The Wolf's Den

Silverlight Validator & Input Toolkit

Jeff Wolfer — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:43:44 GMT

Something we (Matt and I)have been working on for the past few days has been trying to be able to validate input forms in Silverlight. Seeing as how there wasn't a fairly straightforward framework...we decided to build our own! So, without further delay... Here it is, version 1: Silverlight.Validator

Silverlight Attached/Dependency Properties code snippet update

Jeff Wolfer — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:01:14 GMT

I noticed while working with Attached Properties and Dependency Properties that the code snippet is wrong. It keeps on trying using the UIPropertyMetadata. My guess is that this is an older version of the Register methods. So, here is a link (to my skydrive) that you can download and update your code snippets: cid-af5c4f2a863b6b78.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Public/AttachedDependencyProperty%20Snippets. Just download the two snippets and place them in your "%Program Files%\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\VC#\Snippets\1033\NetFX30" directory on your development machine. Next time you use the snippet(s), they'll be updated!

Update 11/28: Laurent has pointed out that the code snippets using UIPropertyMetadata are for WPF. So, I've updated the code snippets on my skydrive. "propa" and "propdp" have been reverted to their original snippet form. I've added two snippets "slpropa" and "slpropdp" for use within silverlight. Thank you Laurent for pointing that out.

Google does it again!

Jeff Wolfer — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 15:58:00 GMT

Once again, Google does it again! With the addition of Google Earth, they are becoming the gods of mapping software. All I have to say is WOW! Definitely have to check it out! Going yet another step further from their Google Maps satellite view, you can tilt and rotate the satellite views. Find census data, coffe houses, gas stations, hospitals, schools, food, lodging, everything I could ever dream of! Get driving directions and see the streets as they really are!

Kudos goes to Google for this unbelievable piece of software! Awseome job!!!

Geek's Light Saber!!!

Jeff Wolfer — Fri, 16 Jan 2004 17:05:00 GMT

We've all seen the red laser pointers that people get for various reasons. Whether it be for presentations or just for having hellacious fun with cats! :-) However, ThinkGeek.com has the next step in laser pointers. IT'S GREEN! It also says that you can see the whole beam! It's 50 times brighter than the normal red laser pointer! I do believe I've found my next toy to play with! here's the link: http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/lights/5a47

Travels to work

Jeff Wolfer — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 12:58:00 GMT

I hate snow. Especially when I have to drive in it. Now, I have a Mustang with good solid tires (Aquatread 3) and 140lbs of sand in the back. Last night I thought that I'd be OK. First, I can't get out of my parking spot. I tried everything. Rocking the car didn't work and going very slow didn't work. So, I took out the good ole handy dandy ice scraper and proceeded to scrape the concrete. This worked! I was finally out of my parking spot! Now, to get to work. Usually it takes me 20 minutes to get to/from work during rush hour. So, I knew it was going to take awhile. I get onto the mainroad, and find out that it's not salted or sanded, just plowed. Great. Well, I'm on my way into work, and a SUV is stuck near the top of a hill in my lane. Great. Then I realize, there's an idiot in front of me. He's stuck near the crest of a hill and he's going in reverse and then putting it back into drive and gunning his car! Hint of advice: when stuck on snow/ice DO NOT HIT THE ACCELLERATER HARD! So, of course, since he's stuck, I get stuck. Great. But after a bit of wiggling, I get my car unstuck. Guess who's still sitting there. After this, i believed it to be smooth sailing to work... and it was. Much to my surprise though, the subdivision that my work is located in has better roads than the mainroad I was just on! How ironic. As I said earlier, I hate snow.

First day at PDC

Jeff Wolfer — Mon, 27 Oct 2003 23:15:00 GMT

Wow! That's all I can say, is WOW. With a keynote speech from Bill Gates, a presentation of Avalon from Don Box, a look into the new features of Yukon, and I had the privilege of attending a not highly attended presentation of MSBUILD, the universal build engine for Visual Studio (Whidbey). This is such an awesome place to be!!!

Late travels to PDC

Jeff Wolfer — Mon, 27 Oct 2003 23:09:00 GMT

Well, my travel here to PDC03 could not get much worse. My itinerary had that I would leave Kansas City at 7:10 am, have a one hour layover in Denver, and end up in Los Angeles at 10:10am. However, this was not what happened. The trip was going fine at first; I had gotten onto the plane on tim from Kansas, we got to Denver with no problems, and the outgoing plane in Denver was present at the appropriate time. Then problems started occurring. We were listerally FIVE minutes away from landing at LAX and we were informed that we were being redirected to another airport!!! We were told that the fires forced the evacuation of one of the Regional Air Traffic Control Towers and that all air traffic was being grounded indefinitely. At first, I thought that we'd be delayed for only an hour or so. This was not the case. It ended up that we were grounded at the airport until 4:30, and only had a 45 minute window to get to LAX. Once we learned of this window and got clearance, the flight crew went through all those safety proceedings that they go through at the beginning of each flight, and finally we were off. When we got close to Los Angeles, we all noticed the smoke being emitted from the fires. It was unbelievable!!! I could never imagine seeing the site. THE WHOLE CITY was blanketed with a cloud of smoke!!!!! We had to go through the smoke to get to the airport. But, finally, we did. I got my bags, I got a cab, and I got my hotel with no other real incident (THANK GOD!) Later, after meeting up with Jeff Julian, I found out that there were many people who weren't in yet and were supposed to. In fact, I later found out that some of them were grounded in various places around the country and had to find alternate routes into Los Angeles. What a first day, but alas, at least I made it!!!!

We finally beat 'em!

Jeff Wolfer — Thu, 16 Oct 2003 00:17:00 GMT

After five long soccer seasons we finally beat our archrivals, “The Usual Suspects”. We beat 'em 4-3! Last time, they injured two of our most powerful players. This time, we stuck it to them and we won!! Congratulations team!!! We're undefeated with a record of 2-0-0!!!

Another PDC Attendee

Jeff Wolfer — Sat, 11 Oct 2003 19:31:00 GMT

I will be one of the attendee's for PDC 2003 in Los Angeles, CA in late October. I signed up about a month ago and just got my badge. I'll be up there with one of my closest friends from here in KC, Jeff Julian. This is my first conference of any sorts so its going to be extremely interesting!!!

My first Blog Entry

Jeff Wolfer — Sat, 11 Oct 2003 19:21:00 GMT

This is my first blog entry.

Thanks Jeff for setting this up! Truly appreciate it!