FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Names) - a few dev environment tips.

Thanks to Nikhil Kothari for some dev tips this morning - below is a summary

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Lots of our services require a FQDN (i.e. a name with a "." in it) - such as the Windows Live ID Delegated Authentication service; or the Windows Live Messenger Library;

You can setup a "fake" FQDN by doing the following:

• adding an entry to your hosts file \windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts (note: if you are running UAC on Vista you need to open notepad as an administrator)

127.0.0.1    angus.backgroundmotion.com

• adding an exception to Internet Explorer (in IE do : ALT-> T->O -> SHIFT+TAB-> RIGHT ARROW x 4 -> ALT+L -> ALT+C) for your fake FQDN

Now you need to configure Visual Studio (or Visual Web Developer) so when you press F5 to debug (or CTRL+F5 - to run) to take you to the correct path.

Easy!