...and master of none

I like the ATLAS AJAX Control Toolkit. It integrates with Visual Studio and has useful if not basic javascript functions that can help a website be much more interactive. The AutoComplete Extender is used to provide auto-complete functionality to a text box. To use it, you simply add an extender and a web service method that provides a list of strings based on the text that the user started typing. So, if you are trying to provide the exact string that the user is typing (ala google search help), you can use it out of the box. However, sometimes you want more list-ish functions, that is, you want to present the user with a list of valid choices that represent objects, not just the descriptions. One alternative is to use a Listbox with a ListSearch Extender. This extender is used to find an existing value within the listBox. The downside to this approach is that every item you are looking for has to be in the list. This can be rather unwieldy if the list has more than a couple dozen i

I love the fact that IBM stops supporting its hardware long before Microsoft does; this means that lots of top-tier companies have to decommission their *somewhat* old hardware and you can pick up a server cheap (or free) to play with at home. It may mean, however, that your installation mileage may vary. Such has been the case for my IBM x335 (of which I have three). I've been on a quest to do an installation of Windows Server 2008 on said boxen. (plural of ox is oxen, plural of box is...) How fickle a lover are antique hardware and modern operating systems? How doest thou vex me, let me count the ways... Windows 2008 only comes on DVD while an IBM x335 has only a CD and will not boot from USB. Windows 2008 will not install from any sort of DOS utility disk. So Bart's Network boot disk is out, likewise a network boot to anything based on DOS. The IBM x335 has an internal IDE that is used by its CD Rom. You can crack the case and use an internal DVD drive from some other comput

Oh, by the way, I have to give some credit to Notepad++ for that last post. The asp.net was HTML encoded using Notepad++ (TextFX TextFX Convert Encode HTML). I keep Notepad++ on a USB drive using PortableApps . It has lots of cool tools that are handy to keep with you or keep personal like KeyPass portable, but that's another post!

I realize you are disappointed, but the only clever title I could think of for IP Address reminded me of a stupid joke from kindergarten... Never the less. Here is a cool formula for a client-validated IP address using the AJAX Control Toolkit and asp.net. <asp:TextBox ID="TextBox1" runat="server" Text='<%# DataValue %>'></asp:TextBox> <cc1:MaskedEditExtender ID="MaskedEditExtender1" runat="server" TargetControlID="TextBox1" Mask="NNNNNNNNNNNNNNN" MaskType="None" ClearMaskOnLostFocus="true" Filtered=". " PromptCharacter="" /> <cc1:MaskedEditValidator ID="MaskedEditValidator1" runat="server" ControlToValidate="TextBox1" InvalidValueMessage="IP Address required (192.168.1.1)" ControlExtender="MaskedEditExtender1" ValidationExpression="^([01]?\d\d?2[0-4]\d25[0-5])\.([01]?\d\d?2[0-4]\d25[0-5])\.([01]?\d