.....confused

Its been a long time since I have last blogged.Ask me for the reason,the only one I would have is 'no time'.
But is it the truth?
Not sure..but still I don't have one good reason.So then what I am writing about.Am I trying to discover it through writing....hopefully yes.
One thing is sure but, life for the past few months have been monotonous,which makes me repeat 'no time' again and again for many a things including blogging.
Office has been quite boring,tiring and a bit irritating for the last few months.Hey but IT was your favorite ,which made you choose Computer Science stream.
It still is.
Then what?Is it the environment?the nature of work?is it the people?... thats bugging you.
Won't this be the same anywhere you end up,after your 3 months notice period.Oh yeah I have put my papers,currently into the second month of notice period.So whats the big deal in all this switching if it would be back to square one in an alien place.
Am I saying don't switch your job.love the company.stay there as long as they don't push you out.
No.Never.
Then what.
Am I confusing you..Can't be sorry for that.

Already I am....


....Confused

Not Able to "Start Debugging" in Visual Studio

Quite a few days back,I faced a peculiar problem :).Visual Studio was not having the green play button(the one for Start Debugging) enabled.No way was I able to start debugging.
Google gave many suggestions,none was of help.
I soon found out that,in Startup Projects(From the menu Project -> Properties),the option multiple was selected and all the projects were set to an action None)(Setting this to Start Without debugging also creates this same problem) :)

Yet to find out how this happened automatically but still setting up the startup project,made the green button glow :)

Be sure to check this the next time if the green button doesn't glow :)

The Building block

Since this comes under the 'WF' tag it would not be difficult for anyone to understand what I am talking about.
Yes its 'Activity'.
Activity is nothing but a piece of re-usable component performing a specified task.When I say re-usable it means across multiple workflows and thats where the catch is.Write Once ,Test Once and there you have something which works fine wherever put into.
WF ships with many activities,a list of which you will find here.The real power of WF is not in the out-of-the-box activities it ships with..it lies within you..Custom Activities.

My first question to such a statement would be,WHY?
WF is nothing but organizing activities in a logical manner addressing the requirement at stake.So the more of custom built activities you have the more easier and faster it is to address your needs.It all becomes the drag'n'drop funda microsoft boasts about and the reason why more developer turn towards it.The same reason why a GUI developer would go for a custom control rather than tweaking existing controls in every page he needs a similar look'n'feel.

Activities are of 2 type
1. Basic/Simple Activity
2. Composite Activity

Put everything in the code activity(the best example for a simple activity) and get done with the work assigned would be another approach amongst us.A definite YES keeping in mind the short term task at hand.But a big NO on the long run.
Code Activities ends within the current workflow.Re-usability across workflows is the key factor that is at stake in this approach,which should makes us think twice before using one.CodeActivities,mostly would be fully dependent on the instance properties of the workflow,which makes testing of something performed within the activity require the full workflow to be executed.
On the other hand a Custom Activity has its own properties on which it depends,can be tested individually and above all can be re-used across workflows.

So the next time you drag'n'drop a Code Activity from the toolbox think twice :)

Will catch you on developing a custom activity soon :)
CodeProject

A newbie to WF

With WPF(Windows Presentation Foundation), we saw the complete designer-developer separation,making it one of the best presentation technologies available at present.
Windows Workflow Foundation(WF) brings about the separation of the 'when-and-what',says Bruce Bukovics,author of Pro WF.You get to change the when without touching the what.All the business logic are packed into components,activities rather(in WF terms) and the control flow is between the activities is 'declaratively' controlled.Don't be surprised,its XAML again.

Though being newbie on WF,I got to take a session on WF,at my workplace, which made me dive little more deeper into it(so that I don't bluff my way through the 1 hour session :) ).All I could explore was the overview of the features,which seems promising and interesting.
This book I got hold of seems to clear the way ahead and make it easy.

More on WF soon :)

the Nokia Monster

Of all the mobiles I have used till date this one goes top on my rating.With its elegant design,built quality and power packed features,the N95 8GB was worth every penny spent.8GB was not much of an attraction though, but definitely it being internal memory,boosted the performance.No longer I felt the time lag in apps opening,as in the previous models of Nokia.
Though its been a long time this big monster has been released it demands this piece of space here.
Not going into the specs of the phone,for there are sites which gives them in and out like this one here.
The 5 mega pixel camera is definitely a lookout feature,for you no more need a dedicated camera,if all you want is a snap of the moment.
The two way slide feature with dedicated music keys makes it to be on the race with pmp's out in the store,with the battery lasting pretty enough for an average music lover.
With the wide range of apps available for the symbian os , this definitely was the king of its times.....Nokia N95 8GB

edit:
here goes a list of must have apps in the n95

HP DV4

With all banks stopping on EMI(Equated Monthly Installment),with recession at its high,I was left with no choice for a long time,but to depend on internet cafe's,as my compaq V2624TU got some hardware problems and wouldn't start up.Blogging was on the verge of stopping.....thanks to my brother,Sagar,who turned my new banker for the brand new HP DV4.

Thanks a lot bro :)

Got to start saving though,for always bankers might not be there nor will EMI's(they really helped for my previous purchases).
Hoping to make it a resolution(you always want something's to be broken),for the year 2010.

Happy New Year :)

Do Stars Count????

Quite a few of you might be thinking on what this "Stars" are :).It's nothing other than the " little medals under ones Display Name ".Think I have put you again in thought.Not for too long but,it is the MSDN forum rating that I am talking about.
I started answering posts as a pastime.Soon I noticed this little stars ,varying in count, under different display names.A little bit of exploration gave me this piece of information.
The 'Pastime' turned an 'Addiction'.

"Do they pay you??"
"Are you rewarded??"
"They might give you something!!""

The common statements that I heard, whenever people see me browse the forum.
None of these were the reason for my addiction though.It was just the personal satisfaction I get from answering the questions, a new learning and a different perspective for some of the problems I had already faced.

"It's not money that always counts.....
                  .....Stars too count"