Mark Schmidt's Abode

Just whipped this up real quick since I needed for something and thought I’d share. If you’re using a Microsoft based XSLT processor and have a need to generate random numbers for some purpose, here’s a quick xsl snippet to help you out. <? xml version...

Note: It doesn't have to look, smell, feel, taste like Spiderman to be a great superhero movie. If you watch it, don't expect the traditional. I give it 5 out of 4 stars!

So I'm back to doing some XSLT work now. I did quite a bit during my work at HP and absolutely love it (don't ask me why). Since I've spent so much time working with it, I've learned a few tips and tricks not covered in a lot of books. So, is there any...

Skydrive yesterday... Skydrive today... Find out more about the new Skydrive release (note, no beta tag anymore) here .

Has this ever happened to you? You find some code on the Net so you copy and paste it into a source file within Visual Studio and notice that all the formatting is somehow messed up. For example. some lines might be indented while others are not. To have...

Awhile ago I created the screensaver Vista Sidebar gadget and promised I would put some code up. As promised, here it is. It's actually quite easy to create something like this, and truth be told I actually had the code lying around for a few years since...

For those that follow my crazy forays into stuff that I think is just plain cool, I have begun yet another project. No crazy hacking in the sidebar. No more new webcam stuff (yet). No screen scraping with Outlook calendar appointment setting. I'm off...

Most people have seen it at least once in their life. In my family, the picture below is referenced every year. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. -Mark Schmidt Oh and a extra special shout out to all the Schmidt's at Microsoft including the 3 other...

I also run a personal blog which I use to post about things that I don't think fall under the realm of "work" although there is still a fair amount of code there too since coding is not only a job, but a hobby as well. More often than not, I'll post a...

My son's high school (and eventually other 3 kids' high school) is playing in the AAA state football championship game at the Tacoma Dome tonight. I wish them the best of luck. Unfortunately, I can't make it due to other commitments. When I moved up to...

Some people have asked if they could take a look at the source for the WebCam Vista Sidebar gadget. After a little bit of cleaning up, I'm posting it now for you to take a look at. Here are some things worth mentioning: 1. Uses the DirectShow.NET library...

Ok, I've added the ability to fine tune the screen scraping. Sometimes the page I'm scraping changes just a bit which messes up the scraping that I'm doing. I've added a numeric up/down control which tells the app which table index on the page to scrape...

Today, Microsoft announced the new Windows Live Messenger IM Control and Presence API. This is just way cool. I'm going to try it out on my blog to see how it goes. If you look on the left side, you can see my status under the News heading. Just click...

The nhl.com web page changed and since my app is a screen scraper, it broke. Here's the current working version. The installer should remove your old version and install the new version.

*EDIT* Looks like the nhl.com scheduling page has changed thus breaking my importer. I'm working on a new version but no idea when it will be done. I've taken the link down. Ok, I redid the whole application (since I lost the source code) and added...

I decided to revamp my NHL Schedule Outlook Importer application. By revamp, I mean start over (since I lost the code anyway). No more messing around with excel and XML. Going to do some good ol' fashioned screen scraping. It should be ready to go by...

So I attended the launch party at Best Buy in Bellevue. I decided to bring my 15 year old son along and he had a blast (I did too). Got plenty of free swag to take home so I was able to spread it around my 3 other kids (I kept the hat and new Halo novel...

Someone asked "Why would I want a WebCam Sidebar Gadget to display my webcam in realtime"? Good question. Answer: So you are prepared when the maiger strikes again! It's Friday. What can I say.

Here's the first of what I hope is a few more tutorials. This is pretty much introductory and explains some of the reasons why I decided to research creating a better user experience for Vista Sidebar gadget that use .NET. I show the issue that prompted...

I wanted some more proof that my .NET Sidebar Gadget Creator works so I started a new .NET based UserControl from scratch. Guess what, it does work. After I wrote the code for the WebCamControl in .NET, I fired up the .NET Sidebar Gadget Creator, went...

Ok, I finally worked out most of the bugs (I hope). I'll post the link and follow up with some tutorials and Sidebar Gadget development using .NET. Here's the file...using the new SkyDrive Beta to host the file!!!

I had quite the breakthrough today. First off, I totally rewrote major portions of the .NET Sidebar Gadget Creator. It is now a wizard (photos below) that leads you through the steps to create a Vista Sidebar that uses .NET. Here are some of the changes...

Are you hosting the .NET runtime and trying to create another AppDomain? Notice that you need to call CreateDomainSetup and cast the IUnknown to IAppDomainSetup to set properties? Notice also that IAppDomainSetup isn't defined in mscoree.h? Add the following...

OK, ran into some problems with UAC on Vista and hopefully I have it solved. I've uploaded a new version of the application. I've gotten a couple email from people that tested the last version so I want to say thanks for testing it out. Again, let me...

So you want to create a Vista Sidebar gadget and you want to use .NET to do so. While it is certainly possible, it does have a few hurtles to jump. 2 of the major hurdles include assembly registration and gadget uninstallation. Let me explain: First...