If you're planning on exploring the Atlas Control Toolkit, don't download the July CTP.  In that release, there are problems with the toolkit's designer support for control extenders.  To see one discussion of the problem, check out this thread on the ASP.NET forums.  The fix to this problem was released in change set 2691 on CodePlex.  Simply download any version after that, and you should have no problem.  The fix will, of course, be included in the next CTP as well.

If there was only one reason to download Tab Mix Plus right now, this would be it:

 

Fortunately, there are many more reasons.  Read more here, or for the simplified picture book style list of options, see below:

When adding or removing items from the Visual Studio toolbox, remember that the last process in wins.  Visual Studio saves your toolbox settings to the C:\Documents and Settings\ <username>\ Local Settings\ Application Data\ Microsoft\ VisualStudio \8.0 \toolbox.tbd file when it shuts down, so if you have multiple instances open (on average I have three), make sure you close the instances that have the unmodified toolbox first.  After closing the others, then close the modified instance; if you don't, you run the risk of loosing your changes. 

As a best practice, I have only one instance of VS open, make the changes, and then immediately close to save.

Optimistic concurrency with automatic conflict resolution - the best of both worlds, right?

Unfortunately, this behavior is also the same for Visual Studio settings.  For more on that, check out secretGeek's Concurrency Bug in all editions of Visual Studio.

Over the last several months, I've come to the realization that I am a middle-click junkie, and I am convinced that if you knew the power of the middle click, you would be too.  Just start trying it - specifically in your favorite tabbed browser (Firefox and IE 7 come to mind.)  Middle-click any link to open it in a new tab.  Now middle-click most any document tab title in a variety of applications (Notepad++, tabbed browsers, RSS Bandit, Visual Studio 2005, etc).  Yep, a middle-click on the tab title closes it.  Cool, right? 



One more set of handy keystrokes: I'm sure you know about Alt + Tab, but do you know about Ctrl + Tab?  Ctrl + Tab is a way to switch tabs - in ALL tabbed interfaces (including dialogs, etc.)  You guessed it - Ctrl + Shift + Tab goes the other way.  Give 'er a try!

Over the weekend, I gave my first talk on Atlas at the Memphis Code Camp 2006.  Here is the general outline for the talk I gave:

• Atlas javascript objects
• XML/Atlas Script
  • Bindings
  • Events
  • Behaviors
• Creating an Atlas behavior
• Creating an Atlas extender

And here is the source code: MemphisCodeCamp2006.zip (653.9 KB)

If you were at the talk, I welcome any feedback you have.  Remember to visit CodeCampEvals.com to register to win the grand prize!

Jerry has already informed us that there has been a lot of positive feedback for the entire day.  If you missed the camp this year, don't miss it next year - great content, great people, and a lot of fun.  In the mean time, we do the same thing on a smaller scale every month at the Memphis .NET User Group.  If you're in the area on the third Tuesday of the month, come by at 6 PM and enjoy the pizza and content.  Click here for the map.

For pictures of the camp, see Wally's site.