Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to add what will probably be my final blog entry.  I hope everyone had a nice Mother's Day and got the chance to spend time with family.  I was able to get together with my mom, mother-in-law, and the rest of the family to enjoy a nice meal and fellowship... We made some really nice steaks, chicken, salad, and many other delicious items including several desserts! Yum!

Anyway, I am hard at studying these remaining two days before the test and our project deliverable.  Just reviewing all the material I can and making some last minute tweaks and improvments to my project.  I hope everyone's exams and final days of class have went well.  This is my only class, but it sure has kept me busy...

I enjoyed working with everyone and learning from you all.  I really did learn a lot, even though at times I felt overwhelmed.  Review and repetition for me is the key! 

Have a great summer and enjoy time with your families....

Blessings and success,

Tom Gessner

Hi Everyone:

After going through all the recent blogs, it is easy to see to see the common thread of frustration, tiredness, and the anticipation of the semester's end.  I can totally relate to the amount of time and effort we have all have put into this class.  This certainly has been no bowl of cherries! Like Dan said in his last blog post, we have only failed if we have failed to learn - even if it is through our mistakes.  So, don't feel too bad if things don't totally make sense - they sure don't to me at this point.

Anyway, I do have sometime tomorrow to work on my project and try to get this web service working with my application.  I am thankful that my program does work locally, in case the web service never works for me. 

As we are coming to an end, I have enjoyed this class, although it has certainly consumed more time outside of class than any other class in my life (my wife isn't too happy about that!).  I plan on spending some more time this summer reviewing the concepts we have learned and trying some practice applications to reinforce these concepts.  Most importantly, I am going to take the summer off and return in the fall, so I can spend more time with my family and newborn son.  I really need the break!

Best wishes to everyone on their project and final exam! It has been a ride!

Blessings and success,

Tom

Hi All,

Just checking in again... Not much to say on this end; just continuing to press through the project and gettting in as much study time as possible for the final exam.  I have the day off from work every Tues., so I try to really cram as much as I can before class.

I wish everyone well with these last two weeks of class.

See you later in the lab,

Tom

Hi All,

After reading all of the recent blogs, I understand everyone's stress at this time of year and with our class in general.  We are moving very quickly with many concepts, and trying to grasp them all is challenging.  I must say, I spend the majority of my time away from work studying and working on homework and reading, and reading, and reading! 

I agree that after chapter 6, this class took on a whole new level of difficulty.  Without any elaborate book examples, one must really dig...

But, hang in there everyone, we will make it! I just keep on asking questions and also putting my head together with my fellow classmates.  It really does help to get another peson's perspective on things.

Anyway, I am really tired from work, school, newborn baby, etc.  I love them all, but it just seems like there is never enough time in a day.

Have a great weekend and just take a deep breath... We're all almost done for the semester!

Tom

Hi Everyone,

Just needing some help here with lab 4.  I am trying to provide the code for the load and save functionality.  The lab assignment sheet says to "(see slides)".  For whatever reason, this is not helping me.  I keep getting a blue squiggly on the "(_filePath,...)" part of the New FileStream parameters that says "Name _filePath is not declared."  Does anyone know why or how to resolve this?  Please let me know...

Thanks,

Tom

Hi Everyone:

Were you able to access the Assignment #4 class library and .cab file?  I get a "page not found" error.

Thanks,

Tom

Hi Everyone,

Just checking in again.  What a nice day we had! Warm, sunny... I can't wait until summer.  Anyway, besides enjoying the nice weather and a nice meal at the Olive Garden with my wife and son after church, I spend a better portion of my day beginning to code my project.  I am still learning how to properly use the classes, arrays, etc. and implement them into my project.  The restaurant information for my application is being hard-coded into functions, which is taking an extremely long time, since I am going into a good amount of detail.

I still have a ways to go, but I am making progress.  I look forward to getting Assignment #4 done quickly so I can focus on this project.  I still have to figure out the best way to format the output for my restaurant info., since I do have quite a bit of info.

Anyway, it's pretty late, and I will be signing off.  Have a great night!

Tom

Hi everyone,

Just wanted some feedback on my initial GUI and project plan.  I am not sure if I am trying to cram too much information or not into this project. 

Screen 1:  User enters in zip code, choose cusine type and presses Let's Eat button.

Screen 2:  Based on those entries, restaurants in the chosen cuisine type appear on Form 2, with location info. as well as the option to get additional details about the restaurant.

Screen 3:  Screen 3 displays the additional info. (Seating capacity, popular dishes, hours of operation, etc...)

Any feedback is welcome! I am hoping I can code all this... If not, I may have to eliminate some information...

Thanks,

Tom

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to get some feedback on the design of other people's projects.  I have created three separate forms (basically screens that the user will reach in sequence as the processing of the application continues), but am wondering if I am going to far?  Are most of you just creating your main form, along with some forms to contain the class libraries? 

Thanks,

Tom

Hi Everyone:

I wish you all a Happy Easter! I can't believe it snowed - again! I thought we were in the clear... guess not.  Anyway, I have a few questions on the project.  On the Project Milestones page (introduction), located on the course website, it says we are to use two forms or more. I am not sure if I know how to use multiple form objects.  How do we do that?

Secondly, I was trying to set up the web service, talked about in Prof. Haines recent blog entries, but I am not able to do so from my home computer.  Do we have to do this at school only?

Thanks for your input!

Tom

Hi Everyone:

I just am having some difficulty in getting the question in the textbox to wrap correctly on the screen of the emulator.  The questions or requests for data get cut off on the right side of the screen and the user cannot fully view it.  Does anyone know how to correct this?  Please let me know...

Thanks,

Tom

Hello again:

Just checkin' in, since it has been several days since I last wrote.  Been quite a busy week, with work, parenthood, and of course - school.  Just up late right now getting some reading in after a long day at work.  Working weekends is definitely something I don't plan on doing the rest of my life, which is why I am continuing my education.  Someday soon weekends off will be a reality!

Anyway, I'm looking forward to Spring and I believe we had a nice taste the past few days, with sunny weather, temps in the 40's, and the chance to roll down our windows in the car more than a crack.  We're almost there....

As far as how things are going in the class, I feel pretty good.  I definitely rely a lot upon my book to help me understand the concepts introduced in class; the book really, in my opinion, does a wonderful job for us beginners.  I am thankful that I accidentally ordered the comprehensive version of our book, since it has 5 additional chapters, that are helping me understand our functions, procedures, and arrays a whole lot better.  This is a case when you really do learn from your mistakes (pun intended :)....

See y'all next class,

Tom

Has anyone figured out how to get the .cab file into the program files of the emulator? I have spent the better portion of my Sat. trying to figure this out....

Tom