Hopefully in the next few days I will be updating this site to have a place for my sketches and other artwork. I am currently writing the PHP for it, but I also need to dig out all of my old drawings. I really hope that I have them backed up on one of my many CDs because unfortunately, so far, I have not been able to find them on either my laptop, or in any of the ZIP archives I moved over to my new PC from my old one.

One other thing I have been working on is a website for my parents' business. That seems to be coming along nicely so far. We will soon be integrating an eBay store with the site, and so far it doesn't look like that will be too difficult to do at all.

So I have been tasked to add a ReadOnly method to a set of base controls. Not a terribly difficult job. I have simply created an interface: IReadOnly which defines a boolean property named ReadOnly and an event to handle when the control's ReadOnly state changes. I am then implementing the interface on classes that inherit from their respective base control:

public class ComboBox : System.Windows.Forms.ComboBox, IReadOnly { ... }

And so on for several of the major controls. Within these controls I also have a private System.Windows.Forms.TextBox defined. I use this to basically cover-up the main control. For the most part, this works fine, I just use Data Binding to tie the Text property of the parent control into the Text property of the private TextBox and set the ReadOnly state of the TextBox to true. The only problem with this set-up is that the very bottom (1 or 2 pixels) of the parent control (ComboBox) is visible. Despite having the TextBox drawn to the same size as the ComboBox it still misses the very bottom edge. As far as looks, it is barely noticeable, however it is clickable, which allows for the selection list to drop down, which then means the user can change the value of the "read only" control... That isn't very read only is it?

Another option I could try is rewriting the control to house two separate controls at the same level, in this case the ComboBox and the TextBox, then swap them depending on the ReadOnly state of the control.

I don't know for sure, I'm sure I'll come up with something.

I was digging through one of several of my CD books today over lunch and ran across some good stuff that I hadn't heard in a while. One selection in particular 'Death to the Pixies', a two disc compilation of most of my favorite songs grabbed my eye, so I yanked those out and started listening.

It seems to me, and maybe others, that they were the beginning of the Alternative Rock genre. They mix the sounds of 'Surf Rock' and Punk in a way that somehow just fits. I could be wrong, but I believe they were a big inspiration to Nirvana in a lot of their songs. There is a similarity in the sounds.

I remember a couple years ago The Pixies got together for a sort of reunion tour. I almost didn't go, but I'm vary happy I did (thanks Susan, if you ever read this). The show itself wasn't mind-blowing in anyway, but just getting to see them on stage was amazing, something I'll never forget.

Anyway, just wanted to share that.

I'm going in to see Jenn Wed. about some ink I'm getting on my back. She has been working on the basic design I gave her, hopefully we will be at a place where we can get started on it soon.

Gouge Away...

So I decided to finally get back on this whole 'having my own website' thing. It's been a while since I've done any web work for myself so I'm having a bit of a rough time at gathing my crap together into one spot. Eventually I believe I will have it how I want it and be back in action, or some reasonable likeness to 'action' that would more suit me.

Overall I am just trying to have a very simple, straight-forward site. I'm not a big fan of clutter, at least for something like this. I make that pseudo-specification since, as most of you who know me might point out, I tend to just leave crap everywhere: clothes in the dryer, drink glasses on my desk, small animals in the microwave, etc...

In the meantime toss me any feedback you might have regarding the site: likes, dislikes, suggestions - you know the drill. You might have to just use good old email at least until I get comments working on here (which I will be starting on once I get mysql and php kickin').