The task is quite easy:
In a PowerPoint Presentation (Office 2007) there are a certain number of Designs and Layouts (see here for explanation). And there as well some other slides, which do not conform to any design or layout.
But all of them contain a footer in which a date (the actual year) is contained.
To enhance usability I want to program an Office 2007 Add-In with VSTO 3.0, which updates all the footers of a presentation when a button is clicked.
No big problem I thought. Until I came to the footer. It took me quite some time to find a solution for this problem, since I am a beginner in VB.NET.
Finally I found the post on the MSDN-Blogs about HeaderFooter (unknown member)", which was actually the error raised.
]]> My final solution then looks something like this:
Private Sub ChangeTemplateYear(ByVal curPres As PowerPoint.Presentation)
On Error Resume Next
Dim dsgn As PowerPoint.Design
Dim lyt As PowerPoint.CustomLayout
Dim footerState As Boolean
Dim currentFooter As String
'Change in the slidemaster
With curPres.SlideMaster.HeadersFooters
With .Footer
currentFooter = .Text
.Text = RegularExpressions.Regex.Replace(currentFooter, "[0-9]{4}", Date.Now.Year.ToString)
End With
End With
'Change in all Custom Layouts in Every Design
For Each dsgn In curPres.Designs
For Each lyt In dsgn.SlideMaster.CustomLayouts
footerState = lyt.HeadersFooters.Footer.Visible
If footerState = Microsoft.Office.Core.MsoTriState.msoFalse Then lyt.HeadersFooters.Footer.Visible = Microsoft.Office.Core.MsoTriState.msoTrue
currentFooter = lyt.HeadersFooters.Footer.Text
lyt.HeadersFooters.Footer.Text = RegularExpressions.Regex.Replace(currentFooter, "[0-9]{4}", Date.Now.Year.ToString)
lyt.HeadersFooters.Footer.Visible = footerState
Next
Next
End Sub
Enjoy and comment if you have any ideas how to improve this further.
]]>
I like this robust look and the many options for connecting to the internet this device has. Some more reports can be found on Gizmodo or on the Casio Site .
Unfortunately the phone is at the moment only available in the USA with a Verizon subscription. Let's hope it comes over to Europe as well.
]]>When you have seen the clip you see, that it is from Swisscom and there is a game going on under www.swisscom.ch/fanbuch .
Maybe you want to participate as well... I wish you good luck.
Image by Adam Pieniazek via Flickr
As we could read this days in different online magazines there has been a satirical approach to give AT&T, Americas exclusive iPhone Provider a lesson. The "Operation Chokehold" has been proclaimed by Fakesteve this week. Other articles have been published by Gizmondo or The Register and also in German Press here from Community 36What is interesting about this case, is the fact that Apple cooperates with a company like AT&T that does not meet in any way the quality requirements of the product sold. Now it becomes clear that the customers are not willing to take this situation any longer and a similar case like the one with "Dell Hell" (see blog entry about Jeff Jarvis) where the customer's "revolution" is taking place on the web and having significant impact on the reputation of the concerned companies.
In my opinion it is now time that AT&T is doing something proactively about this issue. If they don't I expect Apple to get out of the exclusive contracts with AT&T.
However, we will see if there is any noticeable impact on the AT&T network during friday when Operation Chokehold may become true.
]]>
Image via Wikipedia
Maybe some of you had or still have the same problem as I had - until yesterday. In our offices we use a Canon iR 1023 iF Multifunctional Device (Print, Copy, Fax and Scan) and since recently, we use also Windows 7 64-Bit.![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=df42647d-6ed5-4edd-a907-35a1c297cfd6)
It is, as soon as I knew how it works, really simple.
So far everything works and the device is installed. But within the Hardware Manger the device is displayed as not working correctly (Yellow exclamation mark sign). But don't bother, with the next few steps this will be corrected.
This are quite a few steps to bring the scanner to work, but you can now use the full potential of your device. Enjoy it.
]]>
Well this is rare: As Golem.de has reported today in this post, Microsoft offers the book Visual Basic 2008 - Das Entwicklerbuch written by Klaus Löffelmann published under Microsoft Press free for download.
In the spirit of Christmas, as it seems, have they decided to give you, for a registration, the bonus and additional material, which includes the source code examples, for free.
The book itself (unfortunately for all English speaking readers in German) is available for free and without registration.
Image via Wikipedia
Today I have seen this interesting post from TechCrunch about Google with the title Achtung! Google Analytics is illegal, say German Government officials. The article summarises what the German news portal "Die Zeit Online" (online version of the famous newspaper "Die Zeit") has written in its article.
Of course did I read the original article on "Die Zeit Online" with the title Datenschützer wollen Einsatz von Google verhindern (in good old English: Privacy advocates want to prohibit Google Analytics).
Well this is an old discussion in good old Germany, which is overcautious regarding the data privacy regulation. I would say (and this a friend of mine has confirmed recently) that it is the country with the hardest regulations concerning data privacy in the web (e.g. for online shops, forums, blogs and whatever else there is on the web). So far this article was not surprising.
What was surprising indeed, was the fact, that the original article from "Die Zeit Online" was not accurate and really bad researched.
]]> I cite from the original article:Der Internetsurfer habe keine Möglichkeit, die Beobachtung durch Google aktiv abzulehnen ("Opt-out"), argumentieren sie. "Ohne das Opt-out aber", sagt Marit Hansen, stellvertretende Leiterin des Unabhängigen Landeszentrums für Datenschutz Schleswig-Holstein, "geht es gar nicht". Und schließlich sei die Verarbeitung von Daten in den USA unzulässig.
For the not native German speakers:
An advocate from Stuttgart shares his opinion that a website owner/provider can be sued and is due up to 50'000 Euro, if he/she is not requesting permission before using Google Analytics.
An other official, Marit Hansen, confirms this point of view by telling that this is the case as long as there is no Opt-Out mechanism for the website visitor.
And this is really poor research from the journalist. If he would have an idea of the technology used by Google for this particular service, then he would have known, that there are already possibilities (and I would argue that they are well known as well) for visitors to prevent the logging/tracking with Google Analytics.
The most simple thing is to disable JavaScript, because Google Analytics relies on a simple JavaScript, which has to be included in the website. This is possible with every modern browser.
Second a cookie is set. This can be prevented as well with the browser, but is not so nice for the surfing, because you need to confirm nearly every cookie you need to use or you have the problem of "dysfunctional" websites (because some functions rely on cookies).
Third and strongest protection is a firewall application that denies access from the Google domain (or more particular from the Google Analytics Domain) to your browser/computer. Some products come even with a virus scanner (which every Windows User needs anyway) and deliver you maximum protection of your computer and of your data privacy.
One thing can not be prevented: You need to configure your software/application the right way. And it seems as if the government in Germany does not know this. It prefers to play with "Bundestrojaner". Or is this at the end a strategy to keep all the ports and ways open for the own spy soft- respectively malware?
And one thing remains at the end:
The system is only as strong and safe as the user in front of it uses it. Human failures are the most common causes for data leaks.
The fact, that Google is pushing its new Chrome OS into the market respectively it is only beginning to push it, is reason enough to think about the current and future situation of "traditional" operating systems.
TechCrunch has just published a comment from MG Siedler where he is talking about the squeezing of Microsoft
Basically this supports my thesis put in the earlier post about Windows 7
So we'll be excited about what the future (or Google) will bring us.
]]>I was really fascinated by the look of the machines from Rich Nagy and had to write a post immediately.
I am happy to hear from other artists in the IT-Area. Just drop a comment here.
Just discovered that there is another resource for ideas here at Brass Googles from the UK.
]]>The idea behind this is to have at the end a series of blog posts, which cover different sites as they come into my mind and to evaluate the positive and the negative sides of a design.
I hope this will be an interesting series for my readers to follow me and that we might have some kind of discussion.
As a starter, I want to give a short introduction into the normal "process" of the creation or the relaunch of a business web site.
There are, in opposite to a private homepage, different processes going on, when a business homepage is developed. Various roles and departments are included in the decision and the initial discussion:
In some companies this is an easy task, especially for SMBs (Small and Medium Business) where one person has multiple roles. It happens that in some cases less departments/roles are involved, so the list above is only illustrative.
But this shows already that a web designer has to deal with multiple stakeholders and all of them will have an influence on the outcome. So it is important to have a clear setting at the beginning of the development cycle. This means, that every one knows exactly for which area she or he is responsible and that the designer knows from whom he (or she) can take orders.
This are the most vital prerequisites for a successful design-process. There are, depending on the situation many more, which have to be dealt with on a per case basis. A workflow like this makes a designer and developer as flexible as possible and does not create to much overhead (i.e. has standardised elements, which save time and money).
]]>
Image by Getty Images via Daylife
Now it is done: Windows 7 has released officially on 22nd Octobre 2009 worldwide. I had the chance to work in advance with the new operating system and this is a good opportunity to draw a first conclusion. I have to remark, that I need to switch back (from OS X Snow Leopard) at work to Windows, since I need to provide my colleagues with some 1st level support. So here are my first impressions:
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=ead8e4f5-c234-47bd-8acf-b62d18ddea2d)
What I was excited most about, was the fact, that the OS was 64-Bit. And this brings me to my main points of critique: There are too many deficiencies.
First of all, you have now per default 3 Internet Explorers installed.
Second you need for all of them a Java Version. This means you need two (32-Bit and 64-Bit) and they are not compatible, respectively do not work together without some workarounds!
Third point is, that you have much more speed in 64-Bit but you do not even get a Flash-Player in 64-Bit. So you can't look at about 1/3 of the homepages out there. And this story goes further: You do not find drivers in 64-Bit for your hardware, you do not have a new MS Office in 64-Bit, even no Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox Browser.
This is a clear sign of how fast and maybe too fast, Microsoft has made up Windows 7. They wanted to shift the users from 32-Bit to 64-Bit and have not thought about the Software Vendors. You can say now, that the programs are compatible, at least the most of them, and also 32-Bit version run. But do I want to have old, slow and buggy crap (because the emulator for 32-Bit is going down from time to time. At least once a day.) on my new Windows 7 computer? I really do not want this.
We will see if this becomes a problem for Microsoft. I am pretty sure, that they will loose further market size, if the first tests in companies do not work well.
I will work now on with Windows 7 in the office and I am excited for how long it will take until my notebook is getting slower and slower.
Feel free to write your own experiences with Windows 7 down in the comments. I am glad to read them.
]]>From my first impressions, through my latest experience and stories heard from friends or relatives, are quite optimistic, that there is a quality oriented service organisation emerging from good old and lousy Cablecom. I know that this is a contradictory statement to the one made earlier on this blog but I want to remain fair.
The stories and my own experience go all into the same direction: Service is improved by listening to the customer. So they really apologised for small mistakes and asked about how they could probably improve their service. In my case they called me after I have moved out of my flat into an area, where the Cablecom is not the provider for TV (and other services on base of a TV-Network), just to ask me what could have been wrong.
]]> Now you can argue, that this is a standard procedure nowadays. But I really did not expect this behaviour from Cablecom! This shows one thing: They had a really bad image in public and that UPC has to do something against it.To be honest, I do not think that everything will be perfect after they have been rebranded to UPC, but at least they showing now some efforts to improve the situation and avoid known pitfalls.
On the other side, when I look at the progress phone providers in Switzerland have made in the last year, then I can draw only one conclusion: The competition has increased and thus the fight for market share is getting harder. This means you have to deliver more or be cheaper. Since nobody wants to cut his own earnings, if he does not need to, they will try to increase (or at least make the customer aware that they might have increased) their services respectively the quality of their service. Of course this can also happen in comparison to the main competitor (in Switzerland is this Swisscom, the semi-state-controlled telephone company). There was an ad campaign at the beginning of this year, in which Cablecom directly attacked Swisscom and said that they would deliver more speed for less money.
However: The new provider is emerging from old Cablecom with a lot of "bad baggage" concerning their image. I will look critically at the development and decide with my next own flat if I will choose Cablecom - oh sorry; UPC - again.
]]>Now a nice video has shown up on Youtube, where the user "justanotherguy84" has cut the presentation of the new iPod Series from Apple to show only the adjectives used in this presentation. The video is really made in a good quality and funny, but see yourself:
]]> Well we could now argue, that this may be another marketing gag of Apple and doing some viral marketing.On the other hand I have to say, this is a nice study of how clear and simple Apple communicates. They do not need extraordinary words and technical descriptions in their presentations, but try to "infect" the customers with enthusiasm. And this is clearly done well with the chosen words.
Other opinions are welcome in the comments section.
]]>However - I had to discover an advertisement in the current edition of a Swiss Weekend Magazine called "20 Minuten Friday", which is freely distributed at the train stations and covers different topics (mostly about fashion and glamour talk). Because they are lying around everywhere in the trains on the weekends I scan this magazine every weekend and read some articles from it.
And there it was - one of the most stupid advertisements I as an IT-Pro have ever seen in the last few weeks! But look for yourself at the picture below:
*Do you take us customers all for fools?!"
I hope not. But this is a really bad advertisement campaign. Even if there are promoted notebooks for private users and not for IT-Pros, but still. To impose the companies will in this way on the customer is not the best way to build up trust for a long lasting customer lifecycle and possible upgrades or up-sellings. Even if the hardware is or looks good.
]]>