If you haven't seen it yet, Yager's column in InfoWorld is very good.

I'm not going to be relying on FrontPage server extensions for security on a client page as I had intended. I don't know if I'm trying to use them incorrectly, or if the ISP implemented it correctly. I repeatedly tried to have a subweb with different permissions than the root web. Whenever I tried, the subweb would end up with no adminstrator. The only fix was to un-install the extensions. I going to change the pages to use a login form and cookies for the authentication. FP failed me.

If you are working in a web project in Visual Studio.Net, the Add New Item dialog does not include an ASP file type. However, VS.Net does understand the file type. Click on the File | New menu, then choose the Script category. Active Server Page is the first template listed. With help from an article by Chris Sells, I created the procedure to make the ASP template available to Blank and Empty Web Solutions. These procedures assume that you installed VS.Net to the default location of C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET\. If you didn't, then adjust the paths accordingly. All of the files mentioned are plain text. Make backup copies first!

Blank Solution
1.) Copy the file asppage.asp from [InstallDir]\Common7\IDE\NewScriptItems to [InstallDir]\Common7\IDE\NewFileItems.
2.) Open [InstallDir]\Common7\IDE\NewScriptItems\NewScriptItems.vsdir.
3.) Select the line containing asppage.asp
4.) Paste the line into file [InstallDir]\Common7\IDE\NewScriptItems\NewFileItems.vsdir

Empty Web Solution
1.) Create a file name ActiveServerPage.vsz in [InstallDir]\Vb7\VBProjectItems
2.) Enter the following:
      VSWIZARD 6.0
      Wizard=VsWizard.VsWizardEngine
      Param="WIZARD_NAME = ActiveServerPage"
      Param="WIZARD_UI = FALSE"
      Param="PROJECT_TYPE = VBPROJ"
3.) Open the file [InstallDir]\Vb7\VBProjectItems\Web Project Items\WebProjectItems.vsdir
4.) Add the following line. (Refer to the VS.Net documentation about VSDir files for an explanation of the values.)
      ..\ActiveServerPage.vsz|{164B10B9-B200-11D0-8C61-00A0C91E29D5}|ASP Page|1|Active Server Page|{164B10B9-B200-11D0-8C61-00A0C91E29D5}|4520| |ASPPage.asp
5.) Open the file [InstallDir]\Vb7\VBProjectItems\Web Project Items\Web\WebWebProjectItems.vsdir
6.) Add the following line. (Refer to the VS.Net documentation about VSDir files for an explanation of the values.)
      ..\..\ActiveServerPage.vsz|{164B10B9-B200-11D0-8C61-00A0C91E29D5}|ASP Page|1|Active Server Page|{164B10B9-B200-11D0-8C61-00A0C91E29D5}|4520| |ASPPage.asp

I'm reading about how to wring performance from MSXML and I ran across this nugget from the MSXML4 page on MSDN:

Additionally, MSXML 4.0 provides the new, faster XML parser and a substantially improved XSLT engine. You can use the new parser with DOM by setting the NewParser property to True. The new parser does not yet support asynchronous DOM load or DTD validation. However, everything else functions the same way as with the old parser, only faster. In our tests, MSXML showed about 2x better performance for pure parsing, and more than 4x better performance for XSLT transformation.

I found a great utility from Microsoft named Log Parser. It is a command-line program that will read log files from many different sources and execute SQL style queries against the log entries. From the Overview:

Very recommended.

UPDATE (Jan. 20, 2005): An updated version is now available.

"It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others." -- John Andrew Holmes

TMQ, Grammer Snob: "It looks like we'll have cold temperatures tomorrow." Weather-bobbleheads constantly use this construction. But temperatures are mathmatical concepts. Temperatures can be high or low, weather can be cold or warm: there cannot be cold temperatures.

It is a bit to get your hands around, especially the reader/writer objects for I/O. Overall, I like it. The DataGrid control is nice, and is definately less coding once you understand how it works. I also wrote less code for updating the database, thanks to ADO.Net. As Jerry Pournelle writes, it gets an Orchid.

I worked on redesigning the logo for the RMYB league. The tool at hand was Macromedia's Fireworks v4.0. This program seems much more user-friendly than Adobe's Photoshop. Keep in mind that I have no training in graphic design! Your mileage may vary.

Technet is working on a System Administration Scripting Guide Series that includes samples.