So this time when I found myself in the market for a new monitor, I went all out and bought a 30″ Dell 3007WFP-HC. I was upgrading from a 24 inch monitor and while not exactly small, let me tell you, the awesome 2560 x 1600 resolution of the 3007WPF-HC just makes for such a pleasurable experience.

Finally the IDE is a comfortable place to be. You don’t need to be auto-hiding things all the time, even the largest of solution trees become usable, and rather than choosing to have one or two useful panels open during your debugbing sessions, you can have all of them! I’m 100% sold. The only problem is the price!

It’s written in C# and I’ve posted the source code here. It uses GDI+ to render the control as opposed to using a series of bitmaps, and it allows you to configure the number of segments drawn.

Please post any feedback in the comments below.

I’ve got some good examples below.

What I expect:
When I try to delete a file that exists in my Windows directory I expect UAC to elevate, delete the file, then return me to my non elevated state.
What actually happens:
UAC elevates me to admin, sets the permissions of said directory so I have can delete files, returns to my unelevated state and then delete the files. Thus rendering my filesystem unprotected by UAC?!?

What I expect:
When I delete a folder that I happen to have a sub-folder of open in Windows Explorer I expect the sub folder to be deleted and the open Explorer window to close.
What actually happens:
I get prompted repeatedly by UAC about how I don’t have permissions to delete a folder until I finally resort to closing every open application only to realise that I do in fact have permissions.

What I expect:
When I delete those files I just put on that blank partition just there – yes, that’s right those files… the ones I just put there 2 seconds ago – UAC does nothing because I just put them there, right?
What actually happens:
UAC prompts to elevate to delete a file that I just copied 2 seconds ago – without any real explanation for why!

UAC in Windows vista is like living with a fastidious flat mate. You appreciate that they keep the flat tidy and sort out the electric bill, but it really pisses you off that they’re on at you to take your shoes off the minute you walk through the door. You don’t want to let it upset you too much – getting rid of the flat mate means an untidy flat.

Have you noticed any interesting UAC prompts? Something unexpected? Let me know – leave a comment.

There’s little more exciting than a new operating system relase… or that’s certainly true when you’re invited to Microsoft campus / Apple HQ to whoop and hollar at the appropiate points. Some operating system releases have to forego the high-budget, extravegant global launch event on account of the way in which they are funded and developed. Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) is mere days away – and it is up to all of us who know to make an effort to promote it. This is mine.

Ubuntu is moving along at a nice steady pace – with Canonical coordinating significant new releases at an impressive rate of two per year. I am always pleased to see a new release – as it’s as good an excuse as you’re ever going to get to get your parents, your children and your friends using Ubuntu. And there’s a shiny new reason why they won’t be put off by the often scary thought of a new operating system. Wubi is an installer for linux which takes away some of the barriers. No repartitioning is required to get Ubuntu up and running. Better than a live CD – people can actually try Ubuntu properly without the fear that it’s going to do something bad to their computer. This is a real step forward in my opinion. Go forth and spread the word.

For a complete list of new features in Ubuntu 8.04 – follow the link at the top of the page.

This inevitably leads to code along the following lines:

if (loggingEnabled)
{
   int messageLength = message.GetLength();
   Logger.Write(String.Format("The message is {0} bytes long.", messageLength));
}

Of course – we can factor out the if statement into a helper method like so:

public static class LoggingHelper
{
   public static void Log(string logMessage)
      {
         if (loggingEnabled)
            Logger.Write(logMessage);
      }
}

…and then call it from our code like this:

int messageLength = message.GetLength();
LoggingHelper.Log(String.Format("The message is {0} bytes long.", messageLength));

– but that isn’t really the point. The most expensive operation in the above code sample might be the call to message.GetLength(). In that case we still have to perform the most expensive operation in our logging code before passing our constructed log message to our logging helper method.

I’ve found that this is a really good application for in-line delegates. If you’ve never used in-line delegates before – they are a neat feature availble from C#2.0 which allow you to specify the body of a delegate in-line. For more on in-line delegates, check here.

Our LoggingHelper code can be re-arranged thus:

public static class LoggingHelper
{
	public static void Log(GetLogMessage getLogMessage)
	{
		if (loggingEnabled)
			Logger.Write(getLogMessage());
	}

	public delegate string GetLogMessage();

}

…and called like this:

LoggingHelper.Log(
            delegate()
            {
               return String.Format("The message is {0} bytes long.", message.GetLength());
            });

In this case the call to message.GetLength() only happens when logging is enabled.

In-line delegates make this approach very compelling as everything that is in scope in the calling method is available to the delegate… not so if the delegate is defined elsewhere. Ideal for logging.

I have an MSI P35 Platinum motherboard with an ICH9R southbridge. I’m using the RAID features on the ICH9R in a RAID0 configuration. I also have an eSATA enclosure with an old (relatively speaking) 120GB SATA drive in it. I have read plently of forum posts suggesting switching the SATA controller from AHCI mode to IDE to solve these kind of issues… but as I was using RAID that wasn’t an option.

Thanks to this TechNet forum post I finally discovered that it was my eSATA drive causing all the problems… I had it powered down most of the time, but still connected. Something doesn’t like that (driver?) and causes the stuttering. Switch the power to the drive on, and suddenly everthing is OK!

iPod touch

Bought for me by my 3yr old son. Don’t ask me where he got the money. Thanks son.

Jailbroken (of course). The iPod Touch is the slickest bit of hardware / software I’ve ever used. It all works really well. If you haven’t got one, get one – or get an iPhone… which I guess is even better?

Intempo Digital RDI iPod Speaker Dock With Built In DAB

Bought for me by my Parents. Thanks Mum and Dad.

Pretty much the only speaker dock I could find with DAB built in. It’s for the kitchen, and therefore needed to be more compact than a small stereo system (of which there are several examples with iPod dock and DAB). I love it…

Grip Trainer – Powerball Neon Blue Pro

Bought for me by the in-laws. Thanks in-laws.

These things are cool. I managed just over 10K rpm the other day… is that good?

Intel E6850 Core2 Duo 3.0GHz Processor
MSI P35 PLATINUM Motherboard
MSI 256MB 8600GT
2x WD Caviar SE WD2500JS – Hard drive
2x OCZ PC2-6400 DDR2 800MHz 2GB RAM Kit
P2 Series 3.5″ E-SATA/USB External Black Aluminium SATA/IDE Enclosure

Bought for me by me. Thanks me.

OK – my last PC upgrade was July 2004 – so this was well overdue. I’ve switched to x64 vista to make the most of that 4GB RAM… and I’m suffering the concequences! Dammit Apple – sort out iTunes for x64 Windows (please?).

I’m no hard-core gamer… just the occasional bout of CounterStrike: Source. I was quite happy with the 157fps I got from running the video stress test though.

Navigation to the webpage was cancelled.

Try opening the property pages for the help file and clicking ‘Unblock’. This fixes this problem for me.