I found a rusty washer today while trying to generate stored procedures for the data access tier with Web Service Software Factory to build out a new service.  Apparently the software factory cannot handle XML data columns in a database.  Definitely disappointing.  Here is what it does in the guidance. Basically it flags it as "The table cannot be selected because it contains column data types that are not supported.".   My fix was to change the column to varchar(max) and then generate what I needed and then change the generated code.  But why?  We have a data type...

Tech Ed 2007 is almost upon us folks.  In 1.5 days I'll be jumping a flight from Jackson, MS to Orlando, FL.  We'll arrive on Thursday about 2:00 and then head to the hotel.   If you are staying in the same hotel let me know!  My wife is going with me.  It is her *first* conference trip although she did go to the Mobile Code Camp.  Thursday until Sunday evening is just relaxing fun time for us.  After that all Tech Ed! If you are going to Tech Ed, be sure to follow my TIPS ON ATTENDING CONFERENCES before you go.  Be...

Since I started this blog I've been changing the Subtitle to different quotes to play on the main title of the site: "Words of Wisdom From The Elder".  I'm not sure if anyone even reads the quotes since most people read the RSS feeds but it got me to thinking that I need to save the dang things or I'll forget them.  If nothing else I'm sure in 50 years my children will get a kick out of reading them.  The quotes from The Elder (which is me of course speaking in third person) are all original. To me they are original meaning I didn't...

In Part 1 of Leveraging Workflow Foundation we discussed how Workflow Foundation is just an API.  Since APIs don't provide business value out of the box, it is important engineers exploring Workflow Foundation for the first time approach it in the same manner they would any API: write once, run everywhere.  In other words, instead of building out the workflow components for one application, look at it from the 10,000 feet view.  This is of course going to take more time than one might originally think so be sure to allow for this in development time.  We'll look at the basics engineers starting with Workflow Foundation will need to think about...

This morning I left the house to go to town to run errands.  I had several things I needed to do which were: get a haircut, purchase a few new vacation clothes, drop off dry cleaning, get a new bass rod and reel (I broke one this week that needs replaced), buy Thompson deck water sealer from Home Depot and price some travel golf bags. I definitely had my work cut out for me so I planned a route in my mind that was the most optimized and headed out.  After getting my hair cut I stopped into the Golf Shop to...

Normally when making a decision I can work through the details of it pretty quickly and come to a conclusion.  The past week though I've been struggling with the joy of searching for a new vehicle.  If you've bought something recently please share your experiences.  I'm torn and don't see a conclusion on the horizon. For those that don't know I currently drive a Jeep Liberty 2002 Limited 4WD.  I bought it new in 2001 in June.  The Jeep has served its purpose very well and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a smaller SUV that is tough and rugged.  The...

A few days ago I posted about registering on the Twitter web site.  Since then I've been sending updates from my Cingular 8525 mobile phone.  Pretty easy to do when on the road.  But now, I'm back at my desk in the office and I want to Twitter from instant message but can't because Twitter AIM bot hates me.   When you visit the Twitter site and click on settings they give you the Twitter IM account for AIM and then a random generated string which you send to this "bot" listening on the other end.  Once you send the secret...

In a few minutes (about an hour to be exact) I will be speaking to an entire 7th grade class about the wonderful profession of a Software Engineer.  This is one of the speaking engagements that I have been looking forward to the most for some time.  I really do miss teaching sometimes and interacting with the kids.  This is truly going to be a fun experience getting to talk to the kids about the software industry.   I've got my slides prepared and my demo of building a calculator ready to go!  Quicken Loans also sent a bunch of those...

I signed up for a Twitter account this morning so you can keep up with what is happening in semi real-time as it happens.   This is of course assuming I keep sending text messages to it and the new shiny penny factor doesn't wear off.  I figured what the heck, go ahead and sign up now before my desired login account is taken.  The link to my Twitter account is http://twitter.com/keithelder .  Today I'm out of the office so if you want to know what I'm up to today there you go.  Right now I'm friendless on the Twitter...

Today is trash day in the great Hub City of Hattiesburg.  While I was taking out the trash early this morning my phone rang.  It was an engineer at work calling to tell me that our web service in the test environment wasn't responding.  I quickly threw my trash out and jumped on the situation. My first question as I started to look into everything was "Who changed something?".   Obviously computers just don't stop magically working.  In my 15 years of dealing with computers there is always a reason.  I was of course told, no one changed anything.  Suuuuuuuuure. I...

Who says it doesn't pay to read blogs during lunch?  Well I was just going through my blog reader while eating a Subway salad and came across Joe Healey's find that solved his networking problem.  I also face a similar situation due to how my house is setup.  My end goal is to have my Xbox 360 sitting in the living room and then record all of my TV shows with my main computer sitting in the home office.  I thought about running an ethernet drop over to my Xbox 360 so it could serve as a media extender but that would...

 Ever since I got my Cingular 8525 phone I haven't been able to get on the Internet with my laptop while traveling.   My previous phone worked but the 8525 didn't work.  Luckily new drivers were released for Vista here. You should be able to follow setting up the drivers.  The directions are pretty straight forward.  The only thing you'll be missing then are the settings you need to put in to get online.  Here is a quick walk through of the settings you need. Setting Up Cingular 8525 with WModem First go into the control panel an select Network and Internet and then...

Jeff Barnes posted an blog entry at the beginning of May whereby he was in the top 11 on http://www.Community-Credit.Com for April.   I met the sites creator, David Silverlight, at the MVP Summit in Seattle during March and I of course promised him I would sign-up as well.  Well David, after Jeff won an incredibly cool t-shirt it reminded me of my promise and to sign up as well. After my initial May points got approved I am currently second on the site.  And yes Andre (the current leader), I'm gunning for first so watch out! To save you the trouble of visiting the...

A few weeks ago we launched a new feature for one of our internal applications that leveraged Workflow Foundation extensively.  When working through a new technology you will always find curve balls along the way.  I like to call these shiny pennies and rusty washers.  For example, something may seem like a shiny penny when you first see it in a demo.   After much consideration of weighing the features vs the learning curve of the new technology you decide to use it a production environment.   Once something goes into production the game changes.  This is the point where you are going to be held accountable by the...

Don't you love it when you predict or speculate on something in technology and it comes true? Before Mix 07 Scott Hanselman and Carl Franklin on Hanselminutes did a show about Silverlight.  During the podcast they mention my blog post whereby I speculated how Microsoft could get WPF/E running on a Windows Mobile device.  Turns out, I was right!.  Here is a little back story for those coming into the game a little late. Early in January ScottGu and Rory did I a Channel9 video about different things.  After watching it I started putting two and two together and predicted that Microsoft had already solved how they were going to compete with the...

Yesterday was the Day of .Net hosted in Ann Arbor.  It was great to see tons of people I haven't seen in years.  I went to several talks including Dustin Campbell's talk on Reflection.  I learned more about reflection during Dustin's talk than I ever wanted to know.  I also went to Dan Hibbitts talk on Mobile Software Factory.  Rounding out the day I went to Mark Miller's talks on WPF and WPF/WCF.  I have to hand it to Mark, he did a really good demo of WPF and WCF whereby he built a hockey game whereby one could be...

In the morning I'll be jumping on a plane and leaving the great state of Mississippi.  Destination, Day of .Net in Ann Arbor, MI.  Technically I'll be staying in Livonia, MI which is about 20 miles from Ann Arbor since the up and coming week I'll be working onsite at Quicken Loans.  Day of .Net is going to be held at Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor where I used to teach so I'm looking forward to going back to Ann Arbor. I haven't been there since I moved in 2005. At Day of .Net I'll be doing a...