I stared searching for logging framework. At this point, you must be thinking why not log4net. I say mainly because setting that up to usable condition was too time consuming and complex for me. Although I have been using log4net during developing my very first add-in, honestly I still cannot setup log4net without referring its website. Also as pointed out here sometimes your log4net library will be larger than the actual application!

I found a new logging framework known as .NET Logging Framework by The Object Guy. The framework is very simple to implement and framework assembly is also very small. A notable feature for me is (from author’s website),

An InsistentLogger which you can use to wrap any other logger. This logger will continually try to relog to its wrapped logger whenever the wrapped logger fails to properly log. (e.g. You could wrap a SerialSocketLogger with an InsistentLogger. Then, if the end receiving logs over a socket happens to go down temporarily, the log entries will still get logged once the receiver is back online.)

Moderately priced at $5 for a single developer, I was not surprised to know its users list already include big names like Intel, HP, IBM, Bank of America!

At the end of the document, a solution architect in my team felt a need of a diagram to explain the control flow inside the system. To draw the diagram, I did not have the Microsoft Visio (which I often use for such kind of tasks), and I was not willing to use MS Paint (you have to draw everything on your own), PowerPoint (very less work area) and Paint.net (not easy to draw arrows etc).

I was searching for alternative free solution and I found this site called www.lovelycharts.com. Its dead simple. Register, login and start drawing.

You have save/export options once you are done drawing, and also different draw objects like network items, flow charts, etc.

I just now found out how to change this behavior. Windows run menu works by identifying the commands in the particular registry entry.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths

The devenv.exe, and its path is defined in that registry key.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\devenv.exe

So when you install VS 2005/2008 and then install VS 2003, this registry key is overwritten.

So you can rewrite this path of devenv.exe to set the proper behavior.

Default path to Visual Studio 2005:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe

Default path to Visual Studio 2008:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe

Default path to Visual Studio 2010:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe

Disclaimer: Modifying the registry can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Use the information provided at your own risk.