Blog – Page 155

Beating SPAM the Easy Way

Okay – sure I know you can BUY software to prevent SPAM but the easiest way for people who don’t usually get e-mails from people they don’t know is the following: (Note: this works better in Outlook 2003 because you can specify the Address Book instead of the having to specify each person) 1. Create a rule for messages when they arrive. 2. The rule should be to move ALL messages to a Junk Mail folder but with the following exception: a) in Outlook 2003 – except when user is in your address book b) in all other versions – …

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The Design of Everyday Things

Great article (oldie (2002) but goodie!) on the the user interface design issues facing toilet paper rolls. (yes I’m serious!) Click here to see it on Donald Norman’s site Every time I give a session on user interface design (VFP Devcon this year), I’m always tempted to go back and look at how to improve my own applications. Certainly, new work that is being done on Foxfire! 8.0 (click here for a preview) shows some of these ideas but the general problem is always there for every developer: when building a product or a project under deadlines, interface design decisions …

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Improving the VFP Menu Designer As many in the community know, I have a strong affinity towards menus, having creating GenMenuX way back when and it still runs even under VFP 8 without any modifications. One of the questions that came out during the closing session was will there ever be any changes to the Menu Designer? Now, no one on the panel was a Softie (from MS) so no one can say what their plans are, however, I have been recently working on a new Menu Designer that works with the existing MNX file structure but makes it easier …

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Just got back from VFP DevCon 2003 in Palm Springs, California – where the lows were 98 degrees and the highs were 110! Note: Thanks to Ted Roche (www.tedroche.com) who showed me his Blog and inspired me to do the same! Overall, it was a great conference! Great to see both old faces and new! Total Attendance: Around 375. Highlights: A sneak peak at what MS has planned for Europa, the next version of VFP! Announced items include an improved report designer, the removal of many existing SQL limitations, brand new data types (VarChar and VarBinary) and Index types and …

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Nav Canada

1997 The NavCanada Flight Invoicing System was responsible for the corporation invoicing of aviation systems through Canadian airspace. As Project Manager and lead developer, Mr. MacNeill: Upgraded existing Transport Canada system to Windows-based system for use with newly created Crown Corporation Capture and documented existing application processes and mapped to new and evolving business changes as brought on by the Worked with additional PMs and managed a team of developers in designing an Oracle Financials interface into the new system. Technologies Used: Oracle, Microsoft Office, Visual FoxPro, Visual Basic

Exocom

1996-1998 Exocom Systems was one of Ottawa’s premier consulting firms in the 1990’s, specializing in technologies from a number of vendors. Mr. MacNeill joined the Microsoft division and brought his expertise in development and analysis. His management and presentation skills at Microsoft-sponsored conferences helped Exocom become one of the first Microsoft Regional Directors in Ottawa. As Project Manager and lead developer, Mr. MacNeill: Provided systems analysis and design specifications for government and private companies in implementing office improvements systems using COTS software (Microsoft Office) and custom development Led small development teams in providing solutions to clients such as Justice Canada and Credit …

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Credit Union Institute of Canada

1999 The Online Education Management System was the first online system for the Institute’s Ottawa branch, responsible for managing the courses for Professional programs for credit unions across Canada and their employees. Mr. MacNeill was the principal architect and designer of the system responsible for: Analyzing business requirements in conjunction with the management of the CUIC and their partners, turning the requirements into a functional system specification Designing of online system with contractors Assisting in the deployment of system on internal network infrastructure Training of Ottawa-based permanent and temporary staff on usage of new system Technologies Used: Visual Studio, SQL Server, ASP, Javascript, …

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PC Edge

1992-1994 Corporate Renaissance Group is now one of Microsoft’s Gold Dynamics Partners. Mr. MacNeill’s work with its previous incarnation, PC Edge, helped revolutionize Salary Management Systems across the Canadian Federal Government. He also became a Development Manager, responsible for hiring new talent and managing technical responses to RFPs for government departments and agencies, such as the Canadian Figure Skating Association.

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