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	<title>jonathanspence.com</title>
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	<link>http://www.jonathanspence.com</link>
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	<pubDate>Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:03:04 +0000</pubDate>
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		<title>SharePoint 2007 - Showing Headings in Drop Down Menus</title>
		<link>http://www.jonathanspence.com/2008/10/30/sharepoint-drop-down-headings/</link>
		<comments>http://www.jonathanspence.com/2008/10/30/sharepoint-drop-down-headings/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:00:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jonathan</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Software]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Bad Magic]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[C#]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[SharePoint]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.jonathanspence.com/?p=382</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I have been fighting with the bad magic that is SharePoint recently, and one of the (many) problems I was having is that the design called for Headings to show up in the drop down menus, but we just could not get them to show up. It was very difficult to find information on this, [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I have been fighting with the bad magic that is SharePoint recently, and one of the (many) problems I was having is that the design called for Headings to show up in the drop down menus, but we just could not get them to show up. It was very difficult to find information on this, mainly because there are so many options and configuration choices for a SharePoint site that few solutions are ever straightforward or even applicable to how you have the site set up. I never found a direct explanation of how to get Headers in the drop down (flyout) menus, but luckily I found the solution by chance on a page explaining something else.<span id="more-382"></span></p>
<p>The first step is to make sure your site is set up correctly to use drop down menus. <a href="http://www.heathersolomon.com/blog/archive/2007/05/15/SharePoint-Tip--How-to-Activate-the-Drop-Down-Menu.aspx">This article</a> provides a good explanation. If you are just using WSS 3.0 instead of MOSS 2007, you will likely have to look somewhere else, as I&#8217;m pretty sure this will only work with the full product.</p>
<p>Once your site is set up, it&#8217;s easy to build out nice looking menus using the <em>Navigation</em> page in the <em>Site Settings</em>, but the headings won&#8217;t show up on the drop downs, at least with a Team Site Collection, it may be different with some of the other site types.</p>
<p>These changes need to be made to the master page you are using for the site, and to the administration master page if you want it to show up the same on those pages.</p>
<ol>
<li>Add the following to the top of the page, under the other control declarations:<br />
<code>&lt;%@ Register Tagprefix=&quot;PublishingNavigation&quot; Namespace=&quot;Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.Navigation&quot; Assembly=&quot;Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c&quot; %&gt;</code></li>
<li>Add this right under the first <em>SharePoint:ASPMenu</em>&#8217;s closing tag:<br />
<code>&lt;publishingnavigation:PortalSiteMapDataSource ID=&quot;siteMapDataSource1&quot; Runat=&quot;server&quot; SiteMapProvider=&quot;CombinedNavSiteMapProvider&quot; EnableViewState=&quot;true&quot; StartFromCurrentNode=&quot;true&quot; StartingNodeOffset=&quot;0&quot; ShowStartingNode=&quot;true&quot; TreatStartingNodeAsCurrent=&quot;true&quot; /&gt;</code></li>
<li>Change the <em>DataSourceID</em> in the <em>SharePoint:AspMenu</em> control to <em>siteMapDataSource1.</em></li>
</ol>
<p>That&#8217;s it. Your Headings should now show up in the top navigation drop down menus.</p>
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		<item>
		<title>Xavin&#8217;s Review Ratings 1.3.1 Released</title>
		<link>http://www.jonathanspence.com/2008/10/07/xavins-review-ratings-131-released/</link>
		<comments>http://www.jonathanspence.com/2008/10/07/xavins-review-ratings-131-released/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 07 Oct 2008 19:44:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jonathan</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Software]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[PHP]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Plugin]]></category>

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		<category><![CDATA[Xavin's Review Ratings]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.jonathanspence.com/?p=377</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Even though I hate it when plugins release too often, 1.3 had a bug that made error messages appear on the settings screen in some configurations. They were harmless, but I didn&#8217;t want them hanging around until the next major release. I also added a new option always_show_decimal that will add a .0 to whole [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Even though I hate it when plugins release too often, 1.3 had a bug that made error messages appear on the settings screen in some configurations. They were harmless, but I didn&#8217;t want them hanging around until the next major release. I also added a new option always_show_decimal that will add a .0 to whole numbers when displaying fractions. It&#8217;s false by default, but it can be turned on in the settings page, or set for individual tags.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<item>
		<title>Xavin&#8217;s Review Ratings 1.3 Released</title>
		<link>http://www.jonathanspence.com/2008/10/06/xavins-review-ratings-13-released/</link>
		<comments>http://www.jonathanspence.com/2008/10/06/xavins-review-ratings-13-released/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 07 Oct 2008 04:44:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jonathan</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Software]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[PHP]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Plugin]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[WordPress]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Xavin's Review Ratings]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.jonathanspence.com/?p=374</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I released Xavin&#8217;s Review Ratings 1.3 today. It&#8217;s mostly an update to clean up and self document the admin panel, but it also includes three new image sets. In addition, all the HTML that&#8217;s rendered by the plugin is now fully templated.
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I released <a href="http://www.jonathanspence.com/software/wordpress-plugins/xavins-review-ratings/">Xavin&#8217;s Review Ratings</a> 1.3 today. It&#8217;s mostly an update to clean up and self document the admin panel, but it also includes three new image sets. In addition, all the HTML that&#8217;s rendered by the plugin is now fully templated.</p>
<p><strong class="rating">Rating:</strong>&nbsp;&#9733;&#9733;&frac14;&#9734;&#9734;&nbsp;</p><p><strong class="rating">Rating:</strong>&nbsp;&#9733;&#9733;&frac12;&#9734;&#9734;&nbsp;</p><p><strong class="rating">Rating:</strong>&nbsp;&#9733;&#9733;&frac34;&#9734;&#9734;&nbsp;</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>September 2008 TV Roundup</title>
		<link>http://www.jonathanspence.com/2008/10/03/september-2008-tv-roundup/</link>
		<comments>http://www.jonathanspence.com/2008/10/03/september-2008-tv-roundup/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 03 Oct 2008 05:39:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jonathan</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[TV]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[90210]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Bones]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Chuck]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Criminal Minds]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[CSI:NY]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Dexter]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Fall 2008 Season]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Fringe]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Heroes]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[House M.D.]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Knight Rider]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[NCIS]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Prison Break]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Review]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Roundup]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Smallville]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Supernatural]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Terminator: TSCC]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[The Mentalist]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[The Unit]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[True Blood]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.jonathanspence.com/?p=312</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[September is done, and most of the Fall shows have premiered. It seems to be a pretty average season, although the crop of new shows is fairly unimpressive so far. My ratings are for the episodes this season so far only. I plan to do this every month. I don&#8217;t watch every show, but I [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>September is done, and most of the Fall shows have premiered. It seems to be a pretty average season, although the crop of new shows is fairly unimpressive so far. My ratings are for the episodes this season so far only. I plan to do this every month. I don&#8217;t watch every show, but I do watch a majority of the hour long dramas and have for the last few years, so I like to think I have a pretty good grasp on what&#8217;s good and what&#8217;s not.</p>
<p>These mini-reviews are spoiler free for this season unless otherwise noted. Previous seasons are fair game.</p>
<p><span id="more-312"></span></p>
<h1>Sundays</h1>
<h2>The Unit / 4&#215;01</h2>
<p>Only one episode has aired so far, but it is a great episode. <em>The Unit</em> occupies a place somewhere between fantasy like <em>24</em>, and realism like <em>Generation Kill</em>. When it&#8217;s good, it&#8217;s really good, but it&#8217;s weaknesses are when the wives stories drift into too much silly drama and when they try to push the action scenes farther than their budget can handle. The season opener had neither of these problems, and set up what could be a really good way to mix up their standard formula. I&#8217;m really looking forward to the rest of this season.</p>
<p><strong class="rating">Rating:</strong>&nbsp;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&frac14;&nbsp;</p>
<h2>True Blood / 1&#215;01-1&#215;04</h2>
<p>This new drama on HBO is a twisted mix of <em>Buffy</em>,<em> John from Cincinatti</em>, and an Anne Rice novel. The acting is well above average, especially Anna Paquin as Sookie, and Lois Smith as her grandmother. The show is very strange, but it&#8217;s well paced and it definitely has &#8220;what will happen next?&#8221; draw. Given some time to flesh out the characters and story it could turn into something really good.</p>
<p><strong class="rating">Rating:</strong>&nbsp;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9734;&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Dexter / 3&#215;01</h2>
<p><em>Dexter </em>had a surprisingly good first two seasons. It&#8217;s kind of creepy how effectively they make a serious, realistic serial killer a sympathetic character. That said, I&#8217;m not sure what new territory they will find to cover in the third season, and the first episode doesn&#8217;t really give many clues, it just rearranges some of the pieces a bit. It&#8217;s good so far, but they are going  to have to come up with some new angle to keep it from getting stale.</p>
<p><strong class="rating">Rating:</strong>&nbsp;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&frac34;&#9734;&nbsp;</p>
<h1>Mondays</h1>
<h2>Prison Break / 4&#215;01-4&#215;05</h2>
<p>From the <a href="http://www.jonathanspence.com/2008/09/02/prison-break-4x01-and-4x02-review/">good season premiere</a>, <em>Prison Break</em> has kept up the momentum and avoided falling into any of it&#8217;s regular traps. It&#8217;s as good as <em>Prison Break</em> has ever been, and it looks like they may be able to pull off a whole season without falling down. It&#8217;s not great TV but it is entertaining and I look forward to watching it most weeks.</p>
<p><strong class="rating">Rating:</strong>&nbsp;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&frac12;&#9734;&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles / 2&#215;01-2&#215;04</h2>
<p><em>Terminator </em>is one of the few overtly sci-fi shows on the air right now. It manages to capture the feel and atmosphere of the second movie very well. The second season starts with a slower pace than the first season, but they have set up some good plot points for the rest of the season, and done a good job exploring some more of the characters backstory.</p>
<p><strong class="rating">Rating:</strong>&nbsp;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9734;&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Chuck / 2&#215;01</h2>
<p><em>Chuck </em>is <em>Alias</em> if you make it a lot less serious and add in the store scenes from <em>40 Year Old Virgin</em>. Of the two successors to <em>The O.C</em>, <em>Chuck</em> got all the humor, and <em>Gossip Gi</em>rl got all the teen angst. <em>Chuck</em> got the better deal. It&#8217;s silly and unrealistic, but all the characters are likable and it&#8217;s a whole lot of fun. The season opener is one of the better episodes so far, and the season is off to a great start.</p>
<p><strong class="rating">Rating:</strong>&nbsp;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&frac12;&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Heroes / 3&#215;01-3&#215;03</h2>
<p><em>Heroes </em>started off well, but has never quite hit it&#8217;s stride. This is especially true in the second season when most of the mysteries from the first season were resolved, and the ones they replaced them with were lame for the most part. So far the third season is much better than the majority of the second season, although I think it has the potential to get a lot better if they tighten up the writing a little and step up the pace. They also need to increase the use of superpowers by a whole lot. What&#8217;s the point of a comic book show if people stand around talking most of the time?</p>
<p><strong class="rating">Rating:</strong>&nbsp;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9734;&nbsp;</p>
<h1>Tuesdays</h1>
<h2>NCIS / 6&#215;01</h2>
<p><em>NCIS </em>is one of my relaxation shows because it requires very little investment to watch. You know someone in the Navy will be found dead, and you know they will figure out who did it. It&#8217;s unusual for a crime procedural in that the character interaction is it&#8217;s main draw. Unlike shows like <em>CSI:Miami</em> where you could easily replace all the actors with cardboard cutouts and have the same quality show, <em>NCIS </em>has very likable characters, and they have a decent amount of development and movement. In addition, once or twice a season they do something that entirely breaks the formula, which is a nice surprise.</p>
<p><strong class="rating">Rating:</strong>&nbsp;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&frac12;&#9734;&nbsp;</p>
<h2>The Mentalist / 1&#215;01</h2>
<p>Do we really need another crime procedural? Is there anyone out there thinking &#8220;I need more murder mysteries, 16 per week is just not enough!&#8221; On top of that, do we really need a shameless ripoff of <em>Monk </em>and <em>Psych</em>? I&#8217;m willing to give any show a fair chance, no matter how cliche or dumb the synopsis sounds, but I just can&#8217;t work up any enthusiasm for <em>The Mentalist</em>. The characters are bland for the most part, and with the exception of Amanda Righetti being hot, none of them make an impression. If it doesn&#8217;t improve in another two episodes or so I&#8217;m dropping it.</p>
<p><strong class="rating">Rating:</strong>&nbsp;&#9733;&#9734;&#9734;&#9734;&#9734;&nbsp;</p>
<h2>90210 / 1&#215;01-1&#215;05</h2>
<p>I <a href="http://www.jonathanspence.com/2008/09/02/90210-pilot-review/">liked the pilot for this show</a>, and am happy to say that it&#8217;s stayed entertaining. The characters are likable, even the tragically flawed ones, and more importantly the angst and drama never drags the whole show down. Most of the teen actors look like they are genuinely having a good time. Ironically, it&#8217;s the cast members from the original 90210 that are the weakest link. They just can&#8217;t act very well, and when you don&#8217;t have teen overreaction to fall back on, it&#8217;s blatantly obvious. It&#8217;s no <em>O.C.</em>, but it&#8217;s been solid so far, and it has a lot of potential.</p>
<p><strong class="rating">Rating:</strong>&nbsp;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9734;&nbsp;</p>
<h2>House M.D. / 5&#215;01-5&#215;02</h2>
<p><em>House </em>is<em> House</em>. It&#8217;s basically the same show it&#8217;s been from the beginning, although the cast changes this season are working surprisingly well. I don&#8217;t think they will be able to get many more seasons from formula, but they can definitely do some interesting things if they know they are going to wrap it all up.</p>
<p><strong class="rating">Rating:</strong>&nbsp;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&frac34;&#9734;&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Fringe / 1&#215;01-1&#215;03</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://www.jonathanspence.com/2008/08/26/fringe-pilot/">best new show of the season</a>, <em>Fringe</em> has an atmosphere and formula different than anything else on right now. They have a great set up, an original and cool take on &#8220;future&#8221; technology, and mysteries like only J.J. can do. It&#8217;s way too early to tell if it will fall apart like <em>X-files</em> or <em>Lost</em>, but for now it&#8217;s a must watch.</p>
<p><strong class="rating">Rating:</strong>&nbsp;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&frac34;&nbsp;</p>
<h1>Wednesdays</h1>
<h2>Criminal Minds / 4&#215;01</h2>
<p><em>Criminal Minds </em>is the best crime procedural on TV right now. It tries to be realistic, the characters are all well fleshed out at this point, and the writing is tight. The season four opener pickes up from the cliffhanger last season, and does a really good job at resolving it while leaving long lasting consequences.</p>
<p><strong class="rating">Rating:</strong>&nbsp;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&frac12;&nbsp;</p>
<h2>CSI:NY / 5&#215;01</h2>
<p><em>CSI:NY</em> is the middle child of the <em>CSI</em> empire. It has never been as good as the original <em>CSI</em>, but it is also usually much better than the tragedy that is <em>CSI:Miami</em>. There&#8217;s not much more to say, it&#8217;s <em>CSI</em>.</p>
<p><strong class="rating">Rating:</strong>&nbsp;&#9733;&#9733;&frac34;&#9734;&#9734;&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Bones / 4&#215;01-4&#215;05</h2>
<p><em>Bones</em> has not adjusted that well to the cast changes this season. While Sweets was a great character when he popped up occasionally, it seems like they are having to try to hard to find reasons to get him into every episode. The new intern every week thing is a decent idea, but they haven&#8217;t executed it very well. Also, the Brennan/Booth attraction is getting old. <em>Bones</em> may be on a downward slide.</p>
<p><strong class="rating">Rating:</strong>&nbsp;&#9733;&#9733;&frac12;&#9734;&#9734;&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Knight Rider / 1&#215;01</h2>
<p>The new <em>Knight Rider</em> captures the spirit of the old show to an extreme degree. If you could ignore the special effects, this could easily be one of the 80s Glen Larson action shows. Unfortunately, TV writing and acting has advanced a long way in the past 20 years, and very little of that advancement is apparent here. Still, if you can get past the bad dialog, blatant Ford whoring,  and shameless ways they get the characters into various states of undress, it provides an entertaining 42 minutes of campy fun. I have my doubts about whether they will last the season, but if they tweak the formula a little it could end up filling a niche nobody else is going for right now.</p>
<p><strong class="rating">Rating:</strong>&nbsp;&#9733;&#9733;&frac12;&#9734;&#9734;&nbsp;</p>
<h1>Thursdays</h1>
<h2>Smallville / 8&#215;01-8&#215;02</h2>
<p>For a show that usually has the season premiers and finales as it&#8217;s highlights, season eight started out with a whimper. While the departure of Lex and Lana certainly won&#8217;t hurt the show, as both of those characters were tapped out long ago, they haven&#8217;t really capitalized on it yet. At least they seem to realize that Clark is approaching his mid 20s, and can&#8217;t sit around his farm being a bum any longer. The premiere opens the door for a lot more Justice League storylines, which is a good thing. Still, so far the season is very unimpressive.</p>
<p><strong class="rating">Rating:</strong>&nbsp;&#9733;&#9733;&#9734;&#9734;&#9734;&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Supernatural / 4&#215;01-4&#215;02</h2>
<p>What a difference a show makes, while Jensen Ackles was entirely uninspiring on <em>Smallville</em>, he is great on <em>Supernatural</em>. <em>Supernatural</em> started out slowly, but over the last three seasons is has gotten consistently better by fleshing out the characters and universe while keeping the standalone episodes very well written. The seaon opener contains quite a few surprises, and sets a good direction for the next season or two.</p>
<p><strong class="rating">Rating:</strong>&nbsp;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&frac12;&nbsp;</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Xavin&#8217;s Review Ratings Released</title>
		<link>http://www.jonathanspence.com/2008/09/30/xavins-review-ratings-released/</link>
		<comments>http://www.jonathanspence.com/2008/09/30/xavins-review-ratings-released/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:00:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jonathan</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Software]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[PHP]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Plugin]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[WordPress]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Xavin's Review Ratings]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.jonathanspence.com/?p=350</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[My second WordPress plugin, Xavin&#8217;s Review Ratings, was released today, and it is much more complicated and useful than my plugin for listing pages. It allows you to use a shortcode to easily add ratings to your pages that look like this:
There are a ton of options and full documentation on the plugin page.
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>My second WordPress plugin, <a href="http://www.jonathanspence.com/software/wordpress-plugins/xavins-review-ratings/">Xavin&#8217;s Review Ratings</a>, was released today, and it is much more complicated and useful than my plugin for listing pages. It allows you to use a shortcode to easily add ratings to your pages that look like this:</p>
<p><strong class="rating">Rating:</strong>&nbsp;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&frac12;&#9734;&nbsp;</p>
<p>There are a ton of options and full documentation on the plugin page.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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