Deploying Ajax 3.5 extension to MOSS

During my current project, I had the possibility to use Ajax to extend some textbox functionalities in one of the web parts that were being developed.

Visual Studio 2008 does a good job in modifying the web.config automatically, but when the project is finished, there’s the need to put all the code into test, pre production and production. Manual changes to the web.config for the Ajax bits were not an option.

After some research on Internet, and a couple of failed attempts, I found a very good STSADM command extension at Codeplex called Ajaxify MOSS.

This STSADM extension deploys changes to the Web Application’s web.config for both Ajax 1.6 and Ajax 3.5.

One catch, at least one site collection needs to be present in order to be able to use the STSADM extension.

SQL and Compressed File System

As many people dealing with multiple projects, I often use a single virtual machine for more than one project.

This usually means lots of versions of code, many applications and many databases. This also means that the disk space runs out pretty quickly.

If you cannot expand your virtual hard disk (as in MS VPC...) you have another possibility, apart from deleting stuff, which is to compress the file system.

Now, everything works really fine, MOSS works, the applications work SQL Server works. Wait, SQL Server works-ish. You can query the databases, create and execute stored procedures, create tables etc. etc.

The thing you cannot do is to create databases!!

I discovered this some time ago. At first I thought there was something wrong with my DB creation script, but it worked on other machines. Since I created the script on a SQL 2008 machine, and tried to execute it on a SQL 2005 box, I thought this might be the reason. But again, that same script worked on other SQL 2005 boxes.

I began asking myself what was the difference between the server and, looking at the explorer window, there it was: the two file systems were differently colored!! One was compressed and the other wasn’t.

I tried and uncompressed just the folders where files and logs are saved and bang! My script started working again.

This might be old news for many, but it’s always good to be able to solve problems.

Monkey Management

A couple of weeks ago I started to listen to all the podcasts given by Cornelius Fochtner in his The PM Podcast.
This podcast is very interesting and technically very well prepared.

Episode 82 dealt with Monkey Management. Monkey Management is an interesting way to avoid problems, or better, to avoid to take responsibility of problems that do not directly regard us or are not directly connected to us or to our responsibilities.

After listening to this episode, my first reaction was that all this was just a way to avoid taking responsibilities (or worse, to move responsibilities on someone else's shoulders).
Some days later, though, what I heard sedimented in my brain (in my subconscious I should say). I started realizing that too many times we take on ourselves problems that are not ours, and that will get in our way when we have to get our things done.
It's not a matter of being polite, supportive or caring. It's a matter of understanding that we cannot take care of all the problems of the world.
Sometimes, in order to get our things done, to meet our targets, we have to be able to assign priorities, and let others deal with their own problems.

What is reality?

Sometimes I ask myself what is reality.
The first possible and logical answer is (and I'm quite comfortable with this...): reality is that which we can experiment and measure and describe (the first answer for a physicist).
Yes, but sometimes our senses can play tricks. That's why we use machines and instruments to measure things.
Some philosophers say that reality is other than the material world, that, even if we build our mathematical theories and descriptions, with all their experimental confirmations, these aren't but a pale description of what there is beyond.

Maybe they just say that because they do not understand mathematics...

Fact is, even the experimental confirmations of the theories have sometimes been used to confirm other theories (enlarged ones, think of gravity and relativity).
So the question returns: what is reality?
It is amazing how physics can describe our world, how the connection between the pure theory of numbers and the forces and laws that govern the material structure of the universe go hand in hand.
But again, is that all there is? Is there something beyond (or below)?
I don't know, but I wish I could have a glimpse of what science will be in 10000 years, just to know if the answer is nearer.

Where to find me

There's not much content yet, I know. But I'm working on it.
In the meantime, listed here are all the places where I can be found on the net. Most of these are networking sites, everybody who wants to connect with me is more than welcome.

LinkedIn
Toostep
Naymz
Unyk
Plaxo
ProjectManagers.net
Personal MBA

Facebook

At the moment I live and work in Dublin. I am here with my wife and our daughter (who was born here in Ireland).

Tomorrow... who knows?

Now I have a blog

OK, now I started my blog.
I will be writing about all the things that I feel are important, or at least relevant, to me. Science, food, Project Management, cinema, books, comics, SharePoint (my job) and all the other topics that attract my attention. I will  try to invite my friends to write something for me, and they will always be credited for that.

Happy listening.

A