Un-Fare Prices on Nottingham's Tram

I've been using the tram in Nottingham to get to and from work for about a year. Instead of paying for my fare onboard, I buy a 10 trip pass from any shop with PayPoint facilities. The price has always been £10 so each trip costs £1. If you pay the conductor for a return journey, it will cost £2.40, making it more expensive than my approach. Another reason I choose to buy this type of ticket is because the conductors rarely stamp it meaning I get some journeys for free :D.

As of 28/04/2008, the prices across the range of tickets will go up, making my pass £13 (a whopping 30% increase). My first grumble is that this is a huge jump on what was once a value-for-money scheme. The return ticket will only go up to £2.70; just a fraction more than 2 trips using the pass! My second, and more important, grumble is that I bought one of these passes on 22/04/2008 and was charged the new price of £13. I wasn't aware of the planned increases at the time so I paid the shop assistant. After contacting NET (Nottingham Express Transit) about the issue, it emerged that I'd been charged too much too early. NET spoke to PayPoint on my behalf who kindly gave me a 1 week pass for free.

If you've also paid the new price before the changeover date, submit a complaint on NET's website but remember to keep your pass as they use it to gather information about the transaction.

PropertyData object with name "{PropertyName}" already exists

Change the dynamic property to be unique per language and back again. If the problem persists, try deleting and recreating the dynamic property.

Sky Broadband installer - Hardware/software requirements

If you've got an fairly old PC/laptop and try to install Sky Broadband, you might find that you can't navigate through the wizard process because it won't allow you click the buttons. This is highly annoying because without going through this process, you can't install the software to get connected to the internet. Here is a list of minimum requirements that should resolve the problem and allow you to enjoy your new service.

Software Requirements:

Adobe Flash Player (essential)

Windows Media Player (latest version)

Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0

If you're running Windows, I would also recommend downloading all avalaible updates. Windows XP is a prime example that should be at least running Service Pack 2. Windows Media Player and the .NET framework should be bundled with some of the Windows updates so this is the easiest solution.

Please don't quote me on these software requirements - they are just a collection of things I installed to get my sister's ancient laptop in a state where I could install Sky Broadband.


I'll post the hardware requirements soon but they can easily be found on the box that you receive from Sky.

Maintain control state in ASP.NET

using System;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Web.UI;
 
[Serializable()]
[ToolboxData( "<{0}:MyControl runat=\"server\">" )]
public class MyControl: Control
{
    [Serializable()]
    private struct MyControlProperties
    {
        public int Property1;
        public string Property2;
    }
 
    private MyControlProperties _properties = new MyControlProperties();
 
    [DefaultValue( 0 )]
    public int Property1
    {
        get
        {
            return _properties.Property1;
        }
        set
        {
            _properties.Property1 = value;
        }
    }
 
    [DefaultValue( "" )]
    public string Property2
    {
        get
        {
            return _properties.Property2;
        }
        set
        {
            _properties.Property2 = value;
        }
    }
 
    protected override void OnInit( System.EventArgs e )
    {
        base.OnInit( e );
 
        Page.RegisterRequiresControlState( this );
    }                   
 
    protected override object SaveControlState()
    {
        return _properties;
    }
 
    protected override void LoadControlState( object savedState )
    {
        _properties = (MyControlProperties)savedState;
    }
}

CSS Attributes

Here is a collection of CSS attributes supported by Windows Internet Explorer - probably the best web browser in the world :P.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms531207(VS.85).aspx

Rainbow Six Vegas 2 - Bonus Map

Enter the following code to get a bonus map:

comcast faster

HTTP Status Codes

This post has been copied from Neil Kilbride's blog - cheers mate! I just wanted a copy on my blog for reference purposes.

Information                    # 1xx
    Continue                       # 100
    SwitchProtocl                  # 101
 
Success                        # 2xx
    OK                             # 200
    Created                        # 201
    Accepted                       # 202
    NonAuthoritativeInformation    # 203
    NoContent                      # 204
    ResetContent                   # 205
    PartialContent                 # 206
 
Redirection                    # 3xx
    MultipleChoice                 # 300
    MovedPermanently               # 301
    Found                          # 302
    SeeOther                       # 303
    NotModified                    # 304
    UseProxy                       # 305
    TemporaryRedirect              # 307
 
ClientError                    # 4xx
    BadRequest                     # 400
    Unauthorized                   # 401
    PaymentRequired                # 402
    Forbidden                      # 403
    NotFound                       # 404
    MethodNotAllowed               # 405
    NotAcceptable                  # 406
    ProxyAuthenticationRequired    # 407
    RequestTimeOut                 # 408
    Conflict                       # 409
    Gone                           # 410
    LengthRequired                 # 411
    PreconditionFailed             # 412
    RequestEntityTooLarge          # 413
    RequestURITooLong              # 414
    UnsupportedMediaType           # 415
    RequestedRangeNotSatisfiable   # 416
    ExpectationFailed              # 417
 
ServerError                    # 5xx
    InternalServerError            # 500
    NotImplemented                 # 501
    BadGateway                     # 502
    ServiceUnavailable             # 503
    GatewayTimeOut                 # 504
    VersionNotSupported            # 505

Visit the World Wide Web Consortium to find out more about HTTP status code definitions.

DC Graphix Boa

I recently got a pair of DC Graphix Boa snowboarding boots. They are amazing! I didn't want boots with laces and I wasn't impressed with Burton's alternative. The Boa system makes it so easy to tighten them up in only a few seconds. The main difference on the inner liner is the valve allowing you to inflate the section supporting your heel. I didn't think this would be very useful but I was wrong! You get the feeling like the foot won't move at all, meaning you can concentrate without worrying. They look really good too - mine are white with a gold DC logo on the back...

PC World price promise

A few months ago, I was sent on a mission to get my mum a Sony home theater kit. The model isn't important but the price is. Online, I found it for about £135 on Amazon but the lowest price in the stores was around £200. I didn't want to wait for it to be delivered so I decided to try the PC World Price Promise. In a nutshell, they'll beat any price from another shop or a selection of websites, one of them being Amazon :D.

I printed a web page stating the price on Amazon and took it with me to PC World. They were happy to take an extra 10% off that price but unfortunately, they didn't have any in stock! Luckily, they checked stock levels in the Currys store next door who had plenty available. I was sent over there myself and was guaranteed that Currys would do the same offer. After speaking to one of the managers, I was informed that PC World were lying because they never match Internet prices. At this point, I was extremely pissed off! The level of customer service in Currys was terrible to say the least. OK, they don't and never have matched prices on websites but I had been told this on good authority. You have to remember that PC World and Currys are basically the same company, yet they act like bitter rivals. I felt like I was stuck in the middle of 2 shops trying to get the upper hand.

Anyway, the story doesn't finish there. I wondered back into PC World to set a few things straight. I didn't care about who was right or wrong, I just wanted to get what I came for and go home. I must say for the record, the guys at PC World were very kind and helpful - the exact opposite to the people working in Currys. One person in particular worked really hard to get me what I wanted. He phoned Currys and got them to reserve and prepare the kit for collection. Great! All I had to do was pay and go all the way BACK to Currys! Oh the joys of retail therapy.

The whole episode lasted about an hour when it should of took a few minutes. I guess I'm lucky in some ways for having both stores so close together, otherwise I would've came home empty handed. I can honestly say that I won't be shopping at either places again... NEVER. Hopefully, someone will read this post who works for the company and do something about it so other customers don't have to go through the same agony.

A potentially dangerous Request.Form value was detected from the client

This error is caused because the .NET framework detected HTML in an input control (e.g. TextBox). I've highlighted 3 possible ways to get round the issue, all with their advantages and disadvantages:

1. Add the following to the existing Page directive on the relevant pages.

ValidateRequest="false"

2. Add the following to the Web.config within the <system.web> section (globally disable request validation). This will allow users to enter HTML into controls which could be harmful or result in undesirable consequences.

<pages validateRequest="false" />

3. Unless you need users to be able to enter HTML into a form, make sure all HTML displayed in controls is encoded.

lblText.Text = HttpUtility.HtmlEncode( lblTest.Text );

Windows - Hosts

The hosts file can be used to map IP addresses to host names. Each entry should be on an individual line with the IP address in the first column and the host name in the second (separated by at least one space). Lines can be commented by placing a # at the beginning. The hosts file can be find in C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc. To see the effects of any changes, you'll need to restart or create new instances of the browser(s) or run the following from the command line:

ipconfig /flushdns

Example:

127.0.0.1    test

Subsequent requests for http://test will then point to 127.0.0.1 (local).

Windows - Map local folders

Network locations can be mapped pretty easily but mapping local folders is more complicated. Run the following from the command line:

subst {drive}: {directoryPath}

This example shows how to map C:\Windows to the W drive meaning that I can reference anything in that directory like W:\{directoryPath}\{fileName}.


Example:

subst W: C:\Windows

CSS - Layers

<div style="background-color: Red; height: 100px; width: 100px; z-index: 1"></div>
<div style="background-color: White; height: 100px; left: 50px; position: relative; top: -50px; width: 100px; z-index: 2"></div>

Example:

SQL - Capitalise function

This function will capitalise the first letter of every word in a sentence. The commented line can be used to ignore single letter words.

create function dbo.Capitalise
(
    @Text varchar( 1000 )
)
 
returns varchar( 1000 )
 
as
 
begin 
    declare @ReturnString varchar( 1000 )
    set @ReturnString = ''
 
    declare @Word varchar(30)
 
    declare @Pointer int
    set @Pointer = 0
 
    if right( @Text, 1 ) <> ' '
        set @Text = @Text + ' '
 
    while charindex( ' ', @Text, @Pointer ) > 1
    begin
        set @Word = substring( @Text, @Pointer, charindex( ' ', @Text, @Pointer ) - @Pointer )
 
        --if len( @Word ) > 1
            set @Word = upper( left( @Word, 1 ) ) + lower( right( @Word, len( @Word ) - 1 ) )
 
        set @Pointer = charindex( ' ', @Text, @Pointer ) + 1
        set @ReturnString = @ReturnString + @Word + ' '
    end
 
    set @ReturnString = rtrim( ltrim( @ReturnString ) )
 
    return @ReturnString 
end

Example:

select dbo.Capitalise( 'this is a test' ) as CapitalisedSentence

JavaScript - Popup windows

function Popup( url, height, width )
{
    var windowProperties = "toolbar = 0, scrollbars = 1, location = 0, statusbar = 0, menubar = 0, resizable = 1, width = " + width + ", height = " + height + ", left = 50, top = 50";
 
    return window.open( url, "", windowProperties );
}
 
function PopupScale( url, scale )
{
    // Default sizes.
    var height = 800;
    var width = 800;
    
    if ( window.screen ) 
    {
        height = window.screen.availHeight * scale / 100;
        width = window.screen.availWidth * scale / 100;
    }
 
    Popup( url, height, width );
}

Example:

JavaScript - Hover effect

var _elementID;
var _xOffset = 15;
var _yOffset = 15;
 
function GetMouseX( event )
{
    if ( !event )
    {
        event = window.event;
    }
      
    if ( event.pageX )
    {
        return event.pageX;
    }
    else if ( event.clientX )
    {
        return event.clientX + ( document.documentElement.scrollLeft ?  document.documentElement.scrollLeft : document.body.scrollLeft );
    }
    else
    {
        return 0;
    }
}
 
function GetMouseY( event ) 
{
    if ( !event ) 
    {
        event = window.event;
    }
      
    if ( event.pageY )
    {
        return event.pageY; 
    }
    else if ( event.clientY )
    {
        return event.clientY + ( document.documentElement.scrollTop ? document.documentElement.scrollTop : document.body.scrollTop );
    }
    else
    {
        return 0;
    }
}
 
function Follow( event )
{
    if ( document.getElementById )
    {                  
        var element = document.getElementById( _elementID );
        
        if ( element != null )
        {
            var style = element.style; 
            style.left = ( parseInt( GetMouseX( event ) ) + _xOffset ) + 'px';
            style.top = ( parseInt( GetMouseY( event ) ) + _yOffset ) + 'px'; 
            style.visibility = 'visible';
        }
    }
}
 
function Show( elementID )
{
    if ( document.getElementById )
    {     
        _elementID = elementID;
            
        document.onmousemove = Follow;
    }
}
 
function Hide( elementID )
{
    if ( document.getElementById )
    {     
        _elementID = elementID;
            
        var divStyle = document.getElementById( _elementID ).style;
        divStyle.visibility = 'hidden';
      
        document.onmousemove = '';
    }
}

Example:

Test

<div id="Hover" style="background-color: White; color: Black; padding: 5px; position: absolute; visibility: hidden;">Test</div>
<div onmouseover="javascript:Show( 'Hover' )" onmouseout="javascript:Hide( 'Hover' )" style="background-color: Red; height: 100px; width: 100px;"></div>