don't know what bamf is -- apologies if you are offended...not always the “safest” content on the site (bamf link) but the guy (sharkey) works in the industry and occaisionally has great rants about common things we all face.

at any rate...i had a project i worked my tail off to finish...delivered 2 days early thinking the client really needed it to test.

that was a week ago.

client needs to deliver to their customer tomorrow am.

guess when they started testing.

guess what i'll be doing all night.

argh.

i got a question from robertk just a while ago asking where the presence info was when viewing sharepoint with firefox.

what?! you can view sharepoint with firefox?! calm down, yes you can.

basically the presence indicator is shown using a javascript function in ows.js (IMNRC) and is only rendered for the appropriate browsers (look at owsbrows.js)..basically those that are browseris.ie55up. -- so essentially wss thinks that firefox is netscape 5 because of the mozilla version it checks for. 

ideally the owsbrows.js should be written to check for functionality rather than versions -- maybe render the browseris from the server based on using the .net framework libraries that would be able to determine the “abilities” better.

so if you want it to work, you'll have to jack with ows.js and some other areas as well -- i started looking real quick, but there are other places where it doesn't work and renders the non_ie.js file as well which causes other issues.

wait a minute, get back to getting firefox and sharepoint working...

okay, so it works...most of it.  do you get the cool dhtml menu options? no.  but it renders and you can modify web parts, etc...just different look...try it and you'll see the changes: some here: http://timheuer.com/images/wssffx1.jpg

so basically it works...the cool thing is that if you use the firefox web developer toolbar add-in, you can “turn on“ css tags and see all those hidden wss class names you want to change...without installing a javascript file or referring to the style guide.

 

i thought it prudent to share some experiences i've had lately with two isv's that have shined above the rest of those that i've been dealing with.

over the course of the past week/month i've been working on several projects involving 3rd party web controls.  in each of my experiences, i've run into challenges and questions.  some vendors never respond.  others are awesome...two cases in point:

1) aspNetEmail: www.aspnetemail.com

Dave Wanta is great.  with every support request i get an immediate response in less than a day (sometimes immediately).  i've been really putting one of the components of this tool through the test...and dave has been responding.  i tell him my needs as a customer and how a change would make this much more valuable and save me time -- suddenly i get a new version of the tool in my inbox with exactly what i asked for -- that is awesome.

2) WebUI 2.1: www.componentart.com

this suite of tools is awesome...period.  for asp.net web controls these are great.  asp.net 2 will implement some of these and it remains to be seen whether they will be as flexible.  this vendor as well has been ultra responsive to issues and helped me through a potential problem that i was experiencing...the forums are great and they are extremely dedicated to helping the customer get the most value out of those tools.

to the other isvs whose SSL is expired (so i won't buy a new license) or haven't had any updates in a year, or don't respond, or respond with “by design” -- take note: understand your customer needs...listen to them, work with us (customers) to make your product better -- most of the time we aren't whining...we're wanting to use YOUR tools to be more productive.

okay, i admin it -- i was infatuated with the oj simpson trial...i have no idea why (although i was studying criminology at the time)

but seriously, when you look at how msnbc gives the jackson trial a premier spotlight (the same way they do elections, tragedies [well, okay this is certainly a tragedy], etc.)

it makes me wonder where we have gone as a nation...oh well.

sure enough this happens to me too frequently.

"sure, yeah, no problem i can do that"

then reality strikes...oh yeah, i have a job, wife, kids, no time, etc.

so i find myself in another predicament...a project due next week and only 30% complete.  so how do you finish 70% in a few days (and actually less in hours)?

jack daniels and water. oh wait, did i say that outloud?

okay seriously...here's what helped:

1-written out plan
i find that if i don't write a plan down, i'll continue to procrastinate and go all over the place.

2-realize you can't do everything
if you think you can do it all, you can't -- get over it and get help

3-find help
for me it was in the form of short-cuts in technology...these tools saved me:

• visual studio .net -- duh.
• aspNetEmail -- www.aspnetemail.com -- the EmailTemplate control rocks
• LLBLGen Pro -- www.llblgen.com -- one of my new favorite tools -- rapid generation of ORM-based DAL and great object model
• FreeTextBox -- www.freetextbox.com -- they should really name it [NotSo]FreeTextBox since you have to pay for the cool features ;-)
• Enterprise Library -- www.microsoft.com/practices -- with the new enterprise library, the configuration is so much easier to understand and quick to setup
• MasterPages -- i rolled my own implementation based on the Paul Wilson article -- not having to worry about the elements is awesome...concentrate on the functionality
• CodeRush -- www.devexpress.com -- only improves vs.net
• BaseClasses -- implement common functionality into base classes so that controls/master pages can be rapidly implemented
• WebUI 2.1 -- www.componentart.com -- for great menus, site maps, etc.

these are huge timesavers for me...check them out -- i highly endorse all of them!

4-quiet place with least distractions
probably the most difficult for me -- i'm usually easily distracted at home -- especially with a young one running around.  finding some type of peace is key to getting “in the groove” -- for me it is in my office, locked door, ipod in ears, and wife away [note: wife away usually means shopping, so this procrastination may ending up actually costing money ;-) ]