Contractor (I.T) Tools

Tools, I love my tools. When I'm working on the house, it's the table saw and miter saw that I use the most. When I'm working on a software project, it's my wiki.

I use a code base that is soon to be opensourced, I hope. -That part may be up to me, I need to finish getting it ready. It was originally written by Travis Giggy at Giggy Development in 1999. This source code base has evolved from .asp to ASP.NET and today I've got it settled in .Net 2.0. I'm just finishing the new data layer - it was originally in SQL Server. I'm changing that to be provider based so that whoever is using this code base can adjust the data management system to their preference.

I personally want to have SQL Server Everywhere baked into it, so I can put it where ever I want and not worry about what the local database system is. That limits multiple users, though, so there's always the option to plug in SQL Server Express, or bring out the big guns again for an enterprise version of this portal software.

This code base doesn't have a name, the program is a portal management system. Yep, there are a lot of them but this is the one I work in and can kick some butt with when I'm trying to get a project off the ground. It takes care of my menus, user profiles, logins. It has a system within it to pass a single sign on from one web app or web service to another so that my menus can contain links to wherever and the user will still be logged in when they get there. I like that part. I can be admin over the program, my users can be admins over their company or organizational structure. The user admins can make menus available to their users, or restrict the view.

So that's my main tool when I'm setting up a new client or when I'm adding a new service for my business. This thing has a wiki as one of it's linked in applications, another opensource tool that I added the authentication layer to and adjusted to my requirements. Then when I am at a new client, I can keep notes and easily find the information I need to be able to work most efficiently. I want the client to get their money's worth - and since I have a memory like a sieve the wiki is a lifesaver.

Thanks, Travis!