MSDN, TechNet and Expression Library Feedback Forum

Lightweight & fast loading Docs are very welcome !

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 15:36:10 Z

Lightweight & fast loading Docs are very welcome !

Thank You MSDN !

MSDN Library: A Discerning Comment

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 19:28:38 Z

There is something that's really bothering me for quite a while now when reading the MSDN library... I don't know if other users share the same problems I have but I believe it's time to ring the bell now...

I'm using MSDN Library as my primary source for learning Microsoft technologies. When reading through topics to get a thorough knowledge of an area, there is one thing that's really keeping me from learning effectively: It's the excessive use of Teaser Hyperlinking in MSDN.

Perhaps I'm different from other users... In early times I bought a book to learn things. Back then, I knew where to start and I knew I learned it all when I'd reached the end. I remember reading and working through the whole "The Waite Group's Windows API Bible" in three months... I still remember most of the API... But nowadays there is virtually no end to a topic. There is never a "you know all of that topic now" situation.

What's particularly annoying me is this kind of teasing "did you know?" kind of notes spreaded throughout the library. Here's just one:

Note A second XML Web Service, called Customer Data Service, allows you to upload, download, and manage custom data sources, including points-of-interest and polygon data. For more information, see Introducing Customer Data Service.

Fearing to maybe missing an important topic I follow those teasers... You never know if you will tumble over that probably important information ever again.. It's impossible to foresee where these teasers lead to. Sometimes it's just the topic right ahead which you would have reached anyway, sometimes it's completely elsewhere...

Sometimes, after I follow those teasing hyperlinks, read their content and find its information non-useful, if I manage to return to my original topic from where I left, I have completely forgotten why I was reading the original topic at all...

Why can't a page just restrict its contents to its contents? No teasing, no hyperlinking... except for class, member function, field etc. reference Hyperlinks... Just no more Hyperlinks to tutorial information. - Put these teasers into separate Overview pages and keep them there.

Which brings me to the second thing bothering me: As a user you never know the full extent of a topic until you have unfolded each and every single sub node in the TreeView to the left of MSDN Library Online. Even more, when you start reading you come across Overview pages like this which contain other Overview pages which again contain other Overview pages ...

I honestly like and encourage a good structure. But this way I believe this is plain information hiding... But more than that I believe it's keeping the reader from structured learning.

Why doesn't MSDN Library use only one single Overview page for each encapsulated topic, displaying the content of all current child Overview pages as a hierarchical list and omit all these child Overview pages then? It's completely sufficient to have one single table of contents. A TOC should be complete and exhaustive.

Perhaps I'm too old-fashioned... I'm overwhelmed by this current kind of structure, containing many bits and pieces instead of a single, forward, self-contained topic structure.

I'd like MSDN Library to return to a transparent, more book-like kind of structure:

Hierarchical Table of Contents,
no sub Overview pages,
no more unobjective "unrivalled", "excellent", "better than ever" kind of comments,
a topic's content pages giving you the good "I now know it all" feeling after reading them, thus...
no teasers,
a page's content being complete and self-contained, referencing (hyperlinking) only reference content, just like an index used to do in a book... back at those days...

Page title sometimes wraps around and overlaps page navigation

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:11:14 Z

When using the ScriptFree view, on certain pages in the Library with longer titles (such as http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.windowsazure.diagnostics.diagnosticmonitorconfiguration.diagnosticinfrastructurelogs.aspx), the page title/header is long enough that the line wraps around and overlaps onto the next line. However, since the CSS isn't set up there to properly flow the text, the header covers up some of the page content and navigation.

This should be fixed so that the page header can handle multi-line titles, if necessary.

EM_GETFIRSTVISIBLELINE message: Error in Windows 7 or undocumented change?

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 18:36:32 Z

According to the documentation:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb761574(VS.85).aspx

Return Value

The return value is the zero-based index of the uppermost visible line in a multiline edit control.

Edit controls: For single-line edit controls, the return value is the zero-based index of the first visible character.

Rich edit controls: For single-line rich edit controls, the return value is zero.

However, if this works fine in Windows XP, Windows 7 is always returned 0, no matter what character will be visible in single-line edit control text

What is it? Bug in Windows 7 or undocumented change?

Community Content is missing with Lightweight and ScriptFree skins

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:13:07 Z

There seems to be virtually no access to MSDN Community content from either the Lightweight and ScriptFree skins. You can see community tags from Script Free, you can't see any added content. From both, you can't edite or add (or remove) content either.

Please bring community content back to all UI skins.

Thomas Lee - doctordns@gmail.com

MSDN ScriptFree layout - NICE!

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:50:16 Z

When I visited MSDN today I noticed a new box encouraging me to try a new layout (loband IIRC) and then I noticed there was also an option for ScriptFree. The first one (that was encouraging me in the first place) was not to my liking (idk, just not my style) but the ScriptFree is IMHO so much nicer.

It's clean, it does it's thing, it doesn't take up as much space. It loads faster.

I'll be using it for now, and if I can find some more constructive feedback I'll offer it, but for now just wanted to offer some appreciation to the devs.

Cheers

Please don't forget (and feel free to remind me) to post if you got the answer you wanted, and select who really answered your post when you do so future visitors will know too! Remember, this is .NET 4.0 in a .NET 3.5 world, you're a pioneer right now.

what the creatificate's name to my program Ms.office interprises

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:32:27 Z

what the creatificate's name to my program Ms.office interprises

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:32:00 Z

what the creatificate's name to my program Ms.office interprises

what the creatificate's to my program Ms.office interprises

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:30:51 Z

what the creatificate's to my program Ms.office interprises

Need previous technet website feature

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 03:17:47 Z

I didn't like the new technet website looks like, can some one help me how to switch back to previous viewing feature

MSBuild file metadata not set: ModifiedTime CreatedTime AccessedTime

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:04:34 Z

Hi!

It seems that some "Well-known Item Metadata"
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms164313.aspx

are not set for a file item: ModifiedTime CreatedTime AccessedTime

FullPath metadata and others (RootDir...) are set!

Is it a known problem? Is there a workaround?

My platform is Windows XP Pro.

Olivier.

From address in the outgoing e-mail settings

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:29:19 Z

The following article http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262844.aspx, under the "From and Reply-to addresses" section states:

"From address Alerts and notifications are sent from an administrative account on the server farm. This account is probably not the one you want to be displayed in the From field of an e-mail message. The address that you use does not need to correspond to an actual e-mail account; it can be a simple friendly address that is recognizable to an end user. For example, "Site administrator" might be an appropriate From address. "

However th last statement does not seem to be the case, as the "From address:" field only accepts valid email addresses, and not the "user friendly address".

Can anyone let me know if there were able to successfully populate "From address:" feild with a "user friendly address"?

Quick preview of views

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:44:45 Z

The rendering of the views was slow. A quick preview of the views would be useful. Or at least an example of all view options on one page.

About MSDN new look - "ScriptFree" view needs MSDN search box

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:52:29 Z

"ScriptFree" view looks great for me, however no search box in that view is a little bit inconvenience.

I think if there's a search box in that view will be better.

Bug in Classic view

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:13:44 Z

Go to classic view and click middle mouse button, you will see a scroll icon with only left and right arrows, instead of up & down arrows.

How to turn Change Switch View button off?

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:07:25 Z

I sort of like the new MSDN site skins. For what I use MSDN for (mainly to access the community content), Classic view is what I'll use as my view of the site. Having made that choice, how do I tell the site to turn off the button popup. The vivid orange colour of the button makes the button a tad distracting and I'd like a way to say "I do not want to change my view so please go away". Any ideas?

Thomas Lee - doctordns@gmail.com

I LIKE SCRIPTFREE BEST!

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:07:44 Z

Clean and simple!

bug: switch view box prevents clicking the down button of the library content pane scrollbar

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:48:17 Z

The new "switch view" button at the lower-right-hand corner of library pages obscures (and prevents clicking of) the "scroll down" button on the scrollbar of MSDN Library content pages.

Please move the "switch view" button a little to the left so I can click the scrollbar.

Thanks!

Justin Grant

Low bandwith general impression

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:04:32 Z

I actually like the low bandwidth version better. In high bandwidth, having a bread crumb for accessing sub post (especially members, methods, etc.) is awkward. I think the low bandwidth version has it right. Also, the high bandwidth TOC tree always seems to be too deep or the links I use remove the TOC tree. It would be better to use a bread crumb only for going higher up in the document structure and cut the TOC tree down by only including the appropriate top level document (I know this won't be easier to determine in most cases). For example, just having WCF in the tree instead of .NET Framework, which could be accessed by the bread crumbs. This would keep the tree width small and promote browsing of the tree. Low bandwidth removes the unecessary tree structure and I find it easier to use because of this. It actually makes finding information easier because I can quickly see the document structure without needing to resize panes. I'd go so far as to say that the stacked "bread crumbs" in low bandwidth are easier to use than left to right bread crumbs. You always know where they are on the screen and it's possible to take them all in at a glance.

Error in documentation

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:40:47 Z

Hi,

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee534908(WS.10).aspx

I think there is an error:

section "Creating the AD Management Policy Rule"
steps. 4. and 5.:

- Set of requestors should be: AD contractors and FTE
- Target should be: All people

Cheers.

GetProc01 (C#) Sample Code Could not be seen under classic view

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:06:56 Z

I use IE8 on XPSP3 32-bit.
When I read this page: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb525435(VS.85,classic).aspx
The code sample could not be seen, I use compatible view of IE8, so I cancel the compatible view function, the code sample still could not be seen.

But if I change the page view to http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb525435(VS.85,lightweight).aspx or http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb525435(VS.85,loband).aspx, here is the code sample!

Maybe this caused by IE8's JS engine could not parse the JS in the classic page?

ADO.NET Data Services Walkthrough not working

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:30:12 Z

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc838239(VS.95).aspx refers.

I follow the instructions and get:

The server encountered an error processing the request. See server logs for more details.

After debugging, I get an error on the following line:

Type domainServiceDataProviderType = typeof(DomainServiceDataProvider<>).MakeGenericType(domainServiceType); (line 46) (GetService method)

After debugging a bit more, I get:

GenericArguments[0], 'NorthwindDataService.NorthwindEntities', on 'System.Data.Services.Providers.DomainService.DomainServiceDataProvider`1[TDataProvider]' violates the constraint of type 'TDataProvider'.

Jean-Pierre Fouché

Print CSS

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:35:46 Z

It would be nice if the left-hand side navigation area could be hidden with CSS when printing.

Keeps redirecting to ScriptFree from Classic pages

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:19:59 Z

I was looking through the different views, but now whenever I switch to Classic, and click on something, it keeps taking me to the ScriptFree view, and I have to keep changing it back.

"Ask a Question" should be moved

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:18:32 Z

It was very hard to figure out how to actually create a new post... there was no "Add" next to all of the view options or whatever bar. When controls aren't on the "toolbar", they're hard to find.

I had to look in the FAQ to figure out what to do. Not good, considering I'm not exactly new to forums.

Please move it? Thanks. Or at least, add a button where it should "logically" be.

shape file

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:48:05 Z

i have some shape file which i have to read in ASP.net page.......

is their any body who will help to read shape files in asp.net2008

Most DirectX 10 links go to a redirect page, which is extremely annoying

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:35:07 Z

For some reason somebody decided to move all of the DirectX 10 content, but instead of changing the links they just changed all of the pages to be manual redirect. Not even an automatic, you have to click.

For example, go to this page on new DirectX 10.1 Features. Click the first link in the main page which says "ID3D10BlendState1 Interface". Instead of taking you to the interface page, it take you to a page which says this content has moved and forces the user to click a link to get to the page they want.

This is completely stupid. Change the links to go to the correct page. If for some reason you can't do that, change the redirects to be automatic and instant.

EDIT: Forgot the link: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee415651%28VS.85%29.aspx

Page Typo

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:11:11 Z

We need a report a bug button on MSDN. If we spot an error on a page, there is nowhere to report it. Slight changes may not be picked up, and it's a shame because of the hard work Microsoft have done the last few years to try and get their web sites on a par with some of the other sources in terms of accuracy and width of knowledge being taught.

Anyway - this page has a typo on it. It says at the bottom about how to find the Export As Template option but it doesn't state that the correct option is found on a different tab to the first one presented. I found it confusing so I wanted to try and correct it. Too much time on my hands maybe? :-)

Software

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:57:42 Z

Why making harmful softwares? Why advertise it?

Crashed Computer

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:32:26 Z

my computer crashed after i downloaded a mobile unlocking software and tried to use it. Now my computer is switching on and off. What can i do to make it work normally? H ELP IS NEEDED URGENTLY SINCE I WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF SOMETHING!

MSDN Library views do not properly support printing

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:51:41 Z

The new Library layouts do not include proper printing support. Occasionally I need to print out an article, but the lack of printing support makes that problematic. I think the TOC should be (optionally) suppressed in print mode.

The ScriptFree view is the nicest.

Why does the documentation include every language.

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:38:53 Z

I agree ScriptFree is the nicest, but why does Microsoft provide examples in so many languages. It makes fishing through the documentation so time-consuming. Surely they can allow setting a default language to filter examples in the default language, then I won't have to sift through all the vb and c++ examples just to get to the language I'm working in. Honestly it's quicker to do a Bing or Google search and enter the language as a keyword.

What is the configuration of the msdn library ????????????????????????????

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:33:12 Z

Hi,

I 'm not asking questions. I send a remark to MSDN and Microsoft !! I'm french and developper in Visual Studio Device.
I started to work with the msdn for five month with the former tree of the msdn library.
The view and the organization of the msdn has changed. I want to have the former tree of the msdn library, I'm losing a lot of time to find very mere information that I used to find with the former organization !
What's the ____ in Microsoft, I don't care about blue colors, I want to efficient library that I could use. everything is in disorder, I need to spend time to understand the brand new helling logic (disorder) of the msdn microsoft. So much time losing in order to see the new fancies of the microsoft developpers.

Please could we have the former library!!

I will not say rude words but be sure that I'm thinking about them !!

Please be efficient and logical !

I am able to change but I don't want to spend time to lose time !!

Spliter in the low band version

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:06:48 Z

Love the low band version of msdn.

I would love to see a vertical splitter between the left menu and the main content area. I find that most of the left menu gets cut off and I think it would be a great feature.

scriptfree font size

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 08:08:13 Z

I found scriptfree's font size becomes a bit smaller than usual, which makes it really painful for my eyes to get used to. Is it by design?
I tried to define a custom zoom level in IE8 to get a size I like, but this setting doesn't seem to keep persistent and specific to one web site. Also it would require a few more clicks and typestrokes.
What's the motivation of this change? Are there many people complaining former size wasting too much space?

ScriptFree Layout is nice, but please put the full Link Text in the Link Title Text

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:49:21 Z

I noticed when the Link Text in the side navigation is too long cuts the text off and has "..." appended. There's no reason the anchor Title attribute can't have the full Link Text. That would be very helpful when mousing over the links.

Lightweight version appears broken in W7 running with 125% DPI resolution

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:26:28 Z

Hi all,

I found an issue: when you open lightweight version in a computer configured to use 125% of font size (high dpi settings) using Firefox, the "Send Feedback" button in the bottom appears to be broken. Other minor parts of the website also appears to be broken under this scenario.

I think this issue is related to the way Firefox choose font size in this resolution. But I also think that this needs to be fixed since the default configuration of screen in Windows 7 is 125% if you have a 1680px screen.

[]s,

Vinicius

Vinicius Canto MVP Admin Frameworks Blog: http://viniciuscanto.blogspot.com

[suggestionlow bandwidth view clear

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 12:53:20 Z

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/zsdh7hkb%28VS.85,loband%29.aspx

div.libCScode has "clear: both" which pushes everything after the first sentence a long way down the page (after the left menu).

This could be changed to "clear: right".

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-GB; rv:1.9.1.2) Gecko/20090729 Firefox/3.5.2

Low bandwith view is way more usable than the normal view

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 09:23:47 Z

For the MSDN library, the huge header and frequently faulty TOC that you have to scroll up to see just get in the way IMO.

Can't run sample for http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms973913.aspx on Win7 Clean Install

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 19:59:11 Z

I installed the sample for this topic on my Windows7 RTM system. (Clean install.) When I try to run it, I get this:

---------------------------
client.exe - System Error
---------------------------
The program can't start because MSVCR71.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem.
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------

Could you update the sample files to include that, and in the meantime where can I find it?

Thanks,
Rick