Jonathan's space

Here’s a little known VirtualBox tip.  One of my biggest frustrations with VirtualBox has been the inability to clone VDIs.  However, it is possible using the vboxmanage command-line utility.  The syntax is simple:

   1: c:\Program Files\Sun\VirtualBox\vboxmanage clonehd source output

That’s it!  Here’s a screenshot of the complete usage options:

Have fun,

JB

Jennifer decided it was time for a family blog.  We needed a place to post stuff pertaining to our family.  Check out our family blog at theburrisblog.blogspot.com.  Also, check out our YouTube channel @ youtube.com/burrisfamilyvideos.

Stay tuned…

JB

Until recently, I have used Microsoft’s Virtual PC, and VMWare’s Player for virtual environments.  I still use Microsoft’s Virtual Server for machines on my network such as my Domain Controller, TFS Server, and SharePoint Server.  I used Virtual PC more than VMWare for development VDIs because it was what Microsoft provided as part of my MSDN subscription.  Recently, I was looking for some VMWare appliances and stumbled across Sun’s VirtualBox.  VirtualBox is a virtualization tool that is provided as Open Source Software under the GPL terms.  Before I forget, VirtualBox can be found at http://www.virtualbox.org.

I will spare the detailed features of VirtualBox and comparisons with other similar tools.  What I will tell you is that it is simple, fast, powerful, and it runs on just about any OS imaginable.  The first screenshot shows the simplicity of the application.  However, just about everything is configurable.  From RAM to Hard Disks to Networks to USB ports, it offers a high level of customization.  Additionally, it seems to work well with the hardware on every machine I have installed it on.  My Windows 7 RC virtual machine is incredibly fast for a VDI.  The sound, display, and network were all automatically configured. 

Snapshots are also incredibly easy to manage.  I often take snapshots of my VDIs before installing new software or making system changes.  My favorite feature of VirtualBox has to be the display features.  After installing the VirtualBox Guest Additions, My VDI screen adapts – regardless of the window size.  If I maximize the window, the VDI takes up the full-screen.  It’s much better than Virtual PC’s window or full-screen options you are limited to with that product.

If you are a fan of virtual machines, you must give VirtualBox a try.  I think you will find yourself hooked shortly after installing your first VDI.

jQuery is fantastic!  It makes client-side development faster and countless plug-ins are available for just about every need.  Using jQuery with Asp.NET Web-Forms gets aggravating when dealing with nested server controls.  ClientIDs get appended when using ASP.NET Master Pages.  Objects in JavaScript tend to look like this:

   1: ctl00_cphContent_lblHelloWorld

The difficulty of the issue above is that, in order to get the element lblHelloWorld, It’s necessary to know the full “path”.  It’s quite aggravating to refer to get the object using the method below:

   1: document.getElementByID(‘ctl00_cphContent_lblHelloWorld’);

This becomes a big problem when developing server controls or web parts that may be used in a typical ASP.NET application or SharePoint.  You cannot hard-code the path above if you don’t know the full path of the control.

Fortunately, there are a a few ways to get around this.  There are two, in particular, I will mention.  The first is the jQuery equivalent to the standard JavaScript method:

   1: document.getElementById("<%=lblHelloWorld.ClientID %>");

This can be done in jQuery by using:

   1: $("#'<%=lblHelloWorld.ClientID %>'");

The second jQuery method does not require server tags.  This method searches through all tags and looks for an element ending with the specified text.  The jQuery code for this method is shown below:

   1: $("[id$='_lblHelloWorld']");

There are, of course, drawbacks to both methods above.  The first is fast, but requires server tags.  It’s fast, but it just looks messy.  Also, it will not work with external script files.  The second alternative is clean, but it can be slow.  As I said earlier, there are several other alternatives, but these two are the ones I find myself using the most.

Special thanks to the crew over at “Janko at Warp Speed” for pointing me to these methods.

JB

Welcome to my personal blog.  I will begin posting entries on a regular basis over the next few weeks.  Check back often to see what’s going on in my world.

JB