By some cruel trick of nature, I've been surrounded by web content management systems for the past several years. I've written several (who hasn't?) and stood up instances of DotNetNuke, Windows SharePoint 2007, and now Interwoven TeamSite.

I'm told Interwoven has been around for 14 years and they're currently on version 6.7.1 of their TeamSite product. This offering includes features for enterprise content management (ECM) and the assorted adjacent technologies that simply must accompany ECM in a large scale deployment. Since the beginning, their product has included version control and workflow features. I'll describe a few core parts of Interwoven TeamSite here.

Source Control Repository

First off, developers will get a quick leg up if they simply know that TeamSite includes a source control repository. It works like any other. You can get the latest source, edit something, check it back in, compare versions, label a snapshot of the repository as well as branching. There. You're farther ahead than I was when I got my first explanation, about two years ago.

Standards based developers can relish in the fact that they have carte blanche control over the HTML and CSS sent down the wire to the browser. I'm talking about the production site here, not the administration pages used to interact with TeamSite. Nearly everything you'll do with TeamSite is done through a browser, providing that browser is IE or Firefox. Sorry Safari, this car is just a two seater. Again, browser support for the production site you're building is up to you - just talking about the TeamSite administration pages here. You'll continue editing specific files in your favorite tool, such as Visual Studio, Photoshop or TextMate. So once you get the subtle nuances of this source control system in you're brain, the challenge is to build a compelling web site using the same tools you have now; no silver bullets here.

Its also worth noting that this is only a source control repository; not a web development platform. You'll still need IIS, Apache, or some other web server technology to host your site. Interwoven TeamSite is mature enough that it supports Windows, Unix and Linux environments and several popular databases such as SQL Server and Oracle; just what you'd expect from an enterprise content management system.

FormsPublisher

Interwoven's TeamSite product includes a feature called FormsPublisher. This is useful for scenarios where an information worker needs to contribute to the web site, but lack HTML and CSS skills. This type of user can complete a form, let the system validate it, and then press a button to have the system generate the equivalent HTML page. The form can include validation, business logic, database queries or anything else you can dream up. While an HTML expert would prefer their favorite text editor and complete control to the HTML page. An information worker without HTML skills can now edit an existing page, based on an customized form. Now the challenge shifts to having the information worker select the appropriate form to build the page.

A developer configures a set of files and folders to support this process. At a high level, there are three parts in motion. The Data Capture Template (DCT) is an XML file that describes how TeamSite should present the form to the information worker. A Data Content Record (DCR) is an XML file that contains an instance of a form completed by an information worker. You launch TeamSite, click File, New Form Entry and select the form you want to complete. Next, the given form appears in the browser. The fields of the form are defined by the DCT. After you click the Save button, the field values are serialized into a DCR file. These files are organized in a collection of folders on the TeamSite server; one folder per form. Each folder has a conventional set of child folders to hold the DCR files as well as the presentation template file(s), These are the files with the .tpl file extension.

A presentation template converts a DCR into something else. Most of the time, at least for me, that something else will be an HTML page. Imagine a single DCR file that contains both public and private information for a company; perhaps the DCR contains public information about a single product as well as private information for their tech support staff. The DCR file can be send around via workflow for approval and the finally be ran through both sets of presentation templates which results in two different HTML files - one file is deployed to the public and the other file is kept on the Intranet. Both files are assured of having the appropriate content via the approval process and the presentation templates apply the correct branding and layout. This model supports a good workflow model as well as good separation of design from content. Its just one example of using the FormsPublisher in the enterprise.

Since DCR files are just XML, it's relatively painless to import legacy data into TeamSite. These imported XML files map to a given DCT, then they're translated into HTML pages via a presentation template. For example, if you have the last 15 years of press releases on the legacy system, you can import the existing information with some batch processes and stand up a new TeamSite server pretty quick.

Workflow

A workflow describes an automated business process. It can instruct an author to perform an edit or add a new file to the site and manage the process of approvals, taking a snapshot of the system for archival purposes and finally deployment. When a task such as "Edit Content" or "Review Content" becomes active, an e-mail can notify the appropriate party. When the work is completed, the assigned person just pushes it through the hole. Reviewers can click "Accept" or "Reject" after previewing the changes, they don't need to know the next appropriate step in the process - its automated. The system tracks the state and flow of information of the activities throughout the lifecycle according to the established business rules approved by the given company rather than based on how the given employee feels that particular day.

TeamSite has always included a workflow mechanism, but I can only imagine how difficult it was to develop them in the past. This latest version includes a Windows client application that supports drag-and-drop editing of workflow designs. You can work locally with workflows saved to your desktop in an offline mode, but you will eventually need to save the workflow up to the TeamSite server via commands in the tool. Workflows are serialized into XML files in the background, but its rare to look at the raw information. The workflow designer application helps you do the things you would expect such as setting up a series of tasks linked by arrows; some might be conditional based on human interaction or automated entirely by Perl scripts, Java classes or some other business logic.

Its interesting that Interwoven prides itself on a large number of supported platforms for the server product, but the Workflow designer client requires the Windows operating system. As I understand it, some (or all) of the workflow client application was recently purchased from another company. My hunch is the client application is written in C++ based on the look and feel as well as the OS requirement. Its a little clunky but it gets the job done; I sure wouldn't want to hand code all of the XML it generates.

Conclusion

Overall, I'm happy with my experiences thus far with TeamSite. The documentation is rich, it has a thriving online developer community, and the paradigm isn't too hard to grasp. At one point, I started getting bogged down with the massive about of XML configuration files and customization points. After sleeping on it (and a stiff cup-o-coffee) I realized that any other enterprise level application has a similar amount of customization. Since TeamSite embraces a litany of platforms, it makes sense that they don't (or haven't) invested a lot in slick little Windows GUI programs for configuration needs. Why build a server GUI tools when Windows is only one of your supported OS platforms? On the other hand, they could build a few more web based administration forms to get around some of these XML file updates. Once I started tallying up how many configuration pages I go through for Windows SharePoint, I stopped feeling like I was building my own box and installing Linux and started thinking about the broader ideas and why I was configuring the system instead of how - perhaps it just semantics, but I felt better.

I'm working on a solution that requires a special type of chart to visualize results from some elaborate number crunching algorithms. Dundas Chart for .Net has an implementation of the standard polar chart.

That's the closest "buy" option I could find and it might very well do the job. I'm a big fan of using existing software when it can solve a significant portion of the problem domain. When you find a good off-the-shelf option, they're often inexpensive and supported (by someone other than me), two big wins right off the bat. The ultimate solution has a few features that are difficult or impossible in the "buy" option, however they might be deemed insignificant. So the "buy" option might very well win out during the upcoming evaluation of my solution, but as part of my due diligence I had to see what the "build" option could offer me.

When I first envisioned the solution, I had ideas of 3D modeling like the work described by Tim Huckaby at InterKnowlogy for the Scripps Research Institute. They built a cancer research application called the Collective Molecular Environment.

Researchers from around the world can review the same model, zoom in, rotate models and insert annotations of their observations. The screenshot to the left shows one of the sample molecule views that comes with the demo. Spinning the molecule around with your mouse is pretty cool.

It's written in C# using Windows Presentation Foundation. SharePoint tracks the collaboration on the back end, but its invisible to the user. Researchers just launch the application and start clicking on cells in 3D.

Download a demo of the WPF application and twirl cells around on your own computer. The thing that floors me is that the proof of concept took only six weeks to build. WPF and SharePoint were really put to good use here.

Independently, Ben Waldron reminded me of MusicPlasma.com. You enter a band name and it shows related music artists in a 2D model using Flash. The mash-up pulls information from Amazon.com. When you click on another artist, the map adjusts and they become the new "center of the universe". Its a cool way of visualizing relational data.

Then I thought about the specific challenges I would have to solve in order to build the solution myself. I knew my data would have a central point and other points around it at various distances. Related points would have a line connecting them — not all points are related to each other. Each point would also display a short keyword or phrase.

So, to put it in mathematical terms, I had a center point at (0,0) that was surrounded by multiple invisible circles. The solution had to plot an unknown number of points on the appropriate circle. The size of each point could vary between 40 pixels and 4 pixels in size. The unique phrase beside each point could remain the same size. Finally, related points need a line connecting them.

I selected Silverlight for my proof-of-concept vehicle. Its a technology that can extend a web page and draw shapes or play video, like Adobe Flash. I first heard of this technology a while back at the MIX06 conference in Vegas. Silverlight runs on Windows and Mac OS X today and they've announced plans to support Linux so there's no worries about the supported platforms.

I use XAML or Extensible Application Markup Language to express how the Silverlight component appears on the page. The XAML used in Silverlight is a subset of the XAML used in WPF applications since Silverlight is browser based while WPF apps can take advantage of the full Windows platform. Just like a new version of the Adobe Flash player, you have to download and install the Silverlight component the first time. Then any page on the Internet that uses Silverlight can take advantage of the plugin. It takes less than 60 seconds on standard machine to download the 1MB file and install it. Here's the button created with 100% XAML just by launching Visual Studio and clicking File, New Project, Silverlight Project. With just pure XML, Silverlight can draw a fancy glossy button. Pretty cool.

Now my problem was the math. How could I calculate the points on a circle? So I headed straight to The Wife; a number crunching machine with more degrees than that Nick Lachey's boy band.

The Wife taught reminded me about some fundamental principles of algebra and geometry. As she tells it, this is sophomore/junior level high school stuff. First, I needed to calculate the central angle between two consecutive points. We'll call that theta. As it turns out, it doesn't matter where the points are, providing they lie on the same circle. For starters, I just wanted an even distribution, so if "n" equals the number of points on the circle then (2pi)/n gives me theta.

Next, I need to start calculating the exact (x,y) coordinates of the points on the circle. The first point is easy, its just (r,0) where "r" is the radius of the circle.

The second point is a little tougher as it gets into sine and cosine. These are just names for ratios in a triangle. The mnemonic SOHCAHTOA helps you remember this on quiz day. Let's look at a following right triangle.

• Sine is calculated as "opposite over hypotenuse", or the "SOH" part of the mnemonic
• Cosine is calculated as "adjacent over hypotenuse", or the "CAH" part of the mnemonic
• Just for good measure, the tangent is "opposite over adjacent", the "TOA" part

Now that I have all the ingredients, I can bake my pi. Ha! Ok, onto the task of plotting the points. The second and subsequent (x,y) values of my points are calculated by the following formulas.

• P₀ = (r,0)
• P₁ = (r(cos(θ), r(sin(θ))
• P₂ = (r(cos(2θ), r(sin(2θ))
• P₃ = (r(cos(3θ), r(sin(3θ))

For the "x" coordinate, I multiply the radius by the cosine of theta. The cosine of theta is "b" divided by "c". For the "y" coordinate, I multiply the radius by the sine of theta. The sine of theta is "a" divided by "c". In case its not obvious,  the P₂ and subsequent points need multiples of theta, so the formula has that minor adjustment.

To apply this information, I created a simple XML file with some elements that define the number of points to draw and some supporting information. I'll just focus on a single circle or level for now. If I can make one, I can make more really fast.

Next, I created a simple ASP.Net page that reads the XML file and outputs the necessary XAML that will allow Silverlight to draw the chart. My C# code iterates over the list of elements in the XML file can calculates the (X,Y) coordinates using the previous formulas. Just to keep things simple, I linked all the points to the center for now. Later on, it'll be easy enough to link other points together with lines as I have already calculated all of the necessary (X,Y) values. You can download my solution through the link at the bottom of the post.

This XAML block produces the following output in Silverlight shown below. As you can see, XAML is just a special XML syntax that is pretty easy to pick up.

To draw an ellipse shape, you add the <ellipse /> element. To draw a line on the canvas, you add an <line /> element. Of course there is tooling available to abstract these details away, but its important to have a fundamental understanding of the work going on under the covers.

Silverlight translates the XAML markup into pretty images as shown below.

If this "build" solution turns out to be a winner, we'll be able to apply nice gradients to the images, add click() events to the bubbles so more information is available through a pop-up and maybe even add the "wet floor" look the feels so cliche these days. These are easy enough in Silverlight, so I didn't spend anytime on the glossy extras just yet.

So, my entire exploration of the "build" option in Silverlight took about two hours, including the time spent with The Wife — time well spent, indeed. It'll be interesting to see how the evaluation of my solution options pan out. Can you tell I love my job?

Download the solution described in this blog post.

So, I wrote a book. I feel really fortunate to have had the experience and I am humbled by the idea that its on Amazon and store shelves across the country. The photo to the right is my brother-in-law and his charming wife with copy-in-hand, somewhere in NYC.

Late in 2006, Scott Vandehey and Kelly White were approached about writing this book. We (Pop Art) were putting the wraps on a successful 15+ month DotNetNuke project for a client and both of them had blogged a little about it. We had put together several DotNetNuke sites with an definite eye for design. After Scott Hanselman helped us dispel the notion that this book offer from Jim Minatel might be a hoax, ScottV and Kelly invited me to join the author team.

We, the three amigos, locked ourselves in a room (figuratively) and wrote down a draft set of chapters using index cards spread out over the table, and then handed out assignments. We went home and worked on a sample chapter to (1) prove to Jim that we could express ourselves sufficiently on paper and (b) to dip our toes into the waters of authorship.

When we reconvened a few days later, the mood and sobered up a little. Kelly was already full with a rich family life and a fledgling local developer community in the works. Scott had a brand new baby on the way too. The long-and-short of it is they were both honest and smart enough to know that the time commitment was too much. I have a lot of respect for them knowing it just wouldn't work rather than bailing out somewhere down the road. They showed a lot of class and professionalism.

I knew full well what I was getting into. Fortunately, so did my wife. She supported me so well during those non-stop evenings and weekends. It was a lot to bite off and she helped me so much just from the occasional drive-by-hug, or the smack-on-the-ass as I walked past her to refill my coffee cup.

I started my career with an internship at Andersen Consulting, then onto Peoples Energy, next was The Information Management Group, and now Pop Art. I've been developing software and consulting my entire career. Over time, I've learned a few important things like "Don't miss deadlines, period". So, it seemed reasonable to approach this endeavor in a similar manner. I worked out a schedule with Jim, my Senior Editor. I didn't really have anything to compare it to and Jim seemed OK with the plan so I just rolled with it. I entered into a contract with Wrox having every intention of living up to the letter and spirit of the agreement; just like any other client.

Every couple of weeks, I'd submit the next chapter to my editor, Christopher Rivera. He would manage the workflow on that side including comments from my awesome technical editor, Robert Bogue. I would occasionally have check-in phone calls with Christopher too. He did a fantastic job of helping me through this maze; a super nice guy.

Along about chapter 10 or so, Christopher chimed in on a conference call and said, "Wow, you're still on schedule. That's pretty rare." Now, I don't know about you, but that's about the worst thing he could have said for my motivation. I let out a big laugh and breathed a huge sigh of relief. I was well aware of interviews with rock star developers like MLB and others who would sign a book deal, get past the due date for the final draft, and only then sit down and start writing it.

Come hell or high water, I was sticking with the impression that rock stars can do that but not little-ol-me. This self-imposed rule of hitting my final due date with solid material worked well for releasing relevant content and minimizing the impact of my home life. Kari was spectacular for eight long months, fifteen chapters, and over 400 pages - I sure do love her.

Towards the end, Jim moved to a new position and Chris Webb became my Senior Editor. I wrapped up the book in late August. It went to production and made it out in time for the awesome OpenForce '07 conference in Vegas next week. I would have loved to attend this conference but alas, I'm in San Jose all week on business and my six year wedding anniversary is next weekend too. Ah, the trump card.

So, I'm incredibly anxious to see what readers make of it. The book describes how to design sites with DotNetNuke using modern web techniques. I steered clear of any hardcore programming or database work, the core of this book is about the front end and how to make it do-what-it-do. Inside, you'll see how to maneuver around skins, containers, modules and apply modern HTML, CSS and JavaScript techniques to the various parts of DotNetNuke. Just to add some panache, I included a few scenarios with sIFR, Silverlight and the ASP.Net AJAX Control Toolkit.

I learned a lot while I researched the nooks and crannies of this framework and I developed a sincere appreciation for the core team and all of their work to advance the platform. I haven't read tech books the same way since and the cliche dedications of "my spouse is so awesome" don't seem so cliche anymore. Its a humbling experience to have such a cool opportunity to impact a thriving community. The Wrox tag line is "Programmer to Programmer" and that's certainly the case here. I'm just a guy trying to help. I hope it helps you.

Holy shit! I'm sitting in my room, typing on my laptop and minding my own business. The entire room starts to shake and the floor feels like its balancing precariously on half a dozen tennis balls. I seriously begin to consider the possibility of the ceiling crashing down and crushing me. I step into strategic locations where I feel like there's less of an opportunity for being instantly annihilated by a slab of concrete (or is it cement?). The entire event lasts for approximately 30 seconds. Have you ever counted to 30? Its a long fricken time!

I think this is my first real earthquake. I was sitting in my living room back home and heard a "bang!" noise from my basement once; I later found out was an earthquake in southeast Portland, Oregon. This is the first honest-to-goodness pants-filling thrill ride for me.

Then, finding sites like this with up to the second reporting on recent quakes don't fill me with much ease, although it is really cool technology: http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/recenteqs/Quakes/nc40204628.html

if I understand that report correctly, I just experienced a 5.6 earthquake. Damn!

I'm sure my buddy Bruce would brush this off as a non-event as he grew up in L.A., but for a good 'ol mid-westerner like myself, these things fricken suck! Especially while I'm in the forth floor of an eight story building. Ok, I'm going to go clean myself off now.

I'm staying in a nice hotel in California this week on business. The restaurant is satisfactory, albeit a little pricey for what they deliver. The gym is OK and the room is good enough. Last week I was in Albuquerque, NM and stayed at the Embassy Suites. I didn't know I had it so good. From now on, I'll take the Embassy Suites any day of the week - there's good and then there's better.

In the evenings, after dinner and a little time on the laptop, I pop down to the bar in the lounge for a nightcap. Last night an Asian man was accompanied by his New York translator. The New Yorker's switch between a thick east coast accent and his sharp Japanese dialect was striking - a lucky people watching opportunity indeed. Its fun to watch someone speak a language that you would NEVER guess they know.

A few steps from the bar is a small doorway that leads to a large room. In the evening, the door is usually open. The room includes several lazyboy recliners, a six foot television with non-stop sports, a pool table and a desk. Seated at the desk is a small black man that looks like he can handle himself. He's probably in his mid 40's, well groomed and confident.

This room is a collection site for the U.S. Army. Each night, a handful of new young men assemble, speak briefly with the man seated at the desk and then mill about uncomfortably in the room. Some will play pool or watch the game on TV. Each man has a duffle bag that probably contains everything they'll be taking to their next stop - the base. Nearly every one of them look like they could step into the octagon in a UFC fight. They have short hair, obviously work out and don't really look at ease as they chat with other recruits or walk over to the restaurant for a free meal by way of the small ticket in their hand. I bet they all watch UFC. Well, I think I'd win most of my bets. I kind of wish I could walk over and chat about recent bouts with them.

The entire spectacle is a thought provoking experience. These are the people joining the military. This is their last night before waking up in a base or elsewhere for the next couple of years. It has a way of putting a somber mood on the room.

My buddy Steve is precariously close to being selected for Wheel of Fortune. He made it to local stage and hopefully caught the eye of the staff. Good luck Steve!!

I just got a new Dell Latitude D830 laptop running Vista Ultimate and I'm going about the lengthy process of installing all my software. When I got to PowerShell, I grabbed a copy of the installation file from my 250GB external drive that I had previously downloaded for my previous laptop, a Dell Latitude D610, running Windows XP SP2.

When I ran the install program, I was repeated met with the following error message:

Not enough storage is available to process this command.

A lot of other people had the same problem, but no one had posted a solution. Then, I suspect I figured out the answer the same way others had. I was executing WindowsXP-KB926139-x86-ENU.exe instead of Windows6.0-KB928439-x86.msu, I had overlooked the fact that Windows XP and Vista had different installation programs for PowerShell.

Drat.

I popped into work early on Sunday morning for some quick volunteer work whilst le Wife was sleeping. Sometimes I like to use my powers for good. Today I was building a small feature for the Saturday Academy site.

Little did I know that Sunday morning was also the schedule date of the Race for the Cure walk/run here in Portland. I was prepared for the construction that's going on but I was caught in a serious maze trying to get to my parking garage. Several streets were blocked off for the event. After going around the block and assessing my options, I figured that I could "accidentally" go down a one-way street at this hour and get to my parking garage.

So, I get to the street and turn to go up it. About half way through, a construction dude puts a cone in the street in preparation for a big dump truck headed towards us, then looks up a me. He walks over and casually informs me that this is a one-way street. I play all wide-eyed and apologize while explaining that I'm just trying to get to the parking garage entrance that is now just 30 yards away. He stares at the garage entrance, then at my car, then back to the garage entrance. He graciously mentions that I might be able to make it if I continue on and turn right at the intersection, then go around the block and come back down properly.

I thank the nice man and continue on slowly in the early morning light. I get to the last intersection and see the garage door entrance, a mere 10 yards from my car. Instead of turning, I bolt for the entrance. I see the police car at the end of the street - this is going to be close. I make it to the entrance and zoom up the ramp. I can tell people are running after me in full chase. I get my garage ticket, quickly park and exit the building; everything seems safe. I don't see any faces popping around corners or footsteps racing towards me.

I round the block and see the next barricade that certainly would have nixed the whole deal had I heeded the instructions of the construction guy. I'm quite sure that my route was the only way to the parking garage at this specific hour and I was quite satisfied with the success of my plan. About 30 minutes later, I see the event in full swing. There's non-stop cheering for about 90 minutes with a stream of runners and walkers parading down the street. It was a nice day for it, I hope they did well. 

When I travel, I can expect ignorant/discourteous folk, long lines and some mild nausea. What I can't expect to find in airports is a good ol' power outlet. I've thought about adding a section to my site that just plots locations of power outlets in the various airports I visit — a little like geocaching I suppose. The worst is finding a perfect spot to setup, unpacking the gear and looking down at the little green light on the laptop power brick that isn't lit up. Disconnected power outlets suck.

The fine folks at Coffee People in PDX have figured it out. They've integrated power outlets into the modern bar that surrounds their business. I ordered a Depth Charge (coffee and double espresso shot) and a danish, plugged in to grab a few more bits online before I travel back in time to a land that has no cell phone signals, internet or cable TV. I'm back to the future on Tuesday!

About a year ago, I attended an MSDN event in my area and won the boobie prize: 12 months of free hosting from an vendor at the event. I had been hosting my site on my company's web servers, so that seemed like a good opportunity to leave the nest and test my skills in the wild. Plus, the price was right.

Man, did that suck.

On Wednesday, I signed up for 12 months of hosting with DiscountASP.Net. They advertised on www.asp.net, and had a lot of good word-of-mouth referrals that eached my ears.

In the matter of about an hour, I did the following:

• Completed an online transaction with DiscountASP.net
• Accessed my new site through the Control Panel provided by DiscountASP.Net
• Downloaded the latest dasBlog bits for ASP.Net 2.0, medium trust
• Uploaded the dasBlog bits to my new site
• Switched the DNS servers to my new ISP
• Moved the content folder from my old host to DiscountASP.Net
• Minor configuration to secure and customize my blog

I'll have you know that I have not yet contacted DiscountASP.Net by phone or e-mail, nor have I had to read their online help documents. The entire process was smooth as silk. I was shocked. My previous personal and professional experiences have always left me in need of some type of resolution.

This is how it should be — DiscountASP.Net has done a great job and I'm grateful.

I was also relieved by the ease of my dasBlog upgrade. I was about a year off the head in their source code repository. The new version has several sweet skins out-of-the-box and they're easy to customize.

I highly recommend dasBlog for any type of blogging solution — it's a rock solid open source system under active development. Now that I'm 99% out-from-under of my enormous eight month project, I'd love to saunter over to that open source project and try my hand at helping the dasBlog dev team. The weekend is just starting, Le Wife is out of town, and I'm dinking around on a new laptop with Vista. Can't ask for a better set up than that!

.. and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your in-laws. By sheer luck and $299.95 for a charm school summer camp a few years back, I have some awesome in-laws.

As I understand it, Jay worked on this web commercial. Anyone wanna take a break and go get some Herbal Mist with me?