And the winner is.... Me! It was a close run thing but I finally managed to almost get Windows Vista Search to search for the files that I wanted instead of the files that it wanted. I’m not a big fan of Vista. There are many new features that are very useful but I absolutely hate a change in any user interface because it destroys my productivity. I can never see why new features cannot be added on instead of having to undo what I already know. Microsoft often state that backwards compatibility is of huge importance but whereas I am pro-Microsoft I rarely find evidence to support this. If this is true then I have to conclude that they are just not trying hard enough.

I don’t mean to rant but as this is my first ever post where I have been critical I am hoping that the rarity of this event lends it some credence.

However, back to the point. The point is that Windows Vista Search is the emporor’s clothes. It takes someone to stand up and say "the emporor is naked" and that someone is me. Why can’t it just do what I ask it to ? Why does it have to show off and try to be clever and find files that have nothing to do with what I was looking for ? Why don’t developers and designers understand that whenever you add a feature that tries to be helpful to one person then it is instantly unhelpful to someone else.

What I want seems such a simple thing. Sigh. I want to search for .cs files that contain a given string. Windows XP’s search lets me do this (once it has been fixed to allow me to search for .cs files). The solution in Vista is to understand that your search string can contain qualifiers (there is an excellent post on advanced search techniques here). So if you type "*.cs" (don’t include the quotes) you get all manner of files that you don’t want (*.cs, *.csproj, *.csproj.Filelist.txt, *.cs.dll). However, if you type "ext: .cs" then you get much closer to what you want. This gives you *.cs files and *.csproj files. So far I haven’t found any way to tell Vista to give me only what I have asked for and not any other item it may care to think I might possibly be interested in (if any one knows where the "Just do what I ask for" check box is please let me know). However, this point is mostly rendered moot because whatever I would be searching .cs files for usually will not turn up in a .csproj file as well so by virtue of their differences the winner is finally me. I confess that Windows Vista Search comes a close second though because I still don’t know how to exclude .csproj files.

So to search for "override" in *.cs files type "override ext: .cs" into the search text box.

Oh, and whilst I’m at it, there is no option to go straight to the Advanced search. You have to search for something before it will give you the chance to do an Advanced search. The emporor is still naked.

Great news! MIX is coming to the UK. MIX: UK 07 will be held on Tuesday/Wednesday 11th/12th September 2007 at the Congress Centre in London. Expect to see sessions from Microsoft and non-Microsoft speakers alike on subjects like SilverLight, AJAX, WPF, Expression. Registration isn’t open yet but you can register an interest in MIX:UK 07 now and Microsoft will email you back when registration opens.

See you there.

Technorati Tags: MIX, SilverLight, WPF, Expression, AJAX

Patrick Long is giving away the Windows Presentation Foundation training course that he wrote for Charteris! You can download part 1 of the course for free (there’s no catch) here.

It is the same course that he has already taught at Charteris so if there is enough interest in Bristol we might have a go at getting him down here to present the course (no idea how much the places would be - I’m just floating an idea).

Technorati Tags: WPF, Patrick Long

I thought I’d do a quick round up of some of the presentations that I will be giving in the next few months.

On Saturday 30th June 2007 I’ll be giving the following presentation at DDD5:-

• Visual Studio 2005 IDE Tips and Tricks
  Visual Studio is a treasure trove of functionality and productivity. The problem is that many developers don’t know what’s there. In this session we will cover some simple and not so simple tips and tricks and improve your productivity and enjoyment of Visual Studio 2005.

On Monday/Tuesday 17th and 18th September 2007 I’m delighted to be going back to the Software Developer Conference (SDC) in the Netherlands. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve done this conference but I love it: the people, the organisers, the event itself. As always they make the most of their presenters and I’m doing 3 sessions:-

• Internationalizing ASP.NET AJAX
  The internationalization story for straight ASP.NET 2.0 is an excellent one: localizability at the touch of a menu option and the full weight of the .NET Framework 2.0 globalization classes at your disposal. But, ASP.NET AJAX has a strong client-side model and the localizability solution available to ASP.NET 2.0 is a server-side solution. Furthermore JavaScript is not the .NET Framework and so the globalization classes are not available. This session looks at the localizability and localization solution for ASP.NET AJAX and looks at the ASP.NET AJAX equivalents to the .NET Framework globalization classes and how they are similar and how they are different. By the end of the session you should know how to internationalize your ASP.NET AJAX applications.



• 10 Things To Know Before Internationalizing An Application
  The internationalization story for straight ASP.NET 2.0 is an excellent one: localizability at the touch of a menu option and the full weight of the .NET Framework 2.0 globalization classes at your disposal. But, ASP.NET AJAX has a strong client-side model and the localizability solution available to ASP.NET 2.0 is a server-side solution. Furthermore JavaScript is not the .NET Framework and so the globalization classes are not available. This session looks at the localizability and localization solution for ASP.NET AJAX and looks at the ASP.NET AJAX equivalents to the .NET Framework globalization classes and how they are similar and how they are different. By the end of the session you should know how to internationalize your ASP.NET AJAX applications.



• Using ClickOnce and XBAPs To Deploy Windows Forms and WPF Applications
  ClickOnce provides the ease of web form deployment for Windows Forms applications. The same technology is used in XAML Browser Applications (XBAPs) which are Windows Presentation Foundation applications that are hosted in a browser. This session introduces the ClickOnce technology and demonstrates its use in many scenarios including: zero touch deployment, one touch deployment, reversion to previous versions, uninstallation. We also cover deploying WPF applications through the browser (known as XBAPs) and illustrate the similarities and differences between XBAPs, MSI-deployed WPF applications and Windows Forms applications deployed using ClickOnce. This session represents an opportunity to understand how to get the ease of web deployment together with richness of Windows Forms or WPF.

And I’m also delighted to have been invited back for the VBUG Conference on Wednesday/Thursday 17th and 18th of October 2007 to present:-

• Using ClickOnce and XBAPs To Deploy Windows Forms and WPF Applications
  ClickOnce provides the ease of web form deployment for Windows Forms applications. The same technology is used in XAM

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Great news for members of The .NET Developer Network (DotNetDevNet): we have a new home! Starting with the October meeting we will be hosted by The University of the West of England in the Frenchay Campus in Coldharbour Lane, just down the road from the Minitry of Defence Abbey Wood roundabout.

There are a number of benefits that this brings to us: it matches supply and demand for employers and graduates/students, it allows us to have food at meetings and the bar is at student prices.

Initially we will be at UWE for the October, November and December meetings and will review how the experience has gone after that.

Zi Makki has once again organised the Geek Dinner for DDD5. It is on the evening of Saturday 30th June immediately after DDD5. You can sign up here.

I think it’s fair to say that the first thing that anyone says after upgrading from Office 2003 to 2007 Office isn’t "wow, that ribbon toolbar is so much better!". Nope, I’ll lay money it’s "where have my commands gone ?".

Whatever else 2007 Office might be it certainly isn’t easy to pick up if you’ve used Office in all of its incarnations for the last 10 years. Which is why I’ve got two bits of information that might help similarly exasperated people like myself.

The first is a list of Word 2003 commands and their counterparts in 2007 Word:-

http://office.microsoft.com/search/redir.aspx?AssetID=AM101938681033&CTT=5&Origin=HA100625841033

If you look on the Office web site you will find similar lists for other Office products.

However, even better than this is Classic Menu for Office from http://www.addintools.com. Classic Menu for Office adds into 2007 Office products a new menu item called Menu which is an almost complete replica of the Office 2003 product’s menu. Now you can install your favourite Office products and be able to use them too!

It’s full. If you haven’t already registered then you still have time to go on to the waiting list but the clock is ticking on that as well.

I think this is a record: registration opened on Tuesday and by Saturday it is full. That’s just 4 days. Difficult to argue with that kind of enthusiasm.