Japanese people are just insane! And brilliantly funny at the same time..

Sometimes you need to build some user input validation on your website. Often I see people using String.Length() and StartsWith/EndWith constructions to check the entered values. Ofcourse this will work, but often this could also be done with Regular Expression. When I ask them, why they do it without this powerful tool they tell me: ‘It works this way and RegEx is way too difficult’.

They have a point when reading a RegExpression for the first time. Often it’s the best way to learn something, by just doing it and playing with it. Last week a saw a tool that is called the regex coach. This enables you to check your RegEx dynamically, without compiling code. So excellent to learn how to write your expression.

You can download this tool from the Regex Coach website.

Tip 1: there is a website called RegExLib with frequently used regular expressions. You don’t want to invent the wheel over and over again. (Like a RegEx for e-mail address validation)

Tip 2: It also contains a cheatsheet.

Good luck with building your creative regular expressions!

Sometimes you discover something that is already existing for some time but you haven’t been aware of. I was studying for MCTS certification and I discovered the Nullable type. With this you can assign boolean of datetime objects the NULL value. It’s use full when you want to declare types but leave them unassigned (and check later).

This is the code sample:

   1:          //Normal notation

   2:          Nullable<bool> b = null;

   3:          

   4:          //Shorthand notation

   5:          bool? b2 = null;

   6:          

   7:          //Since it's nullable, you have 2 new value members: 

   8:          // HasValue and Value

   9:          if (b.HasValue) Console.WriteLine("b is {0}", b.Value);

  10:          else Console.WriteLine("b is not set");

  11:          

  12:          //Throws exception:

  13:          //Console.WriteLine("b is {0}", b.Value); 

  14:          

  15:          //Outputs 'b is '

  16:          Console.WriteLine("b is {0}", b ); 

  17:          

  18:          b = true;

  19:          //Outputs 'b is True'

  20:          Console.WriteLine("b is {0}", b ); 

This is available since .NET framework version 2.0

Uno, dos, tres, Catorce!

Last night I experienced the U2 3D movie in the Pathe IMAX in Amsterdam. I was not sure what to expect, could that 3D be really good? At the door you get some sort of funny plastic glasses. You have to put them on to see the 3D. And it really worked! Waving hands when viewing from the crowd. Bono is staring at you like he’s right in front of you.

The screen was huge and had ultra high quality, better then a normal movie. And then sound.. 5.1 Surround Sound, that was really rocking! It was recorded during the U2 vertigo tour in Buenos Aires, Argentina. What an amazing show. The River Plate stadium was packed, must be over 100.000 people…

Last Saturday I was showing a friend of mine some of my new mp3’s. He really wanted those, so we tried to ‘backup’ some of those to his computer. After a short search we came up with a freeware program called iDump. It works really fine. A true software recommendation from me (Doesn’t work with the Touch though).

Last Thursday there was the 10th edition of the Dutch Spin awards. This is a prestigious prize for innovative Dutch website concepts. Some old colleagues of mine won several gold and silver prizes with their agency Achtung! 

It’s always good to see what other companies have built in the last year. Here are some nice entries that I really like:

• Volkswagen drive in - Guess game with which song is of the same age as the car?
• Hema viral campaign - A webshop layout combined with the game concept of ‘The incredible machine’
• http://www.laaf.info/ - A website that warns kids against fireworks
• Nederlands film festival - A site with several fake trailers. Examples (in Dutch): Van God Los 2 - roze is het nieuwe zwart. Zwartboek 2, dé romantische komedie van 2007. Kameleon 3 - schippers van de dood.
• Clipcaster - Combine youtube, karaoke and a webcam. Who is your idol?
• Bomvol - A online magazine with a lot of rich media. It links to the bookshop bol.com

These are some of the entries of the Spin awards, but there are more little gems..