Planning Poker anyone?

I stumbled upon ;-) this "Planning Poker" tool.

I think that it could be used, it can be seen as a mean to a better effort estimation, that runs through a group discussion; each member "plays" her/his estimation (picking a card from a deck) and when everybody has played you can start discussing the result - probably you will notice some sensible differences between various estimations, and so people will start talking and eventually correcting...

It can also be funny. I read that there are also real card deck sold somewhere, but the web version is simple and quite good.

What do you think of it?

MSN Messenger - the credit card message

I'm stealing this from a dozen web sites around the web, but I need this hint periodically, so I put it also here.

When you start a chat in MSN Messenger a warning is shown that says
"Never give out your password or credit card number in an instant message conversation"
This tweak allows you to customize this message for example to display your company chat policy
Open your registry and find or create the key below:
[HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MessengerService\Policies]
Create a new String value, or modify the existing value, called "IMWarning" and set it according to text you want to display
You may need to restart or log out of Windows for the change to take effect.

Gps Speed Sentry - windows mobile app

I'm having a lot of fun using this "Gps Speed Sentry" app, that you can download from http://www.tchartdev.com/

This app features a series of screen showing, for the trip you're having:

- a graph on you speed

- a graph on altitude

- a compass

- some general information on actual speed, average speed, top speed, trip duration

- data on GPS satellite in sight

I find it really funny: try it if you have a gps-enabled windows mobile (or and external bluetooth gps antenna like me). The app will cost you $10, the trial version will disconnect from GPS monitoring every 10 minutes (not losing data, anyway).

Here's a screenshot, but please visit the developer's site for many other.

Flickr4Writer

This blog post will benefit of a Flickr photo taken from a LiveWriter Plugin, Flickr4Writer.

The plugin allows to choose an image from Flickr, given a subject, a tag set, a flickr photo album...

A step towards something I'd like, that is having the blog system choose a random photo for me every time, using the post's tag set to query Flickr.

If I only had some time... :-)

BrowserShots - Test your web design in different browsers

Ever wondered how will your site render on browsers like Galeon 2.0 or SeaMonkey 1.1? Or on Safari 1.3? Or maybe on GranParadiso 3.0 (does such a thing really exists?) ?

Well, you can, even not installing the browsers. Visit http://v04.browsershots.org/ and submit the site URL, choose between 44 different browsers... and then after some time (even more than 30 minutes for some browsers) you'll obtain all the screenshots related to all the selected browser's rendering of your site.

Really useful, isn't it?

Human Brain Cloud

You know, I'm a big fan of this kind of things... this Human Brain Cloud "game" is really funny.

Quoting from the site: "The idea is that given a word, a player types in the first thing that comes to mind and the results are combined into a giant network".

Powerset and PowerLabs

Uhm.... this is promising; www.powerset.com is going to go live after summer with a sarch engine capable to "understand" natural language queries.

Have a look to this Flickr image collection, and read the Powerset's blog entries to understand something more.

PowerLabs will be a sort of web app built "over" powerset's search engine.

This blog (from Steve Newcomb, powerset's founder) is also really interesting for it shows an "internal" point of view on the "making of" this new search engine. 

Texter - a text substitution app

On Lifehacker I found some weeks ago this little app, Texter.

It's a text substitution application; in other words you configure some shortcut that, when typed, are substituted in longer strings (commands, scripts, and so on). It's still "young" (release 0.3) but quite stable.

For example you could tell texter that when you type "zgg" you want him to replace that string with http://www.google.com/search?q=

Or you could use it to avoid typing everytime your mail address, something like "zem" that turns in someone@domain.com

The possibility are endless; the blog post on lifehacker shows some clever ways to use Texter.

TimeSnapper - "Your Life: The Movie" :-)

TimeSnapper (www.timesnapper.com) is self described in this way:

"TimeSnapper is an Automatic Screenshot Journal - It runs in the background of your computer, taking screenshots of your desktop every few seconds all week long."

Then it can "replay" (like a movie) the screenshots sequence, and the result is impressive. I'm trying this app in these days and it's really useful to "fill in the blanks" when I have to compile my work timesheet...

SpaceTime 3D Browser

This is really a beautiful app. SpaceTime is a "3D" web browser, that shows search results or pages in a 3D way that's really amazing.

It's better if I simply give you the URL, thre you can find every information or screenshot, go and see... www.spacetime.com

Customizing Sharepoint 2003, the next step...

Customizing Sharepoint 2003, the next step...

Maybe you saw this other article I posted some weeks ago... after that, my job went on, but eventually I decided - actually my customer decided for me ;-) - to try to use a new site template in order to solve the customization problem I'm facing.

What I have to manage is something I cannot solve "simply" hacking the CSS or modifying the .aspx pages... so I'll try to have a new "MPS" (the WSS Multi Page Site) template different from the original one.

Unfortunately looks like this cannot be done; I managed to "clone" the MPS structure in a new one, but when I go and use it to create a new site I get a series of errors in the WebParts stating that "This Web Part was designed for use on a Microsoft Meeting Workspace". And reading around I found that yes, you can have your site template that originates from another one, but you CANNOT use the Multipage Meeting template as the starting point.

I have to find another way.

I'll try also to share with you the steps I'm taking to do this.

First: I make a copy of the STS directory to a new STSNEW directory. All this happens under
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\60\TEMPLATE\1033\
and as I think that all the action will happen there... I won't repeat that path anymore, for reading simplicity I'll substitute it with [PATH].

So I have this STSNEW! What I do with it?
Uhm... open the [PATH]XML folder, and take a look to the two files:
WEBTEMP.XML
WEBTEMPSPS.XML
Interesting stuff!!! So there are the correspondances between folders names and sharepoint usage of the templates...
In my case the interesting one is the WEBTEMP.XML (the WSS one).
First, I make a copy of the file, and name it WEBTEMPSTSNEW.XML.
In it I leave only the "STS" node, renaming it to "STSNEW" (as the containing folder I created before); to this new node I give an ID over 10000 (Microsoft's hint...). Then I change in some way the descritpions, so that later I will be able to choose between the STS and STSNEW styles. Save. Let's see...
No, it's not going well: when I open the main page in Sharepoint I get an "Exception occurred" error, that it's not very esplicative, I'd say. But after a iisreset /restart "magically" Sharepoint is back with us. Good.

Now let's see if our STSNEW can be of any use.
First: I try to create a new WSS site based on this site template.
Everything works fine, I can find in the site structure list the new description I inserted in the XML file, and use those templates to create my site.

So this first part is ok.

Now I have to find a way to "mimic" the tabbed, multipage structure of the "Multipage Meeting Workspace" template here in this "simple" WSS site I created. I'll use the "Team Site" structure (taht in my new site template I named as "New Team Site"), so that I will be able to modify also the the home page (default.aspx).

Let's try this way: create a document library that contains a list of web part pages, so that I can have all the single pages I need. For a good explanation of this, see this blog post from Daniel McPherson.

Then I'll try to create a web part for the "tabbed" navigation.

Maybe I can find something ready on the web... First I try this one from GotDotNet.
Looks great, there is also the code. Downloaded, and installed with the command:
stsadm -o addwppack -f "C:\EasyTabPartsDeployment.CAB" -force -globalinstall

And it works!!!
From now on the path is (more or less) clear: I haev to modify the new site template layout, develop all the new webparts I need, and so on.

Bye!!!

Windows Desktop Search: how to index uncached exchange items

With Windows Desktop Search (I'm running 3.01) you cannot (by default) index you email if it is not configured to run in cached mode.

Well, you can change this through a group policy modification or thru this registry mod:

Create a DWORD registry key in:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search
called “PreventIndexingUncachedExchangeFolders” and setting it to a value of 0.

Regarding the group policy: read this document and use this .adm file (for some reasons the file is not linked in the document).

That's all. I tried both ways, and both worked.

from CNET: Promising antispam technique gets nod

Something interesting about spam... It's called DomainKeys, and is supported by Yahoo, Cisco, SendMail and PGP Corporation. Read more here: http://news.com.com/Promising%20antispam%20technique%20gets%20nod/2100-1029_3-6185904.html?part=rss

QTTabBar - tabs on Windows Explorer

I downloaded and installed QTTabBar, and after some weeks I have to admint that I cannot even think to work without!!!

The reason to try it was originally to have "tabs" (like those you have on IE7 or Firefox) also in Windows Explorer, but now I think it's a must. The website doesn't give the "real feeling" of all the features the tools has, but I guarantee that you will be impressed.

Now, I will not try to explain all the things you can do wit QTTabBar, read this page for a list of features.

If you decide to try it, follow the installation steps described (also the uninstall procedure is someway tricky - but nothing impossible).

Windows update lasting forever

I had to completely rebuild my Windows XP machine, and after a lot of setup and reboot, and setup, and reboot (imagine Office, Visual Studio 2003, its SP, then Visual Studio 2005, its SP, then a lot of other packages, and then... a nigthmare!!!) I found that Windows Update was not responding anymore.

After some research I found this post, and given that it solved my problem I'm sharing it with you: problem connecting windows update - CPU 100% svchost.exe in Windows Update.

The symptoms I had wew exactly those described in the post title: a svchost.exe process using continuously near 100% of CPU, and nothing more for long time.

Now I can update my pc without problems...

Sql Server, remove duplicate records

Sometimes I need to remove duplicates from a table, given a particular column to be checked.

This few lines of transact-sql code will help, I hope:

CREATE TABLE #tmp_tableCleanDup (id int, email varchar(200))
CREATE UNIQUE CLUSTERED INDEX pk ON #tmp_tableCleanDup(ID)
CREATE UNIQUE INDEX removeduplicates on #tmp_tableCleanDup (email) WITH IGNORE_DUP_KEY

BEGIN TRANSACTION

 INSERT #tmp_tableCleanDup
 SELECT e.ID, e.email
 FROM OriginalTable e

 DELETE OriginalTable
 WHERE 1=1
 AND id NOT IN (SELECT id FROM  #tmp_tableCleanDup)

COMMIT TRANSACTION

 DROP TABLE #tmp_tableCleanDup

don't read this.

ok, you're reading. well, I expected this... but please, DO NOT click on this link...

the game you'll reach is reaaaallly addictive... so if you're working now don't click.

the name of the game is Desktop Tower Defense. simple, easy at the beginning, hard to leave when you start.

 

bye! ;-)

DeepFish, from Microsoft Labs

Still in a closed beta stage, DeepFish is a mobile browser that mixes a server-side elaboration of the web pages in order to render web pages on the mobile screen just as they would be seen on a standard "non mobile" browser.

When you navigate to a page, DeepFish first of all generates (server-side) a sort of screenshot of the needed page, and sends this image to the mobile client; there with some client functionalities like panning and zooming the user will read the page... obviously things like form submission and client caching are present. Take a look at this presentation to understand better.

Sharepoint 2003: customize the webparts zones

I know, today we can use the new Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server (MOSS), but there are a lot of Sharepoint 2003 installation around, and recently I had to face some request from a (french, Paris-based) customer that asked me to make some "deep" customizations for their intranet, both in terms of look&feel and of webparts disposition on the page.

This request was both for the Sharepoint Portal pages and for the Windows Sharepoint Services sites and pages.

I'm not discussing here the "layout" modification, maybe I'll collect some good links that explain this task, let's say here that this was in my case solved mainly with some (not so easy) CSS modifications.

Let's focus on the webpart zones disposition, and how it can be changed.

First of all: I assume in all the samples below that your Sharepoint is installed in the default folder on drive C:\, and that you have the english setup (so in the paths you'll see the \1033\ folder, if you have other language packs you will have to deal with other paths).

The standard, "out-of-the-box" placement of the webparts in the page is ok for a lot of us; but sometimes you want to have some particular disposition of the webparts, in order to make a better use of the page space for your particular needs.

To reach this goal you will have to make some HTML coding in some .aspx pages, located in different paths. These paths correspond to the various "kind" of pages that Sharepoint 2003 offers to us: The Sharepoint main pages, the pages for the various Areas, the News pages, the Topics pages... and on and on down to the Windows Sharepoint Sites pages, both the simple and the Multi Page one.

All the .aspx pages you'll want to modify reside under this path:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web server extensions\60\Template\1033\

Down that folder you'll find 13 subfolders. Each folder corresponds to a particular "kind" of page template on the Sharepoint portal or in the WSS sites. Below I'll give you a pair of lists that shows this correspondance.

The main file you'll find under the folder (let's say the first, the \SPS folder) is default.aspx.

This file, at run time, is used by Sharepoint as a template that is "filled" with the webparts you'll have decided to place in the various web part "zones". These zones are explicitly defined in the html of the default.aspx page, and have this look:

<WebPartPages:WebPartZone runat="server" Title="loc:Left" ID="Left" FrameType="TitleBarOnly" AllowPersonalization="false"/>

I will not enter in the details of the various tags; here we'll on ly note that the "ID" tag is the one that gives the name you will see in the sharepoint page, when in design mode.

There are many of these WebPartZone already in place in your default.aspx, go and look for them; you'll see that they are inside an html structure that you can easily hack for your needs; you can alse define more WebPartZones around the page, only be careful to give them unique IDs.

The following list shows each SharePoint Portal Server 2003 area or subarea and the corrisponding folder:
- Root site: \SPS folder
- My Site: \SPSMSITE folder
- News: \SPSNHOME folder
- Company News, External News and Press Announcements, and all areas that are under the News area: \SPSNEWS folder
- Site Directory: \SPSSITES folder
- Topics: \SPSTOC folder
- Divisions, Human Resources, Locations, Marketing, Operations, Projects, Resources, Sales, Strategy and Support, and all areas under the Topics area: \SPSTOPIC folder
- Community Template: \SPSCOMMU folder

Then there are some other folders that are relating to the Windows Sharepoint Services side of the coin; the two main folders are:

- \STS: all the pages for the WSS sites
- \MPS: for the Multi Page Template pages under WSS sites

This last one is a little more tricky, because when you modify the default.aspx page... this modifications will show up only in the main page, and not in the various subpages. To have also these pages modified you'll have to edit another page, in the folder:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\60\TEMPLATE\1033\MPS\DOCTEMP\SMARTPGS

The file is named spstd1.aspx. modify and save it... and you're done.

Now: I'm not saying that all this process is easy and safe;  you'll want to have backup copies of all the files you modify, and you'll want to make a lot of experiments before deploying all this in production... but as soon as you make the first test you'll find comfortable with the other.

Hope this helps...

Andrea

Windows PowerShell

uhm... I didn't try Windows PowerShell until yesterday, but now I'm becoming addicted!!!

Some links...

Windows PowerShell on Wikipedia - a general intro, and some "fundamental" links.

On Microsoft's site, the main page for PowerShell (from here the link to the download pages - if you use XP sp2, here's the direct download link).

some Sample Windows PowerShell Scripts on Microsoft's site

and the CodePlex repository for Windows PowerShell scripts

Then a little article (on ThinkersRoom.com) on PowerShell customization, that introduces some interesting arguments through maybe "basic" yet well written. Read it.