Darren Ferguson - Blog
31 March 2010 at 21:36
Simple and precise PDF generation in Umbraco
I've created a package that allows you to create PDFs from Umbraco using XSL-FO. You can download the package from our.umbraco.org
The video below is a demonstration of the package
I've made some investments in buying the technology to do the XSL-FO transformation so this will be a commercial package.
Details of how to buy are available here.
25 March 2010 at 08:24
Visual Validator package for Umbraco
I've created an Umbraco package that highlights Umbraco textstring data types when their value doesn't match the specified validation regular expression.
Get the package from our.umbraco.org
Apologies for the sound quality - I'm having some microphone issues at the mo :)
21 March 2010 at 07:20
Paypal IPN for Umbraco
I've created an Umbraco package that receives Paypal IPN (Instant payment notification) requests and stores them as a content node in Umbraco. The video below is a demonstration of the package.
Get the package from our.umbraco.org
19 March 2010 at 21:13
Umbraco, Microsoft and Me: Swag
In the first Umbraco, Microsoft and me blog post I promised Swag, so time to deliver.
As part of our commitment to the project we promised to deliver video diaries detailing our experiences of the project. Although this could possibly be the most boring 6 minutes of your life, watching my video diary could win you a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate.
Simply leave a comment below with the answer to the following question: What kind of ring tone does my mobile phone have?
Winner randomly selected from correct entries :)
04 March 2010 at 09:29
Umbraco, Microsoft and Me
I've been invited to participate in a Microsoft initiative in which they will sponsor the development of some packages for Umbraco. These packages will showcase Microsoft technologies and is part of a wider effort to engage with Open source communities.
The guys below are also participating so be sure to read their blogs in the coming weeks:
We've spent some time discussing ideas for useful Umbraco packages and have come up with a few that we think are winners. I'll write in more depth next week about what we are planning but my participation will be around a package that provides better access to the Umbraco media section and provides a whole bunch of extra functionality around media.
As part of this exercise we'll have access to some interesting Microsoft products, in particular I'll get a chance to work with Silverlight and the expression suite of products. On a personal note this is also a fantastic opportunity for me to gain access to some of the Microsoft product teams and gain some new development skills.
We've been asked to blog regularly as part of the project so you'll see a few posts here in the coming weeks. We've also been asked to keep video diaries of our experiences with an emphasis on our experiences using the Microsoft products - these will be published through some Microsoft websites - more details to follow.
Although this is a Microsoft sponsored initiative we are free to express honest and frank opinions on our experiences so don't expect any Windows 7 party videos! We've been told that our feedback negative and positive will be valued and passed back to the appropriate product teams and we've already seen from our initial gatherings that the team at Microsoft are keen to help solve our day today CMS tech problems.
Finally: I've got some Swag to give away! Check the next blog post for details.