Hello, I'm   Jason

Its pretty easy to forget some of the cool SQL functions that are built into SQL server. I’ve been driving myself crazy adding in a custom function that would take a varchar variable and convert it to an empty string if it was null. I totally forget about the lovely IsNull function. What functions have you forgotten about before either because you haven’t used it in awhile or were caught up in doing something and you couldn’t remember or think clearly?

Check out the new ASP.NET Podcast available at aspnetpodcast.com.

Wow! I’ve been trying to search everywhere to figure out a way to deploy Crystal Reports with VS 2005. I knew I could use Click Once to do it and I had a feeling there was a merge module somewhere. However, the Crystal module for VS 2005 is not in the default folder. Of course not. That would be… easy. Instead, I went through about 10-15 click throughs on the Business Objects website before I finally found it in the obvious location. All of the merge modules for any language and version (.NET, Java, VS 2003, VS 2005, etc) can be found at http://support.businessobjects.com/downloads/merge_modules.asp#07. The link provided herein will take you right to the VS 2005 downloads. Special thanks to Julie Lerman for pointing out the website that led me to this.

I just noticed that AJAX 1.0 has been officially released. Be sure to check out the website for more details: http://ajax.asp.net/.

Apparently, a few hackers have found some security flaws in open office and acrobat reader 8.0. If you have these products, you’ll want to check with the appropriate vendor for patch information.

I’m working on a web project that will utilize the Microsoft AJAX Library and asked myself, “What has happened to the web.config file?” I mean, back in ASP.NET 1.0, I was lucky if my web.config file was 20 lines long. Now, I’m finding myself commenting the web.config file to remember why I added, changed, commented, or removed items. How pathetic is that! <g>

I’ve been reading up on recent blog posts by Mitch Denny lately regarding a laptop he had received from Microsoft. Earlier today, I received my daily email from eWeek containing an opinion post regarding the *free* laptops. I followed through all of the links provided and read up on the stories behind the laptops. It seems as though they are tied to a game called the Vanishing Point. Many developers and IT pros have commented about Microsoft’s latest gimmick.

Have you ever received the error message “Can not add the user because a user with that name already exists” when trying to add a user in SharePoint 2003? Well, there’s a fix. Most people overlook the SharePoint users collection because it is nested in a different web than the admin web. So, to see a list of users, visit http://ServerName/_layouts/1033/Siteusrs.aspx where the ServerName is the name of your web. For more information, visit the Microsoft KB and look up 893696.

This past Saturday, Doug Reilly, a great friend and colleague of mine, passed away. My prayers go out to his family and friends in this time of grief especially being so close to the holiday season. He will be missed by all who knew him. His full obituary can be found at http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006612240457.

A new Halo 3 trailer was shown once during last night’s Monday Night Football game. You can see it on the XBox site here.