This probably isn't a common situation, but there are arguable cases where you may want to share files between projects in a single solution. In my example, I had the following solution structure:

/Solution
/SharedControls
/Project1
/Project2
(etc)

In the SharedControls project, I had stylesheets, theme content, scripts, and some common user controls that both of the other projects were using. It wouldn't be too difficult to manually copy this content to each project, but it's an extra step to remember and to track updates to each file.

When I was working on this solution setup locally, I found an easy way to address this problem, courtesy of Scott Guthrie; start by following the tutorial here:

http://webproject.scottgu.com/CSharp/UserControls/UserControls.aspx

The summary of the tutorial above is to create a web application project: SharedControls. Then add SharedControls as a project reference in each of your other projects. After that, add a copy command line event to the Pre-Build event in each project to copy the shared files from the SharedControls project.

This is a great solution for a single developer, but it does have a few issues:

• The build time is increased, especially if you are copying a lot of files.
• Each file is copied when you  debug, build, or publish a project/solution. even if it is unchanged.
• You have to make sure any changes in the shared files are made in the SharedControls project only.

Now, fast forward to my current team's implementation of Visual Studio Team Foundation Server. A solution like the one above was added into source control so that multiple developers could begin working on the projects. The first time someone tried to build a project, they received a failure message:

The command "copy "C:\Projects\Articles\Solution\SharedControls\Controls\*.ascx" "C:\Projects\Articles\Solution\Project2\Controls\"" exited with code 1.

The build operation was failing because of the pre-build event. When using TFS, your local workspace files are marked as read-only unless you have the file checked out, so the copy command is unable to overwrite the existing files, even with the force flag specified.

A Solution

I was able to address the build failures and also come up with a much better way to manage this type of setup in the process.

First, instead of copying the shared files to each project, you just set up linked files instead:

Add a reference in each project to the SharedControls project (just like in the original tutorial). Right click on the project file and select Add Reference:

Select the Projects tab and select the SharedControls project, and click OK:

In Visual Studio, right-click the Project folder or any folder in the project and select Add > Existing Item:

Navigate to the SharedControls project folder and select the file(s) you would like to link. Click the arrow next to the Add button and select Add As Link:

Now, any time you change the file from any project, all of the linked copies stay in sync. The linked file is just a reference to the copy in the SharedControls folder. If you publish your project now, you will also see that a physical copy of each linked file will be added to the target directory, this is exactly what we wanted!

Now, we're all set. except if you try to debug your project. more errors?!?

If you have linked control files, aspx pages, scripts, or images you will notice that all of them are missing when you start the project in debug mode. This is because the integrated development server points to the project folder, and the physical versions of the files no longer exist in your working project directory, even though they are part of the build.

So you need to make sure that a physical version of the file exists. Since Team Server no longer manages the project files that have been linked in each project, the copy operation should no longer fail.

I mentioned the limitations of Scott Guthrie's solution for copying files during pre-build. This is the script I used in place of his original:

xcopy "$(SolutionDir)SharedControls\Controls\*.ascx" "$(ProjectDir)Controls\" /D /Y
xcopy "$(SolutionDir)SharedControls\App_Themes\*" "$(ProjectDir)App_Themes\" /D /Y /S

So you still create physical copies in the development folder of each linked file, but they are no longer part of the project itself.

The /D flag will only copy the file from the shared projects folder if it is a more recent version than the one that already exists in the destination folder. The /Y option forces an overwrite if the file already exists. The /S option will perform a recursive copy operation.

Right-click on the Project and select Properties. Click on the Build Events tab on the left and add the xcopy command(s) to the Pre-build event command line field:

Now if you build your project again, you should be able to debug without any issues.

One final note: When you drag and drop a linked control to your page in design mode, it will show up in the source view like this:

<%@ Register src="../SharedControls/Controls/SampleControl.ascx" tagname="SampleControl"

   tagprefix="uc1" %> 

The src tag is referencing the path to the physical file; You just need to update this tag to reflect the control's  "location" in the current project:

<%@ Register src="Controls/SampleControl.ascx" tagname="SampleControl" tagprefix="uc1" %>

There are many different ways to manage shared content between projects, and this is one of the more basic approaches. If you are working under limited resources and cannot dedicate a user to creating control libraries, this is definitely an approach to consider. You can minimize duplication of work, and make sure that you are able to manage your projects in a consistent manner.

You can download a sample solution here to review how this is set up.

This Windows Mobile theme is a tribute to default theme used in the new XBox experience, now available to all XBox 360 owners. Three landscape wallpapers are included in this theme, and can be used with any other theme currently on your device.

Need installation help? Click here.

This guide has been updated to reflect the changes in FolderSync 1.4

Unless you use Windows Media Player, there is not an easy automatic synchronization option available for an Android device. I personally use the amazing Songbird media player, and have wanted the ability to sync a Songbird playlist to my G1 for some time. I finally found a simple solution thanks to the Songbird add-on FolderSync.

This solution will also work for any device that will get a drive letter assignment when it's connected to your computer.

Install/Update Songbird

Grab the latest version of Songbird from http://getsongbird.com/.

Install the FolderSync Add-On

You can also install the FolderSync Add-on by clicking here if you are viewing this page from Songbird.

Open Songbird and select Add-ons. from the Tools menu.


Click on Get Extensions in the lower right portion of the screen. This will open a new browser tab in Songbird.


In the search box on the upper right of the page, type FolderSync and click Search.
Locate the FolderSync Add-on and click the green Install button on the left of the page.
Restart Songbird after installation is completed.

Create/Select Your Playlist(s)

From the library tab in Songbird, create a playlist. Use the library views to drag songs, albums, artists, etc from your library to your new playlist to update it.

You can also use an existing playlist, or multiple lists. The only limitation in the case of is the available memory on the device.

Configure FolderSync

You can view the complete (and most up to date) documentation for FolderSync here: http://wiki.songbirdnest.com/User:Rsjtdrjgfuzkfg/FolderSync_Manual/FolderSync_Manual_English

From Songbird select Add-ons. from the Tools menu.

Locate the FolderSync entry and click the Options button.

Set your preferences in the options screen, for FolderSync 1.3, the following options are available:

1. Activate one-click synchronization of more than one playlist: Check this option to enable the "Sync All" button.
2. Delete not needed Files and Directories: Check this option to delete all files/folders as part of the sync process.
   
   * I highly recommend you un-check this option unless you are familiar with this process already *
   
   Important Note: DO NOT set the destination folder in the sync to the root of your device/sdcard with the Delete option checked. If you do, ALL OF THE FILES IN THE ROOT FOLDER WILL BE DELETED.
3. Write M3U-Playlists: Check this option to create a single m3u playlist (per Songbird playlist) in the destination folder.
4. 
   Auto-format filenames and path: This option mimics the iTunes/Songbird music organization feature, but allows you to control the folder/file structure. I have mine set to this:
   %artist%/%album%/%tracknumber% %title%Track Number (at least): This is a great new option. Setting this to 2 for example, will add a leading zero to your single-digit track numbers. This is very nice, because when your files are sorted by name, they still appear in the correct track order!
   
   An example result of the above format and track number option would be: \Music\Alice In Chains\Dirt\01 Them Bones.mp3

Click Save to update your preferences, then restart Songbird to apply the changes.

Set Up A Sync Partnership

If you haven't done so yet, connect your device to your computer and mount your SD card.

To view the FolderSync interface, select Show Content Pane Bottom from the View menu.


If you have multiple Add-ons installed, you may need to switch the bottom content pane to folder sync. To do this, click on the menu icon on the top right of the content pane and select FolderSync.

1. Place a check next to each playlist (in the left pane) you want to sync to your device.
2. Click the button labeled Browse and navigate to the Music folder on your sdcard.
3. Check the sync folder on the right pane.
4. Click the Start Sync button to copy your files.

The first process may take some time depending on the playlist size.

The setup takes more time than anything, and the only enhancement I would really enjoy at this point is the ability for the sync to happen automatically. Since this is a file system-based solution, I understand that auto-sync can't really mimic the WMP or iTunes style of synchronization.

I hope you find these instructions useful. be sure to post a comment or any questions you have. Happy syncing!

One excellent new package available for v4 is the iPhoneAltPage package. Once implemented, it allows users with iPhone devices to view an Umbraco site with iPhone-style navigation.

To install this package:

1. Log in to your Umbraco site and click on the Developer section.
2. Expand Packages in the navigation tree and select the Umbraco package repository on the left.
3. Select WebSite Utilities; iPhoneAltPage should be the first entry.
4. Select Download and Install Package.
5. Once installation is complete, just add the Javascript block to the head section of your master template.

I modified the Javascript to include Android devices as well:

<script language="javascript">
if ( (navigator.userAgent.match(/iPhone/i))|| (navigator.userAgent.match(/iPod/i))|| (navigator.userAgent.match(/Android/i)))
{
document.location.href='<umbraco:Item field="pageID" runat="server" xslt="umbraco.library:Replace(umbraco.library:NiceUrl(umbraco.library:GetXmlNodeById({0})/ancestor-or-self::node [@level=1]/@id),'.aspx','/iphone.aspx')"></umbraco:Item>';
}
</script>

You can see the results by visiting this site on your Android device or iPhone.

Installation using the .CAB File:

• Download the .CAB file directly to your device, or download the .CAB file to your computer and transfer the file to your device using ActiveSync (see instructions for ActiveSync below).
• Once you have the file on your device, open File Manager or any suitable file explorer utility and navigate to the folder where you copied the .CAB file.
• Highlight the file, then select it to initiate installation. You should be prompted to install the file.

Installation using the .ZIP File:

• Download the ZIP file to your desktop computer.
• Extract the contents of the file to your computer. Each theme should have two files: The JPG file for the background image and an XML document.
• Use the ActiveSync instructions below to copy the two files from your computer to your mobile device.
• If your mobile device supports the extraction of ZIP files, then you should be able to download the file directly to your device and copy the content into the Application Data\Home folder using File Manager (or any file explorer).

ActiveSync Instructions:

1. From the ActiveSync main window, select Explore from the toolbar.
2. The default view is your My Documents folder on the device. You can drag/copy the file directly to this folder, or navigate to another folder, start by selecting My Windows Mobile-Based Device. From there you should have access to your Storage Card (if installed) and any other folders.
3. For manual installation of themes using the ZIP file, select My Windows Mobile-Based Device, then navigate to Application Data\Home. Copy the extracted files from the ZIP archive to the Home folder.