Ramblings of a Programmer: microsoft

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Blogging with Code Snippets using Windows Live Writer

Microsoft recently released a tool called Windows Live Writer. While many bloggers pretty much need only images and text, technical posts often require inserting samples of source code. Quite frankly, I personally hate reading posts that have source code displayed as images because I want to copy and paste it so that I can try out whatever I’m reading about.

Windows Live Writer allows plug-ins to be installed to enhance your blog. I came across one that enables you to paste source code snippets from Visual Studio into your blog. You can download the “Paste From Visual Studio” plug-in at http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=d8835a5e-28da-4242-82eb-e1a006b083b9&bt=9&pl=8

Here is an example of some source code pasted from Visual Studio using Windows Live Writer and the “Paste From Visual Studio” plug-in.

private void RegisterRoutes(RouteCollection routes)
{
    routes.Add(new Route
    (
        "home",
        new WebFormRouteHandler("~/Default.aspx")
    ));
}

As you can see the syntax color is maintained as well as indentations. The only issue I’ve seen with it as that pasting ASP.NET markup seems to not function but to me this is still a huge time saver. Enjoy!

Microsoft Office: Can't find those old menu commands in the new Office ribbon? Problem solved!

When Microsoft Office 2007 was released, some were furious and many were warming up to the new Ribbon interface. While each camp presents reasons for or against it, it seems that Microsoft hasn't been ready to abandon their innovative design.

While I was installing Microsoft Office 2010 Beta, I ran across an online resource that shows end-users just exactly where those old trustworthy menu commands have been moved to in the Ribbon interface. The best part about it is that it is fully interactive.

This is a must have guide for users who loved the menus but haven't quite got comfortable with the Ribbon interface. Check it out at the following links and click "Start the Guide"...

Note: If you are in the 1% of users that doesn't have Adobe Flash installed, you'll need to borrow someone's computer or install it before you can view them.