Falling of the TFS rehabilitation wagon...
And here I though I was waving good buy to TFS in the short term, but here I am Installing it for Aggreko . My boss came to me a couple of days ago and asked for a Work Item Tracking system in SharePoint 2007. I did my best, but as the requirements got more complicated and the metrics that they wanted to report on exploded, I said that TFS was the answer…
Naming your servers in an enterprise environment
This is an issue of contention in many companies, but I am firmly of the belief that server names should be at least consistent and at most should be able impart a large amount of information at a glance. Information should include:
Team Foundation Server SharePoint Integration
Why is there not more integration found in Team Foundation Server “out-of-the-box” with SharePoint 2007. It seams obvious to me that you would want to show your Work Items in SharePoint and integrate SharePoint Workflow into Team Foundation Server. It only make sense to be able to initially create a SharePoint Work item that is a request from a user into SharePoint, have some sort of approval workflow before assigning it to a project within TFS .
Amusing job requirements
I recently received a job spec that had the most ridiculous “Required” skill set for an “Analyst Programmer”. I though I should share it with you as I have just spent the last 10 minutes cleaning tea out of my keyboard with cotton bud’s. Here is how it was presented in the email:
Experts Exchange Hell - The slowest site in the world.
I know a couple of people who have been complaining that Experts Exchange was getting rather slow, and I had noticed the same. So I thought I would investigate how big the pages really are.
Branding and Customizing SharePoint 2007
I have been delving into the black art of SharePoint Branding, and I have been finding it a grueling process. Don’t get me wrong it is a vast improvement over SharePoint 2003 and I have already built 2 Features (but not for public consumption yet).
Windows Live Writer Beta 3 Hmm!
I submitted a trouble ticket about my previous post on http://support.live.com and got a prompt reply from Microsoft support giving me some directions for cleaning up beta bits of my system, and a URL for a direct download:
Refocus...
You may have noticed that over the last month or so I have been neglecting my blog (too many personal posts) and my focus on development in general. This has been a temporary setback due mostly to starting a new job and not getting to play with Team Server at the moment (plus I had a knee operation the other week). So for now, I will be trying to focus more on Sharepoint 2007 / MOSS and the feature deficient Sharepoint 2003.
Windows Live Writer Beta 3
Well, a new version of WLW, Windows Live Writer Beta 3 , is available . Its just a pity that I can’t install it. Why do Microsoft insist on writing these bundle application for installing many products at once? I can see the point for home users, but at work you always get something blocked. They should provide the choice of using the bulk installer or using a direct download link. This would allow companies to unblock a specific URL without allowing users to download and install one of the other, banned, applications.
Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) Update
Back in March I posted about my friend Katie McPherson that died of DVT and her family’s petition calling for the Scottish Executive to introduce mandatory assessment tools for all health boards for the diagnosis of deep vein thrombosis and to get all newborn babies tested for the “Factor V” gene that increases their susceptibility to the condition.
Technorati Troubles
Recently I have been having real trouble with Technorati. I have been trying to mop up my loose blog claims and I have been having a problem. Technorati seems unable to get a lock on redirected URL’s, I don’t see why that would be an issue, but it is. In a effort to try to remedy this problem I have put all of my claim codes here:
Jadie Hinshelwood: A yummy mummy is born!
My wife, Jadie Hinshelwood, has just started blogging about our journey to get pregnant, miscarriage via A Yummy Mummy is Born , I hope you will give her some support.
Xbox 360 Elite
Wohoo, I traded my sometimes crashing Xbox 360 in for an Xbox 360 Elite in Saturday. Over the last two weeks I have been playing Bioshock to death, but the crashing finaly anoyed me enough to get it sorted.
First day at Aggreko
Well, its my first day at Aggreko, and I am loving their efficiency…I was handed a laptop uplon entering the office, and they had my login ready :) This is the first company that I have worked for that could get this right…
Uber-Dorky Nerd King
I spotted this post by Steve Bargelt , and I just could not help myself…
Moderating for Community-Credit
Well, today I started a new part time job that I do not get paid for, but put just as much professional interest into as may main job. I will be moderating the submissions on a really cool site:
Interviewing for Microsoft
I was not sure wither I was going to post this, but I am pretty crazy anyway, so…what the hell. Last week I interviewed for a job at Microsoft…You might be thinking, “You just got a new job?”, and you would be right. But how often do you get to interview for your dream job…not often I think :)
Blogging about...
Well, I have not done one of these is a while…I could say that I have been busy, but I have not been :) I have been finishing up at Merrill Lynch in lue of starting my new job at Aggreko, and as I finished up on Friday, and I don’t start till Monday, you could say that I am currently Unemployed. If only for a week…
TFS Event Handler in .NET 3.5 Part 2 - Handling Team Foundation Server Events
I have decided to have a little go at creating a Team Foundation Server Event Handler in .NET 3.5 that is resilient and scaleable. I will be using as many of the features of Team Suit as I can, but bear with me as there are a few things that are new to me.
TFS Event Handler in .NET 3.5 Part 2
I have decided to have a little go at creating a Team Foundation Server Event Handler in .NET 3.5 that is resilient and scaleable. I will be using as many of the features of Team Suit as I can, but bear with me as there are a few things that are new to me.
Developing Peer-To-Peer Applications With WCF
I recently had the need to create and deliver a presentation on Developing Peer-To-Peer Applications With WCF . Although the technical content was good, my delivery was not. I got stage fright…
TFS Handover
I am just writing some handover documentation for our TFS deployment in the office. Thank goodness that I wrote installation and disaster recovery documents when I originally deployed the system, other wise this would have been a very long process.
Microsoft does indeed listen
When I posted my question “ Would anyone be interested in Hosted TFS? ” on linked in I was hopping for a response from potential users. I did not think that Jim Lamb would be reading it and blog about Microsoft’s internal ambition to have a hosted model for TFS . I have been quite excited about this subjects as I have worked for many companies that would find the cost of running an internal TFS server prohibitive, but for whom a hosted option would be perfect.
Sharepoint planning
I have been asking one of my colleagues for information on Sharepoint and how to deploy it to large organizations. He intoned that he new how not to do it and pointed me towards a particular post that defines a very effective deployment method.
Search just got better: Part 2
After my post on the new Tafiti search engine a fellow by the name of Anselm pointed out Search Crystal , another visual search engine that produces some good result. I did not get he same Wow that I did from Tafiti, but the amount of information that is provided through the interface is extensive.
Visual Studio 2008 Team Edition for Architects
Something I have noticed in writing an article is that the “Application diagram” in VS2008 does not support Windows Communication Foundation . This I think is an oversight even for Beta 2. Is this going to be in the RTM, I hope so as it would be virtually useless without it!
TFS Event Handler in .NET 3.5 Part 1 - The Architecture
I have decided to have a little go at creating a Team Foundation Server Event Handler in .NET 3.5 that is resilient and scaleable. I will be using as many of the features of Team Suit as I can, but bear with me as there are a few things that are new to me. I am going to create everything under source control in CodePlex.
TFS Event Handler in .NET 3.5
I have decided to have a little go at creating a Team Foundation Server Event Handler in .NET 3.5 that is resilient and scaleable. I will be using as many of the features of Team Suit as I can, but bear with me as there are a few things that are new to me.
Search just got better
I just had to pick my jaw up off the floor. What made me gawk! Tafiti that’s what.
Using Visual Studio 2008
I have been tinkering with VS2008 for a week now, but I had not had time to really look at it. They have made the interface slicker, and faster making the whole experience a little nicer.
