Visual Studio 2008 Error: “The application data folder for Visual Studio could not be created”

June 21st, 2009

I recently got a strange error in Visual Studio 2008 which prevents Visual Studio 2008 from starting: "The application data folder for Visual Studio could not be created.", with only a Close button on the message box. What makes this weird is that it happens only when I use my Administrator account, and not my regular user account -- counterintuitive, because at first it appears to be a permissions problem.

After searching the net for a solution I've found a plethora of blog posts encountering the same problem, with various solutions, but Quantboy's "Visual Studio 2.0 startup error" pointed me at the right direction:

I googled the message- and found that the key to this problem is by changing the following registry key entry (like some everyday user’s going to be able to find this)

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

I checked the value for this entry in my Admin account and this is what I found:

 RegistryForJonjonAdmin

I compared this with my user account, and this is the correct value, which I applied to the Admin account. I was then able to run Visual Studio 2008 normally:

RegistryValueforAppData

Consequently I found out that it also prevents Firefox from starting up; during the time I was having these errors I can't open FF either, but after the fix FF starts normally. I don't know what hotfix or what not causes this error, however.

Slides and code for MSDN Session: An Introduction to IronRuby and the Dynamic Language Runtime

June 3rd, 2009

I'd like to thank the nice people who came over and saw last Thursday's MSDN Session!

The slides used for the presentation is provided below, via Scribd, downloadable in PPT format:

An Introduction to IronRuby and the Dynamic Language

An Introduction to IronRuby and the Dynamic Language LaTtEX Presentation given during the MSDN Session of the same title, last May 27, 2009, at the Microsoft Philippines Offices. These slides discuss about the merits of learning a dynamic language, a brief history of Ruby, and its main language features

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Internet & Technolog Research ruby dlr

The Ruby sample code is provided here: RubySampleCode.zip

The sample code for Ruby integration with C# (taken from cruizer here) is here: IronRubyTest.zip

Do check out Andre Cruz's IronRuby presentation slides and demo code -- which was my source for several key points in my presentation. While Andre lamented that he had an audience of 10, I shared his ideas to my audience of 100, as my way of thanking him. Salamat bushing! :)

During the presentation, Philip Laureano asked a rather difficult question regarding the DLR's integration with C# 4.0's "dynamic" keyword. He came up with the answer himself: click here for the sample code on how C# 4.0's dynamic keyword demonstrate the capabilities of the DLR. You the man, Philip!

I'm cooking up a follow up session on ASP.NET MVC working with IronRuby, but don't hold your breath just yet; will keep you posted. Thanks again to everyone who was there!

MSDN Session: An Introduction to IronRuby and the Dynamic Language Runtime

May 22nd, 2009

Time to speak up again! :)

I'm going to have an MSDN Session at the Microsoft Philippines HQ in Makati to discuss about IronRuby, its awesome potential, how far its progress has gone, and the basics of the Ruby language on Wednesday, May 27, 2009, 6PM.

You'll need to register for this event, so please visit the MS Events Philippines page for this MSDN Session on IronRuby.

Hope to see you there!

TDD Revisited

April 25th, 2009

I recently did a small presentation for my officemates as a refresher for Test Driven Development:

TDD Revisited TDD Revisited LaTtEX A guide to test driven development both for people who need an introduction to it, as well as software developers who wish to review its core concepts.

Publish at Scribd or explore others: How-to-Guides & Manu test driven developm software development

This presentation is based heavily on Ben Hall's Red, Green, Refactor! presentation, - in fact you could get the code for this presentation from there as well. :)

Resources for ASP.NET MVC and IronRuby

April 8th, 2009

I put off studying ASP.NET MVC during pre-release, and now that it's out, it's really really time to catch up.

There are a bunch of nice tutorials out there, and I'd like to compile them here:

I'm also checking out IronRuby, especially with respect to integration with ASP.NET MVC:

I will try to conjure a talk out of these in a little over a month's time, wish me luck. :)

MVP for Visual C#

April 2nd, 2009

Microsoft_MVP_logo I'm very happy to announce that I've been awarded the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Award for Visual C#.

Oh wait, I'm not just happy. I feel so freaking awesome I can't even sleep! :P

With this award I'm looking forward to working with and serving the local MS user community even more. Thanks for those who have supported me in my community participation all these years. :)

Pinoy Tech Podcast Episode 4: The Internet in the Philippines 15 years ago

April 1st, 2009

In the latest episode of Pinoy Tech Podcast, the crew and I went nostalgic as we reminisce the first time the Philippines was connected to the internet, and our experiences surrounding that event and what had unfolded afterwards. We also talked about the state of computer science education in the Philippines.

Check out Pinoy Tech Podcast Episode 4.

Pahabol: Pinoy Tech Podcast Episode 03

March 23rd, 2009

Before we hit Skype for Pinoy Tech Podcast Episode 4, I'd just like to post the link (pahabol lang) to Pinoy Tech Podcast Episode 03: The 40 day social network abstinence, which I wasn't able to join since I was at the hotel in Cebu chilling with the great people from Microsoft after the very successful Web Ramp Up event there. To all our friends and attendees in Cebu, daghang salamat!

We're going to discuss a little about the history of the internet in the Philippines (something we've been doing in tidbits the past 3 episodes anyway) and then go on to discuss about the state of computer science education in the country, so do watch out for the next episode, which would most likely come out this Saturday.

Learning how to learn: learning to make mistakes and getting truly creative

March 19th, 2009

7fec_1 Do you remember Barron's Book Notes? Back in high school and even in college, these little booklets were indispensable resources when a student needed to study and review whatever classic English literature was assigned for reading. It was so effective, however, that many times you never read, say, "Don Quixote" in its entirety -- you just read Barron's Booknotes and you're all set for your exam. While I didn't use Barron's Booknotes for English lit, I did use a local equivalent for "reading" Rizal's Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo.

The result -- I can't really say that I've read Noli and Fili. Not only that, I can't remember anything about those books -- fiction that are integral to the history of the Philippines -- because all of whatever faux knowledge I held in my head was quickly disposed of after their required shelf life: the final exams. Even worse, I don't have any genuine and original opinion about two books that started a revolution in my country.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Twitter WPF app I shouldn’t have missed for my demo

March 9th, 2009

With the Web Ramp Up held last February 26 coming up fast, and with work piling up the pressure, not to mention a job performance appraisal I'm not happy about (totally my fault, but busted my morale nonetheless),I totally missed out on my podcasts the whole month of February. So on the morning of the 27th I fired up iTunes, synced my iPod, and totally found the one Twitter WPF client that I should have talked about during Web Ramp Up!

blu_TwitterClientScott Hanselman of Hanselminutes talked with the creators of blu, a WPF Twitter client made by a design company called thirteen23. And boy was I blown away.

It was one of those Homer Simpson "doh!" moments where I reminded myself that even if I'm uber-busy, I should stop and look at my RSS feeds and updates, which might yield something both new and relevant to whatever I am doing at the moment.

Oh, and the feature that I was trying to add to Witty, wherein I was retrieving the "source" tweet of a certain reply tweet? Blu actually has that feature. I'm totally impressed!

You can download blu here.

Of course, those attending the Cebu edition of Web Ramp Up will get to see blu integrated in my presentation. See you guys in Cebu on Friday!