User Interface design patterns and resources.

Smashing Magazine have a great column named  UI Developer’s Toolbox, where they collect and publish a lot of nice resources for web developers.

As a .NET developer I’am used to code design patterns, so I find it very satisfying that UI devlopers also organize their best practies as design patterns.

A design pattern refers to a reusable and applicable solution to general real-world problems. For example, a solution for navigating around a website is site navigation (a list of links that point to different sections of the site), a solution for displaying content in a compact space are module tabs.

Smashing Magazine has collected what they think is the best of the best, cream of the crop sites, galleries, online publications, and libraries devoted to sharing information and exploring concepts pertaining to User Interface design patterns.

Smashing Magazine: 40+ Helpful Resources On User Interface Design Patterns

Is this the best you can do Opera? - a Web server on the Web browser.

Today Opera Software announce their Opera Unite: a Web server on the Web browser. Thay claim that this tecknology will make you able to easily share you data, like photos, music and other files.  You can even run chat rooms and host a web server in you browser.

The first services announced on the Unite plattform is:

• File sharing
• Fridge – a place to share notes with you friends
• Media Player
• Photo Sharing
• The Lounge
• Web Server

When Opera claimed to re-invent the web, I really expected innovation. This is just boring. 

I have not created an account yet, and will probably never do.

I am disappointed!

But check it out yourself : http://unite.opera.com/

System.Data.OracleClient requires Oracle client software version 8.1.7 or greater

This blogpost was originally published on my old blog at dotnetjunkies in 2005.

Problem
When usign System.Data.OracleClient with Oracle9i client, i got the following message while connecting to the Oracle database from and ASP.NET application.

System.Data.OracleClient requires Oracle client software version 8.1.7 or greater.

Cause
Security permissions were not properly set when the Oracle 9i Release 2 client was installed on Windows with NTFS. The result of this is that content of the ORACLE_HOME directory is not visible to Authenticated Users on the machine; this again causes an error while the System.Data.OracleClient is communicating with the Oracle Connectivity software from an ASP.NET using Authenticated User privileges.

Solution
To fix the problem you have to give the Authenticated Users group privilege to the Oracle Home directory.

• Log on to Windwos as a user with Administrator privileges.
• Start Window Explorer and navigate to the ORACLE_HOME folder.
• Choose properties on the ORACLE_HOME folder.
• Click the “Security” tab of the “Properties” window.
• Click on “Authenticated Users” item in the “Name” list.
• Uncheck the “Read and Execute” box in the “Permissions” list under the “Allow” column.
• Re-check the “Read and Execute” box under the “Allow” column
• Click the “Advanced” button and in the “Permission Entries” verify that “Authenticated Users” are listed with permission = “Read & Execute”, and Apply To = “This folder, subfolders and files”. If not, edit that line and make sure that “Apply To” drop-down box is set to “This folder, subfolders and files”. This should already be set properly but it is important that you verify it.
• Click the “Ok” button until you close out all of the security properties windows. The cursor may present the hour glass for a few seconds as it applies the permissions you just changed to all subfolders and files.
• Reboot, to assure that the changes have taken effect.

Try your application again.

Silverlight challenges Adobe AIR

PCWorld published an intrested article on Silverlight 3 catching up to the capabilities of Adobe Flasj, Flex and AIR.

PCWorld.com : Microsoft Silverlight Challenges Adobe AIR

Opera Software claims to re-invent the Web

Opera Software invites press and choosen developers to a exclusive webcast on Tuesday, 16 June 2009. The Norwegian company promise to reveal their most significant innovations to date.

«...a glimpse of the future of Web computing and one of Opera's most significant innovations to date.»

Opera posted this messege on Twitter:
“This will be big: http://www.opera.com/freedom/ #reinvent”

What can this innovation be? Will Opera try to pick up the competition with Microsoft and Adobe, and release their own “Silverlight/Flash” techonlogy? Or is this someting else?

What can we learn from Flash designers?

Smashing Magazine posted 3 days ago an article about 50 Beautiful Flash Websities. As an Silverlight enthusiast I ask myself the question: When would there be a list like this for Silverlight websites?

Check it out! 50 Beautiful Flash Websites

Silverlight Spy 3

Silverlight Spy is a very usefull and handy tools when developing, debugging and customizing Silverligth appearance. Koen Zwikstra and First Floor Software is announcing a a new version of their Silverligth Spy tool. This is what thay writes about Silverlight Spy 3 on their blog.

Silverlight Spy 3

In this new version Silverlight Spy gets a major (and with that I mean MAJOR) overhaul. What you can expect:

• A completely redesigned UI for easier access to all aspects of a Silverlight application. The current Windows Forms application is dropped. Various new UI features are simply too hard to implement in the current Windows Forms model.
• Immediate window for debugging, evaluating expressions, execute statements, and so forth.
• Improvements in all areas; enhanced event monitor, an updated XAML writer, property grid supporting both core and custom UI properties, custom attached property support, etc.
• UI Automation pattern invocation
• Support for spying applications running in and out of the browser. No need to fire up the Silverlight Spy standalone application.
• Databinding debugging
• Control Style inspectors
• Extensive use of new Silverlight 3 features
• Standalone setup package with auto-update.
• A new licensing model. Silverlight Spy 3 will be available in a free and a professional version. The professional version provides more features over the free version and comes with a licensing fee. More details on the licensing model will be supplied once the beta is available.

Next to this list there are a number of very exciting features that will be revealed in the near future.

Schedule: the first milestone will be delivered early Q3 2009.

First Floor blogpost: Silverlight Spy 3