I should have known that: 3/26/2009

You know what this is going to be about.  Things I should have known about earlier than TODAY!

1. JavaScript: setTimeout(function, milliseconds);  After a specified number of milliseconds the passed in function gets executed.

Why I should have known this: useful for un-obtrusive UI design.  Display a message, but instead of making the user close the message, just let it fade away after being read.  Man I wish I would have known about that one.

2. JQuery BlockUI Plugin: turns out I knew about this one, but that isn’t the same as knowing it.  A buddy of mine stopped by yesterday and we were comparing notes.  He talked about how BlockUI was a lifesaver for him.  I checked it out and he was very correct.  Simpler in design than the JQuery Dialog, but fills a couple of niches that the JQuery Dialog does not do for me (BlockUI is better for “Please wait” popups, JQuery Dialog is better for update forms).

Main benefit: I was quickly able to replace a good number of ‘alert’ and ‘confirm’ calls in my JavaScript.  Also, in conjunction with the setTimeout call mentioned on point one, I can now quickly create Instant Messenger style popups in one line of code.

3. Stored Procedures and NHibernate: can be done…but if the store proc is just a miscellaneous method to get executed, update nothing, and return nothing…it isn’t quite built for that.  It works.  Just not as straight forward as I would like.

4. When a mobile .net application runs, it runs in the root directory.  This is important if you are trying to hook up to a file system database.

5. You get .net 3.5 on the mobile platform.  Which means you get LINQ and Lambda, and LINQ to XML, but not Expressions. Now how is that supposed to work?

6. That you could get 619 people and 78 sessions for a code camp in Boise, Idaho (Boise Code Camp).   Last year more people attended than signed up.  This could be epic.