March 12, 2006

DotNetMocks 0.8.0 is out now!

Posted in TDD at 21:40 by Niklas

Finally we see a new release of the DotNetMock framework, features in Pragmatic Unit Testing in C#. Version 0.8.0 is out now!!! After trying to use it in one of my projects (the upcoming .NET version of http://nida.se/dahlex/) I was very annoyed by the fact that ExpectNoCall method did not work, so I decided to check out the bug database, where I found that bug reported a long time ago. So I decided to try and fix some of the bug and submitted them to Griffin (http://blog.griffincaprio.com/blog/) and that resulted in the 0.8.0 release. So please check it out and let us know what you think.

See: http://blog.griffincaprio.com/ and: http://sourceforge.net/projects/dotnetmock

SQLCLR behaviour

Posted in SQL Server at 21:33 by Niklas

After reading a bit in Pro SQL Server 2005 I got the idea to try Keith Brown’s AppDomain snooping demo from PDC in SQL Server 2005. The demo demonstrates how you can use a little managed C++ code to enable one ASP.NET application running in IIS to look into other AppDomains in the server and for example dump the cache of any other ASP.NET application running on the server.

I know it’s not supposed to work in .NET 2.0, but I thought it would be fun and educational to try, both security wise and SQLCLR wise. The demo relies on two assemblies, one in C++ (AppDomLooker) that uses operations that prevents it from being compiled to CIL (or MSIL as the SQL Server calls it), and one in C# (PilferHelper) that references the C++ assembly. If I try to ”CREATE ASSEMBLY PilferHelper ... ” SQL Server tries to locate the referenced assembly automatically, but fails. If I manually ”CREATE ASSEMBLY AppDomLooker ... ” that works great, but when I look in sys.assemblies it has ”processorarchitecture=x86” as opposed to regular C# assembles that has ”processorarchitecture=msil”. I guess that is why SQL Server cannot recognize it as the referenced assembly.

I’m not sure how it’s supposed to work, but I think it’s strange that I can load the assembly and then not reference it. The potential reason for it not to work should be security, but then the error message should mention it…

Feel free to download my sample and try.

Maybe some SQL Server dude can enlighten me?

Walerian Borowczyk dies

Posted in Movies at 21:21 by Niklas

The infamous and fantastic director and animator Walerian Borowczyk passed away February 6th 2006. Strangely coinciding with this sad event was the release of the 3 disc Borowczyk collection from Cult Epics featuring:

  • Goto: Island of Love, Borowczyk’s hypnotic first foray into live-action filmmaking.
  • The Beast, the infamous 1975 feature that is still considered one of the most shocking films ever made.
  • Love Rites, Borowczyk’s powerful last film.

The Box Set also includes:

  • 4 Collector’s Postcards
  • Bonus short film: The Astronautes (1959) (Winner of 3 Grand Prix International Awards) * Liner Notes and Filmography by Rayo Casablanca
  • New Liner Notes by Daniel Bird for the Beast
  • English subtitles
  • Anamorphic Widescreen versions

See: http://www.lasersedge.com/item_detail.asp?id=68830

ImmoralTalesGoto.jpgAlso released is the double feature Contes immoraux / Goto, l’île d’amour
See: http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0006ZUZ18

Both containing Goto: Island of Love, not previously on DVD

Cult Epics also release Goto: Island of Love on its own: http://www.lasersedge.com/item_detail.asp?id=68834

lulu.jpgThis release of Lulu is also very exciting: http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000BU9PD2

Great thanks to Cult Epics: http://www.cultepics.com/ce_preview.html

The beta experience

Posted in Tools at 21:07 by Niklas

Office 12 beta 1

Finally got around to install the Office “12″ beta 1 (now officially named Office 2007) I got at PDC, and I’m not yet used to the new menu system that we have in at least some of the applications now. Access, Excel, PowerPoint and Word has it. InfoPath, Publisher, Outlook and Visio have been left behind…

Outlook crash sometimes when I close it, but when I send the error report, I get the response that the error has been fixed in beta 2, nice.

And I felt pretty cool saving a file in the new docx format, but that was relieved when I opened the file in Notepad2 (http://www.flos-freeware.ch/notepad2.html) and realized it wasn’t XML… Turns out it’s a zip file containing alot of XML files, one for each slide and some templates etc.

More info: http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/default.mspx

IE7 beta 2

After getting started on the beta frenzy with Office “12″ I dared continue with IE7 beta2, works pretty good so far, the tabs are working more like they should, the tabs you got with MSN desktop search was not so useable. Finally there is ‘Open in new Tab’ :) Soon it might be as useful as FireFox. And it seems my photo gallery with an URL containing a swedish ‘ä’ doesn’t work.

Look here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/ie7/ie7betaredirect.mspx, http://www.ie7.com/, http://www.ie7download.com/, http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/

WindowsLive Messenger 8.0 Beta

To get even further into betaness I signed up for Messenger 8 beta and started using it. Noticeable changes include the possibility to send offline messages, i.e. send messages to contacts that are offline (like you could in ICQ, I say could because I haven’t used ICQ for long). There is also the new “Share Folder” feature that allows you to share files with your contacts.

Sign up here: http://ideas.live.com/programpage.aspx

Windows Live Beta

The Google killer is coming to get you. The image search is actually looking pretty cool.

Try: http://www.live.com/

Covenant – Skyshaper

Posted in Music at 20:53 by Niklas

I saw one of my old Swedish favorite bands Covenant live in Helsingborg at the release party last week for this new album, and I really thought they were bad… (I’ve seen them a number of times since the great appearance at Emmabodafestivalen 1995) but I had already ordered the album, so I tried to keep hopes up. And luckily the album is pretty good, although it has some crappy track, just like their two previous albums had. Their first album is the most solid one, maybe because it’s their fastest. Anyway, skyshaper is a lot better than their previous two albums.

The single-hit Ritual noise is really good, as are 20 Hz with its strange, but likeable beat. I definitely think this album works a lot better at home than live.

And yes, the 2cd edition features the most boooring track ever on disc 2… (is that art?)

See: http://www.covenant.se/

Supreme Court featuring Fiendflug – We’ll f*** you up!

Posted in Music at 20:48 by Niklas

Interesting collaboration between Fiendflug, the leading instrumental electro artist and Supreme Court, a promising band with pretty good but somewhat lacking songs. Therefore these artists can compliment each other perfectly, and they have. The characteristic Feindflug songs have vocals and the Supreme Court songs have been improved by Fiendflug’s instrumental skills. All songs are good. Need I say that both bands are German…

See: http://www.supreme-court.tk/ and http://www.feindflug.info/

Spetsnaz – Totalitär

Posted in Music at 20:44 by Niklas

Swedish Spetsnaz yet again presents old-school hard-hitting groove, although not as old-school as before… The sound has been updated to Nitzer Ebb 2 years later, and more varied. This is also an artist that avoids bad tracks by keeping up the pace, fast tracks can’t fail as slow tracks can :) . I especially like the punkish song Uniform and Kindred with its clean vocals for a change.

“Observe our Dynamics”

See: http://www.spetsnaz.se/

Pride and fall – Elements of Silence

Posted in Music at 20:38 by Niklas

Pride and Fall, one of the few good Norwegian artists is back with the follow-up to their superb first album. Actually I can’t think of any better Norwegian acts, but Apoptygma Berzerk and Bel Canto has had their moments. I really like the sound on both their album, hard, fast and sometimes complex beats with slower, soft, melancholic vocals. There have not been any bad tracks on any of their two albums, and I can’t think of anyone with a sound quite like theirs. Their lyrics are rather hard to comprehend, not that I really care about the content of lyrics as long as it sounds nice, but there are some memorable moments:

From ”The violence in me”:
There’s a child that walks beside me making every step I take pointless

See: http://www.prideandfall.com/

x64 experienced

Posted in Tools at 20:29 by Niklas

I have used the 64 bit edition of Windows XP pro since I bought my new HP Pavilion with AMD64 processor, and after a couple of month I have come to live with a few shortcomings, anely:

  • And it took a little research to find a compatible printer, but I settled for the Lexmark E120n network printer, some attractive alternatives like the cheap HP Color Lasers does not support x64.
  • Visual Studio does not support “edit and continue” which is a little strange.
  • Tortoise SVN and CVS shell extensions do not work in 64 bit explorers. How hard can it be? I did not get the experimental x64 release of Tortoise SVN to work.
  • WindowsUpdate does not work in a 64 bit Internet Explorer.
  • Windows Security Center does not recognize mcAfee VirusScan Enterprise 8.
  • Google desktop search does not show in deskbar mode.
  • Daemon-Tool did not have a 64 bit version at the time, but now it has.
  • Some Java apps, like FreeMind, med to be informed about the path to the Java Runtime.
  • WinPCap which many Network monitors rely on has not released an x64 release yet, but it seems to finally be on its way. See: http://www.winpcap.org/

But overall it worked above expectations, especially games like Doom 3, Quake 4 and WarCraft works without problems. The above can be considered minor annoyances, except for the Storage Central, SC 101.