My Toolbox column in the May 2008 issue of MSDN Magazine is avaiable online. The May issue examines:
- OmniAudit: a tool for creating SQL Server audit trails. OmniAudit offers a very slick and intuitive user interface for defining what tables and columns to audit and then generates the triggers and tracking tables needed to keep a log of changes to those tables and columns, including when the change was made, who made it, and past values. Also included is a log viewing program for searching the log history. (For more on audit logs, see Maintaining a Log of Database Changes.)
- VSNETCodePrint: produce high-quality printouts of your Visual Studio code with VSNETCodePrint. Print (or export to PDF) all the code from an entire project or solution with the click of one button. Very useful for code reviews, user-group talks, conferences, training, and the like.
- Blogs of Note - Joel On Software. Joel Spolsky, co-founder of FogBugz Software, shares his insights on user interface and leading a team of programmers in his interesting, entertaining, and well-written blog.
- The Bookshelf - ASP.NET AJAX in Action, by Alessandro Gallo, David Barkol, and Rama Krishna Vavilala. Here is an excerpt from the book review:
The Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX framework simplifies the process of building AJAX-enabled Web applications by providing a rich and powerful, high-level API over the multitude of low-level interactions that must seamlessly occur between the client and server. Any book about the ASP.NET AJAX framework must balance the low- and high-level details. The space devoted to client-side issues like the XMLHttpRequest object and JSON must be weighed against coverage of the framework's Web controls and client- and server-side APIs. ... ASP.NET AJAX In Action starts from the low-level details and works its way up. ... ASP.NET AJAX In Action is not intended for beginning Web developers, as it assumes a certain level of familiarity with how to build ASP.NET applications, but this book is accessible regardless of past client-side or AJAX development experience.
Enjoy! - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc507638.aspx
As always, if you have any suggestions for products or books to review for the Toolbox column, please send them into toolsmm@microsoft.com.