Radderz’ Randomness

I’ve noticed that in some of my developments using Ajax.Net the ModalPopupExtender flashes up breifly while some of the elements within the page finish loading. I have noticed this for browsers IE and Firefox, but not Chrome.

There is a very simple solution, you just have to remember to do it everytime you want to use a ModalPopup. Add the style=”display:none;” attribute to the asp:panel you are using as the extender, and this will ensure the ModalPopup remains invisible while the page loads.

Techie .net, Bug, ModalPopupExtender, Quickies

The FileInfo.MoveTo method does not accept a parameter to overwrite destination files.

Short of extending this class (which I probably should do if I wasn’t being so lazy), the quickest way to get around this is to use the CopyTo method, set the overwrite parameter to true, and then delete the original file.


// Move an overwrite any destination file
FileInfo f = new FileInfo("SomeFile.txt");
f.CopyTo("SomeDestinationFile.txt", true);
f.Delete();


Techie .net, Quickies

This year I am finally getting around to running my first (half) marathon in Hastings. I have chosen to use it as an excuse to raise money for Women’s Aid, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, a dear friend of mine and her children have been affected by domestic violence and have had a tough time the past few months trying to rebuild their lives. The second reason is that my sister adopted some children just over a year ago now, their birth mother had also been through a rough life, but wasn’t as fortunate.

I don’t publicly raise money for charities, but this is an exception as it is close to my heart, and hence anything you can give will be appreciated far more than usual. The monies will help repay the invaluable support my friend has received in protecting & relocating her and the kids, and make sure that it remains available for other people in need.

Donations can be sent via my ‘Just Giving’ page.

Also please keep up to date with my progress - Remember to look/make comments too!

Hasting Half Marathon for Womens Aid Personal, Running

I’ve just managed to get internet tethering working on an iPhone with OS 3.1. The significance is that most internet tethering hacks became unusable once upgraded from OS 3.0.

Internet tethering allows a laptop or computer to connect to the internet using an iPhone’s data connection. If you have an unlimited data contract with your mobile phone provider then you can take advantage of this. You do however need to jailbrake your phone; this may sound scary, but it’s quite easy to do, has many benefits and is reversible if things do happen to go wrong.

Here are the steps I have found that works for OS 3.1.2 (7D11):

• Jailbreak your phone. I use blackra1n. I’ll detail this later.
• Install Cydia to enable you to install apps from different providers other then from the approved App Store.
• Install PdaNet from Cydia.
• Either establish a wireless adhoc network with your computer, or install PdaNet Desktop on your computer to enable you to share the internet connection via USB.
• Launch the ‘PdaNet’ app on your iPhone, and PdaNet Desktop on your computer, and you will have internet tethering.
• I have multitasking enabled on my iPhone, another hack. This enables you to load more then one app at a time. You may find this to be useful so you can use your phone while maintaining your internet connection.

Techie iPhone

Mars could be seen as the brightest star in the sky, starting quite faint at the beginning of August, and becoming its brightest mid to late August.

I managed to get these shots of it with my camera. Although it’s far too far to focus, you can make out the red hue of the planet. I was stunned, I didn’t think I would get more then a small dot, but to get a red blur seemed pretty amazing.

Personal Camera