Vapor Blog

Programming ASP.NET 4.0

vapordan@hotmail.com — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:32:00 GMT

That's the title of my new book. Woohoo! Should be out in February 2010. 7 Chapters, heavy on the code, light on the fluff. It will sticker for $20, printed and eBook versions along with code download. I'm targetting about 300 pages, give or take...(read more)

Oh my it's been too long.

vapordan@hotmail.com — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:28:00 GMT

I'm ashamed for not posting any sooner than this. I forgot my password for the longest while...Have you noticed how many passwords people now have. There's work, there's home, there's social sites, there's chat clients, there's...(read more)

.NET 3.5 SP1 Breaking Change to WCF

vapordan@hotmail.com — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:04:00 GMT

I walked into a booby-trap with .NET 3.5 SP1. Here are the details. You receive a 401 authentication error when you upgrade your server running WCF service to .NET 3.5 SP1. The WCF run-time now requires an identity to be passed in on the call. The identity...(read more)

VSTS Giveaway is Back!!! Visual Studio Team Suite 2008 with MSDN Premium

vapordan@hotmail.com — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:06:00 GMT

Community: I have a one licensed, legal VSTS 2008 with MSDN premium subscriptions to give away to the community. If you care to take part, please send me an email with 1 paragraph explaining why you think you should be considered. That's it, no gimmicks...(read more)

Giveaway!!! Visual Studio Team Suite 2008 with MSDN Premium

vapordan@hotmail.com — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 17:09:00 GMT

Community: I have a couple of licensed, legal VSTS 2008 with MSDN premium subscriptions to give away to the community. If you care to take part, please send me an email with 2 paragraphs explaining why you think you should be considered. That's it...(read more)

WPF Accessibility Support Issues

vapordan@hotmail.com — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:11:00 GMT

Aint it great that the latest from MS falls short of the accessibility mark? Gotsta luv it. Here are the details. Zoomtext does not work correctly with WPF. WPF rendering is based on DirectX not GDI. If Adaptive Technology does not support DirectX, there...(read more)

COM+ The run-time environment has detected an inconsistency in its internal state.

vapordan@hotmail.com — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 12:52:00 GMT

DeskTop Heap Exhaustion Ran into another mine field the other day - blew my foot right off before I could even realize what was happening. The client received this error: The run-time environment has detected an inconsistency in its internal state. This...(read more)

How Old is the Earth - the answer.

vapordan@hotmail.com — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 16:59:00 GMT

Several readers found it necessary to email me with their comments and answers to the post http://msmvps.com/blogs/alvin/archive/2008/01/07/how-old-is-the-earth.aspx . Unfortunately, there isn't a correct answer though there may be several plausible...(read more)

VB6 Conversion issues

vapordan@hotmail.com — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 16:30:00 GMT

Part of my day job is to lead the migration project from VB6 to .NET. You need to be shot at if you think the migration wizard will solve your problems. That's putting it bluntly. To be politically correct, there are lots of issues. I'll document...(read more)

How old is the Earth?

vapordan@hotmail.com — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 20:05:00 GMT

A scientist and a preacher observe a man standing on the shore next to a harbor looking at the neighboring island. A boat is docked in the harbor. Both the scientist and preacher agree that the boat likely came from the island. If it did, both agree that...(read more)

Black Book New Pricing

vapordan@hotmail.com — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 12:40:00 GMT

Blame it on the strong Canadian dollar! Enjoy this new price of $19.99. I've gotten a lot of comments on shipping to different parts of the world - customers want the Black Book and they want it yesterday. Lulu will ship anywhere and expedited shipping...(read more)

RequiredRuntime fails for targetting CLR versions

vapordan@hotmail.com — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 14:38:00 GMT

Recently, I walked right into an ambush with .NET. A client asked how best to target a CLR version from a .NET application. Easy right? Just use this in an app.config file: <startup> <requiredRuntimeversion="v1.0.3705" safemode="true"...(read more)

The Black Book, 2nd Edition Now Available!!!

vapordan@hotmail.com — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 17:03:00 GMT

The Black Book, 2nd Edition is now available at an amazing price of $24.99. However, this price is only available on www.lulu.com/owc. Amazon will continue to stock the old item. I strongly recommend purchasing the new item from www.lulu.com/owc. The...(read more)

The O.W.C. Black Book 2nd Edition due out in October

vapordan@hotmail.com — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 15:19:00 GMT

I am currently wrapping up work on the 2nd edition of the Black Book. It is expected to hit shelves in October 2007. The update includes Code corrections Licensing information changes WCF programmability with the components WCF programmability with the...(read more)

InvalidOperationException in loop

vapordan@hotmail.com — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 18:46:00 GMT

This issue seems to be raised a lot in the newsgroups. When you iterate a container, ArrayList for instance, you cannot remove items in the contain inside the body of the loop. You get a nasty exception if you have no regard for the rules. Apparently...(read more)

HTTP Module limitation

vapordan@hotmail.com — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 16:36:00 GMT

When calling code in an ASP.NET website is transferred using server.transfer in an HTTP Module, it is not technically possible to get the virtual directory for the destination page in code. There is no current work around for this issue....(read more)

KitchenAid Architect II Electric Double Oven Fraud - UPDATE

vapordan@hotmail.com — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 00:28:00 GMT

Sears contacted me this week to apologize. As a token, they've offered me $75 on a gift card. I think there is a lesson in there: as a consumer, you do have a voice. And if you make a lot of noise, you can get attention. Matter closed. I'm happy...(read more)

KitchenAid Architect II Electric Double Oven Fraud

vapordan@hotmail.com — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 23:52:00 GMT

Occasionally, you run into some experiences that you absolutely must share with others. Here is my experience with Sears Canada. I bought this unit in May. The Microwave glass shattered in June. I am so far unable to determine why the glass shattered...(read more)

Programming Excel Services

vapordan@hotmail.com — Sun, 13 May 2007 15:49:00 GMT

Here is a link to the new book: https://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/books/10933.aspx Here are a couple of paragraphs exercepted from chapter 1: Every now and then, a product hits the market that causes a significant shift in the way software is designed...(read more)

VB6 Migration

vapordan@hotmail.com — Thu, 10 May 2007 18:58:00 GMT

As the VB6 migration deadline looms closer, business are starting to push back. Microsoft has softened their position quite a bit with respect to support of the VB6 run-time. Now, the VB6 run-time will be supported until 2017. In addition, Microsoft has...(read more)