Holy moly, you're right! That's crazy, but it worked. Unfortunately you can only set up to 13 guidelines that way, and I need a few dozen, but this is definitely the right idea. Thanks!

True, if everything in the original file were justified the same way, but it's not. I'm going to lose a lot if I can't just see each character where it's supposed to be - even seeing the spaces in between is valuable, but with Excel that's just lost. Thanks anyway!

Hi all, Does anyone know of a text editor that I could use to look through a fixed-length file? The file I'm working with has about 400 characters with a few dozen columns. I was hoping for something like a Notepad++ plug-in that would draw column lines where I specify. I can dump the thing into Excel, but Excel gets too fancy and does things like right-justify something that shouldn't be. I've searched and come up with nothing but certainly can't be the first person to wrestle with a really wide file... Thanks!!

Yes - Scratch is great. Free download, good samples, easy tutorial. My 8-yr old daughter followed the instructions in the pdf almost entirely herself and was creating basic programs soon. I think it's very easy for them to create fun animations, and learn some basic concepts - if/then, loops, etc. However they can also create more complicated interactive programs (people have built versions of pac-man, Tetris, etc). Once my daughter started trying to mimic one of the more complicated samples, she was over her head pretty quickly and needed an adult to mentor her through the concepts (events, listeners, etc). But Scratch provided a wonderful environment for her to be exposed to and learn those concepts. Hooray for the brains at MIT!

Hi everyone, I have some web services set up in IIS on Windows 2003 server. I am able to get to the test page by putting the servername in the URL but not if I use localhost. I have had the same problem with websites. Why would localhost not work? The ip address is listed correctly in the hosts file. The servers are always virtual machines (Virtual Server R2 or HyperV). Is there something different I have to do because it's a virtual machine? Thanks for any ideas!

The machine I want to back up is actually a host for many virtuals. I was hoping if I could do an occasional live backup of the host, it would essentially be a backup of all virtuals and all their specific configurations. (kind of watching the watchman?... :-O )

Can anyone recommend a way to back up a development server? It's not production - so, not life-threatening if something happened to it, but still setting the thing up with all the apps on it represents a lot of hours of work I would not like to have to recreate. Is there a way to take snapshots of the whole thing periodically so that I could stand up the exact system (os, apps, data) if needed? I've read about software like Acronis True Image and Symantec Backup Exec... more expensive than I'd like, but maybe worth it if it really does the trick. Is there something else that would work reasonably well (again, this is development stuff, not critical)? Thanks for any & all opinions!

Thanks for both suggestions - these both work fine for inline javascript, but still does not refresh the external .js file.

If your code is contained in a project, or even just a folder, you can just branch that. Merging works pretty well for that.

Is there a special trick to clearing a javascript cache in IE7? I have tried deleting all files through IE, deleting the temporary asp.net files, rebooting the machine - it still runs the old code. If I call the page from another machine running IE6, it runs the new code. Googling shows up some pretty weird stuff that has not helped... TIA!!!

Sorry, I didn't catch that you are using 2008; I'm not - but it may be that you can add the Layout menu: tools>customize... Still, I don't think this will help you, because that affects only one control at a time. Under the html designer, if you set it to relative, it doesn't let you drag the controls around and drop them where you want?

Hi, I have been working with a project for some time now and suddenly I am unable to build. I added a hidden control to the MyPage.aspx, and was able to build just fine. Then I added codebehind to look at it and my problem came up. From MyPage.aspx.vb, intellisense recognizes the control and lets me set and access hidControl.Value, no problem. However, when I build, it fails; I get no errors listed in the Error List, but can see them in the build output: error BC30456: 'hidControl' is not a member of 'MyPage' Any ideas what's going on or how to fix this? TIA!

Maybe it is a question of the default for absolute vs. relative positioning. In design view, you can change this for a control under Layout>Position. You can also change the default under Tools>Options>HTML Designer> (Make sure Show All Settings is checked)

Does tools>options>Environment>international Settings give you the option to choose English vs. Same as Windows?

Do you mean, you want to know why the custom assembly you want to use is not listed under the .Net tab of the Add Reference dialog? Try the browse tab instead, and navigate to it. Or do you mean, you developed a component and want it to be listed under that .Net tab? You need to register the assembly.

Hi all, My problem seems simple: when I pop in a cd with active content, I get a message box warning me about active content in IE. A million posts tell how to fix this problem: ie>tools>internet options>advanced tab>Allow active content from CDs to run on my computer. However, I have this option checked, and it still doesn't work. I even restored all my defaults (in case I'd done something funky) and then checked this option, and still no luck. Anyone have an idea of something else that can cause this? Thanks!! Meg

There are other products such as mapdotnet but it sounds like your problem is not with the application, but with the data. Do you have the data you need for your area? Meg

I branched a project in TFS. The project has multiple solutions in it. The branch worked as expected except that in some of the solutions, TFS automatically created new files. :confused: For example, in one solution folder, the branch has a new folder called \src which contains an entire copy of that solution. In another solution folder, there was a project folder, \myproject, and the branch a \myproject folder and ALSO has a new folder called \myproject-branch' which contains a copy of everything. Anyone seen this happen before and have any idea why? Last thing I want is extra copies of my project files floating around in TFS and confusing me... Thanks! Meg

There is an option for disassembling when it doesn't have the source code, can that be what's happening? Tools > options > Debugging > General > show disassembly... Meg

I have never had trouble with speed of saving like that - we used VSS6 quite a lot. Anyway while you are working you can try this: -Check out the files -Working disconnected: File > Source Control > Change Source Control, then click Disconnected. This is what would happen if you were not on your network, so I assume it would not try to save your intermediate changes back to the SourceSafe database. -Do you work -When you are ready to check it back in, first go again to File > Source Control > Change Source, and check the boxes under Connected. Then check in your code. As always with SourceSafe just be careful about what you are doing. Good luck... Meg