feedreader, my sharepoint web part originally built for sharepoint 2003, has been consumed by quite a few people (which i think is cool -- it is a rare moment when a lowly d00d like me can fill a gap).  while sharepoint 2007 has better built-in support for syndicated feeds (actually 2003 did already with the xml web part), i still think feedreader has some advantages that can be leveraged.

a while back i put feedreader on codeplex, an open source sharing ground.  i used the microsoft public license so anyone can download, alter, and profit from the code.  i did this because i was getting feature requests weekly as well as some of the problematic issues that i never fixed (namely proxy server support needs to be better).  i thought to myself that there way better developers out there than me and can actually help out.  i wanted to prove my own theory wrong.

well, there wasn't a ton of contributions (more work items though), but over the past month i got another one of those requests.  and just the other day, the rss feed from my codeplex project source code check-ins delivered this to me:

1) Added the code that jdenicola suggested in the codeplex discussion forum to fix the object reference... error. The error is caused by the cache being empty. Which is weird since the PartCacheWrite line is being called, but when it reads it doesn’t return anything. Might be environmental, but I didn’t spend too much time trying to figure it out.
2) Changed the cache key from this.Parent.ClientID to this.ClientID (neither key affected the results of PartCacheRead)
3) Moved the assignment of the graphic to the web part code from the .dwp. This fixed the display of the icon at the top right in the title bar, but it still didn’t display the graphic in the web part library. Could be a SharePoint bug not reading the property. The properties PartImageSmall and PartImageLarge are obsolete. I used TitleIconImageUrl and CatalogIconImageUrl (but still couldn’t get the catalog icon image to show up)
4) Repackaged it in a .wsp for WSS 3.0. I included a new manifest file, a couple .ddf’s, and some stsadm commands to handle the install/upgrade from a build event.
5) Added .snk files so assemblies could be strong named and added to the GAC
6) Added setting for "Expand Headline Descriptions by Default" which, when checked, will expand the item descriptions when the page first loads instead of showing them as collapsed (assuming the headline descriptions are not hidden)
7) Added a div tag with a class called sg-item-description surrounding the item descriptions which the user can overload to control the look (background color, border, text size, etc.) of the description

sweet.  a contribution...and a good one at that.  several things were fixed and a few added.  the contributor, ryan mcintyre really stepped up because he saw some things he could fix and leverage for his own benefit as well.  i should also note that flickr4writer also got some contributions from josh holmes a few months back as well.  it is cool to see some progress on something i hadn't had the time to work on and to that i say 'thank you' to ryan for making feedreader a better experience!

finally want to try out that feature to debug your apps and step into System.Web.dll?  it has arrived.

shawn burke has all the blow-by-blow details on setting it up.

i recently got an email from a rails developer who was using silverlight on a site to display high-quality media.  what?! you though silverlight was a windows-only technology? blasphemy!  you see, silverlight is a client-technology, which means as long as it can be served up to the browser (and the user has the plugin), the server can be your own custom version of l337hax0r web edition or whatever.  now, there are advantages of using internet information services on windows and some integration with asp.net, but that's not what this post is about.  on to the issue at hand will you...

so the email...he was getting an error message:

ActionController::RoutingError (No route matches "/player.xaml" with {:method=>:get}):

now i'm not incredibly familiar with what web server configuration he is running (although he is running netbeans/mongrel), but it got me thinking of 2 things.  first, maybe he needed to add a mime mapping.

for silverlight, the following MIME map is for .xaml files: .xaml: application/xaml+xml

but then i also thought that it might be something of some files moved around and such.  i deduced from his note that an expression encoder template was being used as he mentioned he moved the javascript files to the javascripts directory of his rails application.  for those who don't know, rails is an MVC pattern web framework.  when creating a rails application you get a few different folders created for you (note: i'm just talking rails foo command here).  a lot of the work is done in controllers/models/views folder but there is also a folder called public.  within there are your typical images and javascripts type folders.  basically you can think of public mapping to "/" for static files.

now most rails applications probably wouldn't want all the encoder output to be dumped into /public as-is.  if developers are anything like me (OCD about project folder organization), then you want *.js to be in one place, etc.  i suspected that my reader put all the encoder files in the /public/javascripts folder.  this would be fine and should work okay.  but lets say you want some organization.

for example, i want to put my .js files in /public/javascripts, my jpg/pngs in /public/images and i'm going to create a folder for my xaml and a folder for media (wmv).  great, so we move all the files around then we run the Default.html page.  nothing happens.  why?  well a few things need to change if you move things around.

first, you need your hosting page (in this case right now it is Default.html) to reference the right path to the javascript locations.  so in our example we'd modify (in Default.html) lines like:

<script type='text/javascript' src="Silverlight.js"></script>
<script type='text/javascript' src="BasePlayer.js"></script>

to this:

<script type='text/javascript' src="javascripts/Silverlight.js"></script>
<script type='text/javascript' src="javascripts/BasePlayer.js"></script>

noting that of course there are more than just these two files.  now if we run the application it would still fail.  this is for two reasons, both of which are in StartPlayer.js.  the first is on or about line 8 of the script:

   1:   

   2:   

   3:   

   4:  function get_mediainfo(mediainfoIndex) {

   5:      switch (mediainfoIndex) {        

   6:   

   7:          case 0:

   8:              return  { "mediaUrl": "CodeTripSample.wmv",

   9:                        "placeholderImage": "CodeTripSample_Thumb.jpg",

the next is on or about line 24:

  22:  function StartPlayer_0(parentId) {

  23:      this._hostname = EePlayer.Player._getUniqueName("xamlHost");

  24:      Silverlight.createObjectEx( {   source: player.xaml', 

these both need to map to the right references of where that content has moved...so noting my above folder changes (images/javascripts/media/xaml) my StartPlayer.js file now starts like this:

   1:   

   2:   

   3:   

   4:  function get_mediainfo(mediainfoIndex) {

   5:      switch (mediainfoIndex) {        

   6:   

   7:          case 0:

   8:              return  { "mediaUrl": "media/CodeTripSample.wmv",

   9:                        "placeholderImage": "images/CodeTripSample_Thumb.jpg",

  10:                        "chapters": [               

  11:                                    ] };                                                                

  12:                            

  13:          default:

  14:               throw Error.invalidOperation("No such mediainfo");

  15:       }

  16:  }

  17:   

  18:  function StartWithParent(parentId, appId) {

  19:      new StartPlayer_0(parentId);

  20:  }

  21:   

  22:  function StartPlayer_0(parentId) {

  23:      this._hostname = EePlayer.Player._getUniqueName("xamlHost");

  24:      Silverlight.createObjectEx( {   source: 'xaml/player.xaml', 

and all is well -- my rails app starts and my silverlight content is loaded.  my resulting rails app structure looks like this:

simple enough, but if you move things around you might not have known where you need to change things.  you may wonder why you don't have to change the MediaElement in the player.xaml file.  well, if you are using an expression encoder template, the Url of that element is controlled by the StartPlayer.js mediaUrl attribute being passed to the player.

so if you have static information for your rails app this would probably work fine for you, but i suspect your rails application might be using views and such.  so you'd probably want to ensure you are modifying the appropriate view in views/layouts to ensure the javascript reference is correct, etc.

hope this helps.

i was peripherally listening to the macworld keynote today waiting for something that would interest me.  i read all the rumors about a sub-compact laptop and was hoping for the best.  i am not a lover of widescreen laptops.  i love my 14" lenovo and all other standard sizes before that.  i've always felt that when you get into the widescreens, it no longer becomes a notebook, but a portable...i want the lightweight but powerful notebook.  to that end i use a lenovo thinkpad and a macbook pro (15").  i like them both...a lot.  for my daily typing i find i'm more comfortable on the lenovo keyboard...it has that tactile response akin to a 1985 ibm keyboard...for me it works.  but i love the overall industrial design, display and weight of my macbook.  at macworld, i was hoping for the announcement of the 13" macbook pro.  i like the macbook current design, but wanted a more powerful machine and an aluminum case (maybe even colored like their ipod lines).  but alas, steve seemed to be catering to the super lightweight class of design.

at a cost of USD $1800 as a base price, i feel they introduced something cool and priced it out.  for me it isn't even compelling enough to look at for that price (the solid state one is over USD $3000).  i know people say that the lack of an optical drive is no big deal because you rarely use it.  i used to think that too until i tried to use a laptop without one.  especially being ultra portable, i would have considered macbook air for a travel machine, but would want to watch DVDs, etc. (why not itunes movies you ask -- well, because i have my own DVDs and i like DVD extras and the ability to get new releases).  also the lack of ethernet is a bit troubling.  i use wireless all the time and i think rarely plugin, but i look to the times when i do plug in and would be frustrated that i would have to carry an ethernet dongle there.  when it is all said and done, the macbook air is cool looking and i can't wait to stop by an apple store and mess around with one, but for me, the features aren't there to make it worth the investment.  maybe i'll wait 3 months for jobs to screw the early adopters and reduce the price.

i wish it was a 13" macbook pro.  i love a lot of my macbook pro now, just wish that power was harnessed in the size of the macbook.  is that so hard?  if that would have been the announcement, i would have snuck out to a 'meeting' and gotten one today.

over the past 6 months i've received numerous questions whether or not a user group for sharepoint existed in arizona.  it didn't (there was one but it drizzled away), but i'm happy to announce that some volunteers rallied to start another one.  they have set a date for their first meeting or the arizona sharepoint professionals group.

here's the information i have:

Date:  Thursday, 31 JAN 2008
Time: 4:30 PM - 6:30 PM
Locations: University of Advancing Technology, 2625 W Baseline Rd, Tempe, AZ

they are asking people to register (not sure why) so if you plan on attending, please do register for them.  you can click the registration link here.  if you experience problems registering, i'd say just show up :-).  sorry, no web site for further information other than the registration site.  if you do go, encourage them to do 2 things for me (i'll be in denver or i'd go): 1) start an email group instead of a forum and 2) post their events on azgroups.com so others can see (i've posted this first one).