Jeff hits the nail right on the head when he posts “UI Is Hard” (and the comments on his post are interesting too). Jeff points out and indeed highlights the fact that “you need to design the UI first”. There have been cases where I have built the back-end logic and then realised that the UI won't conform to it, so I've either had to change the back-end or, worse, had a clunky UI. I'm ashamed to say that many, many times I find myself explaining my UI to a user (even after they've been using it for a while).  And often...

Phil of Geeky Info posts about a free sticky-note type app that docks and hides called Stick. It also supports running Internet Explorer & Windows Explorer windows, and more. I have been running it now for a couple of days and found it useful for having a Notepad within easy reach. Hey, and Phil's from Melbourne, and he's got a nice site. I've subscribed.

DISCLAIMER: The general rule on SQL Server system stored procedures or undocumented stored procedures is: don't use them - they may change in a future service pack or not be available in a future release of SQL Server. Fair enough? And as always, I don't guarantee my code below will work on your system, let alone produce good results. I recently found a use for the system stored procedure “sp_msobjectprivs”, which is called by SQL Server itself when you script database objects and ask to include the privileges in your output. I was using it to script permissions on stored procedures in...

I don't know how other people deal with this issue, but I prefer to use Network Places instead of mapped drives in Windows Explorer, and I find it a pain that to get the “Add Network Place“ wizard, I have to hide the folder view to bring up the common tasks. A (slight) shortcut is to invoke the “Add Network Place” wizard directly with the command line: rundll32 netplwiz,AddNetPlaceRunDll (Thanks to http://windowsxp.mvps.org/addnetwork.htm). How do others dela with this issue?

Greg points out that SysInternals have released version 8 of their excellent Autoruns utility. Downloaded.

Sometimes I feel as if I'm one of the few who think software piracy is a bad thing. I know plenty of good people, that would not break the law in any way, that have no objection to buying or just coming across pirated software/DVDs. This is not a dig at those people (some of whom are good friends): I reckon people should do what they're comfortable with. It's just that, if something's illegal, and it actually hurts people in my industry (it could be me it's hurting), why would I want to do it? Tejas Patel blogs about a similar...

Roy Osherove quotes a stunning, all-encompassing definition for “legacy code”: "Before we get started, do you know what 'Legacy Code' means? It's code that works". (via Bill McCarthy) I can see how a user of a system would see things that way! I mostly perceive legacy code as being a software millstone that can be improved, yet most often has to be emulated.

Currently open in my browser tabs (and have been for days) are pages on design patterns in .NET, specifically the Observer and Singleton patterns. They're waiting for when I get back to coding - this week I have been working on reports, and next week I'll be giving a presentation to my co-workers and working primarily in SQL Server. The pages are: Using an Observer design pattern to keep multiple forms up to date - this kicked it all off Illustrated GOF Design Patterns in C# Part V: Behavioral II Exploring the Observer Design Pattern Applying Observer Pattern in .NET Remoting Design Patterns: Observer One thing looking at these...

Google's cropped up on my IT radar this week, twice, with Google Print and personalised Google. Interesting.

I started studying for my MCSD and I'm getting ready to sit my first exam at the end of the month - 70-306: Developing and Implementing Windows-Based Applications with Visual Basic.NET and Visual Studio.NET. I'm nervous about the 170 minutes of tricksy questions, but I'm also nervous as I haven't done one of these exams ever before and I don't know what to expect. I've been preparing by studying Mike Gunderloy's excellent tome, but studying alone and without knowing what exactly is going to be on the test is weird. Going through Uni helped me realise the value of studying with someone...