language neutral solution package was not found

In VS 2008 while deploying a webpart to a site on my VPC by right clicking on the webpart solution, I got the error "language neutral solution package was not found". After blogging the error, I found a blog which had a very simple solution to the above problem. Just close the solution, exit the IDE and launch a new IDE. Open the webpart solution. The above error goes away.

No Audio when Laptop is hooked up to TV using HDMI

My Laptop has an HDMI out interface. When I hooked up the PC to the TV, I would not get the audio from the TV.


Here‘s what you need to do to fix the issue:


1. Right click on the Speaker/Headphone icon in the system tray

2. Click on “Playback Devices”

3. Click on HDMI and set it as default option


4. Click OK

5. Logoff and log back on (you don’t have to restart)


You should now hear the audio.

Integration of Silverlight 2.0 with WSS 3.0 Webparts

First go to the website http://silverlight.net/GetStarted/ and prepare your development environment. My Virtual PC has Windows 2003 SP2 installed. To get started with building Silverlight 2.0 applications:
1. Install Silverlight Tools for Visual Studio 2008 SP1
2. Install Microsoft Expression Blend 2 and then install Microsoft Expression Blend 2 Service Pack 1 (if you subscribe to MSDN you should be able to download Expression Blend 2 and install it on your PC for develpment)
3. Install Deep Zoom Composer
4. Download Silverlight Toolkit
Once your development environment is setup, you should now be able to create Webparts. There are several tutorials and articles for creating a Sharepoint webparts. Once the web part is created and deployed to your website you should be able to drag and drop the webpart into your webpart page.
Now, when you navigate to the page, you may receive a JavaScript error or the silverlight app may not be rendered.
I got the silverlight app to work by doing the following:

1. Add the following MIME types to your website



2. Modify the web.config to include the following:

Add the following to <configSections>:

<sectionGroup name="system.web.extensions"
type="System.Web.Configuration.SystemWebExtensionsSectionGroup,
System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35">
<sectionGroup
name="scripting" type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingSectionGroup,
System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35">
<section name="scriptResourceHandler" type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingScriptResourceHandlerSection,
System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"
requirePermission="false" allowDefinition="MachineToApplication" />
<sectionGroup name="webServices"
type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingWebServicesSectionGroup,
System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35">
<section name="jsonSerialization" type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingJsonSerializationSection,
System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"
requirePermission="false" allowDefinition="Everywhere" />
<section name="profileService" type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingProfileServiceSection,
System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"
requirePermission="false" allowDefinition="MachineToApplication" />
<section name="authenticationService" type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingAuthenticationServiceSection,
System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"
requirePermission="false" allowDefinition="MachineToApplication" />
<section name="roleService" type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingRoleServiceSection,
System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"
requirePermission="false" allowDefinition="MachineToApplication" />
</sectionGroup>
</sectionGroup>
</sectionGroup>

Add the following to the <httpHandlers>
section:
<add
verb="GET,HEAD" path="ScriptResource.axd" type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptResourceHandler,
System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"
validate="false" />

Add the following to the <httpModules>
section:
<add name="ScriptModule" type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptModule,
System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"
/>

Add the following to the <assemblyBinding>:
<dependentAssembly> <assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.Extensions"
publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" />
<bindingRedirect
oldVersion="1.0.0.0-1.1.0.0" newVersion="3.5.0.0" />
</dependentAssembly>
<dependentAssembly>
<assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.Extensions.Design"
publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" />
<bindingRedirect
oldVersion="1.0.0.0-1.1.0.0" newVersion="3.5.0.0" />
</dependentAssembly>

The above modifications should fix the issue and render the webpart.

Dell Media Direct and Outlook 2007 Issue

I purchased Dell XPS M1530 a month ago. To my surprise I found that I could not see my email in the Preview Pane of the outlook when I clicked any item in the Outlook folders. After spending several days trying to trouble shoot the issue I ran into a blog that had a fix. The fix was to uninstall Dell Media Direct.

For some reason, Dell Media Direct causes the Outlook Preview in the preview pane to malfunction. After uninstalling Dell Media Direct, the preview works fine.

I contacted Dell and they have not been able to provide a solution that will resolve the issue.

Now, the issue with not having Dell Media Direct is that I cannot watch any movies on my Blue Ray DVD player, since it needs a decoder to play the Blue Ray DVDs.

Hope this blog helps people who are experiencing similar issue like above.