Samsung Galaxy SII - Sync mit Lotus Notes und MyPhoneExplorer

Seit ein paar Wochen darf ich dank TRND das coole Samsung Galaxy S II testen.

Nach vielen positiven Eindrücken kam dann die erste Enttäuschung - es gibt mit Samsung Bordmittel  keine Möglichkeit mit Lotus Notes zu synchronisieren.
Nach kurzem Suchen fand ich die perfekte Software (unter Windows) dafür:
MyPhoneExplorer
Ich kannte die Software noch von meinem alten W510i und bin total begeister, dass nun auch Android unterstützt wird.
Einfach MyPhoneExplorer am PC installieren, im Android Market MyPhoneExplorer suchen und (kostenlos) installieren.

Ich habe die Verbindung über Bluetooth konfiguriert und schon konnte ich Adressen, Kalender und Kontakte mit dem Galaxy S II mit Lotus Notes synchronisieren.

Ein paar mögliche Stolperfallen gibt es aber:
Bei synch mit dem USB Kabel muss unter Einstellungen - Anwendungen der USB Debugging Modus erlaubt werden. Das sollte aber immer nur temporär erfolgen, denn Kies findet so das Handy nicht mehr. (Zumindest bei mir).

Wichtig auch unbedingt am MyPhoneExplorer Client genau konfigurieren welche Kalender, Adressbücher etc. synchronisiert werden sollen.

So simpel und kostengünstig geht das am iPhone nicht!

Picture taken with Samsung Galaxy S II

Developing a custom MembershipProvider

there are some samples out there on the net just showing what the default providers already do: Using an SQL DB as the source. They even concentrate on the SQL stuff, instead on the MembershipProvider implementation.

So here we go, a very simple example:

First create a new class that inherits from the abstract MembershipProvider class.

public class MyMembershipProvider : 
            System.Web.Security.MembershipProvider

We just need to implement two simple methods and one property to get started:

public override void Initialize(string name, 
     System.Collections.Specialized.NameValueCollection config)
	{
		//base.Initialize(name, config);
		//read you config settings and
        //do whatever you need here
	}

If you connect to some database init your db settings here, or read your web service settings if you plan to consume a web service later.

Next, we implement the ValidateUser method:

public override bool ValidateUser(string username, 
                                  string password)
  {
    if (username == "user" && password == "pass") return true;
    return false;
  }

This is just a sample to let you see how it works, of course you are going to implement here the validation to you backend, be it LDAP, a DB, web services or whatever.

The last thing is the property Name. As long as I did not implement this the login failed, throwing an exception.

    public override string Name
    {
        get
        {
            return "SampleMembershipProvider";
        }
    }

Basically this is the name you refer to in the configuration.

Now on to the web.config. We add the MembershipProvider and declare that /images may be accessed by everyone (*), but /locked only by authenticated users. And we need to configure the authentication:

<authentication mode="Forms">
   <forms name=".ASPXAUTH"
     loginUrl="~/Default.aspx"
     protection="Validation"
     timeout="999999"
    />
</authentication>

<membership defaultProvider="SampleMembershipProvider" 
            userIsOnlineTimeWindow="15">
  <providers>
   <add name="SampleMembershipProvider"
         type="MyMembershipProvider"/>
  </providers>
</membership>
</system.web>
<location path="images">
  <system.web>
     <compilation debug="true"/>
      <authorization>
         <allow users="*" />
       </authorization>
     </system.web>
  </location>
  <location path="locked">
    <system.web>
      <compilation debug="true"/>
      <authorization>
        <deny users="?" />
      </authorization>
    </system.web>
  </location>

Now we place the asp:Login control on our default.aspx page (we told web.config that this is the login page).

<asp:Login RememberMeSet="True" runat="server"
     ID="logincontrol"
     MembershipProvider="SampleMembershipProvider"
     DestinationPageUrl="~/locked/securedpage.aspx">
</asp:Login>

Thats it. Have fun.

iPhone Cellular Data Network missing

Open Cydia – search for “APN Editing” and install it. Now you will find Settings – General – Network – Cellular Data Network.

* Update *
It might be that you carrier blocks some ip addresses, or dns names, so try with wifi!

iPhone OS3 MMS and Tethering

If your carrier does not provide you with config settings for your iPhone, go to help.benm.at (from your iPhone) there you will find help,….

Legoland Günzburg (Germany)

Our second trip to an amusement park this year. As my son starts with school this autumn we decided to travel to some places with him, before school takes over :-)

Compared to Disneyland – Legoland is much smaller – but – more relaxing, more fun, less people, better music, better service in restaurants, less expensive and have I mentioned more fun?

So if you kid is not the absolute Disney lover, check out Legoland!

Empty strings are not allowed

We migrated the developer environment from Sitecore 5 to Sitecore 6.0.2.

Basically everything went straight forward. Its not comfortable but ok. Some APIs have changed, that business as usual.

However – one problem took a while to be solved – the “Empty strings are not allowed - Parameter name: fieldName”.

We tried many different things to solve this – updating templates, verifying web.config, debugging and so on. Then we discovered – that one of our colleagues did not have the problem.

So I went to user manager, selected my profile, clicked on “Reset Settings” logged in again – and there – it worked.

In the meantime I learned from Sitecore Support that there is even a tool to fix the problem – you just need to open a case,….