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A few months ago, sales quoted a client on a non-existent feature in one of our products. At the time it annoyed me but I thought 'Shirley they wouldn't want such a thing'. The 'thing' is the ability to use a POT (plain old telephone) to clock in/out of a cloud-based time and attendance application. Of course, I was wrong....but this could be interesting...something new!
Research took me to Twillio where they really push the use of their APIs for all tutorials and samples. When I started to get a handle on how it all works, I realized that I don't need no stinkin' APIs just to generate XML! In just a few short hours, the system is up and running.  Since I estimated a week of development time, I'll now have to find a way to look busy for the next 4 days! 
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
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heh. Nice one.
I've no idea how much time I've saved, in the past, by looking into config files and databases that people don't expect you to look into, but I know it's an awful lot.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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You're the reason why the config file for one of my applications is now encrypted. The Evil Notepad Monkeys just looooove to tinker with things they don't understand, and may change without notice in the future. 
Software Zen: delete this;
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Gary Wheeler wrote: The Evil Notepad Monkeys just looooove to tinker with things they don't understand
Most of the time I delve into the depths because it appears that the coders don't have a clue what they're doing (or what their customers need), not the other way around.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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kmoorevs wrote: I'll now have to find a way to look busy for the next 4 days!
Don't admit that where sales may see it; they'll sell even more vaporware (which seems impossible, but they'll manage.)
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I love the concept of estimations.
"I want you to estimate how long it will take to build something you've not built before, on technology you've not researched, while overcoming hurdles you can't even imagine. Go!"
It's a truly bizarre way to look at reality.
cheers
Chris Maunder
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For years there has been a hidden trick that I use all the time in Internet Explorper. (I'm surprised I can't find much of anything about this on the internet; perhaps that's just another sign of IE's shrinking market share.) It is similar to the IE "Search Provider" mechanism, only better.
It's so hidden it doesn't even have a name. I call it SearchURL.
It is a shortcut that enables you to search a website quickly. For example, if you find yourself searching the CP Lounge often, you could use this shortcut typed into the IE Address Bar:
cp baloney and you will get all the Lounge articles containing "baloney". (Including this one, I presume.)
Here's how to set it up (You'll need regedit privileges):
In regedit, navigate to:
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl
Create a new Key. Give it the name "cp". For the default value, paste in this text:
<a href="http://www.codeproject.com/search.aspx?q=%s&doctypeid=6&categoryid=f1_1159_">http://www.codeproject.com/search.aspx?q=%s&doctypeid=6&categoryid=f1_1159_</a> (Note: the "secret sauce" is the %s in the url. IE will replace that with whatever search term you supply in the address bar.) It should work immediately. Just type cp baloney or whatever in your IE Address Bar.
I've created a couple dozen shortcuts for all the sites I frequent (e.g. wikipedia, thesaurus.com, amazon.com, stackoverflow, etc., as well as several internal sites on my company's intranet). It works on just about any site that has a "Search this site" box. Just search the site normally for some SearchTerm, then cut resulting the URL and replace SearchTerm with %s, then create a new SearchUrl key in the registry, choose any memorable abbreviation for the site, and paste the URL in the Data of the key. Pretty simple, eh?
Just thought I'd share the love.
P.S. There used to be a downloadable program (called TweakUI) that could set this up for you automatically (without regedit) but that program doesn't appear to exist anymore.
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Nice, but my hidden Internet Explorer tweak is, first thing I do, download Chrome and hide IE. 
Marc
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Nowadays, I use Edge to download Chrome, and then hide Edge...
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Sounds like an edge case.
I'll get my hat.
Mongo: Mongo only pawn... in game of life.
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Gotta stay modern.
Jeremy Falcon
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OriginalGriff wrote: use Edge to download Chrome
Sadly, neither are approved yet on my corporate network. Nevertheless, I don't think even Chrome offers this particular shortcut.
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Yes, chrome does, sorta: type the website name into the address bar, say youtube.com and then press the tab key, you'll get a search prompt.
#SupportHeForShe
Government can give you nothing but what it takes from somebody else. A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you've got, including your freedom.-Ezra Taft Benson
You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun
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Yeah, but with this method, you don't have to type in the website name.
ReduceKeystrokes!
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meh
#SupportHeForShe
Government can give you nothing but what it takes from somebody else. A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you've got, including your freedom.-Ezra Taft Benson
You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun
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Sure. With Chrome you don't have to edit the registry. They expose the feature (deep, but still present) in the browser's UI: How to Set Keyword Bookmarks in Google Chrome[^]
Firefox is even simpler. There's a link in that LifeHacker article for more info.
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Yep, sure enough. (And I can't say as I'm surprised.) Thanks for pointing it out.
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It's kind of an interesting way of explaining your cutting edge technology.
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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I literally laughed my ass off at this one. Still trying to pick my ass off the floor. 
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Oh, for F's sake!
If you can't use "literally" figuratively, then just stop speaking English, because you're literally illiterate.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Thanks to your initial comment I watched all four episodes.
Porcupine
I'm literally literal, or am I?
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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It could have done with being funny, to make up for the fact that it's soooooo wrong.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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I laughed at your comment more than the original one.
You have just been Sharapova'd.
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Does it search the site or just the page it's on? If it's the former then you can do that in chrome without a registry tweak just using something like site:codeproject.com bob in the address bar. If it's the latter, then Ctrl+F no?
Not to mention you get the added bonus of your browser not sucking when using Chrome.
Jeremy Falcon
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