You may just use 127.0.0.1 in your hosts file to point to yourself.

You don't need to sniff the local IP address via ipconfig in the command shell (and that setting changes out from under you all the time). I can't believe I'm just realizing this now.

Don't let this Ektron error scare you.

You may see a dialog pop up with something like this in it...

Attaching the Script debugger to process '[5708]iexplore.exe' on machine 'WN7X64-8L7YXV1' failed. A debugger is already attached.

...when debugging in IIS when running Ektron. Just click the OK button. You will be able to continue debugging and you will be able to hit your breakpoints. If the app appears to hang it is likely because you are stuck at one of your own breakpoints and do not realize it because you have not clicked the OK button yet.

.disco

Per this a .disco file is a .NET Web Service Discovery file. It's going to have XML inside. In the project I am gazing at it is somehow asscociated with an ASMX web service.

speak no evil?

Through circumstance I have recently relived some painful memories of a fake Agile process I was a part of in which others really wished I'd just shut up when I started to speak to problems in retrospectives. I'm a goofy guy and have a big mouth. I'm trying to grow more restrained in what I broadcast, and in today's standup I found myself hesitant to pipe up with a suggestion, probably because of some other recent memories. Anyways, I overcame my fear, spoke, and others generally thought I had a good idea. I guess the gods favored me today.

My idea: If someone is largely unresponsive (due to being legitimately busy with a juggling act) and you need him/her to respond to an email inquiry, try to set a meeting-by-phone in the future instead of waiting patiently for a reply. The pending meeting will serve as a point in time before which you should have a response, as you'll otherwise be talking about the email sent if there was no feedback.

If you give someone rights/permissions to a folder in the Windows world, the permissions will cascade to the files inside, not implicitly, but through an assignment process.

I was just on a conference call wherein a superior mentioned that the he had permissioned another to a folder over a VPN and was watching a process spin in which each file in the folder was permissioned one at a time with each taking ten to fifteen seconds!

Tricks to get Ektron to Compile

I learned today that Ektron when attempting to build will often get hung up on a particular file and report a nonexistent bug with a web form that is perfectly fine. It will complain about a label binding or some other bit of nonsense. The way to fix this is to build just the page (Build > Build Page) before building the whole of the site (Build > Build Web Site) in Visual Studio. If you attempt to build and then Ektron both...

1. fails to build
2. reports zero errors

...then open the Output pane from either the View menu or the Other Windows submenu within the View menu (wherever you are keeping it) and watch the site attempt to build as you attempt to compile. This should reveal the fail point. Ektron has a very specific order it which it compiles chunks of itself.

Emulate https in local IIS!

1. Type IIS at the start menu in Windows 7 to spawn it.
2. Click on the appropriate site at the upper left and then click "Bindings..." at the upper right.
3. Add a binding.
4. At the "Add Site Binding" dialog box, pick https from the Type dropdown and "IIS Express Development Certificate" from the SSL certificate dropdown.