Entries by Christian

Just a quick note: I just updated Serendipity to version 1.5.1 on one of our servers; yet afterwards I could not log in anymore. Also, Serendipity reported that version 1.5.1 was present, although I did not run the update script from the admin console yet. At first I thought I did something wrong, but a s9y forum posting described a similar issue.

The fix was actually quite simple: for some reason—may it be due to my own fault or due to a bug in the upgrade logic—the SQL upgrade script was not run, but Serendipity still thought it had been upgraded already. The file sql/db_update_1.5-alpha1_1.5-alpha2_mysql.sql contains the required SQL commands (in case you are using MySQL). Just remember to replace {PREFIX} with the table prefix you are using (s9y_ in my case):


ALTER TABLE s9y_authors ADD COLUMN hashtype int(1);
ALTER TABLE s9y_authors CHANGE password password VARCHAR(64) NOT NULL;


HTH. Once again, Happy Holidays.

Just a quick note that my JSON Gotchas article has just been published. The editors removed the last sentence, so here it is again: Happy holidays everyone!

Ein Hinweis in eigener Sache: Die Kollegen von video2brain, die unter anderem auch ein paar Videotrainings von uns verlegen, haben heute Mittag angekündigt dass die Trainings nun auch in einem Abonnementsmodell veröffentlicht werden. Kurzform: für einen fixen Betrag hat man ein Jahr lang Zugriff auf alle Videotrainings. Hier die Langform auf Basis der Pressemitteilung:

Die ab sofort erhältlichen Trainingsabonnements bieten ein Jahr lang unbeschränkten Zugang zu allen Originaltrainings von video2brain – in komplettem Umfang und mit vollständiger Funktionalität. Mehrmals im Monat kommen neue Trainings hinzu. So können Abonnenten jederzeit und überall ihr Können bedarfsgerecht weiterentwickeln und aktuell halten – mit wertvollem Wissen zu einem günstigen Komplettpreis. Das Trainingsabonnement gibt es in einer Standardvariante mit reiner Online-Verfügbarkeit für 199 Euro sowie in einer Premiumversion mit zusätzlicher Offline-Nutzbarkeit für 299 Euro. Schüler, Studenten, Lehrkräfte und Bildungseinrichtungen erhalten das Standard-Abonnement für 99 Euro.

Die Trainingsabonnements erfüllen damit die Wünsche derjenigen Kunden, die ein hohes Maß an Flexibilität bei gleichzeitiger Planungssicherheit benötigen. Wer mit vielen unterschiedlichen Technologien und Softwareanwendungen arbeitet und wer in seinem Arbeitsalltag und Leben sich mit einer Vielzahl von Themen auseinandersetzt, schätzt besonders den kompletten Zugriff auf das gesamte Expertenwissen der video-2brain-Seminare – und zwar jederzeit und an jedem Ort. Wer ein Standard-Abonnement erwirbt, kann jederzeit über eine Online-Verbindung die Trainings durcharbeiten. Premium-Abonnenten stehen die Seminare auch als Download zur Verfügung sowie zusätzlich das Begleitmaterial zum jeweiligen Training. Damit können die Lektionen der Video-Trainings auch am eigenen Computer durchgearbeitet werden.

Die Themenpalette der Trainingsabonnements entspricht dem Gesamtprogramm von video2brain und reicht von Expertenwissen für Kreativprofis und Fotografen, über Schulungen für Büroanwender, Anwendungsentwickler und IT-Fachleute bis hin zu Workshops für Privat- und Hobbyanwender.
Durch die Themenvielfalt und die flexiblen Nutzungsmöglichkeiten, sind die video2brain-Trainingsabonnements sowohl für Einzelnutzer als auch für Unternehmen und Bildungseinrichtungen interessant. Gerade in Organisationen erleichtert der Online-Zugang zu den Schulungen den Verwaltungsaufwand enorm. Zugang, Kreis der Nutzer und die Zahl der gleichzeitig Lernenden lassen sich zentral festlegen.

Nähere Informationen zu den Einzeltrainings und dem Gesamtprogramm finden sich unter video2brain.

Am 13. Oktober 2008 haben Peter Bucher und Golo Roden unter dem Titel "Noch Fragen, Bucher? Ja, Roden!" angekündigt, jeweils zum ersten eines jeden Monats einen Kommentar zu einem vorab gemeinsam gewählten Thema verfassen zu wollen. Heute, am 1. November 2009, ist es nun wieder so weit, und das Thema für diesen Monat lautet:

Wieviel Sinn machen Unit-Tests? [Der Anglizismus ist natürlich arg hässlich. Ich kann es aber auf meine Mitstreiter schieben, die sich diese Formulierung haben einfallen lassen.]

Die beiden haben mich netterweise gefragt ob ich dieses Mal wieder als "Gast-Mitstreiter" dabei bin, und so haben wir drei uns unabhängig voneinander im Vorfeld unsere Gedanken gemacht, wie wir diesem Thema gegenüberstehen. Peters und Golos Kommentare finden sich zeitgleich in ihren Blogs, folgend nun meine Meinung zu diesem Thema:
Continue reading "Wieviel Sinn machen Unit-Tests?"

Am 13. Oktober 2008 haben Peter Bucher und Golo Roden unter dem Titel "Noch Fragen, Bucher? Ja, Roden!" angekündigt, jeweils zum ersten eines jeden Monats einen Kommentar zu einem vorab gemeinsam gewählten Thema verfassen zu wollen. Heute, am 1. August 2009, ist es nun wieder so weit, und das Thema für diesen Monat lautet:

C# oder VB: Welche Sprache soll ich lernen?

Die beiden haben mich netterweise gefragt ob ich dieses Mal als "Gast-Mitstreiter" dabei bin, und so haben wir drei uns unabhängig voneinander im Vorfeld unsere Gedanken gemacht, wie wir diesem Thema gegenüberstehen. Peters und Golos Kommentare finden sich zeitgleich in ihren Blogs, folgend nun meine Meinung zu diesem Thema:
Continue reading "C# oder VB: Welche Sprache soll ich lernen?"

I just finished my Microsoft TechDays presentation (WEB309: Fixing Ajax Applications). Thanks to everybody who attended! This session will be repeated during the day, so if you missed it you still can tune in.

There was a question at the very end on the history hash ASP.NET writes, but I was too slow to answer it before the session room was closed. The EnableSecureHistoryState property may help in the specific situation and lets you at least toggle between a secure and a human-readable format.

Microsoft have released the first public beta for their upcoming Windows 7 operating system. To me it looks surprisingly similar to Vista (which is a good thing and a bad thing ), so I thought that installing PHP on it should be easy, as well. Actually, it was really easy, but since yesterday two people indenpendently from each other asked me how to do it, I thought I'd write down the required steps.
Continue reading "Installing PHP on Windows 7"

Well, kinda. It's true that you can download the first public beta of Windows 7, but even if you passed the very slow "Server too busy" profile.microsoft.com server, there are still chances that you do not get the desired download afterwards, but this message instead ("next business day" is awesome):


A glimpse at the source code reveals interesting insights:


Debugoutput:

System.Data.Odbc.OdbcException: ERROR [08001] [Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver][DBNETLIB]General network error. Check your network documentation.
ERROR [01000] [Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver][DBNETLIB]ConnectionOpen (PreLoginHandshake()).
at System.Data.Odbc.OdbcConnection.HandleError(OdbcHandle hrHandle, RetCode retcode)
at System.Data.Odbc.OdbcConnectionHandle..ctor(OdbcConnection connection, OdbcConnectionString constr, OdbcEnvironmentHandle environmentHandle)
at System.Data.Odbc.OdbcConnectionOpen..ctor(OdbcConnection outerConnection, OdbcConnectionString connectionOptions)
at System.Data.Odbc.OdbcConnectionFactory.CreateConnection(DbConnectionOptions options, Object poolGroupProviderInfo, DbConnectionPool pool, DbConnection owningObject)
at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionFactory.CreateNonPooledConnection(DbConnection owningConnection, DbConnectionPoolGroup poolGroup)
at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionFactory.GetConnection(DbConnection owningConnection)
at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionClosed.OpenConnection(DbConnection outerConnection, DbConnectionFactory connectionFactory)
at System.Data.Odbc.OdbcConnection.Open()
at Futurecom.Microsoft.ProductKeys.Framework.DataAccess.GetProductKeys(String userSid, Int32 editionId, Int32 maxKeys, Boolean getAnotherKey, String fullEditionName, String& debugOutput)
at Futurecom.Microsoft.ProductKeys.Framework.Controls.Win7Distribution.refreshProductKeyList(Boolean getAnotherKey)


Hmmm ... Are they really using SQL Server or maybe rather Access?

Just a quick note that Service Pack 1 for Visual Studio 2008 (and for TFS, too) has been released for MSDN subscribers. Enjoy!

Update: The Service Pack is now also available on Microsoft downloads:

• Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1 (Web Installer)
• Visual Studio 2008 SP1 (ISO)
• Team Foundation Server SP1

Another important note for Silverlight 2 Beta 2 users: In order to be able to use the Silverlicht 2 Beta 2 Tools for Visual Studio 2008, you need to upgrade them after the SP1 installation if a previous Silverlight tools version is already installed. Microsoft released a new version yesterday.

Today is a day many people have been looking forward to for quite some time. No, it's not mass-marrying on 8-8-08, it's the day after the release of PHP 4.4.9. The important fact of this release is that it will be the final one for PHP 4. Ever. (Well, of course there might be the scenario of companies offering posthumous security patches, but that doesn't count here.) If you are still not convinced that PHP 4 is at the end of its life, just have a look at the changelog: the previous release is seven months old, and since then only five issues have been fixed.

I am aware that many sites, especially those with really old legacy code, will still not update (heck, I even know of some large PHP 3 based sites running strong [and insecure]), but if you have the resources to update your code base, you should do so really soon. PHP 5.3 will (most probably) be released later this year, and PHP 6 will get rid of a lot of stuff that has only been kept for the sake of backwards compatibility.

ASP.NET AJAX 4.0 CodePlex Preview 1 is available on CodePlex for download. Features include:

• Client-side template rendering
• Declarative instantiation of behaviors and controls
• DataView control
• Markup extensions
• Bindings

The release notes also mention that the next preview release will be available in September (maybe another one coming at October's PDC08—I am speculating here) and that "Ajax Futures" features will be moved to CodePlex in August. Interesting times for ASP.NET developers for sure, and I am looking foward to what's to come.

It's been a few week since Silverlight 2 beta 2 has been released. Yesterday, Microsoft released a critical update for Silverlight 2 beta 2 which is also distributed via Microsoft Update. The update promises to improve Firefox 3 compatibility, and also mentions streaming and stability. However the most interesting aspect is that the auto-update component has been worked on. The release notes do not state exactly what that means, but I think I know what it is: After installing the update, AutoUpdate can actually be enabled; the original version of Silverlight 2 beta 2 had this option greyed out. This suggests that new versions should be expected in the forseeable future

openSUSE 11 has been released, and as usual I had to try it using virtualization first. And as with some other recent distros, VPC crashes during installation. However, as with some other recent distros, these startup options help:

noreplace-paravirt i8042.noloop clock=pit

So if you have issues getting the new openSUSE version installed, these options might do the trick. At least they worked for me.

Right after yesterday's Firefox 3 release, some readers wrote me that the browser would immediately crash (a really bad crash, without error reporting kicking in, the browser just vanishes) when they visited a Silverlight powered site. I could reproduce that on one of my machines and was investigating this further, when I stumbled upon Tim Heuer's excellent post on the long history of Silverlight/Firefox 3 hubbub. He concludes that Silverlight 2 beta 2 has solved the issue, but what's about the only Silverlight version marked as stable, 1.0? In my case a simple uninstallation of Silverlight, followed by reinstalling the plugin did the trick. Unfortunately I did not write down my previous plugin version number, but I now have version 1.0.30401.0. If you have an older version, you may want to update.
Of course that doesn't help web master too much, but maybe this post can help some users to keep their new shiny browser alive when consuming Silverlight content.

Firefox 3 has been released a few hours ago (congratulations!), and I already got two mails with complaints that Firebug (v1.05) is not compatible with this version. That's actually true, but versions 1.1+ are. Just don't mind that the version numbers sound like beta, but I wouldn't be too surprised if version 1.2 would be put on Firebug's homepage soon.
Update (Jun 18): Updated download link; addons.mozilla.org seems to have the most recent releases.