Kit Kai's Tech Blog

http://radio.weblogs.com/0144613/2005/05/28.html#a59

A more organised one is found here.

Some links to prepare for my next project if it goes through...

Different ways of getting usage data for processing

Using IIS Log, but you will only get how many times sharepoint is hit. Need to try out the automation part though, as I can't get a clear picture what he is trying to say.

Using FrontPage to analyse. However, I don't like to use frontpage, and the log contains only last 30 days (I think)

Another post with usage analysis links.

A little background.

SharePoint's document library allows you to specify your own template file to open when you click on new documents. However, you can only specify a template document in the current document library, which means you can't centrally manage your templates.

There was one part of the code that I need to impersonate an account with Administrator rights. That was coded in a class called Impersonator.

When you impersonate, you need to reopen the SPWeb for the credential to take effect. I accomplishes this by using the code below.

SPWeb spWeb = new SPSite(SPControl.GetContextSite(System.Web.HttpContext.Current).ID).OpenWeb(SPControl.GetContextWeb(System.Web.HttpContext.Current).ID);

Then I am supposed to be able to get the document library using the current url, or at least I thought so. Tested it, it works fine on my test environment, which is restored from a backup taken from production.

Happily, I went to client's place at 5pm, expecting to just uninstall and reinstall the updated assemblies. However, the code I use to retrieve the list from the url failed! Exception is thrown, saying can't find the document library! Scratch head, pull hair till 8pm. I just made a gamble, use the current SPWeb object, which does not have the administrator credentials. It worked, *sweat sweat*.

I had a SingNet family online account, which I'm using two of the three emails provided. I haven't use it for internet connection, since I have starhub cable as well. Then I did a calculation (rather late, but better than never) on how much I was spending on it. I've been on starhub for at least three years. SingNet plan is $9.90 per month, which is almost $120 per year. Wow, I didn't know I was wasting so much money!

I called SingNet to see if I can have a cheaper plan with just email account. Well, they said nope, they can't... Fine, so I made arrangement with mvps.org (one of the mvp benefits). Please update your address book to kitkaiml@mvps.org if you have my kitkaiml@mvps.org. This is for mailing list and other not important stuff. Those out there who have my personal one, please update it by changing the domain to mvps.org

P.S. SingNet just called me, asking me why I wanted to terminate. I told them the reason, and they told me that they actually have a cheaper plan! Oh well, I said its too late, already made arrangements...

As you should have known, there is a new feature in VB.net 2005 called "My".

iDesign came up with That for c#, which is essentially a "My" wrapper class.

Download it out here.

There are other downloads listed here.

This is a super cool website.

I've join Commerce Online for 3 months and 4 days, as of today.

Before I join Commerce Online, I joined an Indian company (No offence please, I know some indians who are very nice people) whose core business is a body shop. I join because the CTO was Swedish, and he is very good. He shielded the department from an aweful lot of office politics. But when I was confirmed, he was sacked. I guess office politics prevailed. Hell broke loose, and my heart became harden. I mean, lots of things happen to me before that, and all these just accumulated. Well, you can also say I failed the test God put me through...

I resigned on the 1st of Feburary by faith. I haven't found a job yet. In fact, I just started looking during that time. But I resigned nevertheless, because if I am able to find a job by 1st of March, I will be able to take leave and go for church camp. Most probation period lasted for 3 months right? Why did I have the faith to believe God that He will provide? Read Matthew 6:32-34, and I'll share with you some experiences I went through that build my faith next time.Well, as you probably have guess, I started work with Commerce Online on 1st of March.

Well, unplan events actually put me at a disadvantage to take leave for camp. First is the asian MVP summit in April, and the SDA.net conference in May. For both events, my boss gave me time off to attend, and I fell ill after the summit, and didn't fully recover since then. To make things worse, during the last two or three weeks of camp registration, my workload suddenly increases. I was planning to finish off these jobs before approaching my boss. But sigh, I wasn't able to clear them. I was still looking for opportunities to approach my boss, but I'm losing hope as the closing date for registration draws near. In fact, I told God I might have to miss the camp...

Church camps was really a wonderful time with God, even though you might not be working closely with God. Sylvia Evans has been speaking in the past two church camps, and she really taught us the deep things of God. This year, she is speaking again, but not alone. This year's camp will have four speakers! I really wanted to go, but my hope... God is always faithful :)

On Wednesday or Thursday, after a meeting at my client's place, my boss gave me a treat at crystal jade for lunch. During the lunch, my boss suddenly asked, "Do you go for holidays?" I just beamed, too happy to remember what I said, something like "Nope, but I go for church camps". He went on to talk about his mom joining church camps too, even though she is not a christian (or member of that church, can't remember clearly). Of course, I took the opportunity to apply leave! Told you God is faithful :)

I know in my heart that nothing happens to me by accident. Everything that happens to me has a purpose, whether I realise now, or later in the future. God is always in control. The only reason I know, that God didn't allow me to close the door to go church camp is that He has something planned for me. Exactly what, I'm not sure. I hope my heart is soft enough to receive it.

God is faithful, even when you are not.

Just did my first msf vision scope document for the new event management system (Centauri) for SgDotNet.

Firedancer joked with me, saying *a small kid wanna do docs like that*!

Well, if I don't start somewhere, when will I learn huh... I can make mistakes at SgDotNet, since its more forgiving then say, my clients...

Anyway, she said characteristics of the Vision Statement is SMART. So I'm just putting down the meaning here... S=Specific, M=Measurable, A=Achievable, R=Relevant, Time=Timeline.

Come to think of it... Softwaremaker did taught me one of the acronyms, also from Solution Developer reading materials... Can't remember liao...

Anyone still young enough for toys here?

Held at China Square Central on June 12, from 11am to 6pm.

My mom has been suffering for more than 7 months since last year October. She has been working very hard because of the current financial situation, going to work as a cleaner at 7am, and comes home at about 9pm. Her work finally take its toll on her, first with the hands hurting, and some times unable to clench her fist because of the pain. I think a month later, her legs starts to hurt.

She went to see a doctor, and the doctor says her spinal cords is pressing against her nerves. He recommended operation. Of course, we didn't want her to go for the operation. Its just too dangerous.

Her walk with God is much more consistent than mine. She prays to Him for healing. I have to confess that I didn't pray much, because I wasn't doing very well myself during this period.

As the weeks goes by, she began to hunch her back more and more... I got a bit more worried... To her delight, and mine of course, the pain is gone since yesterday! I just heard it from her today, and she showed me how fast she can walk!

God is real. Very real in many ways...

Check this technet flash. Who is he talking about in these two sentences?

1. For younger MVP's, the big draw is early access to software and the opportunity to really "geek-out" on it (Howard’s phrase).

2. And some MVP's are quite surprisingly young: Singapore currently sports a 24 year old who has already made the grade; the Philippines can boast a 19 year old.

BTW, congratulations Howard! For making to the final round in Eye for a Guy 2!

Learnt a painful lesson here.

Sharepoint backups created from stsadm is version dependent. My client passed me a backup for me to restore in my development environment. There isn't a way for me to determine what version is that, which I presume was wss sp1 (Sharepoint Services SP1). To my surprise and horror, I couldn't restore it to my development environment. Wasted a day uninstall sql server (My client is using msde, and there were posting that says even sql version makes a difference... :( ), uninstall Sharepoint and reinstall, but no progress at all. Ask my client to verify the version number at the add/remove programs control panel, and the version is the same as mine.

Saw a post that say one of the security patches don't update the version number, so I went to update my sharepoint using windows update. True enough, I am able to restore the site, and true enough, the version number is not updated on the add/remove programs control panel.

I did a check of the version number (which is different from the add/remove programs control panel, and I don't know why), that was updated.

Next time, don't trust the add/remove control panel version number!!!