This trick has been mentioned on blogs before but it is such a useful and little documented feature I though it was worth a note. If you place a file name App_Offline.htm in the root of your asp.net 2 application then all requests will result in this page being displayed. Perfect for doing maintenence and keeping your users informed, just remember that the page will be delivered from the requested page location (e.g. it could come from a subfolder not the root) so make sure any references to resources, like images or stylesheets use absolute or root relative paths. HTH Ian Comments are disabled for...

The new Web Deployment Projects holds the promise of making deployment of web apps a doddle, and includes neat functionality to replace sections of web.config with versions for your live deployment. See ScottGu's post here for details It still has lots of benefits, however in the current release it seems the web.config replacements don't seem to work with sections other than connectionStrings, at least that was my experience. However since the project is based on MSBuild you can easily customise the experience.  Right click the deployment project and select "Open Project File" to get to the MSBuild config.  Then make the changes you...

Just noticed the Windows Live Local (http://local.live.com/) now has street level mapping for the UK - something which wasn't present in the initial releases. It also has a very rich UI and support for things like adding pushpins with a right click, a scratchpad, and mouse wheel support for zooming.  In fact the UI is some way ahead of that offered by Google maps (maps.google.co.uk) IMHO. If you want to use map services like these on your commercial site though, the choice between Google Maps and Local Live comes down to business models.  Where-as Google Maps will eventually place ads on your maps, (see...

I have been trying to give other search engines a fair share of my queries. This isn't benevolence, just a desire to expand my search horizons! So I have at last installed the Windows Desktop Search which also gives you a MSN search from the task bar, and I have been using that. But it's sort of hard. The UI is nice and it all works well, but the search engine is just not as relevant.  For example I am used to Googling for resources that I know exist - it has become a sort of resource management tool for me.  So when I...

I have been impressed with the improvements to the DataSet Designer and the new TableAdapters in VS2005.  So much so that I have used them on a smaller recent project to create the DAL rather than my current favourite O/R mapper LLBLGen (If you haven't tried them yet, see ScottGu's great introduction). One of the features of course is the fact that it creates a typed dataset simply by dragging a table from server explorer onto the design surface.  You can then modify properties and configure the generated Table Adapter or add additional queries.  You can also preview the results of command.  All...

Don't call it that - you'll get negative comments from anyone who hasn't tried it. Instead adopt a phrase I heard on a recent webcast:"Play the Test-Driven Development Pairing Game" (https://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?culture=en-US&EventID=1032287655), and that is: "Real Time Code Review" Now doesn't that sound easier to swallow and adopt? Give it a go... Cheers Ian