robrohr.org : tools

Uploading images in blog posts...

robrohr — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 20:34:26 GMT

This is a sample PNG of the interface of the Microsoft Live Writer interface, tested for image insertion and uploading through a ghastly hack.

What a pain!

When I first started blogging, I used Blogger at my brother's recommendation, for several reasons:

It was free.
It was somewhat easy (for me).
It was highly customizable.

The remnants of that blog are still visible at http://stampy.uvm.edu/robrohr, the original robrohr.org. I would create my ray HTML templates with custom tags inserted into the bitstream where all of the bloggy goodness was to appear. I had control of styles and layout; Blogger hosted the database of posts and would generate new pages from my templates whenever I added a new post, and those would be pushed back to my web server via FTP, at which point my bloggy goodness was available to nauseate global internet audiences.

Sometime around 2002, the University at which I worked decided (rightly) that unencrypted userid/pwd traffic across the campus boundary wouldn't be allowed, and the era of FTP came to a sudden close. At that point, I decided to look into installing blog hosting software on my server directly, avoiding the transfer of pages and account information outside the Uni. Thus begat .Text which begat Community Server 1.0, which begat Community Server 1.1, which begat Community Server 2.0, which begat Community Server 2.1 (framework 1.1 then 2.0). And the framework loaded and the service account had permissions and it was good.

Since then, I have tried various tools to create blog posts remotely, looking for anything that would make post creation easier than the builtin web editing pages. Many had promise until it came to handling inline images in the blog posts at which point they all gracefully/gracelessly choked.

Up until today, my process for mashing images into posts involved pushing images to the web server using Foldershare, then inserting raw HTML <img /> tags in my post source view. It worked but it's far from WYSIWYG, and not the most natural editing environment.

My current setup which I am testing with limited success is as follows:

Set up FTP server on client machine.
Block all FTP access to all but the loopback address (localhost :: 127.0.0.1)
Link FTP destination folder on client to web visible folder on the web server via Foldershare.

By this method, I can use FTP to publish images to the client machine, images which get synchronized to the appropriate folder on the web server. FTP auth traffic never goes over the wire (loopback - Whee!). Images get pushed to the web server via encrypted synchronization channel (Foldershare). No script kiddies will have any success pounding away at my FTP. Not pretty, but I can finally use a pretty good tool to generate posts with rich image handling.

Squee!

Blogging from Word 2007, Beta 2

robrohr — Sun, 28 May 2006 04:18:00 GMT

They said it couldn’t be done, but I didn’t believe them. I have just blogged this puppy from inside Beta 2 of Word 2007. I installed Beta 2 for OneNote 2007 the day it was first available, and used it for the last three days of my English class. So far, I really like what I am seeing.

This is a test to see that I can post to a Community Server blog as advertised.

Update: Initially I was unable to register the server, as I was using the wrong password, but once I cleared that hurdle, it was easy as pie. Don’t have image posting yet, though. We shall see about that from the community server side.

Get the TechEd session schedule in OneNote

robrohr — Mon, 06 Jun 2005 12:31:00 GMT

Of course, you already know that TechEd attendees are entitled to a free download of OneNote (login and scroll down).

You can also get the schedule of breakouts, etc., loaded into OneNote for happy searching and annotating bliss. You do not need a TabletPC in order to enjoy OneNote. Although it helps.

I hacked together an app to generate OneNote notebooks from various datafeeds. The link below gets the notebook generator with a default project file that draws the RSS of the TechEd schedule.

PONGen - Programmable OneNote Notebook Generator
v. 1.1.1979

Latest version of PONGen (build 1.0.1979.22423)
Requires OneNote SP1 and .Net framework 1.1

Or, if you just want a zip file of the generated notebooks (1.2 Meg) these were generated last Thursday.

More sample project files to come...

Enterprise Library: Patterns and Practices Hands-on Labs

robrohr — Sun, 05 Jun 2005 20:20:00 GMT

A month or two ago, I attended most of the web-casts for the Enterprise Library 1.0: Application Blocks from MSDN. Very interesting. I have a few projects that could benefit from these items. Although MS has made it excedingly easy for us to download and implement these (free) products, I wasn't able to get over the hump and do anything other than download the code for implementation later.

I found out two weeks ago that you can download the Enterprise Library 1.0 Hands on Labs, which includes 8 labs in C# and VB.Net introducing the various application blocks. (30-60 minutes per lab). Somehow, this still didn't get me off my duff and into the application blocks.

Now, at TechEd, I see that Hands on Lab DEV014 is making it even easier on me.

Discover the seven new application blocks featured in Enterprise Library with this hands-on lab in which you learn how these new application blocks will help you to build enterprise class applications more quickly than ever before. Labs are included for data access, exception handling, configuration management, security, crypto and logging.

If I don't do it now when they are practically injecting the knowledge into my brain like filling into a Twinkie(TM), I am beyond hope.

Ooh, look! A twinkie!

Who else is blogging in your neighborhood?

robrohr — Fri, 04 Mar 2005 02:23:00 GMT

An interesting project uses the evaluation version of MapPoint web service to show all bloggers in your neighborhood.

It's called NeighBlogMap. I had to tell the system where my blog was physically (or at least spiritually) located. According to this tool, Vermont is one big blank expanse of barren blogless wasteland. This is not true. I know of Margot at mangot.info, Julie Lerman at thedatafarm.com, Norma of Now Norma Knits 2, etc. I wonder if it will catch on?

Match this up with the service that can figure out where an IP address is found on the globe, and this could rate higher on the cool scale.

Must go to sleep before I turn into a pumpkin.

I am no artist...

robrohr — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 17:37:00 GMT

...but I was able to put together this painting in pretty short order (about a half hour?).

The software is called ArtRage, a free download from ambientdesign.com, a company that writes plugins for photoshop. I did this one on a Tablet PC, using an existing photo as a Tracing Paper, with Choose Colors Automatically turned on. It was amazing to watch the full painting take shape. This is extremely easy to use, and the results are pretty impressive.

Biting the XP SP2 RC1 bullet.

robrohr — Fri, 21 May 2004 17:23:00 GMT

Just spitting out all the acronyms is a chore.

I took the plunge and installed the pre-release version of XP Service Pack 2, Release Candidate 1. Here's hoping I don't regret it.

So far, I like it. It's a lot easier to get the handwritten input right the first time. I had to change my VPN connection to use IPSec over UDP rather than IPSec over TCP in order to get connected to the campus VPN server, but otherwise, the experience has been painless.

More to come on this.

Beta 2 of VisualBlogger available

robrohr — Wed, 19 May 2004 12:18:00 GMT

You can download the Beta 2 of VisualBlogger 2004 at http://www.interscapeusa.com/Products/VisualBlogger/

Now includes support for most major blog engines. (.Text, dasBlog, Radio, Movable Type, TypePad, MetaWeblogAPI and AtomAPI. It is extensable to allow for new providers to be easily added in the future. Now if only I can edit postings created in this beasty, I'll be all set.

VisualBlogger 2004 and code formatting

robrohr — Tue, 18 May 2004 22:13:00 GMT

You can paste code blocks into VisualBlogger using the Code Formatter button, paste code into the dialog, select the language from the list and Bob's your uncle.

Example:

1<%@ Register TagPrefix="uc1" TagName="MyLinks" Src="MyLinks.ascx" %>

2<%@ Control Language="c#" Inherits="Dottext.Web.UI.Controls.Header" %>

3<%@ Register TagPrefix="uc1" TagName="BlogStats" Src="BlogStats.ascx" %>

4<div>

5  <table style="background-image:url(/images/blog/robsGiantHead_bg.jpg);

6    background-repeat:no-repeat;

7    background-position: top right;">

8    <tr>

9	  <td class="HeaderTitles">

10	    <h1 class="HeaderTitle"><asp:hyperlink

11	      id="HeaderTitle"

12	      runat="server"

13	      CssClass="HeaderMainTitle"></asp:hyperlink></h1>

14	    <p id="tagline"><asp:literal id="HeaderSubTitle"

15	      runat="server"></asp:literal></p>

16	  </td>

17	  <td>

18      </td>

19    </tr>

20  </table>

21</div>

22<div>

23  <table id="HeaderBar" class="HeaderBar">

24    <tr>

25      <td class="HeaderBarTab" nowrap>

26        <uc1:MyLinks id="MyLinks1" runat="server"></uc1:MyLinks>

27      </td>

28      <td class="HeaderBarTabWindow">

29        <asp:Image

30          ID="BlueTab"

31          ImageUrl="../Images/TransTabRight.gif"

32          Runat="server"

33          ImageAlign="AbsMiddle"></asp:Image>

34      </td>

35      <td class="HeaderBarTabBack" nowrap width="100%">

36        <uc1:BlogStats id="BlogStats" runat="server"></uc1:BlogStats>

37      </td>

38    </tr>

39  </table>

40</div>

41

Posting from VisualBlogger 2004

robrohr — Tue, 18 May 2004 19:01:00 GMT

I had downloaded the beta of VisualBlogger 2004 from Interscape Technologies, and had some problems hooking it up to post to my .Text blog. I had set the blog up for local access by NetBios name (localhost or machine name). The blog worked fine, but the WinForms App (Visual Blogger) refused to interact with my blog.

Now that the University has processed my firewall waiver, and the blog is accessible from the outside world, I changed the .Text blog to refer to itself by its new DNS name, and suddenly, VisualBlogger works. Hooray!