5/26/05
I began working with Visual Studio .NET 2003 heavily today. Most of the time I
was experimenting with creating SQL connections, data adapters, and datasets to
be used to populate the datagrids and datalists of the site. I found that the
method I was accustomed to, was not exactly the way we would be implementing
the database. I tended to use the wizards and GUI tools in VS to create all the
objects. JP explained how the site will be based on a multi-tier formula with a
base class. I came to understand why this would be useful in case the site ever
needed to be changed, however the whole scheme is a little daunting to me. I am
getting very used to the office and I am less afraid to ask for help. JP is
very good about explaining things for me to understand and I feel like I am
already learning quite a bit. I look forward to working more on this project.
5/31/05
I continued to work on the URS web page today. I felt content with the amount I
got done. A good portion of the public site is now done. I created data access
classes for all of the pages and implemented the employment and FAQ sections.
The FAQ page was somewhat difficult because it was based on parent and child
tables. I have gotten very familiar with datagrid and datalist controls. I have
also been picking up a good deal of information on HTML and how it works with
ASP.NET to create a web page. I have also learned how cascading style sheets
are implemented.
My Workspace
6/8/05
We had a project meeting today with JP, Sam, and Mick. Mick discussed changing
the colors of the site at the customers request and redesigning the layout. One
of the problems with the site is that the information stretches too far down.
We all discussed possible changes which means I will probably have to redesign
a good bit of what I have done. However I am not worried and am taking it all
in stride. I also downloaded and installed a new control that is a WYSIWYG text
editor that will be used on the admin site. It allows the administrator to
write text and it will be converted to HTML for them. JP fixed the “floating”
problem and I have resolved to go back and place a lot of objects in panels to
increase efficiency and readability in the code.
7/5/05
I haven’t written in a while so I will try to recap the last 2 weeks. The URS
project went on hiatus while the customer decided on the layout. In the
meantime, JP got me started working on the timecard project 352 which is the
actual MDC project time card system. He had the base of it all set up already.
It was done entirely in Flash 2004 MX/actionscript. Since I didn’t know much
about Flash actionscripting or XML, JP started me off on several tutorials he
picked from the internet. I spent a half day reading over the material and
familiarizing myself with Flash. Once I felt comfortable with the tools I began
working on the project. I first had to set up the datagrid to total the hours
from different timecards in the same day. This required me to alter and add
some for loops which controlled the population. It took me the longest time to
read through the code and figure out what was doing what. Once I got everything
figured out things started getting easier. I got stuck on the logic of the for
loop and JP had to help me finish it. In the next several days I created a few
new movie clips in the project that would be the time card editing window.
Since it was originally designed for there to only be one time card per day, I
had to change quite a bit to fit the new concept. I added a scroll pane and a
loop to repeat a movie clip for each card. Most of this came pretty easy and it
was nice to work on some graphical content. Since then our office moved! We
relocated from one side of Warrenton to the other where the office is a lot
roomier and modernized. My desk is in a really nice location. We spent one day
on each end packing and unpacking. Now we have started the URS site again for
the private side. I did a lot of work on the database today and will continue
to do so for the next few days.