Many of you often look for a free DotNetNuke skin to download and use for a specific purpose. It may be an uninportant site, a test site, etc.

I came across a requirement where I needed to create a DataTable of times for a project. This table didn't need to take up any space on the database since it would never change. The times would need to be listed in 30 minute increments for each hour of the day. This would then get binded mostly by dropdown lists.

From time to time we need to do something that the .Net framework doesn't immediately expose to us (without some finagling). In this instance, I wanted to override the attributes that the labels generated by the CheckBoxList webcontrol. However, I only wanted to modify this one instance of it.

Here is an error that kind of irritates me only because Microsoft should have thought this one through. However, we find ourselves thinking or saying that more often then we'd like, huh?

In helping a colleague learn how to create and upload DotNetNuke skins, I ran into an error that I was not used to. It was at first a bit frustrating until I stepped back and looked at it without rushing.

I must say that I am thoroughly excited about the recent upgrades to DotNetNuke to bring us to version 4.05.00. There are a great many updates that address functionality and usability. Great job, Core Team!

I have been using DotNetNuke since I first built my own portal just prior to the release of DNN 1.0. Although I didn't really jump on board until v3.x. Since then, we have all had ideas about how to make DotNetNuke better, but this time the Core Team has struck GOLD!

Well, as you can see, the new blog is alive and well. I have just a few comments to make about it...

Now, I am sure that this post will generate some comments (sent or not) about GIMP. I have not used GIMP because at home I have a full version of Photoshop CS. However, at work right now I do not have any image editing abilities other than what the standard "Paint" application and Microsoft Office offer. Nearly everyone knows that those options are horrible. I tried installing GIMP some weeks ago, but the install conflicted with a GAIM/Jabber (now called Pidgin - that story is yet another reason to HATE AOL) installation I have and I really do not want to mess with that.

I have another one for you! This one will validate a date within the current century. This should be sufficient enough for most current applications.

I am just an amateur when it comes to regular expression, but I plan on getting a whole lot better at it. There is too much potential there to not want to use it more often. I just came up with a regular expression pattern to validate time format. It has some small checks incorporated for valid times, but it is not 100% inclusive.

I began playing with the Microsoft AJAX 1.0 features today with an actual project instead of simple test scenarios similar to the AJAX videos offered on the ASP.Net web site. I am using AJAX controls to make an asynchronous call to my server which in turns calls an external web service and repopulates a textarea control. The first click of the button that submits the call works perfectly. The call goes out, and in just 'sec my SOAP response is shown in the textarea without a hitch. However, this is where a big brick gets thrown through the window!

A couple of weeks ago, my girlfriend somehow happened upon the web site for a movie called "Peaceful Warrior". Knowing that I am a movie buff and perhaps thinking that she might like the movie too, she sent me a link to it. After watching the trailer for it, I was immediately hooked into wanting to see the movie. The trailer made me believe that this was a movie that was right down my alley.

I know this isn't new, but I just recently paid some attention to the LinkedIn social networking site. I found it to be a very interesting and creative spin on using the social networking power found on the Internet to connect co-workers and former co-workers. Not only that, it contains features to help each other advance themselves professionally. I have only been a member for about a week, but my first impression of this web site is very positive.

I found a good blog post on Net Neutrality today. However, the video it incorporates is even better. This video is a MUST SEE for anyone who likes the Internet even a little bit!

I was at the CTIA Wireless Convention this week in Orlando. There are very prominent business people who were giving keynote speeches each morning. Today, we instead had the Former President George H. W. Bush and Former President Bill Clinton.

The 2nd annual Orlando .Net CodeCamp event completed yesterday as an overall success. I thought it was once again very ell put together and managed. Thank you to the members of ONETUG and especially Shawn Weisfeld, Jessica Sterner, and Ken Tucker. You are all very valuable to the local .Net developer community. Also, a huge thank you goes to Seminole Community College for letting us use their facilities for this important event. We couldn't have had this without you.

You can easily tell from a simple search on Google (or your favorite search engine) that the term "FrontPage killer" gets used a lot in reference to many different web site creation programs. This terms has been used by supporters of products like Macromedia (whooops! Adobe) Dreamweaver, Adobe GoLive, and so on.

There is a handy-dandy little calendar control that DotNetNuke (DNN) uses to insert a date value into a textbox control. However, it is not obvious in its usage. If you look at the source of any of the core modules or admin modules that use the control, you will see the following code in the HTML.

I am curious about something... When you go to travel web sites like Expedia, Kayak and Travelocity, what are you looking for?

This is the second time they are putting on this FREE event. Last year was great!!! There were freebies for everyone (tech books, shirts, and more), including lunch. It appears that lunch is probably paid for again, but they make no mention of the other freebies this time. Last year it was held at UCF, but they moved it to SCC this year. If you are at all interested in .Net, this is a great event for learning, sharing, and networking.

I have been using AJAX for some time now, though I do not code AJAX as you might think. I have been using the AJAX tools provided from Telerik to do so. Their tools have been straight-forward and easy to use much like any other web control. However, right now I am evaluating whether I should continue to use these tools with my most current project or move on to using Microsoft's AJAX tools. I have been looking through the "How To" videos at the following URL and I must say that this is a very interesting take on providing AJAX tools to developers. However, I believe that there is still too much for the developer to do upfront to always use these tools for your .Net AJAX needs.

I found a couple more of the more popular portal web sites (CMS), and I found using Google Trends that DotNetNuke is still at the bottom of the "trends" shown on Google. Hmmm... I then took DotNetNuke out of the trend and here are the results.

I found out about Google Trends some time ago and I briefly played with its features, but I had forgotten about it until today when I read about it again in my current issue of Maximum PC. In reading it, I finally thought of a good reason for me to use it.

We have all noticed in our places of employment times when we look at the actions of a manager, director, or officer within the organization and thought something like "what are they thinking?" At worse times, this supervisor may be your own. Experiencing this from your own supervisor firsthand will indeed have a lasting effect on your life. If you have ever had any leadership training, this impact would likely be multiplied several times over.

I just came across a topic that I know I MUST let you know about. I have blogged about parenting one time before. I am going to do so again. However, I should do it much more often. Watch any news program or playground and you will be slapped in the face with how obvious it is that the word parent is no longer applicable to most of today's "guardians".

I recently needed to retrieve Tab information from a URL for the Google Search Provider I am writing for DotNetNuke. (You can translate "tab" information into "page" information if you are not familiar with the term.)

I cannot seem to get the class I wrote for the Google Search Provider for DotNetNuke to get created in the reflection process. Argh!!! It keeps telling me that there is a missing method, but I have created all of the methods that the inherited SearchDataStoreProvider class required me to. I also bounced what I did against the core search provider and everything seems to be in order, but I cannot get past the *censored for your benefit* error that you will see on the linked post. :(

Okay... I vented and now I feel better! :)

Not that any of you out there care as much as I do, but my daughter will be coming back to visit this week. I am really excited! I expect development to slow down tremendously while she is here. Also, there are new pictures in the online photo gallery. I have finally caught up on posting those. Enjoy!

I have begun writing what I hope is to become a Google Appliance Search Provider for DotNetNuke. I have looked (Googled) for such a provider for several weeks now so that I might save some development time, but no such luck yet. The good thing is that I will be able to make this provider do what I want it to from the beginning. :)