2008-08-27

Compatibility Tag for Internet Explorer 8

Microsoft emailed me today to warn me that Internet Explorer (IE) 8 will now be in "Standards Mode" by default instead of the "Compatibility" (sometimes referred to as "Quirks") mode the older versions have run in.

This means that web developers that may have sites out there with invalid markup may run into some issues for people viewing their sites using IE 8.

This is a GOOD thing Microsoft is doing, as it will make their browser play more like the others that are in "Standards" mode by default.

The email Microsoft sent me is to inform developers that they're not left in the dark. Microsoft has offered a way to make the sites tell IE to go back into "Compatibility" mode so it will look the same as it would in IE 7 or earlier.

NOTE: This is not an excuse not to fix your markup!!! You still need to fix your sites to be compliant with standards... this will just buy you some time until you do.

Go to Microsoft's article to find out how to use this compatibility tag should you need to.

Make sure to download Internet Explorer 8 beta and see if your sites may need this tag... your site will render differently in IE7 and IE8 if you do; if they look the same, you're a good developer! :)

2008-08-23

All Your Undelete Are Belong To Us


Click to Enlarge

My friend Clint was trying to do some merging between branches in Microsoft's Team Foundation Server (TFS) the other day, when he came across the error shown in the picture above:

"TF14087: Cannot undelete '[TFS FileName Here]' because not all of the deletion is being undeleted."

Ummmm, ok...?! :)

2008-08-14

JavaScript Won't Run on Internet Explorer as a Local File When Copied From Another Computer

My friend Walt was trying to write a little HTML page with JavaScript to automate a task at work for himself and some colleagues.

He developed it on his own computer; saved it and ran it in Internet Explorer (the only browser allowed to be on their computers at work.) On his computer, the page appeared in "My Computer" (counted in the "Internet" zone if you double-click to bring up the security settings.) Internet Explorer prompted him to allow the ActiveX content.

He then put the file on a network share and allowed his colleagues to download it to their own local machines.

When they downloaded and opened the file in Internet Explorer on their local computers, it appeared as "Restricted Sites" zone. This confused both of us, so I asked him to send me the file.

He transferred it to me via Windows Live Messenger and I saved it to my desktop. I got the same result when I opened it in Internet Explorer.

For an experiment, I edited the file... copied all of its contents into a new file I created from scratch on my machine. When I loaded the new file in Internet Explorer, it appeared as "My Computer" in the "Internet" zone as it had when Walt originally created it.

Thus we can deduce that IE must look at the file's properties and determine if a file was created on the machine asking to run it and if not, locks it down as a "Restricted Sites" file. It treats the ones created on the machine in question as "Internet."

While annoying, this is a nice security feature... and now you know how to get around it...
1. Make sure you analyze the code before you copy to a new file - if you don't and you introduce malicious code on your own machine... shame on you and Microsoft did all they could to protect you. Shame on you... :)
2. Copy the code into a new file that you save to your own machine.
3. Open in Internet Explorer

Of course, I don't know that Firefox has the same restriction, because it doesn't allow direct calls via JavaScript to ActiveX objects so it may run just fine without the extra steps... If so, and you have Firefox on your computer; well, you know what to do.

2008-08-08

Visual Studio Hotfix for Slow Context Menu in Solution Explorer for Solutions with 100+ Projects in Them

Microsoft released a Hotfix for those that have to work with solutions with over 100 projects in them (I feel your pain.)

Their disclaimer warns that it hasn't gone through their full testing process, so you're on your own with it... but we've had good luck with it so far using a solution that has over 150.

Enjoy.

PowerCommands for Visual Studio 2008

For those of you that have to work in Solutions that have tons of projects in them in Visual Studio 2008; you've probably become quickly annoyed by the fact that when you open the solution, all of the projects are expanded.

I got tired of it and searched around the net for something that would help... I found PowerCommands for Visual Studio 2008 by klevy. You can right-click anywhere in the Solution Explorer and select "Collapse Projects" from that level.

It has other really cool features too like:
  • Clear all panes (like Error List, Output, etc.)
  • Copy Path (puts the path of the file in Solution Explorer in your clipboard)
  • Copy and Paste References
  • Edit Project File (to hand-edit the XML)
  • And much more!

I highly recommend it.