Reddybrek.com

New posts on the way!

Filed under Blog , General

Wow, it's been ages since my last post here. I've been super busy with some new exciting work over at Dragnet Systems lately which is coming to an end shortly giving me more time to post some new articles.

Over the coming weeks I'll post some articles explaining how to get the most from MVC3 for real world scenarios. A lot of my work at the moment focuses on MVC3 with Entity Framework Code First, Twitter's BootStrap and jQuery to build amazing web apps for businesses.

I've also been taking the time to learn how to setup my MVC projects to use dependency injection so that my code is much neater and tidier. It took ages to get my head around it initially but it's starting to pay off now which is great.

So there you have it. I'm still here and there will be more new posts very soon :)

How to fix WebResource.axd JavaScript errors appearing when using asp.net routing

Filed under C# , General

I had an issue with one of our asp.net 4.0 websites recently. The site was using web forms, routing and had .net validation controls in use. Everything worked great until I used the validation controls and discovered that I was getting 2 JavaScript errors on every page that used these controls.

I spent ages looking for a solution because I was looking for the wrong thing! I thought that the issue was to do with the .net runtime but it's actually to do with the routing side of things. What you need to do is tell .net to ignore the .axd files so that the JavaScript being referenced in the HTML will actually return a valid page.

Thankfully the fix couldn't be easier. In your global.asax file make sure you include an ignore rule for any axd files that your project might create. For example:

void Application_Start(object sender, EventArgs e) 
    {
        // Code that runs on application startup
        RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes);
    }

    public static void RegisterRoutes(RouteCollection routes)
    {
        routes.Ignore("{resource}.axd/{*pathInfo}");
        // your page routes here
    }

NETGEAR WNDR3700 dropping wifi issues using Eircom broadband modem

Filed under General

[Feb 14, 2011] No soon had I posted about having wonderful hassle free internet then the blasted thing gave me all sorts of trouble again! This time I have a solution but you're not going to like it :) I bought a second hand netgear adsl2+ modem to use instead of the Eircom router. I noticed on the eircom router that it was dropping access to the attached Netgear router. I reckon I had a dodgy unit as using this new netgear router is amazing. No dropped wifi. No issues loading pages. Just smooth fast broadband! For those wondering about setting up a different router on Eircom you will need to use the User: eircom and Password: broadband1 to access the service. Most modern routers will auto detect all the other techno bits. Phew, it's been a long journey but it's definitely worth it.

[Jan 29, 2011] Ok, finally got this working! I now have DoS protection and SIP ALG back on but QoS still off. My MTU size is set to 1453 and, most importantly, I turned the firewall off on my ISP router as this was giving me hassle when in use with this Netgear router. Everything is now working great. Hopefully this post will help others who end up having problems with this router and their wifi dropping!

[Jan 25, 2001] Looks like I'm still having problems with the router dropping my wifi. I have turned off QoS options and DoS protection along with disabling SIP ALG. Hopefully this will do the trick as I'm running out of options to turn off! The router might be fast but it's useless if it keeps dropping the signal with zero feedback as to why :(

I recently purchased a new dual band Netgear wndr3700 for my house as I wanted something with a bit more oompf than the standard telecom company router (a company called Eircom). The main reason I picked up this new router was that I didn't want slower, older, wireless b/g devices slowing down my wireless n devices which I was using more and more for streaming to my tv.

For the first few weeks everything was ok but as I started to use this router more I noticed that web pages would randomly fail to load for me. It quickly became a huge irritation as browsing the web became a huge chore!

After reading up on the Netgear forums I noticed that a lot of other people were having this issue also. Thankfully the suggestions there helped fix my problem.

So, what did I do? It was all down to the MTU (Maximum Transmit Unit) setting on my Netgear router. By default the router had set this value to 1500 but anything above 1492 would cause massive drop outs with my modem. Setting the value to 1492 has worked a charm for me and if you have a similar issue I would recommend you try this quick trick to get things working smoothly again.

I did come across a pretty good tool called TCP Optimizer that would allow you test your maximum MTU setting for your modem. You can download the file from http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php.

HTML5 and CSS3 round up for February on Stuff4Designers.com

Filed under General , web technologies

Just a quick note to say that I have a new post up on stuff4designers.com featuring a round up of some great HTML5 and CSS3 examples for February 2011. If you want to checkout what other people are getting up to with this new tech go check it out.

If you're working on your own cool HTML5 or CSS3 demo please let me know and I'll include you in next months post.

Stuff4Designers.com is now live and ready to inspire you

Filed under General , websites

I've been really busy over the last few months planning some really cool new projects that I'd like to launch during the year. As a side effect my own blog hasn't been updated as much as I'd have liked. Fear not though as I have some new posts that I'm currently working on that should be online shortly (fingers crossed!).

One new side project I have just launched is Stuff4Designers.com, a website dedicated to bringing you the best web resources and inspiration for web designers from around the interwebs. Rebecca FitzGerald-Smith is co-owner with me on this site.

Go check it out and if you have any design ideas or showcases be sure to let us know!

JouJouJewels.com handmade and designer pearl jewellery site launches

Filed under General , Online Stores , websites

Well it's been a long time coming but JouJouJewels.com has finally launched! For the past two years my über talented girlfriend, Rebecca FitzGerald Smith, has been busy sourcing and making handmade pearl jewellery. Last Christmas she was selling to friends and families but this year she wanted to go all out and setup an online store.

Rebecca works with me in Dragnet Systems and even though we make online stores for a living it was interesting to see how much work and effort goes into making a store when it's for yourself. To say that you can be your own worst critic would be an understatement! Rebecca has poured her heart and soul into this project and I think the end results are outstanding.

Everything from the website design to the store technology was handled by Rebecca. Attention to detail was given to everything on the site, from the logo down to the little basket icons. I know I'm going to be biased when I say that it is a fantastic website but I'm really proud of all her hard work and just wanted to wish her all the best with this new venture.

With Christmas just around the corner perhaps you could find the perfect gift over on the store for someone you know. Even though shipping on the site is for UK and Ireland initially, JouJouJewels.com will ship worldwide upon request.

Hertz4Ryanair.com get's a new update offering even more choice for customers

Filed under C# , General , work

I've been extremely busy the past few months working on a new version of Hertz4Ryanair.com that will be rolling out to all European countries very soon. This new version of the website includes many new additions including:

• New Hertz Advantage branded area
• Dual Hertz/Advantage pricing screen
• Updated languages for Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Dutch and Swedish
• Improved admin area with charting controls, export to excel options, full control over when to display dual pricing, etc.

I'm also very excited about this project because it is the first project that I've worked on which sits on multiple servers for both the web servers and database servers. The raw power of the server setup is huge and I am very curious to see how it handles all of the traffic from launching in 26 countries.

The work never stops though and once this project is finished and live there are some new exciting changes coming to our online store software that will be launching in the early part of next year for customers so stay tuned!

CoolBlue - A brand new BlogEngine Theme

Filed under Blog , BlogEngine.NET , General

I really like BlogEngine.net but I've found it frustrating to get some really nice modern themes for it. There are a good few examples out there and I've blogged before on where to go to get some good themes but unfortunately the vast majority of themes look dated by today's standards.

Instead to just complaining about it, I've decided to convert some nice modern free html themes that are out there over to the BlogEngine platform. I found a really nice site called StyleShout.com that's run by Erwin Aligam. He has some really nice html themes that he has given away for free so I got in touch with him recently to find out if I could convert these themes over to blogengine.net. Thankfully, he was more than happy to let me go off and destroy, er, I mean convert his themes! ;)

The first theme that I have converted is called CoolBlue. I really like the clean and simple look of this theme. To set this theme up on your own BlogEngine couldn't be easier.

• Download the file at the end of this post and unzip it to your blogengine Themes folder.
• Before you upload the theme you will want to change some links on the site.master page (footer section) within the template folder. I have left the Contact Info section in the footer so you can put in your own Facebook or Twitter links. If you would rather display another Widget simply remove the <div class="col"> tag and its contents. Now that you've configured the theme with your own links, upload it to your themes folder online.
• Log into your website and go to Settings in the admin section. Change the Theme to CoolBlue and click on Save Settings. The Preview option won't work as the stylesheet is within a CSS folder and not on the root level. The theme will work on the 'Live' website so don't worry if you view with Preview and it's missing some images. [Update: This issue has now been resolved.]
• While still logged in, go to the homepage of your website. You should see the new theme looking all shiny on your site. We're nearly there now with the tweaks.
• There are 2 Widget areas for you to add your BlogEngine widgets. The side widget and the footer widget. Simply select the widgets you want to use to get them to appear in the relevant area. Please note that I have not styled up every widget so some css tweaking may be required for some of the more unusual widgets that you might want to display. For the footer widgets, you should really only show 2 widgets if you plan on keeping the Contact Info column. If you display anymore widgets it won't look pretty - you have been warned!

So that's it. Not too much tweaking - mainly just putting in your own twitter and facebook links.

This is the first theme I have converted. I will do my best to make one a month as long as I have some nice html templates to work with. We will see how long that plan lasts for! Till then, enjoy and let me know what you think.

[08 Nov 2010 Update] I have now updated the css styles for the comments area. This fixes the padding issue with smilies and patches up replies indenting.

[24 Nov 2010 Update] I have updated the css and files to be BlogEngine 2.0 compatible. There are some differences between BlogEngine 2.0 and 1.6 so make sure you download the correct file for your blog engine.

BlogEngine 2.0+ use this file: CoolBlue_BlogEngine_2.0_24Nov2010.zip (94.72 kb)

BlogEngine 1.6 use this file: CoolBlue_BlogEngine_1.6_24Nov2010.zip (94.62 kb)

Created a new logo for the UrbanSpaceInitiative.com website

Filed under General , websites

A good friend of mine recently setup a new website, urbanspaceinitiative.com, that discusses the connection that exists between urban public space and the life of urbanites through the lens of  geographical imagination, urban design, art  and urban  culture. My friend was looking for a simple logo to help jazz up his site a little. I created the image above using Adobe Fireworks and, thankfully, he was pretty chuffed with how it turned out and it's now live on his website :)

I'd encourage anyone interested in public space imagery to head on over to his site. He has some beautiful imagery on the site and his articles go into great depth on the subject of public spaces.

How to transfer a domain away from GoDaddy.com

Filed under Blog , General , websites

I've used GoDaddy.com for a number of years but recently noticed that their pricing was not as good as some of the competition. I also had my domains "protected" by DomainsByProxy.com which meant that I was locked into paying an extra $8.99 per domain for the privilege of having my whois details hidden.

Recently I decided that enough was enough and that I wanted to move my domains. A simple enough job you might think. Well, just like everything with GoDaddy.com things weren't quiet as easy as they should have been.

The first issue I had was to do with the DomainsByProxy.com. I could not remember my login details at all. I didn't have the username or the password to login. So, how do you turn off domainbyproxy.com when you don't know the account information? The following steps will guide you through this process:

NOTE: You must ensure that you have access to the email account used to register your domain. GoDaddy.com and DomainsByProxy.com will both send notifications, logins, domain transfer codes, etc all to this account so make sure you have access to the email before you start!

• Head over to DomainsByProxy.com and click on "My Account" on the top nav bar.
• Next, click on "Forgot Your Password".
• First you'll want to get your customer number so click on "Retrieve customer number" and enter your domain name along with the little code underneath. An email will be sent to your email account registered for this domain. This can take up to 10mins to arrive so don't worry if you don't get it straight away.
• Now that you have your customer number you can retrieve the password for the account. Go back to DomainsByProxy.com and click on "My Account" again. Click on "Reset Password". Enter in the customer number that you were just sent along with the email address used to register with DomainsByProxy.com. Wait a few minutes and you should receive an email with a link to reset your DomainsByProxy.com password. Click on the link (it only lasts for 2hrs so make sure you do it by then) and change you password to something you will remember.
• Now that you have your username and password, you can log into your DomainsByProxy.com account and turn it off for your domain. Once this is turned off you can continue with your domain transfer.

Turning off the DomainsByProxy.com is vital if you are to transfer your domain as without it your new registrar will not be able to verify your account details and your transfer will fail. Next up you need to unlock your domain for transfer and request the authorization code for transfer.

• Go to GoDaddy.com and click on "My Account" to log into your account.
• Click on Domain Manager from the left hand side menu.
• Next, click on the domain you wish to transfer.
• There should be an option called "Locked". Click on the "Manage" link and a popup will appear with a checkbox checked. Untick this box and click on the OK button to unlock your domain. You should see a success message. This process can take a few mins for GoDaddy.com to process so go make a cup of tea before continuing as the system won't let you do anything else while it's waiting to unlock your domain. You will know once your domain is unlocked as the little padlock symbol on the domain listing will be shaded on your domain. GoDaddy.com will also email you to let you know.
• Once your domain is unlocked, go back to the Domain Manager and click on your domain for transfer. Now go to the "Authorization Code" and click on the "Send By Email" option. This will email you the transfer code required for moving your domain to another registrar.

You are nearly there! Your final step is to actually move the domain to your new registrar. The next few steps are dependent on the registrar you are moving to but typically you would enter in your domain and either click on Renew My Domain or Transfer My Domain from their site. You will be asked for your authorization/transfer code which you can enter and then continue on to pay for your domain. Domain transfers should be free and you should only have to pay for the extra year you purchase for your domain.

Hopefully some of you will find this guide useful.