For, well, quite a long time, I’ve noticed that Visual Studio .NET 2003 locks up hard when I try to pin/unpin the toolbox window. I chalked it up to some odd interaction between add-ins I was running.

Stu sent me over this article, though, and it turns out this is a known issue from .NET Framework 1.1 SP1.

According to the article, it’s not the toolbox locking up, it’s the Server Explorer (even if it’s not showing). The solution? Dock the Server Explorer on a different side of the Visual Studio window than the toolbox.

I did it and I can now pin/unpin the toolbox with no issues whatsoever. YMMV.

The new version has been released and contains an optimization that stops the preview of documentation from being processed when the window isn’t visible. (And you all wondered why things were running slow. So was I!)

Go get it!

The concept of the automatic content censor (a la Net Nanny or CYBERsitter) is, for people with kids or conservative attitudes, an intriguing one. It’s like “anti-spam” for the web.

The thing is, they only mostly work, sort of the way spam filters only mostly work. That’s actually a real problem because with spam, you don’t have a choice - it floods into your email inbox without your asking for it; with web sites, you have the choice of visiting a site or not visiting it. Nobody’s forcing you to visit that donkey porn site, you should just know better.

Again, for folks with kids, people like the idea of automated policing. I’d like to think education would be a better solution, but I’m not the parent of your kids.

What’s got me incensed about this today is reading over at Raymond Chen’s site, it seems that there’s an Australian Internet cafe that is probably using this software and it’s blocking access to his site. I’m not sure what reading about programming matters does against the sensitivities of a child, but some automated content censor has deemed it inappropriate. I’m sure I’ve probably been censored too (though I admit I’ve had my moments language-wise, so it’d be more understandable, if annoying).

While I’m not a fan of the whole content censor thing, I’d wager over-censoring is a far greater sin than under-censoring. Oh, well. Do what you gotta do, people.

UPDATE: CR_SortLines has found a new home with the DXCore Community Plugins project. Head over there to get the latest and read more!

Just like I use the “Join Lines” function a lot, I also sort lines a lot in text editing. That’s another feature Visual Studio didn’t have that I wanted - the ability to sort lines.

CR_SortLines adds a command (“Sort Lines”) that you can bind to a keyboard shortcut (Ctrl+F9 is what I use) and will sort lines in the code editor.

Installation is as easy as copying a DLL into a folder and adding the keyboard shortcut. The included readme.txt outlines installation, usage, and workarounds for known issues.

Requires DXCore 1.1.40 or later (DXCore is a FREE download from Developer Express - go get it!). UPDATE: CR_SortLines has found a new home with the DXCore Community Plugins project. Head over there to get the latest and read more!

Version History: 1.0.0.0906: First release.

Day 3 has been the best of the three days, I think. The first lecture of the day I went to was on COM interop and had some really interesting stuff. Unfortunately, again, it didn’t quite end on time and I had to leave before it was over in order to make it to a unit testing lecture.

The unit testing/code coverage lecture rocked. Great information on some unit testing and code coverage tools, suggestions on integrating it into your regular development and build process… very interesting.

I filled out my comment sheet (adding all of the information you’ve already seen here, so it’s not like I’m just blogging and being passive-aggressive) and they gave us a copy of Programming .NET as well as a raffle ticket. The raffle, which happened after lunch, won me a copy of Threat Modeling.

Just before the third lecture, which was on .NET development tools, I sidelined the lecturer (again, John Robbins) and showed him CR_Documentor. I had looked at the lecture slides ahead of time and noticed he was going to talk about NDoc. I figured he might be interested in the preview feature CR_Documentor offers.

He was pretty psyched - enough so that I got a quick “guest lecturer” spot to present CR_Documentor in front of everyone at the lecture. This marks my first ever lecture appearance, and while I was a bit nervous, it felt good to get CR_Documentor out and about. Plus I got a free copy of Writing Secure Code. That rocked.

I sent the link and info over to John who will be putting CR_Documentor up on the Wintellect blog (actual entry here). So if you’re coming in from Wintellect, hello!

After this there’s one more lecture and then the drive home. It’ll be good to be back, but let me tell you, Friday at work is going to be unproductive as hell.