We had a vendor in at work recently to do some Proof of Concept work with us in our lab. One of the applications has a TON of command line options. While we ran it through a review process, it dawned on me that there should really exist a GUI Command Line Builder tool that lets the user select what options are needed and then the tool builds the command line. Something just like the AclEasy GUI for SetACL. Otherwise, if close attention was not paid to the command line options, someone could unintentionally cause issues to the environment.
So, it is my suggestion to application vendors to provide GUI tools with applications that have more than a handful of command line options or that utilize configuration files that contain more than a reasonable number of configuration settings.
Weigh in here and let me know what you think.
Edit: It appears that the ACLEasy tool is awol... I'll have to try to contact its author and see if we can post it here.
Posted Sunday, January 21, 2007 12:40 PM by dthomson | with no comments
We usually keep good tabs on changing oil and stuff on our cars, but I see many people out on the highways that miss a few routine checks.
Tires:
I see a lot of people cruising down the road oblivious to the fact that they have a flat tire. I'll usually try to let them know, but sadly, I've found that people generally don't want to be bothered. So, are your tires inflated to the pressure recommended by the manufacturer? If not, this is a huge safety risk, will cause the tires to wear out prematurely, and can cause an increase in your fuel consumption. Each time you stop to fill up your gas tank, you might want to do a walk around your car and do a visual check on the tire pressure. If a tire looks low, check the pressure with a pressure gauge.
Shocks:
I get a kick out of people who seem to just be bouncing around the highway. This isn't because of the music they're listening to, but instead, it's because their shocks are worn out. This is another safety hazard folks. A simple check of your shocks can be to push down on each corner of your car and see if it bounces or if the car stabilizes quickly. If it bounces, you should schedule yourself to get those shocks replaced.
Dirty windows:
I see this a few cars in my travels that I can hardly see in due to the grime on the inside of their windows that is probably caused by cigarette smoke. If I can hardly see in your car, I doubt you can see out too well either. And no, these cars do not have tinted windows.You might want to be sure you clean the inside of your windows fairly frequently.
Lights:
Since I am out the door way early in the morning before most smart people get out of bed, I depend on other vehicles having properly working lights. This includes headlights, brake lights, turn signals, marker lights, and taillights. There are usually a good number of cars out on the highway that have at least one light out.It would be great to add a light check to your vehicle maintenance routine. This would include making sure all your lights are working properly, including the turn signals and brake lights when they are activated.Oh, and if you find that you need to replace a headlight, be sure to use the screws (if applicable) that allow you to remove the bulb from its socket and NOT the screws that adjust the aiming of the head lights. I see a lot of folks on the road that have wonderfully functioning headlights, but those headlights are basically aimed at the ground instead of forward as they should. Improperly aimed headlights are a big safety hazard too since you are basically getting a smaller percentage of the visibility that you should really be getting.
Just some thoughts....
Posted Saturday, January 20, 2007 1:46 AM by dthomson | with no comments
Sometimes we are confronted by folks who can't think out of the box and try new things because of hassles they may have previously gone through.
Well, this is my response:
To fail while trying is better than failing to try.
Posted Friday, January 19, 2007 11:56 PM by dthomson | with no comments
Were you used to using control arrays in Visual Studio 6 and are now using a newer version of Visual Studio and have found that things aren't as they used to be? I have some code which was originally written in Visual Studio 6 and recently migrated it to Visual Studio 2005 and found that I was no longer able to add control arrays to my forms, but the pre-existing control arrays were still there.
In my quest to figure things out, I found a terrific series of articles which delves into this subject quite well.
VB.NET: What Happened to Control Arrays!!! (Part I)
Of particular interest is the 7th installment of the series which presents the solution I am working with in Visual Studio 2005.
VB.NET: What Happened to Control Arrays!!! (Part VII)
Posted Friday, January 19, 2007 11:13 PM by dthomson | with no comments
If your lot is fairly wet at times, and your crawl space is below grade, you might want to consider installing French Drain in the crawl space so that any ground water that seeps under the house will be quickly routed to the sump pump.
Yup, I was lazy when my foundation was finished and didn't install a French Drain. Now I'm looking at 4 times the work to get it done. Installing it will be a fairly drawn out process over the next year or so.
Posted Tuesday, January 16, 2007 12:40 AM by dthomson | with no comments
If you opt for installing a whirl pool tub in one of your bathrooms, and that bathroom isn't on the ground floor, you should try to work with the plumber/installer to get them to mount the tub to the floor using some sort of vibration dampening device. Otherwise, when you run the whirl pool, you mind end up with a bit more noise on the next floor down than you'd care for. A few extra floor joists under the tub would be a good consideration too.
Yeah, we missed this little tip when we had a 2nd floor whirl pool tub installed in our new house. Yes, I'm a little non-plus about it...
Posted Tuesday, January 16, 2007 12:29 AM by dthomson | with no comments
One of the capabilities of the NightWatchman product from 1E is that it allows administrators to automate the closing of applications in a manner that properly closes unsaved documents and prevents data loss. To accomplish this, NightWatchman uses external scripts that correlate with the application that needs to be safely closed.
NightWatchman supports Microsoft Office products (Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, Visio, Project, ...) out of the box. Any organization that implements NightWatchman will need to develop customized scripts that NightWatchman can use to support other applications that are not supported out of the box.
For those organizations that are currently using the NightWatchman product, I am wondering if you'd be interested in a location where everyone can post custom scripts for sharing with the community. This online location can then serve as a repository where one can search to determine if a custom script may already exist for a product that must be supported.
Let me know by sending me an email.
Dan
Posted Friday, January 12, 2007 12:17 PM by dthomson | with no comments