The Journal of an Xbox InfoPath Nut

Monday, January 30, 2006

Debugging InfoPath forms in VS2005

So I was putting some knowledge base articles up on the InfoPath portal at work today and I found a very strange little quirk in VSTO when attempting to debug an InfoPath form.
I had my pride and joy all ready to run, hit F5 and received an error informing me that I could not start a dll project directly and that I would need to add an executable project to my solution if I was going to get any debugging done (words to that affect anyway).




So I started to trawl Google but to no avail eventually I discovered that if I select the solution rather than the csharp project then press F5 the form loads up successfully.







Now I know this sounds simple and your all sitting there thinking well duh!
but hey if I ran into it guaranteed someone else will
Well back to knowledge base updates for me

Friday, January 27, 2006

XB360 Launch Delay update

Well I called EB this morning and asked them what was going on and to be honest they didn't seem to know too much other than that they recieved a memo from MS telling them the bad news. There are assumptions that this could be due to the addition of water cooling to the Australian models could be slowing production down. Either way there are going to be a lot of unhappy gamers out there (me included) who's anger will only be quenched with XBox360 freebies, or at least a formal announcement as to what the hell is going on.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

XBOX 360 release date Pushed back

So as you probably already know I have my XB360 pre ordered and pretty much paid off, I have also gone to the trouble of getting the day off work so I can enjoy the release. So imagine my terror today I received a rather distressing message on my phone from my local EB Games notifying me that the release date had been pushed out from the 2nd of march to the 23rd. I've been trying to track down any confirmation of this from Microsoft but, alas so far all I could find was the following article. Which also states that Microsoft has made no comment, and also puts in the hope that this is only a rumor. My gut feeling is that if the franchises have been told to call their customers then it's high probability that it's legit.

If it is true then I have to say that this is pretty poor dealings on Microsofts part especially considering that Xbox has around 35 to 40% of Australia's gaming market. Don't get me wrong I'm Microsoft branded through and through but if they announce a release date then they need to stick to it and not play with peoples emotions.

If anyone finds out anything confirming or denying this please post comments, if not then I live in hope that this is nothing more than a sick twisted joke of a heartless gossip.

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

XBOX 360 Update

So last year I heard that the launch date for XB360 was the 2nd of march and of course I had to go and pre order one, so off I trot to get my Xbox 360 VIP pack justfying all along by saying "well I'm going to need an extra controller and a game anyway" so I get home with my VIP pack and sign up to the extra content, 1 month latter and that decision has paid off. As part of the VIP pack you also get entered into weekly prize draws, and I'm happy to say I'm the proud owner of an Xbox 360 limited edition cap. Not much I know but hey it's a start this week a cap next the lotto (we can only hope).
I haven't actualy recieved the cap yet but I'll be sure to post one and many pics when I do.

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Transformers Movie on the way ?

So I was reading through my game blogs recently and I saw that Activision has acquired the rights to the Transformers live action movie. Now I know that all the 80's kids out there are simply drooling at the sound of this (I know I am) . How cool will it be to see a live action Optimus Prime kicking the crap through Megatron. Of course you may all say this could be a load of bollocks but I still live in hope especially with both the trusty IMDB confirming it and photos of some advertising material. The only thing that would make this movie even better would be Dinobots. All we have to do now is wait

Thursday, January 12, 2006

MVP Update! 2 and the freebies start rolling in

Hey Everyone, so I told you all that I'm now an MVP for InfoPath (not sure if I told you this but there are only 4 other InfoPath MVP's in the world) anyway I digress, so I new there were some perks to getting this award, invites to special conferences and what not but earlier this week my MVP welcome pack arrived and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised.
Not only did I receive a very nicely leather bound certificate but also a laptop bag, folio, pen and badge. Now I know that to some people this all sounds a little boring but hey I'm a computer nerd so I like this type of stuff.
Anyway I started having a look through my new Laptop bag checking out where I can stash my spare cash and what not and I find this little card informing me that my bag contains a tracking device.
Don't worry I checked into it it's not so Microsoft can keep tabs on me, it's so if my bag gets lost can call the manufacturer and they'll track it down for me, how cool is that.
Now all I have to do is loose it in some obscure place to test their tracking system ;o)

Anyway it's time for me to head off I need to be up early for live meeting from Redmond until latter dudetts and dudearoonies

Friday, January 06, 2006

MVP Update!

Well People it has been a while since my last post and I have to say thank you for all your well wishes regarding my MVP nomination. I am now please to tell you all that I am officially a Microsoft Valued Partner (MVP) for InfoPath. I'm more stoked than I ever could be to be honest I never expected to get it but hey what can I say other than to thank God and (and SDM Strategic Data Management for pushing me into the InfoPath space).
I'm not back at work until the 9th of Jan so I can guarantee you that there won't be another post before then but I'll be sure to keep you updated of all the cool things that happen as part of this.

Ben Walters
MVP
signing off :o)