I have been using ComponentArt's TreeView tree control for about a month, and it blows away every tree control I have used in the past.  Not only is it visually stunning, but the object model is a joy to work with.  It is very easy to customize and control. 

• Cross-browser support -- not just down-level rendering, but true pixel-perfect rendering in all major browsers!
• Load on demand
• Extremely powerful and detailed CSS support
• Client- and server-side events
• Just... plain... slick

I use the control in a skinnable, template-based portal framework where all Server and User controls are loaded dynamically.  Other controls I have used require work-arounds to get images and resources to map correctly.  ComponentArt's TreeView has worked flawlessly.

Documentation is outstanding, and they provide a suite of examples that cover just about everything you can do with the control.  Whenever I had questions, ComponentArt's support forum either had the answer or was very quick to respond to my posts.

ComponentArt's TreeView definitely gets 5 out of 5 stars.  Check out the online demos and be amazed.

I've also been using ComponentArt's Menu control, which is every bit as awesome.  I plan to post a review for it, as well.

Four more invites were added to my account this morning.  Obviously, the three people that read my blog don't need them.  Maybe I should request a blog account on DotNetJunkies?  That would certainly increase my audience.

UPDATE (Feb 22, 2005): I currently have 49 invites, if anyone comes across this blog entry.

My friend Joe Audette has started a very interesting portal project for Mono and MySQL.  It's based initially on IBuySpy, but he has plans for many architecture improvements.  I believe this is going to become a very important project, and he has already made significant progress.  Check it out and spread the word.

http://www.mojoportal.com/

I just read Steve Hebert's post on distributing a .NET COM object, and I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw this:

Oh, how many times I've needed that image!

Talking about Gmail reminded me of another fascinating Google service: Google Zeitgeist

Did you know about the Google calculator?  Want to know how many tablespoons are in a cup?  Or maybe 55,334 x 22,331?  I was watching my FTP downloads the other day and wanted to know exactly what my kilobytes/second upload speed meant in terms of bandwidth, which is typically expressed in megabits per second.  So, I typed in the phrase 330 kilobytes per second in megabits per second, and *poof*!  Now I know.  Is that cool, or what?

I'm almost ashamed to admit it.  I guess I got all caught up in the excitement.  I mean... I don't even need a gigabyte of free e-mail.  I'm running my own e-mail server!

You can now reach me at christianaspnet at gmail dot com.  Not that there would be any point. And, I probably won't even remember to check it that often.  But... it's still kinda cool.

Anyway, thanks to Adam Sills for sending me an invite!

A good friend of mine does custom wood and iron work.  This guy is a true craftsman, and he's now following his passion full-time.  He came by the house a couple of weeks ago and showed me a wooden case he had made for his Palm, simply because he was tired of the ones on the market.  My jaw hit the floor.  I immediately asked him to make me a case for my Pocket PC.  Take a look: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5705021663

Everyone that has seen it has been amazed and said, “He should sell these!”  I asked another friend of mine to put it up on eBay to see what it might sell for.  If you know of anyone that might be interested... please pass the link along!

Update: The eBay bid has long passed.  Maybe I'll post pictures of it on this site later.

I just discovered CodeSmith.  Regardless of the what type of development you do -- be it C#, VB.NET, ASP.NET, WinForms, SQL, ASP or even VB4, for crying out loud -- you must have this tool.

Some of you might ask, “Where have you been?!  I've been using this tool for [some_unbelievably_long_period_of_time]!!!”  Sure, I heard about it a long time ago.  I guess I was just “too busy” to see what it was really all about. 

WHY, OH WHY DIDN'T I DOWNLOAD CODESMITH SOONER?????

I never much cared for code generation tools.  Usually you have to conform to someone else's idea of what a stored procedure, data class, business class, etc. should look like.  CodeSmith is so much more than a code generation tool.  If you can create a template for it, this sucker will crank it out.  I can see now how I could automatically generate 90% of my stored procedures, data and business access layers, exactly the way I want.

I'm sitting here kicking myself, HARD, thinking about all the hours and hours of mind-numbing cut & paste / search & replace I could have saved myself over the last year using this tool.  Oh, well... at least most of it was billable hours...