Blogging Apps

Are there any iPhone Apps that can post to Blogger blogs?

WebControl with embedded stylesheet rendering at design time

I have a working solution to the embedded image in an embedded stylesheet problem, but I would appreciate any suggestions for improvement. This does its own substitution of the CSS file in the Designer class for the IDE. Transparency in PNGs don't work so far, however. I'll post some of the code here, but a full example solution is available for download. I'd love to hear comments on this. Thank you!

AssemblyInfo.cs (partial)

// Styles
[assembly: WebResource("GizmonicInstitute.WebControls.SampleControl.css", "text/css", PerformSubstitution = true)]

// Images
[assembly: WebResource("GizmonicInstitute.WebControls.cog.png", "image/png")]
[assembly: WebResource("GizmonicInstitute.WebControls.inner_shadow.png", "image/png")]

SampleControl.css

.SampleControl_TextBox {
 padding: 4px 0 0 4px;
 height: 1.5em;
 border: solid 1px Black;
 background-color: Yellow;
 background-image: url('<%=WebResource("GizmonicInstitute.WebControls.inner_shadow.png")%>');
 background-repeat: no-repeat;
 background-position: left top;
}

.SampleControl_Button {
 width: 2em;
 height: 2em;
 border-width: 2px;
 background-color: #EAEAEA;
 background-image: url('<%=WebResource("GizmonicInstitute.WebControls.cog.png")%>');
 background-repeat: no-repeat;
 background-position: center center;
}

SampleControl.cs

1    #region Using directives
2    using System;
3    using System.Collections.Generic;
4    using System.ComponentModel;
5    using System.Text;
6    using System.Web;
7    using System.Web.UI;
8    using System.Web.UI.HtmlControls;
9    using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
10   #endregion
11   
12   namespace GizmonicInstitute.WebControls {
13   
14       [Designer(typeof(SampleControlDesigner))]
15       [DefaultProperty("TextBoxText")]
16       [ToolboxData("<{0}:SampleControl runat=server>")]
17       public class SampleControl : CompositeControl {
18   
19           protected Label lblSample;
20           protected TextBox txtSample;
21           protected Button btnSample;
22   
23           [Bindable(true)]
24           [Category("Appearance")]
25           [DefaultValue("")]
26           [Description("Gets or sets the text caption displayed in the Button control.")]
27           public string LabelText {
28               get {
29                   object o = ViewState["LabelText"];
30                   return (o == null) ? String.Empty : (string)o;
31               }
32               set {
33                   ViewState["LabelText"] = value;
34                   RecreateChildControls();
35               }
36           }
37   
38           [Bindable(true)]
39           [Category("Appearance")]
40           [DefaultValue("")]
41           [Description("Gets or sets the text caption displayed in the Button control.")]
42           public string TextBoxText {
43               get {
44                   object o = ViewState["TextBoxText"];
45                   return (o == null) ? String.Empty : (string)o;
46               }
47               set {
48                   ViewState["TextBoxText"] = value;
49                   RecreateChildControls();
50               }
51           }
52   
53           [Bindable(true)]
54           [Category("Appearance")]
55           [DefaultValue("")]
56           [Description("Gets or sets the text caption displayed in the Button control.")]
57           public string ButtonText {
58               get {
59                   object o = ViewState["ButtonText"];
60                   return (o == null) ? String.Empty : (string)o;
61               }
62               set {
63                   ViewState["ButtonText"] = value;
64                   RecreateChildControls();
65               }
66           }
67   
68           protected void btnSample_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e) {
69               txtSample.Text = String.Format("Clicked at {0:h:mm:ss tt}", DateTime.Now );
70           }
71   
72           protected override void CreateChildControls() {
73               lblSample = new Label();
74               txtSample = new TextBox();
75               btnSample = new Button();
76   
77               lblSample.Text = this.LabelText;
78               txtSample.Text = this.TextBoxText;
79               btnSample.Text = this.ButtonText;
80   
81               txtSample.CssClass = "SampleControl_TextBox";
82               btnSample.CssClass = "SampleControl_Button";
83               btnSample.Click += new EventHandler(btnSample_Click);
84   
85               Controls.Add(lblSample);
86               Controls.Add(txtSample);
87               Controls.Add(btnSample);
88           }
89   
90           protected override void OnPreRender(EventArgs e) {
91               // Add embedded style sheet to parent page
92               HtmlLink cssLink = new HtmlLink();
93               cssLink.ID = "SampleControlCss";
94               cssLink.Href = Page.ClientScript.GetWebResourceUrl(this.GetType(), "GizmonicInstitute.WebControls.SampleControl.css");
95               cssLink.Attributes.Add("rel", "stylesheet");
96               cssLink.Attributes.Add("type", "text/css");
97               bool CssLinkAlreadyExists = false;
98               foreach (Control headctrl in Page.Header.Controls) {
99                   if (headctrl.ID == cssLink.ID) {
100                      CssLinkAlreadyExists = true;
101                      break;
102                  }
103              }
104              if (!CssLinkAlreadyExists) {
105                  Page.Header.Controls.AddAt(0, cssLink);
106              }
107          }
108  
109      }
110  }

SampleControlDesigner.cs

1    #region Using directives
2    using System;
3    using System.Web.UI;
4    using System.Text.RegularExpressions;
5    #endregion
6    
7    namespace GizmonicInstitute.WebControls {
8    
9        public class SampleControlDesigner : System.Web.UI.Design.ControlDesigner {
10           public override string GetDesignTimeHtml() {
11               System.Reflection.Assembly l_asm = System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();
12               System.IO.Stream l_css_res = l_asm.GetManifestResourceStream("GizmonicInstitute.WebControls.SampleControl.css");
13               System.IO.StreamReader l_stream = new System.IO.StreamReader(l_css_res);
14               string ls_css = l_stream.ReadToEnd();
15   
16               const string SUBSTITUTION_PATTERN = @"(<%=)\s*(WebResource\("")(?.+)\s*(""\)%>)";
17               Regex theRegex = new Regex(SUBSTITUTION_PATTERN);
18               ls_css = theRegex.Replace(ls_css, new MatchEvaluator(PerformSubstitution));
19   
20               return "" + base.GetDesignTimeHtml();
21           }
22   
23           private string PerformSubstitution(Match m) {
24               SampleControl thisWeightControl = (SampleControl)Component;
25               string replacedString = m.ToString();
26               replacedString = replacedString.Replace(m.Value, thisWeightControl.Page.ClientScript.GetWebResourceUrl(this.GetType(), m.Groups["resourceName"].Value));
27               return replacedString;
28           }
29       }
30   
31   }

Couple Quick Movie Picks

While I write more in-depth reviews of some of the recent movies I've seen, here's a super quick evaluation:

• WALL-E (2008) - SEE IT
• The Happening (2008) - SKIP IT
• Wanted (2008) - SEE IT
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) - RENT IT
• Iron Man (2008) - SEE IT
• Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) - RENT IT
• 21 (2008) - SEE IT
  

George Carlin 1937-2008

My heart is sad today. One of my favorite comics George Carlin is gone. I can't tell you the number of times my husband Justin and I have spent driving late at night listening to George's cd's and laughing our asses off. In a lot of ways we "got" his comedy we also "got" each other. We also had the honor of seeing him live on stage three times. When we saw him last in February 2006 he had announced that he had a heart attack six weeks ago over Christmas and that is was his first show back. When he said that I had a feeling that it could be one of the last times we might ever see him. Unfortunately there have been a ton of fake forwarded e-mails and web postings that people attributed to George that are total bullshit. In the coming days there might be a lot of those going around. Most of the stuff is way too intellectually inferior to have ever been some of George's unique and genius writings and musings. His humor was hugely influential on so many of today's comics. His work was constantly pushing the boundaries and challenging our freedom of speech. If you ever had the privilege of seeing George for yourself you could always tell that deep down he was just a cool and sweet guy. Even though there are so many things attributed to him that are not his own, one thing that I did hear him say on a 60 minutes feature has always stuck with me and I believe in many ways defines him as an comic, artist, and person and that I, myself, related to in many ways. "Inside every cynical person there is a disappointed idealist." George Carlin 1937-2008

Thank You George you will be missed...

We Will Miss You, George

George Carlin, 71, died of heart failure Sunday evening. He was the first comedian I remember seeing who spoke about real things in a painfully honest way, all while being funny as hell. In his writings and performances, there is a philosophy of truth and empowerment that I respect and admire.

Mr. Carlin, you will be missed.

Lavender Diamond... Huh?

We are at a Rilo Kiley concert where we just saw a group called Lavender Diamond. It must be a put-on because the singer was just so corny. Nope, this girl is for real. Her choreography mimicked an 8-year old ballerina dancer as she kept spinning around, arms waving and tugging at her shiny dress.

The singing was annoying at best. She kept saying really goofy, new-agey things between songs about our beautiful planet, the moon, and all the wonderful technology/electricity on-stage. I couldn't help but laugh out loud at her banter -- and I wasn't alone. The audience was done with her and applauded at three different points during the last song hoping it would prompt her to leave.

We didn't get video of the show, but I found an official music video that showcases the lunacy. I love how she's constantly about to fall down off of those roller skates.

Bianca Recuperates

Bianca was exhausted after her vet visit to treat her bee sting. Here she is lounging on the comfy chair in the hotel room.