In the process of cleaning up a Windows XP (Home) PC, I ended up with a situation where it would get to the 'Windows is starting up...' screen, and just stay there for 20+ minutes.  Doing a hard reset didn't help; it would boot back to that same spot and just hang there. 

I found this forum post, where they've suggested to plug the PC's power cord directly into the wall instead of a power strip.  Since I had just purchased a new power strip, and then plugged that PC (and another one) into it, I thought I'd give it a try. 

Yeah, it worked.  The PC booted up as fast as XP ever could.  I'm assuming the two PC's together must be drawing too much current for the power strip/surge protector, and so the troubled computer wasn't getting enough juice to boot properly...? 

I have a UT Starcom PPC-6700 SmartPhone, through Alltel, that I use essentially for running my small business.  Alltel's data service add-on (~$40/month) gives me unlimited Internet access with the device, so I can Google search, watch the weather radar from the boat, check email, and get notifications of messages left on the company voice mail system. 

On the email side of things, I have the device synchronized with an Exchange server running in my office.  I can 'force' the device to sync with the server whenever I feel like reading email, just by clicking send/receive in the phone.  With Exchange Server 2003, I can also enable Microsoft's 'Direct Push', which keeps the phone synchronized with Exchange in real-time.  There are plenty of articles out there on how Direct Push works, so I won't regurgitate that here, but essentially as messages come in, they're 'pushed' directly to the phone, so I always have the most recent message list in my hand. 

One significant problem I've noticed is that with Direct Push enabled, the battery life on the PPC-6700 is slashed severely.  I can expect that if I take the phone off charger at 7am, it will be dead (powered off dead) before 5pm.  By contrast, with Direct Push turned off and me synchronizing manually 3 or 4 times during the day, the battery will last 3 days pretty easily. 

It's weird, because Direct Push is touted as a technology that should save battery life.  Instead of the device connecting on a schedule – say, every half hour – and downloading '0' messages while wasting battery juice, it's supposed to be 'smarter' and only connect when there are messages to download. 

I can't find the article now, but one writer suggested that if you don't want your device connecting a hundred times a day and downloading messages, don't receive so many emails!  I would agree, but I think the problem is bigger than that.  I think the problem is with spam, and here's why:

Most of the time, when I 'force' a download with the phone, it will say something like “Email: 0/8” in the phone's Messaging status bar.  When it completes the download, though, I might actually only see 1 or 2 of those messages in my inbox.  I'm left to assume that the other 6 or 7 were spam...and that the Exchange spam filtering rules don't get applied until the download is requested.   

If that's true, then something similar is probably happening with Direct Push enabled.  The difference, though, is that Direct Push is causing as many as 8 connections to (downloads from) Exchange to accomplish the same thing.  Essentially, it's connecting 8 times, and each time it's just running the rules and putting messages in the spam folder...it's a wasted connection. 

[EDIT 2007-05-23]

I almost forgot.  One other problem with enabling Direct Push is that people who call me often get sent directly to voice mail.  The phone never even rings, because the line is tied up with the data connection.  Since the phone spends so much of it's day connected to Exchange, this becomes a problem - think 'teenager tying up the phone all day'.  

Some people never learn, I guess.  After my first horrible experience trying to upgrade from Windows XP to Vista Business, I said I wouldn't do it again.  A few weeks later, here I am trying to upgrade my main computer - the desktop machine on which I do most of the 'important' things. 

After a solid half hour, the upgrade let me know it wouldn't continue, because it doesn't like 'Nero Burning ROM'.  Then it exited.  I removed Nero (even though it's my favorite CD/DVD burning tool), and started the upgrade process again.  You don't get to fast-forward to the point you left...you have to re-do that half hour. 

This time, it keeps going.  It was taking forever (3 hours and we were still 'Expanding' files), but it did warn that it would take 'several hours' to complete, so whatever.  I check back after three hours, and all I see is a mouse arrow on an all-blue screen...nothing else.  The mouse moves the cursor, but after 20 minutes, it's still just stuck there.

I hard-reset the machine (reset button), and watch anxiously.  The BIOS screen just stays up for 4-5 minutes...hard reset again.  This time, it gets past the BIOS post and continues setup.  Whew. 

As I write this, the Windows Vista Business Upgrade has been stuck at 'Expanding Files... 21%' for over an hour.  When I click the little red 'X' to close the setup window, it tells me the setup process cannot be canceled at this point, because it could leave my system in a potentially unstable state.  That would be funny if it weren't so pathetic...the system is already unusable...since it's stuck in this stupid upgrade. 

I'll update this entry when I have some kind of resolution...

I recently tried to upgrade a Toshiba Satellite laptop (Model A35-S159, running Windows XP Pro SP2, fully patched, with BIOS flashed to the latest - September 2004) to Windows Vista Business Edition.  Apparently, I'm one of the many people lucky enough to have a computer that, while being ACPI compliant, isn't quite ACPI compliant enough for Windows Vista.  I'm not even sure what that means. 

I ran Microsoft's Vista Upgrade Advisor, and the machine passed with no problems.  I ran the upgrade, and that seemed to go great too (though it took a long time).  On the first boot (which should have been into Vista), I got the popular Blue Screen of Death telling me my system's 'BIOS isn't fully ACPI compliant'.  Great. 

The only bright spot (if you can call it that) is that, if I'm quick, I can catch the boot screen as the laptop powers up and choose 'Earlier Version of Windows', which will take me back to Windows XP.

But that just gets me back to where I was before I ever tried Vista.  I can't find any hope on the web, except Microsoft saying the vendors will have to update the BIOS...that's apparently not likely in Toshiba's case, as they say right on their web site they won't support Vista except on PC's with the Vista Capable logo.  From their support web site:

Q: If my Toshiba computer does not have a Windows Vista Capable sticker, does Toshiba offer drivers and BIOS upgrades for Windows Vista?

A: No. Toshiba offers Windows Vista drivers and Windows Vista-compatible BIOS upgrades for computer models that have a valid Windows Vista Capable sticker. It may be possible to upgrade to Windows Vista on some Toshiba computer models that do not have a Windows Vista Capable sticker, but Toshiba cannot guarantee that all features of the computer will function correctly after the upgrade. Microsoft’s Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor may be able to indicate whether or not your computer has the minimum hardware requirements for Windows Vista, but a positive report from the Upgrade Advisor is not a clear indication that the specific features of the computer will function correctly after an upgrade to Windows Vista.

I'm not much for conspiracies, but this stinks of 'plot to make people buy new hardware'...

I really enjoyed MSN Radio for a while, and even paid for the subscription to MSN Radio Plus.  I gave up on it, though, after Windows Media Player updated to version 11, because the interface changed pretty dramatically, and it was brutally difficult to even find MSN Radio with WMP 11! 

Coincidentally, I ran across Pandora Internet Radio around the same time.  Pandora works by letting you choose the individual artists (and even songs) you like.  Then it plays music from that artist and similar music from other artists.  You set up radio stations, with different kinds of music, and it remembers what you like and dislike (you can give each song/artist a thumbs up or down).  Best of all, it's ad supported...meaning it's essentially free for the end user/listener. 

I got a troubling email from Pandora last week, though (don't get the wrong idea, this was a pretty unusual circumstance...there is no SPAM from Pandora).  Apparently, the music industry is trying to get fees raised for Internet radio stations, and Pandora was asking for its listeners to help out by calling their congressperson.  Hopefully, Pandora can survive the new legislation, however it comes out. 

I had a chance today to try out the Rainbow Portal 2.0 Beta.  So far, I'm pretty happy with it.  Of course, I struggled with the a checkout of the dev code for a while because I don't have Visual Studio .NET 2005, but once I restarted with a download of the zipped application, the installation went OK. 

The only problem I encountered during setup was a Configuration Error (see below):

Configuration Error !

Description: An error occurred during the processing of a configuration file required to service this request. Please review the specific error details below and modify your configuration file appropriately.

Parser Error Message: Unrecognized attribute 'xmlns'.

It turns out this is a problem of IIS trying to make the application use the .NET 1.1 framework.  It can be forced to use the 2.0 framework by changing the application's ASP.NET settings (In IIS Manager, right click your Rainbow application, Properties, ASP.NET; then choose the .NET 2.0xxxx framework). 

I even had a go at converting one of my more simple custom modules from Rainbow 1.1 to 2.0.  It was pretty painless too...

• Open the module's csproj file in C# 2005
• Run the conversion in C# 2005 to convert the project to .NET 2.0
• Remove the references to Rainbow, Rainbow.Settings, and Esperantus DLL's
• Add a reference to Rainbow.Framework.Core.DLL
• Build, and start troubleshooting code issues (mostly namespace issues in my experience)
• Once those issues are out, you add the module to the portal just as in Rainbow 1.1.

I still feel a little blind working with Linux...like I'm constantly bumping into things, then feeling them to figure out what they are.  When I want to find them again, I sort of have to stumble around again and the process repeats.  It's getting better, but it's just a steep learning curve for a Windows-only boy like me...

My Own Confluence
I've managed now to get a Confluence personal installation running nicely (with hands-on help from Atlassian) inside Ubuntu 6.10. 

Confluence seems to be the perfect solution to a problem I've had in managing certain kinds of customer and company information...I can create a 'home' page for each customer, new pages for each of their computers/systems, pages for repair notes and site visits, etc.  So far, it's just about perfect...for one thing, all the information is available anywhere I can get an Internet browser fired up, and having complete searchability is a huge bonus.

One other nice benefit is I can configure each customers' entry in Business Contact Manager so their BCM 'home page' points to their 'Home Page' in the Confluence installation.  This links the two systems pretty cleanly, as I can quickly pull up their extended information in Confluence by clicking the link inside Outlook. 

Of course, Confluence is excellent for managing all kinds of information, and I'm using it daily to store all kinds of phone, meeting, and other data.  If I run into problems with this combination, I'll post it here; but for now, Confluence is perfectly filling a huge information management void for me. 

Version Control via SVN, too!
I've also now got SVN installed, configured, and working very well on that Ubuntu box.  Previously, I had 'local' SVN repositories on 3 different machines at 2 locations.  Having a 'real' SVN server means I can consolidate all those projects (sheesh, there are more than I thought!) in one place.  While I'm the only developer that uses them, it's nice to just have one system to worry about backing up. 

It's worth pointing out that while I found a lot of articles explaining how to install/configure SVN server on Linux/Ubuntu, this one was perfect in it's detail (for me, at least).  After that, this article was just as good at helping me move the subversion repositories from the Windows local repositories to the Linux server. 

After installing ISA server on an internal network, I noticed that file upload via FTP no longer worked.  It took way too much Googling to find this link, which explains the simple solution:

• Right-click the 'SBS FTP Outbound Access Rule' (in a default installation)
• Choose 'Configure FTP' from the bottom of the context menu. 
• Deselect the 'Read Only' box on the dialog
• Restart your FTP client application, and voila!

I stumbled across Meebo on another blog, and thought the idea was a good one.  Essentially, you embed a little piece of HTML (actually, a flash object) in a web page, and visitors to your web site can chat live with you through it's interface.  All you need is a Jabber client on your machine. 

It works as advertised, and it's free.  The downside (and the reason I gave up trying to use it) is that every time someone visits your page, you get a pop-up window asking if you want to add the person to your contact list.  Even on this blog, where I get low traffic, it's incredibly annoying. 

According to the developers, this pop-up issue is part of the Jabber standard and won't be messed with.  Too bad, I liked the overall idea.