The Windows DevCenter and ONDotNet.com Newsletter
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The latest from http://www.windowsdevcenter.com
and http://www.ondotnet.com
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Welcome to the last WindowsDevCenter and OnDotNet newsletter
of 2004. This issue, we'll take a look back at ten of the most
popular articles over the past year.
Perhaps the biggest news of the last year has been the runaway
success of the Firefox browser. One of its best traits is its
ability to use extensions that add to its features. Wei-Meng
Lee shows you how to find and install them and clues you in
to his favorites.
<http://www.windowsdevcenter.com/pub/a/windows/2004/09/21/firefox.html>
What to do if you want to securely access your network when
you're out of the office? The quickest and safest way is to
set up a Virtual Private Network. Wei-Meng Lee shows you how
to do it, in several easy steps.
<http://www.windowsdevcenter.com/pub/a/windows/2004/03/09/vpn_connection.html>
Resetting user passwords from the command line can save you
time, but there are "gotchas" along the way. Mitch Tulloch,
author of "Windows Server Hacks," shows you what to watch out
for and how to reset passwords fast.
<http://www.windowsdevcenter.com/pub/a/windows/2004/03/30/serverhacks_passwords.html>
Your PC, with its 80GB hard drive and 512MB of RAM, runs way
too slow. Why? It's gunked up with pictures, movies, music,
and attachments you've saved; you've saved stuff to the wrong
places; and you have apps installed that you don't use. Joli
Ballew and Jeff Duntemann's show you how to degunk your PC,
in this excerpt from their bestselling book, "Degunking Windows."
<http://www.windowsdevcenter.com/pub/a/windows/2004/05/25/degunkwindows.html>
If you're in the business of writing technical documents and
you've been using Word, you could benefit by switching to
OpenOffice.org Writer. Jean Hollis Weber, author of "OpenOffice.org
Writer: The Free Alternative to Microsoft Word," reviews Writer's
many features of particular interest to tech writers, including a
customizable interface, support for styles, advanced page layout
capabilities, and a full macro language.
<http://www.windowsdevcenter.com/pub/a/windows/2004/08/24/openofficewriter.html>
One of Longhorn's most interesting technologies for developers
is its new XML-based markup language, codenamed XAML (short
for eXtensible Application Markup Language, and pronounced
"Zammel"). User interfaces in Longhorn applications are typically
built using XAML. Ian Griffiths looks at how XAML relates to the
underlying support provided by WinFX.
<http://www.ondotnet.com/pub/a/dotnet/2004/01/19/longhorn.html>
Because the .NET-managed providers manage the connection pool
for us, using shared database connections is as easy as a summertime
splash in the kiddie pool. But if those connections unexpectedly
become invalid, you could find yourself floundering in the deep
end. In this article, James Still will have you doing laps in
no time.
<http://www.ondotnet.com/pub/a/dotnet/2004/02/09/connpool.html>
Longhorn introduces significant new graphics technology, codenamed
"Avalon." Avalon renders an application's visual elements onto
the screen using a much more sophisticated approach than Windows
has previously used. In this article, Ian Griffiths shows how
this new graphical composition model solves various limitations
of Win32, what new user interface design techniques this enables,
and what it means to developers.
<http://www.ondotnet.com/pub/a/dotnet/2004/03/08/winfs_detail_3.html>
The single most-anticipated (and dreaded?) feature of Visual
C# 2.0 is the addition of Generics. Jesse Liberty shows you
what problems Generics solve, how to use them to improve your
code, and why you need not fear them.
<http://www.ondotnet.com/pub/a/dotnet/2004/05/17/liberty.html>
As a cross-platform UI framework, Gtk allows you to develop
graphical user interfaces for applications on Microsoft Windows,
various flavors of Unix and Linux, and Mac OS X, without having
to write OS-specific UI code. Because it is cross-platform and
object-oriented, the Mono team decided to use Gtk as the basis
for its UI framework. Gtk#, the C# wrapper for Gtk, is the result.
Niel Bornstein, coauthor of "Mono: A Developer's Notebook,"
shows you how to get started with Gtk#.
<http://www.ondotnet.com/pub/a/dotnet/2004/08/09/gtk_mono.htm>
See you next year,
Preston Gralla, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
WindowsDevCenter.com, OnDotNet.com
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*** Top Five Windows and .NET Articles Last Week ***
1. Enhancing ASP.NET Pages with JavaScript
A sprinkling of JavaScript code can enhance the reach and
responsiveness of your ASP.NET web pages without sacrificing
ASP.NET's secure, server-based model for your coding. Matthew
MacDonald, coauthor of ASP.NET in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition,
shows you how to use JavaScript in an ASP.NET web page to
perform three common tasks: showing a pop-up window, changing
control focus, and handling frame navigation. You can use these
tricks to quickly solve problems that have no native .NET
solution.
<http://www.ondotnet.com/pub/a/dotnet/2003/09/15/aspnet.html>
***
2. ASP.NET File Uploading
File upload and download are much simpler tasks in ASP.NET
than in classic ASP, thanks to the extensive .NET Framework
class library. While file upload in ASP.NET is as easy as
retrieving an HTML form value, file download is still a bit
tricky.
<http://www.ondotnet.com/pub/a/dotnet/2002/04/01/asp.html>
***
3. ASP.NET Data Controls Part 3: DataList
In this third part of the ASP.NET Data Controls series, Wei-Meng
Lee talks about the DataList control. The DataList control is
somewhat of a combination of the DataGrid and Repeater controls.
It works like the Repeater control, allowing you to create
templates so that it can be bound to a data source. It also
allows you to edit records, much like the DataGrid control.
<http://www.ondotnet.com/pub/a/dotnet/2003/03/10/datalist.html>
***
4. ASP.NET Data Controls Part 1: DataGrids
One of the most powerful server controls in ASP.NET is no doubt
the DataGrid control. The DataGrid control is a multi-column,
data-bound ASP.NET server control. Using the DataGrid control,
you can display records from a database using a variety of
formats. In this article, Wei-Meng Lee shows you how to create
and use the DataGrid.
<http://www.ondotnet.com/pub/a/dotnet/2003/02/24/aspdatactl.html>
***
5. Using the SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services
Microsoft has finally added reporting capabilities to its
flagship database server, SQL Server 2000. In this article,
Wei-Meng Lee walks you through the basics of creating a simple
report using the SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services.
<http://www.ondotnet.com/pub/a/dotnet/2004/11/29/sqlreporting.html>
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