I got the javascript working now. In between fighting VS2005 which was inserting ="" all over the place, and RSS Bandit not liking me using a < in my for loop because it’s not valid XSTL. Argg so I changed my loop to use a !=.

RSS Bandit got upset even when I went back to normal outlook2003-orange, so not sure what was wrong there. But after restarting a few times, it now magically works.

Here’s the reworked javascript.

<script>
function swapImage(img){
  for (var i=0;i!=document.images.length;i++)
  {
    if( document.images[i].useMap == img.useMap )
    {
      swapImageSub(document.images[i]);
    }
  }
}

function swapImageSub(img){
  var oldSrc = img.src;
  var folderEnd = oldSrc.lastIndexOf('/') + 1;

  if(img.useMap.indexOf('#readstate')==0){
    if(oldSrc.indexOf('unread.gif')== -1){
      img.src = oldSrc.substr(0, folderEnd) + 'unread.gif';
    }else{
      img.src = oldSrc.substr(0, folderEnd) + 'read.gif';
    }
  }else if(img.useMap.indexOf('#flagstate')==0){
    if(oldSrc.indexOf('flag.clear.gif')== -1){
      img.src = oldSrc.substr(0, folderEnd) + 'flag.clear.gif';
    }else{
      img.src = oldSrc.substr(0, folderEnd) + 'flag.red.gif';
    }
  }
}
</script>

I’ve been looking around the RSS Bandit code for support for NewsGator Online, and I wanted to read the API doc’s. So I’m signing up for my own license so I can write a test application to see how it works.

So this post is mainly a URL to give the API Signup page.

But I’ll post how I go….

I have been really enjoying the playing with this reading. The way I read blogs is to mark each entry as read as I go, as I’m often reading one at a time as I’m waiting for thing to run at work. But for longer posts this gets really annoying long post, as I have to scroll up to the top of the post to click the little read icon.

If you click the icon in the headline view, it displays the post you have just finished reading.

So I spent some time today altering one of the templates to have an icon at the top and the bottom of each entry. The only bug bear at the moment is that they are not in-sync, but I can live with this.

Well I was going to post the .fdxsl file, but MSN Spaces says there was too much text.

The important part put this

<br>
<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when  test="current()/fd:state[@read='1']">
<img  alt="Mark read or unread"  border="0"  usemap="{concat('#readstate', string(position()))}"  class="icon"  src="$IMAGEDIR$read.gif"  onclick="swapImage(this)" />
</xsl:when>
<xsl:when  test="current()/fd:state[@read='0']">
<img  alt="Mark read or unread"  border="0"  usemap="{concat('#readstate', string(position()))}"  class="icon"  src="$IMAGEDIR$unread.gif"  onclick="swapImage(this)" />
</xsl:when>
</xsl:choose>
</br>

before the <div class="PostSignature"\> for each of the three display types.

I love having the source code.

Found two bugs. Reported them (1 & 2) and found a good fix for the second, and an ok one for the first.

I changed the font from the default of “Microsoft Sans Serif” to “Tahoma”, ahh it’s so much softer on the eyes.

I love been in control. When the read state syncing with NewsGator Online is sorted I’ll be really happy.

After the loveliness of Google Analytics, MSN Spaces Stats are just plain ugly.

Today I used a new RSS Reader, 50+ “Page Views” because it got all my current posts. Any time somebody subscribes count gets nailed. Yet they are effectively the same person. So RSS and Web view should be separated.

The title of the pages that are view get truncated to “Simeon’s Bits: Simeon Pi…” or “Simeon’s Bits: System.Dr…” so you don’t know what’s really getting viewed.

There are <Strong> codes in the titles that waste space, yet I don’t remember putting them there, and when you view the post code, it’s only the body you see, so you don’t know if the title has strong or bold set. eg RSS: <strong>Sauce</stro...

So there is heaps of room for improvement. It’s better than the original daily totals I was getting out of Goggle AdSense, but Analytics is just lovely. If only I could get access to the headers.

So been the good netizen I am… I posted this as feedback, and at the end got the error message “Sorry, the page you requested is not available.”

This afternoon, I was emptying deleted entries/feeds in Sauce Reader, and my complete subscription list disappeared. I’m sure all I did was empty rubbish bin. Ether way it’s now gone.

Having just read that there is a new RSS Bandit release, I decided it was time to change back. Killer feature: synchronisation with Newsgator Online. I’ve never used this site, but if it’s half as good as I’m expecting it to be, I’ll be a happy man. (ie Reading my feeds on the weekend at home, and having my work reader also be synced.)

So after 70 minutes of trawling every page I’ve every linked too and finding most of the feeds, I’m back in business.

I’ve even found a petty bug in RSSBandit and reported it already. I might even try to fix, just because I can.

Rick Strahl is complaining the HTML is auto validating in VS2005, and Scott Guthrie reply with how to turn it off. Reading these posts I thought it might be like the problem I was having with QuickBasic files been parsed and generating errors as noted here.

So I ran off to find some QuickBasic files and loaded them up while have my current work as my project. 18 Error’s found in the non-project file. I had thought in RC1 that my project would not run because of the errors, but in RTM my project runs happy.

Back to the options Scott shows for HTML, but there is not option in the Basic section to turn the parser off.

I’m not sure what justification there is for parsing a (non-project) file at Build time, just because it’s open in the IDE. Also it is odd to assume a files type by it extension, but that’s water under the bridge I guess.

Well after attending Connect Technical Session, I duly collected my Visual Studio 2005 (and other stuff).

Tonight I installed VS2005 and I have to say it went without a hitch. It told me I had the RTM of Visual Studio 2005 installed, and showed me a URL with instruction to uninstall it. I ran the uninstall program, and it just worked. 50 minutes after that I have VS2005 and MSDN installed.

Thoughts after playing in my Curse of the Azure Bonds project, seems faster. Not actually sure of timing, but pause while it parsed the error list (for all 1500 errors) feels shorter.

Thoughts from my first Microsoft event…

It was cool. I was surprised by the number of attendees. While Craig and I were talking at the end, the key note speaker Jonathan Tom came up and talked to us. We had been talking about the new features, and how it will be hard to get them adopted because most of our work is on going evolution of our core product. Craig was also interested in the push of BI, Jonathan been a Senior Product Manger SQL Server Marketing was happy to talk about these things. It was cool that he chatted with us, so I tried asking a tricky question about the role of BI as leverage to sell/upgrade people verse extending the power to users. Been the marking guy he was he had a solid and respectful answer to both natures of the question.

The best session for me was Darryl’s Smart Client talk. While I’d seen the parts demoed before, it was nice to see him whip it all together. He also had good stage presence, and tried to redeem his name after the Wayne’s slander in the Team System talk. (Note for Darryl: remember to look into my issues with the Connections Site)

Other than the PA system bang, and Jonathan falling off the stage, it all went well.

Not really a me thinking post, but something for me to think about. Joel has posted 75 Books to read for the Frog Creek Software Management Training Program, I’ve only read 6 of the books. So that leaves some room for improvement.

The title I liked the most was

*The Difference Between God and Larry Ellison: God Doesn’t Think He’s Larry Ellison

Just before we left Wanaka the other weekend, we playing the playground/park on the lakes edge, and it has the best collection of equipment. There were 4 pieces designed to spin. I played on the one Mahalia is sitting in, and due to the slope of the axis, it was really easy to get going really fast. I was very sick feeling once I got off. One of the best spinners, I didn’t have a good photo of, but it was a seat (looked like a child sized egg cup), it also had a slopped axis so you it could be pumped (in the swing sense) by rocking the upper body (oh I’m not explaining well, but the kids loved it)

Jacob is on the single person rocker, and he was throwing it around, and Mahalia is surfing on the best see-saw I ever been on. Jacob and I were on it and our weight difference was corrected by the good springs, this allowed us a great see-saw war, without me doing all the work.

They had lots of climbing bits, and I thought it must have been a really well funded play ground, as I’ve seen parts of the same equipment before, but never so much in one place.