Community developer blogs

Charlie Barker

Recent Posts

• Grok'ing nServiceBus

  Posted: 20 Apr 2009 at 09:05

  First read this nServiceBus overview. I'm recording my learning so I can refer to it later. Messaging Concepts Transport For messaging to work you need to transport messages from one endpoint to another, once an application has created the message addressed it and put it into a queue it is up to the transport to attempt delivery. MSMQ is the default choice of nServiceBus. nServiceBus Concepts Publish vs Send - Wiki Article nService Bus Code Samples Articles Synchronous Web Serv

• Install an SSL cert on your local machine for testing

  Posted: 17 Apr 2009 at 09:59

  One of the devs in our team here at Wonga came accross this useful tool. If you find the need to install an SSL cert on your local machine for testing purposes, such is the requirement for testing the WongaAPI, you can download the IIS 6.0 Resource Kit Tools from Microsoft, which contains a tool called SelfSSL. This is a simple command line utility which will install an ssl cert on localhost. the tool kit can be downloaded from here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?Fami

• How MSMQ works

  Posted: 16 Apr 2009 at 08:07

  I found a this great analogy on how MSMQ works URL : Full MEssage "MSMQ works similar to how USPS works. You write your letter, write in address (queue format name), attach stamp and put it into your mail box with raised red flag (send the message using MSMQ). Your mail (message) then sits in this mail box near your house (outgoing queue). Note at that point you can get address wrong on your letter (bad format name), however that won’t stop you from put

• Southern Trains Announcement Ringtone for your iPhone

  Posted: 20 Feb 2009 at 15:34

  For your enjoyment a ringtone of the Southern Service to Ashford International, oh the automated announcement goodness. Warning this may confuse your fellow passengers unless you happen to be on that train to Ashford. AshforInternationalSpeed.m4r (192.71 KB)

• iPhone 3G Rip off

  Posted: 20 Feb 2009 at 13:55

  Before you let Steve Job's and his posse firmly place their arm up your back passage here's a few things you should know. Firstly Apple have effectively fitted the iPhone with a chastity belt, if you want to have your wicked way with it you will have to Jailbreak it first, if you don't the following is a list of things you will have to put up with. 1 - You'll have to pay for custom ringtones and you can only choose from the songs / tones available on iTunes. 2 - If you want to make use

• Vodafone Broadband Dongle Review

  Posted: 08 Feb 2009 at 10:37

  I bought one of these a couple of weeks ago, to use on my commute to london. The Good: Uber convienient have BB on the move Signal on the train is good without to much drop out. You can plug in a 4gb mcro sd card and turn it into a memory stick The Bad: This is a relatively expensive way to roam the WWW at 15 quid per GB but it only costs 39.99 to buy and you only pay for what you use unlike the pay montly alternatives. Perfect for me as I will only use it for small periods. The

• Make SQL Server 2005 Address more than 2Gb on Windows 2003/2000 32bit versions

  Posted: 18 Dec 2008 at 13:55

  If you are using Sql Server 2005 straight out of the box on 32bit Windows 2003 / 2000 and you would like Sql Server to be able to address more than 2Gb of RAM you have to enable AWE. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms190731(SQL.90).aspx

• Project Garden Shed

  Posted: 13 Nov 2008 at 10:34

  I have decided to put a shed in the garden this is an account of what was involved and what the various bits cost. Here she is a 5m x 5m Conrad from Factory Cabins Direct. She cost £2300 inc vat with 44m thick walls and double glazing and took about four weeks to arrive. I notice the price h

• Configure WinSCP to upload automatically to SFTP

  Posted: 13 Oct 2008 at 17:48

  I needed to automate the upload of csv files to an SFTP server for print fulfilment. It was a bit trickier than I thought it would be so I recorded what I did in case I need to do it again someday. 1)     Download and install WinSCP from here: http://winscp.net 2)  &nb

• New Job - Wonga

  Posted: 29 Sep 2008 at 14:17

  I have recently changed job, I have moved from the relative safety of Tradeweb to Wonga an 18 month old startup. It's a very exciting place to work offering a very dynamic working environment. The company is very focused on becoming the number one payday loan company. It offers cash direct to your

• Uploading IIS or Event log files to SQL Server using Microsoft Log Parser

  Posted: 20 Sep 2008 at 20:28

  Every now and again I stumble across a tool that does exactly what I am looking for no if's or but's just exactly what I need. It is a rare moment and something to savour. Today it happened and the tool is Microsoft's Log Parser. This is a tool that knows how read IIS and Windows event logs out of t

• A Review of Mark Steel's book: What's going on ?

  Posted: 20 Sep 2008 at 10:29

  I am a big fan of Mark Steel's, I loved the "Mark Steel Lectures" series that he did for the Open University. He is very good at explaining ideas in plain english, de-jargonising them and adding touch of humor to the learning experience. The majority of the series seems to be on you tube, just searc

• Schema Design Rules

  Posted: 13 Aug 2008 at 09:26

  These are the schema design commandments I live by, they are kept here purely for my reference. Rules marked with * are absolute and if not implemented will result in karma so bad you will be reincarnated as a bottom feeder. 1.) Pluralise table names. 2.) *Every table in the db will have a primary k

• New Social Gaming Network - Playfire

  Posted: 30 Jul 2008 at 18:33

  I have a friend I'll call him Aaron because that's his name. He has joined the company behind a new social networking site focused in the gaming community. The have just revamped their site, it is still in beta though you wouldn't know it. The have areas for all the major consoles and of course pc

• New search engine - CUIL

  Posted: 29 Jul 2008 at 09:19

  There is a new search engine on the block, you've got to admire someone who's got the balls to take google on! Check CUIL out. My first impressions are that it's fast, it doesn't have a geographical filter like google which might make looking for online stores in your country a problem, unless it ha

• Centro - Entity Definitions / Work in Progress

  Posted: 16 Jul 2008 at 10:07

  Entity Definitions ================== Center - An organisation that runs courses Center Admin - A course administrator Center Instructor - A course instructor Organisation - An organisation that sends people on courses Organisation Admin - An administrator at an organisation that sends people on cou

• Occupational Health Website in Monorail for ProHealth

  Posted: 27 Jun 2008 at 22:23

  I wanted a way to get into the guts of monorail so I offered to create a website for the occupational health company that my mum works for. It is very much a work in progress, you can check it out here ProHealthUk if you want to see the CRUD click the admin link. When the site goes fully live

• nPower Sucks

  Posted: 27 Jun 2008 at 22:09

  So tonight at about 8pm I sit down on the couch with a beer when I hear a knock at the door. When I answer it there two ladies and a gent all smartly dressed in suits. The woman asks me to confirm my name and address as shown on her clipboard she then starts a vauge diatribe about how I could save

• centro a new open source project in monorail

  Posted: 26 May 2008 at 22:59

  I am building a course booking system in monorail and in the process of uploading the source to google code. This is basically a way for me to understand the MVC approach to building websites using the castle monorail project. I figured the code may be of use to others tackling similar tasks or who

• What happens to your Blog when you die?

  Posted: 17 Apr 2008 at 11:05

  I was having difficulty getting to sleep last night and started wondering what happens to a persons blog when they die. Currently this blog lives on my server at home so I wouldn't reckon on it lasting too long after my passing should I be struck down by a Bus or Psyclist in london. Most folks who b