I was sending out some emails this morning, and while using spell check I noticed something strange: my "Add to Dictionary" button was grayed out!?!

First thought: this cannot be! I love that button!

Next thought: check what's going on with my custom dictionary. So I checked out the options panel under the office button (in Outlook 2007.)

Under "Proofing", there is a "Custom Dictionaries…" button:

Next step: check my custom dictionary path… uh, where is my custom dictionary – and its path?

Next step: use the "Add…" button to add the custom dictionary back to the list. Fortunately, it defaulted to the appropriate path:
C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Microsoft\UProof\CUSTOM.DIC

Problem: after adding the dictionary to the list and closing the "Custom Dictionaries" dialog, I checked the list by reopening the dialog – nada… it disappeared! Outlook wouldn't let me add the custom dictionary back to the list.

Solution: restart outlook. After the restart, everything works perfectly.

Weird.

High-Quality Training and Networking – Cheap!

This October in Nashville, TN, you can get the benefit of a $2,000 conference for only $50! If you think I'm exaggerating, check out the quality of the speakers listed on the devLink website. John Kellar has done a great job of putting on this conference for the second year. I was fortunate to be able to attend last year, and I expect to attend again this year. If you have a blog (or would like to start one) and plan to attend, but sure to blog about it to enter into the contest… but if you don't, I won't mind a bit – it gives me a better chance of winning the Xbox 360 for myself!

Hope to see you there!

If you're in the mood to learn some .NET this year, Jon Box just posted a list of upcoming .NET events – some local to this area and über cheap (read: free)! High quality and low cost is a good thing.

Give Back to the Community!

As indicated on Jon's list, we at the Memphis .NET User Group are planning to have a Day of .NET this November. We are still in the process of working out all the details, but we're beginning to round up speakers. If you might be willing to share some of your .NET-related experience, please consider speaking at this event. Keep in mind: your session does not have to take the form of a PowerPoint lecture. In many cases, it will be better if it's not – be creative:

• Ask a co-worker or two to co-present with you
• Use a "chalk talk" style of session (very conversational and usually involving a white board… "White board talk" just doesn't sound as good!)
• Facilitate a discussion around a specific problem or technology – "birds of a feather" style

If you're thinking "What would I talk about? I don't have anything to say!", give me a holler; I'll help you think through it. Your topic could be as simple as thinking up a list of obstacles you've stumbled over in the last few months, and presenting your workarounds to each problem. Taking a different approach, you could get a list of "pain points" from the audience around a specific technology (e.g. ASP.NET & Ajax), and facilitate a discussion of workarounds. If you are interested at all, I would be happy to brainstorm with you both the topic and format of your session.

Even if presenting/facilitating is not your "thing", please consider attending the event. We're hoping to have a great turnout from the Memphis area and surrounding regions!

It occurred to me that I heard little (read:none) about ASP.NET 3.5 at TechEd, so I thought I would search the web to see what's coming down the pipeline.  My search engine brought back the answer: nothing.  You'll find some about Silverlight, some about ASP.NET futures, even a unreleased book on ASP.NET 3.5, but no real information (that I found) on ASP.NET 3.5. 

My thought: "Ah, a challenge!  Since I have VS 2008 Beta 1 installed, I'll just compare System.Web v2.0 to v3.5 using Reflector."  Should have worked, right?  Well, it may well have... had I found System.Web.dll v3.5.  I did successfully find a LOT of 3.5 assemblies, but the only one under System.Web.* was System.Web.Services...

My question to the blogosphere: has anyone seen any information on ASP.NET 3.5?

Being a web-oriented developer, I have decided to start looking into WPF in order to prep for future Silverlight development.  I plan to blog through my learning process.  If you're interested, stay tuned to this channel for WPF through a newbie's perspective.  Also, if there's specific aspects of WPF you'd like to see me look into, fee free to leave comments to that affect.  Seeing as how there seems to be a drastic shortage of VB.NET WPF code on the net, I plan to do at least some of my exploration in VB.NET.  This should also be interesting with VBx coming out "soon." 

I'll start by opening a new VB WPF Application in Orcas Beta 1:

Here's the result:
 

VS creates two XAML and code-behind files.  To see how the application behavior is configured, take a look at the project settings:
 

Observations:

• "Startup object" has become "Startup URI."  This can also be set in the "Application" node in Application.xaml:

• "Shutdown mode" has three settings - similarly to WinForms 2.0.  These settings can also be set in the "Application" node in Application.xaml:

• Many settings in the page are stored in Application.xaml.  Clicking "Edit XAML" (in VB) opens this file for manual editing.
  

A simple F5 runs our high-tech program:

More text time...