Blog of Jason Grimme - Programming and All Things Jason http://studioshorts.com/blog I have a computer data interchange format named after me! Tue, 31 Aug 2010 05:04:04 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Visual Studio: Slow to Remove / Delete Files From Solution http://studioshorts.com/blog/2010/08/visual-studio-slow-to-remove-delete-files-from-solution/ http://studioshorts.com/blog/2010/08/visual-studio-slow-to-remove-delete-files-from-solution/#comments Tue, 31 Aug 2010 04:48:49 +0000 Jason Grimme http://studioshorts.com/blog/?p=419 At work I have been noticing an increase in time it takes to remove a file from a solution. Several weeks ago it took about ten seconds, but recently it has been taking a few minutes.
The other day while waiting for a file to be deleted I decided to figure out what was causing the problem. I was able to do some research, find the problem, and fix the problem while Visual Studio was trying to remove a file Once I fixed the problem the file finished deleting.

The Fix

It’s a simple fix, really. Empty your recycle bin. I had about two gigabytes of files and after removing them, the deletion process took less than a second. It’s unusual to be happy when you get what should have received in the first place. Then again, it’s a Microsoft product. Maybe I should be happy it works most of the time :P .

]]> http://studioshorts.com/blog/2010/08/visual-studio-slow-to-remove-delete-files-from-solution/feed/ 0 Custom Validation and Content on SharePoint Survey http://studioshorts.com/blog/2010/08/custom-validation-and-content-on-sharepoint-survey/ http://studioshorts.com/blog/2010/08/custom-validation-and-content-on-sharepoint-survey/#comments Tue, 17 Aug 2010 05:06:42 +0000 Jason Grimme http://studioshorts.com/blog/?p=411 Today my script that I wrote for Require Unique Answers in SharePoint Survery Ranking Scale was rejected because it used designer which is frowned upon for ghosting pages. I was left to quickly find a way to include a content editor web part on the survey page that contained the JavaScript.

Luckily, I found out that you can trick SharePoint into displaying the survey page in edit mode, which allows you to add web parts.

Trixie Little Hobbitses

  • Let’s say the link to your survey is http://mySite/documents/survey/newform.aspx.
  • Add the parameter/value toolpaneview=2 to the URL
  • Resulting in: http://mySite/documents/survey/newform.aspx?toolpaneview=2
  • Let’s say the link to your survey is http://mySite/documents/survey/newform.aspx?source=http://mySite.
  • Add the parameter/value toolpaneview=2 to the URL
  • Resulting in: http://mySite/documents/survey/newform.aspx?source=http://mySite&toolpaneview=2

Of course, you don’t really need to keep the source parameter on the URL.

You can then add your web part, most likely a content editor web part.

To add custom validation, add JavaScript using the PreSaveAction() method like the following and in the referenced post at the beginning of this article.

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<script type="text/javascript">
    function PreSaveAction()
    {
        // Put your custom validation here
        return true;
    }
</script>

Update: Adding validation on Survey Edit page

After some user testing, I discovered that users could edit survey submissions (if enabled) without my Javascript validation. I took a shot at trying to add a content editor web part to the edit.aspx page and it worked as well. Simply add the same toolpaneview=2 bit onto the end of the aspx page and the add web part interface will be displayed.

]]> http://studioshorts.com/blog/2010/08/custom-validation-and-content-on-sharepoint-survey/feed/ 0 Require Unique Answers in SharePoint Survery Ranking Scale http://studioshorts.com/blog/2010/08/require-unique-answers-in-sharepoint-survery-ranking-scale/ http://studioshorts.com/blog/2010/08/require-unique-answers-in-sharepoint-survery-ranking-scale/#comments Sat, 14 Aug 2010 00:01:45 +0000 Jason Grimme http://studioshorts.com/blog/?p=398 Let’s pretend you want to create a SharePoint survey where you ask your audience how they would rank the three Lord of the Rings books, in order from their most to least liked.
The best solution would be to create a ranking scale, and list the three books and three choices (Most liked, Middle, Least liked). This would be realtively simple except for that you want to make sure they can only select ‘Most liked’ once. This is where SharePoint has no method of requiring unique answers between questions.

After trying many different methods, I settled on creating a custom JavaScript function on the page that validates that answers to ranking scale questions are unique.

SharePoint Ranking Scale Problem

Using This Script Forces Unique Values

Hooking Into SharePoints Validation Before Submitting

On any SharePoint page, if you create a JavaScript function named PreSaveAction, it will run and require a return true before submitting the page.

My custom function is named RequireUniqueRankings and accepts an array that tells it which ranking matrices you want to force unique answers on. It returns true if there were no problems and returns false if there were, which prevents the form from submitting.

I added the custom code in the survey page using Microsoft Designer.

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  <script type="text/javascript">
   
    function PreSaveAction()
    {
        // Settings for matrices that require unique values
        // Start with zero and go by order in which they appear in the source
        // Default: False
        var matrices = new Array();
            matrices[0] = true;
            matrices[1] = false;
       
        return RequireUniqueRankings(matrices);
    }

Ugly SharePoint HTML

Microsoft spent a great deal of time making the ranking matrices extremely hard to parse. Not only are the names and IDs of the radio buttons pointless, the values are useless as well. They could have assigned values like 0, 1, 2, 3, etc, but no. They use values such as ctl00, ctl01, and ctl02. This would be tolerable except for the value names keep increasing within the same matrix. For the second option in the same matrix, the exact same three rankings will be ctl03, ctl04, and ctl05 instead of ctl00, ctl01, and ctl02. Why I don’t know, but it certainly is nonsensical.
Example HTML for one rank matrix – Three Items x Three ranks

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]
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" border="0" height="95%" summary="Rating Scale Question">
    <tr>
        <td>&nbsp;</td>
        <td class="ms-verticaldots">&nbsp;</td>
        <td class="ms-gridCol">First</td>
        <td class="ms-gridCol">Second</td>
        <td class="ms-gridCol">Third&nbsp;</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>&nbsp;</td>
        <td class="ms-verticaldots">&nbsp;</td>
        <th scope="col" class="ms-gridCol">1</th>
        <th scope="col" class="ms-gridCol">2</th>
        <th scope="col" class="ms-gridCol">3</th>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td class="ms-sectionline" colspan="100%" height="1"><img alt="" src="/_layouts/images/blank.gif" /></td>
    </tr>
    <!-- First option-->
    <tr>
        <th class="ms-gridT1" scope="row">The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring</th>                       
        <td class="ms-verticaldots">&nbsp;</td>
        <td align="center">
            <input id="ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl02_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl00" type="radio" name="ctl00$m$g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec$ctl00$ctl01$ctl02$ctl00$ctl00$ctl04$ctl00$RadioButtons:0" value="ctl00" />
            <script>document.getElementById('ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl02_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl00').title='The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring Value 1';</script>
        </td>
        <td align="center">
            <input id="ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl02_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl01" type="radio" name="ctl00$m$g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec$ctl00$ctl01$ctl02$ctl00$ctl00$ctl04$ctl00$RadioButtons:0" value="ctl01" />
            <script>document.getElementById('ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl02_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl01').title='The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring Value 2';</script>
        </td>
        <td align="center">
            <input id="ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl02_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl02" type="radio" name="ctl00$m$g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec$ctl00$ctl01$ctl02$ctl00$ctl00$ctl04$ctl00$RadioButtons:0" value="ctl02" />
            <script>document.getElementById('ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl02_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl02').title='The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring Value 3';</script>
        </td>
    </tr>
    <!-- Second option-->
    <tr>
        <th class="ms-gridT1" scope="row">The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers</th>
        <td class="ms-verticaldots">&nbsp;</td>
        <td align="center">
            <input id="ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl02_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl03" type="radio" name="ctl00$m$g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec$ctl00$ctl01$ctl02$ctl00$ctl00$ctl04$ctl00$RadioButtons:1" value="ctl03" />
            <script>document.getElementById('ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl02_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl03').title='The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Value 1';</script>
        </td>
        <td align="center">
            <input id="ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl02_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl04" type="radio" name="ctl00$m$g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec$ctl00$ctl01$ctl02$ctl00$ctl00$ctl04$ctl00$RadioButtons:1" value="ctl04" />
            <script>document.getElementById('ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl02_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl04').title='The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Value 2';</script>
        </td>
        <td align="center">
            <input id="ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl02_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl05" type="radio" name="ctl00$m$g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec$ctl00$ctl01$ctl02$ctl00$ctl00$ctl04$ctl00$RadioButtons:1" value="ctl05" />
            <script>document.getElementById('ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl02_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl05').title='The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Value 3';</script>
        </td>
    </tr>
    <!-- Second option-->
    <tr>
        <th class="ms-gridT1" scope="row">The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King</th>
        <td class="ms-verticaldots">&nbsp;</td>
        <td align="center"
            <input id="ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl02_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl06" type="radio" name="ctl00$m$g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec$ctl00$ctl01$ctl02$ctl00$ctl00$ctl04$ctl00$RadioButtons:2" value="ctl06" />
            <script>document.getElementById('ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl02_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl06').title='The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Value 1';</script>
        </td>
        <td align="center">
            <input id="ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl02_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl07" type="radio" name="ctl00$m$g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec$ctl00$ctl01$ctl02$ctl00$ctl00$ctl04$ctl00$RadioButtons:2" value="ctl07" />
            <script>document.getElementById('ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl02_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl07').title='The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Value 2';</script>
        </td>
        <td align="center">
            <input id="ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl02_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl08" type="radio" name="ctl00$m$g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec$ctl00$ctl01$ctl02$ctl00$ctl00$ctl04$ctl00$RadioButtons:2" value="ctl08" />
            <script>document.getElementById('ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl02_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl08').title='The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Value 3';</script>
        </td>
    </tr>
    <!-- END OPTIONS -->
</table>

Example HTML – One Matrix – 5 Items x 5 Ranks

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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" border="0" height="95%" summary="Rating Scale Question">
    <tr>
        <td>&nbsp;</td>
        <td class="ms-verticaldots">&nbsp;</td>
        <td class="ms-gridCol">Low&nbsp;</td>
        <td class="ms-gridCol"></td>
        <td class="ms-gridCol">Average</td>
        <td class="ms-gridCol"></td>
        <td class="ms-gridCol">&nbsp;High</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>&nbsp;</td>
        <td class="ms-verticaldots">&nbsp;</td>
        <th scope="col" class="ms-gridCol">1</th>
        <th scope="col" class="ms-gridCol">2</th>
        <th scope="col" class="ms-gridCol">3</th>
        <th scope="col" class="ms-gridCol">4</th>
        <th scope="col" class="ms-gridCol">5</th>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td class="ms-sectionline" colspan="100%" height="1">
        <img alt="" src="/_layouts/images/blank.gif" /></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <th class="ms-gridT1" scope="row">First</th>
        <td class="ms-verticaldots">&nbsp;</td>
        <td align="center">
            <input id="ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl00" type="radio" name="ctl00$m$g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec$ctl00$ctl01$ctl03$ctl00$ctl00$ctl04$ctl00$RadioButtons:0" value="ctl00" />
            <script>document.getElementById('ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl00').title='First Value 1';</script>
        </td>
        <td align="center">
            <input id="ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl01" type="radio" name="ctl00$m$g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec$ctl00$ctl01$ctl03$ctl00$ctl00$ctl04$ctl00$RadioButtons:0" value="ctl01" />
            <script>document.getElementById('ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl01').title='First Value 2';</script>
        </td>
        <td align="center">
            <input id="ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl02" type="radio" name="ctl00$m$g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec$ctl00$ctl01$ctl03$ctl00$ctl00$ctl04$ctl00$RadioButtons:0" value="ctl02" />
            <script>document.getElementById('ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl02').title='First Value 3';</script>
        </td>
        <td align="center">
            <input id="ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl03" type="radio" name="ctl00$m$g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec$ctl00$ctl01$ctl03$ctl00$ctl00$ctl04$ctl00$RadioButtons:0" value="ctl03" />
            <script>document.getElementById('ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl03').title='First Value 4';</script>
        </td>
        <td align="center">
            <input id="ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl04" type="radio" name="ctl00$m$g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec$ctl00$ctl01$ctl03$ctl00$ctl00$ctl04$ctl00$RadioButtons:0" value="ctl04" />
            <script>document.getElementById('ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl04').title='First Value 5';</script>
        </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <th class="ms-gridT1" scope="row">Second</th>
        <td class="ms-verticaldots">&nbsp;</td>
        <td align="center">
            <input id="ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl05" type="radio" name="ctl00$m$g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec$ctl00$ctl01$ctl03$ctl00$ctl00$ctl04$ctl00$RadioButtons:1" value="ctl05" />
            <script>document.getElementById('ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl05').title='Second Value 1';</script>
        </td>
        <td align="center">
            <input id="ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl06" type="radio" name="ctl00$m$g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec$ctl00$ctl01$ctl03$ctl00$ctl00$ctl04$ctl00$RadioButtons:1" value="ctl06" />
            <script>document.getElementById('ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl06').title='Second Value 2';</script>
        </td>
        <td align="center">
            <input id="ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl07" type="radio" name="ctl00$m$g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec$ctl00$ctl01$ctl03$ctl00$ctl00$ctl04$ctl00$RadioButtons:1" value="ctl07" />
            <script>document.getElementById('ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl07').title='Second Value 3';</script>
        </td>
        <td align="center">
            <input id="ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl08" type="radio" name="ctl00$m$g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec$ctl00$ctl01$ctl03$ctl00$ctl00$ctl04$ctl00$RadioButtons:1" value="ctl08" />
            <script>document.getElementById('ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl08').title='Second Value 4';</script>
        </td>
        <td align="center">
            <input id="ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl09" type="radio" name="ctl00$m$g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec$ctl00$ctl01$ctl03$ctl00$ctl00$ctl04$ctl00$RadioButtons:1" value="ctl09" />
            <script>document.getElementById('ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl09').title='Second Value 5';</script>
        </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <th class="ms-gridT1" scope="row">Third</th>
        <td class="ms-verticaldots">&nbsp;</td>
        <td align="center">
            <input id="ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl10" type="radio" name="ctl00$m$g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec$ctl00$ctl01$ctl03$ctl00$ctl00$ctl04$ctl00$RadioButtons:2" value="ctl10" />
            <script>document.getElementById('ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl10').title='Third Value 1';</script>
        </td>
        <td align="center">
            <input id="ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl11" type="radio" name="ctl00$m$g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec$ctl00$ctl01$ctl03$ctl00$ctl00$ctl04$ctl00$RadioButtons:2" value="ctl11" />
            <script>document.getElementById('ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl11').title='Third Value 2';</script>
        </td>
        <td align="center">
            <input id="ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl12" type="radio" name="ctl00$m$g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec$ctl00$ctl01$ctl03$ctl00$ctl00$ctl04$ctl00$RadioButtons:2" value="ctl12" />
            <script>document.getElementById('ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl12').title='Third Value 3';</script>
        </td>
        <td align="center">
            <input id="ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl13" type="radio" name="ctl00$m$g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec$ctl00$ctl01$ctl03$ctl00$ctl00$ctl04$ctl00$RadioButtons:2" value="ctl13" />
            <script>document.getElementById('ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl13').title='Third Value 4';</script>
        </td>
        <td align="center">
            <input id="ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl14" type="radio" name="ctl00$m$g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec$ctl00$ctl01$ctl03$ctl00$ctl00$ctl04$ctl00$RadioButtons:2" value="ctl14" />
            <script>document.getElementById('ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl14').title='Third Value 5';</script>
        </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <th class="ms-gridT1" scope="row">Fourth</th>
        <td class="ms-verticaldots">&nbsp;</td>
        <td align="center">
            <input id="ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl15" type="radio" name="ctl00$m$g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec$ctl00$ctl01$ctl03$ctl00$ctl00$ctl04$ctl00$RadioButtons:3" value="ctl15" />
            <script>document.getElementById('ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl15').title='Fourth Value 1';</script>
        </td>
        <td align="center">
            <input id="ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl16" type="radio" name="ctl00$m$g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec$ctl00$ctl01$ctl03$ctl00$ctl00$ctl04$ctl00$RadioButtons:3" value="ctl16" />
            <script>document.getElementById('ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl16').title='Fourth Value 2';</script>
        </td>
        <td align="center">
            <input id="ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl17" type="radio" name="ctl00$m$g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec$ctl00$ctl01$ctl03$ctl00$ctl00$ctl04$ctl00$RadioButtons:3" value="ctl17" />
            <script>document.getElementById('ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl17').title='Fourth Value 3';</script>
        </td>
        <td align="center">
            <input id="ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl18" type="radio" name="ctl00$m$g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec$ctl00$ctl01$ctl03$ctl00$ctl00$ctl04$ctl00$RadioButtons:3" value="ctl18" />
            <script>document.getElementById('ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl18').title='Fourth Value 4';</script>
        </td>
        <td align="center">
            <input id="ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl19" type="radio" name="ctl00$m$g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec$ctl00$ctl01$ctl03$ctl00$ctl00$ctl04$ctl00$RadioButtons:3" value="ctl19" />
            <script>document.getElementById('ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl19').title='Fourth Value 5';</script>
        </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <th class="ms-gridT1" scope="row">Fifth</th>
        <td class="ms-verticaldots">&nbsp;</td>
        <td align="center">
            <input id="ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl20" type="radio" name="ctl00$m$g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec$ctl00$ctl01$ctl03$ctl00$ctl00$ctl04$ctl00$RadioButtons:4" value="ctl20" />
            <script>document.getElementById('ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl20').title='Fifth Value 1';</script>
        </td>
        <td align="center">
            <input id="ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl21" type="radio" name="ctl00$m$g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec$ctl00$ctl01$ctl03$ctl00$ctl00$ctl04$ctl00$RadioButtons:4" value="ctl21" />
            <script>document.getElementById('ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl21').title='Fifth Value 2';</script>
        </td>
        <td align="center">
            <input id="ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl22" type="radio" name="ctl00$m$g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec$ctl00$ctl01$ctl03$ctl00$ctl00$ctl04$ctl00$RadioButtons:4" value="ctl22" />
            <script>document.getElementById('ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl22').title='Fifth Value 3';</script>
        </td>
        <td align="center">
            <input id="ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl23" type="radio" name="ctl00$m$g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec$ctl00$ctl01$ctl03$ctl00$ctl00$ctl04$ctl00$RadioButtons:4" value="ctl23" />
            <script>document.getElementById('ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl23').title='Fifth Value 4';</script>
        </td>
        <td align="center">
            <input id="ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl24" type="radio" name="ctl00$m$g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec$ctl00$ctl01$ctl03$ctl00$ctl00$ctl04$ctl00$RadioButtons:4" value="ctl24" />
            <script>document.getElementById('ctl00_m_g_50921f35_b2ce_4835_8087_6ebf6c0e84ec_ctl00_ctl01_ctl03_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl24').title='Fifth Value 5';</script>
        </td>
    </tr>
</table>

Validating Ranking Answers

In essence, my script loops through all radio button input elements, and then sorts all of them based on some logic that results in them being split into the different matrices as well as grouping the answer values so that they are 0, 1, 2 instead of ctl00, ctl01, and ctl02.

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    function RequireUniqueRankings(requiredMatrices)
    {
        var matrixCount = 0;
        var rankedMatrixes = new Array();
        rankedMatrixes[matrixCount] = new Object;
        rankedMatrixes[matrixCount]['matrixRadioButtons'] = new Array();
        rankedMatrixes[matrixCount]['matrixRadioSPvalues'] = new Array();
        rankedMatrixes[matrixCount]['matrixRadioNames'] = new Object;
        rankedMatrixes[matrixCount]['matrixRadioValues'] = new Object;
        rankedMatrixes[matrixCount]['matrixRadioSelected'] = new Object;

        // Get all input radio buttons 
        var inputsArr = document.getElementsByTagName("input");

        // Loop through all inputs.  Get matrix radio buttons
        for(var i=0; i<inputsArr.length; i++)
        {      
            if(inputsArr[i].type == "radio")
            {  
                // Determine if this radio button is part of a ranked matrix
                // Assumed pattern: name="ctl00...ctl00$RadioButtons:2"
                var rankMatrixRefEx = /RadioButtons\:\d+/g;
                var isRankMatrixRadio = rankMatrixRefEx.exec(inputsArr[i].name);
                if(isRankMatrixRadio)
                {  
                    // If we have already run into this value, then we are on a new matrix
                    // Loop through all values for current matrix.
                    for(m=0; m<rankedMatrixes[matrixCount]['matrixRadioSPvalues'].length; m++)
                    {
                        if(rankedMatrixes[matrixCount]['matrixRadioSPvalues'][m] == inputsArr[i].value)
                        {
                            matrixCount++;
                            rankedMatrixes[matrixCount] = new Object;
                            rankedMatrixes[matrixCount]['matrixRadioButtons'] = new Array();
                            rankedMatrixes[matrixCount]['matrixRadioSPvalues'] = new Array();
                            rankedMatrixes[matrixCount]['matrixRadioNames'] = new Object;
                            rankedMatrixes[matrixCount]['matrixRadioValues'] = new Object;
                            rankedMatrixes[matrixCount]['matrixRadioSelected'] = new Object;                                       
                        }
                    }
                    rankedMatrixes[matrixCount]['matrixRadioSPvalues'].push(inputsArr[i].value);
                    // Add to list of radio buttons        
                    rankedMatrixes[matrixCount]['matrixRadioButtons'].push(inputsArr[i]);
                    // Add to list of radio groups
                    rankedMatrixes[matrixCount]['matrixRadioNames'][inputsArr[i].name] = inputsArr[i].value;
                }              
            }
        }  
        /*
        Good for debugging
        var list = "";
        for(var i=0; i<rankedMatrixes.length; i++)
        {
            for(var j=0; j<rankedMatrixes[i]['matrixRadioButtons'].length; j++)
            {
                list += i + " : " + rankedMatrixes[i]['matrixRadioButtons'][j].name + "\n";
            }
        }
        alert(list);
        */
           
        // Loop through each of our matrixi and check for unique values
        for(var i=0; i<rankedMatrixes.length; i++)
        {
            // If we didn't require this to have unique values, skip it
            if(!requiredMatrices[i])
            {
                continue;
            }
       
            //Get selected values for each ranked option           
            // Loop through each question/group    
            for( var radioName in rankedMatrixes[i]['matrixRadioNames'])
            {
                var buttonsWithinName = document.getElementsByName(radioName);
                for(var j=0; j<buttonsWithinName.length; j++)
                {
                    // Assoc this unique value with the general value (0, 1, 2, etc)
                    // ex ctl00 = 0; ctl01 = 1; ... ctl04 = 0;
                    rankedMatrixes[i]['matrixRadioValues'][buttonsWithinName[j].value] = j;
                    if(buttonsWithinName[j].checked == true)   
                    {
                        // Assign this value to this name
                        rankedMatrixes[i]['matrixRadioSelected'][radioName] = buttonsWithinName[j].value;
                    }
                }
            }      
                   
            // Return false if user selected a ranking more than once
            // Will keep track of selected values for this group
            var valuesWithinGroup = new Object;
            // For each group
            for( var radioGroup in rankedMatrixes[i]['matrixRadioSelected'])
            {      
                var groupName = radioGroup;
                var groupUniqueValue = rankedMatrixes[i]['matrixRadioSelected'][radioGroup];
                var groupCommonValue = rankedMatrixes[i]['matrixRadioValues'][groupUniqueValue];
                if(valuesWithinGroup[groupCommonValue])
                {
                    // Get the title for this group
                    var groupTitle = document.getElementsByName(groupName)[groupCommonValue].title;
                    alert("You may only select a ranking once between the items.\nPlease revise your ranking for " + groupTitle);
                    return false;
                }
                // Register this rank as taken
                valuesWithinGroup[groupCommonValue] = true;
            }
       
        }// End each matrix

        // If we made it to this point, they have not selected a ranking twice.
        return true;
    }

Final Script

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  <script type="text/javascript">
   
    function PreSaveAction()
    {
        // Settings for matrices that require unique values
        // Start with zero, by order in which they appear in the source
        // Default: to false
        var matrices = new Array();
            matrices[0] = true;
            matrices[1] = true;
       
        return RequireUniqueRankings(matrices);
    }
   
    function RequireUniqueRankings(requiredMatrices)
    {
        var matrixCount = 0;
        var rankedMatrixes = new Array();
        rankedMatrixes[matrixCount] = new Object;
        rankedMatrixes[matrixCount]['matrixRadioButtons'] = new Array();
        rankedMatrixes[matrixCount]['matrixRadioSPvalues'] = new Array();
        rankedMatrixes[matrixCount]['matrixRadioNames'] = new Object;
        rankedMatrixes[matrixCount]['matrixRadioValues'] = new Object;
        rankedMatrixes[matrixCount]['matrixRadioSelected'] = new Object;

        // Get all input radio buttons 
        var inputsArr = document.getElementsByTagName("input");

        // Loop through all inputs.  Get matrix radio buttons
        for(var i=0; i<inputsArr.length; i++)
        {      
            if(inputsArr[i].type == "radio")
            {  
                // Determine if this radio button is part of a ranked matrix
                // Assumed pattern: name="ctl00...ctl00$RadioButtons:2"
                var rankMatrixRefEx = /RadioButtons\:\d+/g;
                var isRankMatrixRadio = rankMatrixRefEx.exec(inputsArr[i].name);
                if(isRankMatrixRadio)
                {  
                    // If we have already run into this value, then we are on a new matrix
                    // Loop through all values for current matrix.
                    for(m=0; m<rankedMatrixes[matrixCount]['matrixRadioSPvalues'].length; m++)
                    {
                        if(rankedMatrixes[matrixCount]['matrixRadioSPvalues'][m] == inputsArr[i].value)
                        {
                            matrixCount++;
                            rankedMatrixes[matrixCount] = new Object;
                            rankedMatrixes[matrixCount]['matrixRadioButtons'] = new Array();
                            rankedMatrixes[matrixCount]['matrixRadioSPvalues'] = new Array();
                            rankedMatrixes[matrixCount]['matrixRadioNames'] = new Object;
                            rankedMatrixes[matrixCount]['matrixRadioValues'] = new Object;
                            rankedMatrixes[matrixCount]['matrixRadioSelected'] = new Object;                                       
                        }
                    }
                    rankedMatrixes[matrixCount]['matrixRadioSPvalues'].push(inputsArr[i].value);
                    // Add to list of radio buttons        
                    rankedMatrixes[matrixCount]['matrixRadioButtons'].push(inputsArr[i]);
                    // Add to list of radio groups
                    rankedMatrixes[matrixCount]['matrixRadioNames'][inputsArr[i].name] = inputsArr[i].value;
                }              
            }
        }  
        /*
        Good for debugging
        var list = "";
        for(var i=0; i<rankedMatrixes.length; i++)
        {
            for(var j=0; j<rankedMatrixes[i]['matrixRadioButtons'].length; j++)
            {
                list += i + " : " + rankedMatrixes[i]['matrixRadioButtons'][j].name + "\n";
            }
        }
        alert(list);
        */
           
        // Loop through each of our matrixi and check for unique values
        for(var i=0; i<rankedMatrixes.length; i++)
        {
            // If we didn't require this to have unique values, skip it
            if(!requiredMatrices[i])
            {
                continue;
            }
       
            //Get selected values for each ranked option           
            // Loop through each question/group    
            for( var radioName in rankedMatrixes[i]['matrixRadioNames'])
            {
                var buttonsWithinName = document.getElementsByName(radioName);
                for(var j=0; j<buttonsWithinName.length; j++)
                {
                    // Assoc this unique value with the general value (0, 1, 2, etc)
                    // ex ctl00 = 0; ctl01 = 1; ... ctl04 = 0;
                    rankedMatrixes[i]['matrixRadioValues'][buttonsWithinName[j].value] = j;
                    if(buttonsWithinName[j].checked == true)   
                    {
                        // Assign this value to this name
                        rankedMatrixes[i]['matrixRadioSelected'][radioName] = buttonsWithinName[j].value;
                    }
                }
            }      
                   
            // Return false if user selected a ranking more than once
            // Will keep track of selected values for this group
            var valuesWithinGroup = new Object;
            // For each group
            for( var radioGroup in rankedMatrixes[i]['matrixRadioSelected'])
            {      
                var groupName = radioGroup;
                var groupUniqueValue = rankedMatrixes[i]['matrixRadioSelected'][radioGroup];
                var groupCommonValue = rankedMatrixes[i]['matrixRadioValues'][groupUniqueValue];
                if(valuesWithinGroup[groupCommonValue])
                {
                    // Get the title for this group
                    var groupTitle = document.getElementsByName(groupName)[groupCommonValue].title;
                    alert("You may only select a ranking once between the items.\nPlease revise your ranking for " + groupTitle);
                    return false;
                }
                // Register this rank as taken
                valuesWithinGroup[groupCommonValue] = true;
            }
       
        }// End each matrix

        // If we made it to this point, they have not selected a ranking twice.
        return true;
    }
     
  </script>
]]> http://studioshorts.com/blog/2010/08/require-unique-answers-in-sharepoint-survery-ranking-scale/feed/ 1 KitchenAid Stand Mixer Comparison: Part Three – Colors http://studioshorts.com/blog/2010/08/kitchenaid-stand-mixer-analysis-part-three-colors/ http://studioshorts.com/blog/2010/08/kitchenaid-stand-mixer-analysis-part-three-colors/#comments Sat, 07 Aug 2010 21:27:19 +0000 Jason Grimme http://studioshorts.com/blog/?p=350

Article Parts

KitchenAid Stand Mixer Colors

Much like iPods, clothes, laptops, and houses, the color of your KitchenAid stand mixer matters. KitchenAid offers more than thirty different colors for the Artisan series and a handful for the other model types.

Because people have different tastes; and, because certain colors have limited availability, this has created a difference in value between mixers of the exact same model. This is extremely evident when buying a mixer online through Amazon or eBay where the consumer truly is king.

List / Images of All KitchenAid Mixer Colors

Here are all the color varieties that I have found thus far. I have attempted to put them in order by color :) . For now this list only contains colors for the Artisin and does not have the colors for the Pro 600 – but it will in the future.


White on White White Almond Pink Charity Cranberry Candy Apple Glass Cinnamon Persimmon Tangerine Buttercup Almond Creme Yellow Pepper Citrus Yellow Majestic Yellow Pear Bayleaf Green Green Apple Pistachio Ice Cornflower Blue Willow Cobalt Blue Boysenberry Grape Chocolate Bronze Imperial Black Onyx Black Caviar Onyx Imperial Grey Cocoa Silver Metailic Metalic Chrome

Price Differences on Amzon

I found it interesting that Amazon offered almost twenty percent off some models depending on the color. I’m not sure if this is due to their stock being high, or because they simply wanted to get rid of them. Either way, I’m sure these prices fluctuate quite often so don’t think they are set in stone.

Color Price on Amazon
Metallic Chrome $248
Onyx Black $249
Empire Red $257
White $269
Cobalt Blue $269
Tangerine $269
Pistachio $269
Green Apple $269
Ice $269
Gloss Cinnamon $269
Imperial Gray $270
Majestic Yellow $271
Caviar $275
Imperial Black $277
Cornflower $282
Silver Metallic $294
Yellow Pepper $295
White on White $298
Almond $299
Persimmon $299
Cornflower Blue $299
Onyx $299
Almond Cream $299
Buttercup $299
Blue Willow $299
Boysenberry $299
Pear $299
Pistachio $299
Bayleaf $299

Price Differences on eBay

Something that I wanted to do was gauge how popular certain colors are the the consumer, not the vendor. After collecting a few hundred auction prices from eBay, I was able to come up with some statistics.

Below is a table that shows the percentage of how much more or less a mixer was sold for (including shipping) than the average selling price of the same model on eBay.

Color Price Percent of Average Artisan Price
Almond $180 83%
Black $198 91%
Chome $205 94%
Cobalt blue $230 106%
Imperial black $230 106%
Metalic blue $215 99%
Blue willow $350 161%
Metalic chrome $230 106%
Buttercup $200 92%
Pink  $370 170%
Empire Red $198 91%
Silver metalic $205 94%
Tangerine $265 122%
White $194 89%
Citrus Yellow $250 115%

Article Parts

]]> http://studioshorts.com/blog/2010/08/kitchenaid-stand-mixer-analysis-part-three-colors/feed/ 0 KitchenAid Stand Mixer Comparison: Part Two – Prices http://studioshorts.com/blog/2010/08/kitchenaid-stand-mixer-analysis-part-two-%e2%80%93-prices/ http://studioshorts.com/blog/2010/08/kitchenaid-stand-mixer-analysis-part-two-%e2%80%93-prices/#comments Sat, 07 Aug 2010 04:39:21 +0000 Jason Grimme http://studioshorts.com/blog/?p=335

Article Parts

KitchenAid Stand Mixer Pricing

Much to my dismay, there was not a lot of price variance for the same mixer model between retailers. It is possible that since KitchenAid has their "Authentic Retailer", they are able to mandate prices like Apple and their iPods.

Because of this, I won’t spend a lot of time supplying prices for individual retailers (Though I did do a lot of research on this). On a similar note, I didn’t visit every online store and check their price. I checked the main ones, including Amazon and eBay.

Pricing Summary

How do you like that? A summary before any of the data. I figured that many people won’t care about my research data.

Buying In The Store (Stubborn)

If you insist on buying in a local retailer, it doesn’t really matter which store you buy it from. The Classic model will be about $200, the Artisan will be $300, and the Pro 600 will be $400. If this isn’t the price at your store, try a different one.

Buying Online (Wise)

If you are up for buying online, I tip my hat to you. Not only are the prices cheaper, but you have greater selection of the many colors that KitchenAid offers. I bet your local retailer doesn’t carry thirty different colors, do they? I would recommend Amazon.com for buying online, they seem to be about 15% less than local stores. eBay is another great place to look for these, even new.

Buying Used or Refurbished (Practical)

With the stand mixers, you don’t always have to buy them new. These last for decades and thus there is nothing wrong with buying one that is used or refurbished.eBay has an enormous amount of auctions for KitchenAid stand mixers for sale in used and new-in-box. A used mixer can be consistently found for half the price of the new item in stores. This is absolutely the best deal that you can count on finding.
KitchenAid has a massive refurbished program and sells through their website in addition to eBay (Their account is KitchenAid). Their eBay listings ended up being about 5% cheaper than through their website. They all come with warranties.

Supporting Data

As mentioned earlier, I won’t really cover buying these magnificent machines in your local retail store. The prices are pretty much all the same and the only way you will find a deal is if it is on some special sale, which I can’t of course predict. I’m covering consistent data.

KitchenAid Mixers Pricing - eBay vs Retail

KitchenAid Mixers Pricing - eBay vs Retail. Prices include shipping.

Table: Contains price averages for specific KitchenAid Stand Mixer models.

Model Average Price
(Including Shipping)
Classic eBay Used $110
Classic eBay Refurb $120
Classic eBay New $147
Classic Retail $214
Artisan eBay Used $147
Artisan eBay Refurb $183
Artisan eBay New $217
Aresian Retail $298
Pro 500 eBay Used $170
Pro 500 eBay Refurb $198
Pro 500 eBay New $223
Pro 500 Retail $285
Pro 600 eBay Used $247
Pro 600 eBay Refurb $272
Pro 600 eBay New $304
Pro 600 Retail $415

All prices above and below include the price of shipping, so as to make it easier to compare the cost with buying locally.

Table: Documents the price difference between used, new, and retail mixers as a percentage. This is perhaps the most important information I have here!

Model eBay Used vs New eBay New vs Retail eBay Used vs Retail Refurb vs Retail
KitchenAid Classic 25% 31% 49% 44%
KitchenAid Artisan 32% 27% 51% 39%
KitchenAid Pro 500 24% 22% 40% 31%
KitchenAid Pro 600 19% 27% 40% 34%
Averages 25% 27% 45% 37%

You can see that even buying the mixers new on eBay is a fabulous deal. Some interesting statistics to highlight are that:

  • Buying a new mixer on eBay is about 27% cheaper than buying in a store.
  • A used mixer in good condition is about 25% cheaper than buying it new on eBay.
  • Therefore, a used mixer on eBay is about half the cost of a new one from the store.
  • Refurbished mixers (which are practically new) are about 37% less than the cost of a new item from a retailer.

Article Parts

]]> http://studioshorts.com/blog/2010/08/kitchenaid-stand-mixer-analysis-part-two-%e2%80%93-prices/feed/ 1 KitchenAid Stand Mixer Comparison: Part One – Models http://studioshorts.com/blog/2010/08/kitchen-aid-stand-mixers-comparrison-analysis/ http://studioshorts.com/blog/2010/08/kitchen-aid-stand-mixers-comparrison-analysis/#comments Fri, 06 Aug 2010 01:58:34 +0000 Jason Grimme http://studioshorts.com/blog/?p=261

Article Parts

Intro to the KitchenAid Mixer

If you ever watch television, on cooking shows you always see a KitchenAid stand mixer. If you watch a movie where the character has a nice kitchen, you will always see a KitchenAid stand mixer. If your friend likes to cook, chances are he/she has a KitchenAid stand mixer. These beasts of a tool are a symbol that you enjoy cooking, and that you have value buying tools that will last you a lifetime. I have wanted to buy one of these for many years, but being that they cost a few hundred dollars, you can bet your bottom Dollar that I am going to do a lot of research. Especially if I plan on using it for several decades.

This post will be part of a series of articles that I will post in the next few days. I will link to all of them here.

Models

The first thing to decide has been which model I want. There are three main models of the stand mixer, but there are also several other models, special editions, and varieties made special for different stores.
The three most common models are Classic, Artisan, and Pro 600. The Pro 500 model is a small upgrade from the artisan and the Pro 5 Plus seems to be a model that is sold to stores like CostCo, Sams Club, and Kohls, and then given a different model name. Here is a summary on the seven models that I came across most frequently.

Visual Comparison

KitchenAid Stand Mixer Classic KitchenAid Stand Mixer Artisan KitchenAid Stand Mixer Anniversary KitchenAid Stand Mixer Pro 500 KitchenAid Stand Mixer Pro 5 Plus KitchenAid Stand Mixer Pro 600

Feature Comparison

  Classic Classic Plus Artisan 90th Anniv. Pro 500 Pro 5 Plus Pro 600
Wattage 250 Watts 275 Watts 325 Watts 325 Watts 325 Watts 450 Watts 575 Watts
Speeds 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
Bowl Size 4.5 Quarts 4.5 Quarts 5 Quarts 5 Quarts 5 Quarts 5 Quarts 6 Quarts
Head Tilt Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No
Bowl Lift No No No No Yes Yes Yes
Height 14 inches 14 inches 14 inches 14 inches 1.65 inches 16.5 inches 16.5 inches
Soft Start No No No No Yes Yes Yes
Speed Sensor No No No No ? Yes Yes
Auto Shutoff No No No No Yes Yes yes
Bowl Steel Steel Steel Glass Steel Steel Steel
Opposite
Spinning		 ? ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Feature Explanations

Wattage:
Many people will dispute the importance of the wattage, but it should be considered. Typically, the more wattage, the greater the ability of the mixer to power through more tough mixtures and doughs.

Head Tilt / Bowl Lift:
Head tilts make it easier to add ingredients to the bowl but the mixer must be turned off. It is also easier to clean the head since it flips out towards you. With the bowl lift system, you can lower the bowl while it is running, but may be more difficult to clean.

Bowl:
The 90th anniversary model is currently the only way to get a glass bowl. It is rumored however that KitchenAid will sell glass bowls for the tilt-head models in the near future.

Soft Start:
Using this feature, the mixer will start with a low speed and increase to the speed of your choice. This reduces the initial splatter effect caused by starting at high speeds.

Speed Sensor:
Mixers with this feature will adjust based on how easy/difficult it is to spin through your substance.

Auto Shutoff:
As a safety precaution, the mixer will turn off if it is really struggling in order to prevent the motor from dying out.

Opposite Spinning:
I wasn’t sure what this feature is called, but it is where the beater spins in one direction while the shaft spins the opposite direction. This moves the beater to 67 different points around the bowl.

Analysis

All KitchenAid Stand Mixers are made with absolute quality in mind. It used to be that some models were made with a plastic shell but that is no longer the case. If purchased from a normal retailer (or from KitchenAid), all models come with a one year warranty. If you are really strapped for cash then the Classic model is the cheapest, but it if you are going to spend over two hundred dollars on a premium product you might as well spend a little more and get the upgrade (Artisan).

The Artisan seems to be the happy medium and also has the tilt head which is a feature I am very interested in. It is missing the smart features such as soft start and auto shutoff which I see could be very useful. The Pro 600 model is obviously the most advance, with almost 600 watts, a larger bowl size, and all the remaining features. The Pro 5 Plus however has all of the same features as the Pro 600, but less wattage.

As this point the most important things to consider in a product like this are what you need it to do and which product fits those needs best. I am currently leaning towards the Artisan because it is slightly smaller and has the tilt head, but the smart features of the Pro 5 Plus are very appetizing. Pricing will be very important in the decision of which model to buy and is also a very huge subject! For this reason, it will be covered in a future article.

Article Parts

]]> http://studioshorts.com/blog/2010/08/kitchen-aid-stand-mixers-comparrison-analysis/feed/ 0 Using Regular Expressions, Captured Groups in Notepad++ Find and Replace http://studioshorts.com/blog/2010/08/using-regular-expressions-captured-groups-in-notepad-find-and-replace/ http://studioshorts.com/blog/2010/08/using-regular-expressions-captured-groups-in-notepad-find-and-replace/#comments Thu, 05 Aug 2010 05:02:54 +0000 Jason Grimme http://studioshorts.com/blog/?p=252 The past few days I have been doing research on …something that interests me very much, which I will save for another post. I have been entering this data into Excel, and today came upon a situation where doing some regex find / replace would be very helpful. I have used regular expressions in Notepad++ before, but I hadn’t done it with captured groups.
What I had was HTML code for a select box full of several colors. I wanted a quick way to extract the colors and get rid of the rest.

Notepad++ Find Replace with RegEx

The HTML

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<select>
<option value="0" title="White" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153);">White</option>
<option value="1" title="Cobalt Blue" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153);">Cobalt Blue</option>
<option value="2" title="Almond" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153);">Almond</option>
<option value="3" title="Empire Red" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153);">Empire Red</option>
[....]
</select>

The Regular Expression

Regular expressions are easy, but I wanted to have a heading for the next section so I felt like this needed one as well. Rather than extracting the text from the actual label of the select option, I am grabbing the contents of the title attribute. Captured groups are created by surrounding with parenthesis.

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.*title="([\w\s]+).*

Captured Groups

In Dreamweaver I remember referencing captured groups in find and replace with a dollar sign and then the number. This did not work in notepad++. Instead, I figured out you use a forward slash (/). So, for the first captured group, you do \1. For the second, \2, etc.

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Make sure that you check the “Use Regular Expressions” checkbox, otherwise NotePad++ will think you are crazy.

]]> http://studioshorts.com/blog/2010/08/using-regular-expressions-captured-groups-in-notepad-find-and-replace/feed/ 0 Nintex Workflow – Adding Custom Inline Functions (Encryption) http://studioshorts.com/blog/2010/08/nintex-workflow-adding-custom-inline-functions-encryption/ http://studioshorts.com/blog/2010/08/nintex-workflow-adding-custom-inline-functions-encryption/#comments Tue, 03 Aug 2010 02:18:24 +0000 Jason Grimme http://studioshorts.com/blog/?p=247 Recently I have been experimenting with Nintex Workflows which I must say is a killer product. The interface is brilliant and the depth of its features is amazing. One of the great features of Nintex Workflows is that it allows you to use common .NET calls as inline functions.

One would think that Nintex made an easy way to create your own, but sadly they missed that feature. While they didn’t make it easy, they did make it possible :)

Let’s say we want to add some encryption functions into our workflow. For what reason? I don’t know. But it seemed like a good example. I decided for you that you want to generate MD5 and SHA1 hashes in addition to the wimpy base-64 encode. You will need decently high privileges in order to add your function, as you will need access to stsadmn.exe, NWAdmin.exe, in addition to some knowledge of .NET.

Create your class

To start things off, create a new Class Library. Next create a class within a namespace, and make your methods static:

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namespace NWEncryptionMethods
{
    class EncryptionMethods
    {
        // Create md5 hash
        static public string GetMD5Hash(string s)
        {
            System.Security.Cryptography.MD5CryptoServiceProvider x = new System.Security.Cryptography.MD5CryptoServiceProvider();
            byte[] data = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(s);
            data = x.ComputeHash(data);
            string encStr = "";
            for (int i = 0; i < data.Length; i++)
                encStr += data[i].ToString("x2").ToLower();
            return encStr;
        }
        // Create SHA1 hash
        static public string GetSha1Hash(string s)
        {
            System.Security.Cryptography.SHA1 sha1 = System.Security.Cryptography.SHA1CryptoServiceProvider.Create();
            byte[] encodeBytes = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(s);
            byte[] encodeHashedBytes = sha1.ComputeHash(encodeBytes);
            return BitConverter.ToString(sha1.ComputeHash(encodeBytes)).Replace("-", "").ToLowerInvariant();
        }
        // Create base-64 encoded string
        static public string GetBase64Encode(string s)
        {
            byte[] encodedBytes = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(s);
            return Convert.ToBase64String(encodedBytes);
        }
    }
}

Next up you will need to make this into a deployable solution. Make sure it is strongly named and signed so that it is ready to go into the GAC.

Deploying to SharePoint

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stsadm.exe -o AddSolution -filename NWEncryptionMethods.wsp
stsadm.exe -o DeploySolution -name NWEncryptionMethods.wsp -immediate -allowgacdeployment
stsadm.exe -o execadmsvcjobs

Adding to Nintex Workflow vi NWAdmin

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NWAdmin.exe -o AddInlineFunction -functionalias fn-NWGetMD5Hash -assembly "NWEncryptionMethods, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=xxxxxxxxxxxxxx" -namespace NWEncryptionMethods -typename EncryptionMethods -method GetMD5Hash
NWAdmin.exe -o AddInlineFunction -functionalias fn-NWGetSha1Hash -assembly "NWEncryptionMethods, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=xxxxxxxxxxxxxx" -namespace NWEncryptionMethods -typename EncryptionMethods -method GetSha1Hash
NWAdmin.exe -o AddInlineFunction -functionalias fn-NWGetBase64Encode -assembly "NWEncryptionMethods, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=xxxxxxxxxxxxxx" -namespace NWEncryptionMethods -typename EncryptionMethods -method GetBase64Encode

Using Your Custom Function in String Builder

Alright, so your class is created, it is in SharePoint, and it has been added to Nintex. If you open up a Nintex workflow, you should now be able to use your functions with the names you gave them in the NWAdmin.exe tool.
Example Usage: fn-NWGetMD5Hash(fn-NWGetSha1Hash(fn-NWGetBase64Encode(“Jason Grimme”)))

]]> http://studioshorts.com/blog/2010/08/nintex-workflow-adding-custom-inline-functions-encryption/feed/ 0 XMLHttpRequest – Preventing Caching of Data http://studioshorts.com/blog/2010/07/xmlhttprequest-preventing-caching-of-data/ http://studioshorts.com/blog/2010/07/xmlhttprequest-preventing-caching-of-data/#comments Sat, 31 Jul 2010 21:39:01 +0000 Jason Grimme http://studioshorts.com/blog/?p=244 Recently I discovered that in my Firefox extension CraigZilla, results were being cached by Firefox.

The typical approach to disabling caching is to append  a string on to the end of the URL that will be unique each time you fetch it.  The most typical method is to add a timestamp, which I do often for JS and CSS files.

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var url = "http://raleigh.craigslist.org/ele/index.rss";
var request = new XMLHttpRequest();
xmlhttp.open('GET', url += (url.match(/\?/) == null ? "?" : "&") + (new Date()).getTime() ,true);
xmlhttp.onreadystatechange = function() {
    callbackFunction();
}
xmlhttp.send(null);

This turned out to not work in my case however, because Craigslist won’t ignore the parameter they don’t want and therefore marks the page as non existent, gives a 301 (Permanent redirect), and then forwards you to the page you are trying to not cache.  I was therefore faced to do this at the browser level.  I discovered that Gecko-based browsers such as Mozilla Firefox have such a method, but I am pretty sure that it will only work with escalated privileges.  In other words, you can’t use this for your generic web site JS script.

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var url = "http://raleigh.craigslist.org/ele/index.rss";
var request = new XMLHttpRequest();
xmlhttp.open('GET', url ,true);
// Mozilla only, Gecko more specifically.
try {
    xmlhttp.channel.loadFlags = Components.interfaces.nsIRequest.LOAD_BYPASS_CACHE;  
}catch(e){
    // Something here
}
xmlhttp.onreadystatechange = function() {
    callbackFunction();
}
xmlhttp.send(null);
]]> http://studioshorts.com/blog/2010/07/xmlhttprequest-preventing-caching-of-data/feed/ 0 STSADM.exe – Copy and Paste == Command Line Error http://studioshorts.com/blog/2010/07/stsadm-exe-copy-and-paste-command-line-error/ http://studioshorts.com/blog/2010/07/stsadm-exe-copy-and-paste-command-line-error/#comments Thu, 29 Jul 2010 01:44:38 +0000 Jason Grimme http://studioshorts.com/blog/?p=237 stsadm.exe is a command driven application that I use very often to administrate a SharePoint server via command line.  More specifically, it is very heavily in a PowerShell script I wrote that deploys multiple solutions to SharePoint.

The general syntax for stsadm is stsadm -o createsiteinnewdb -url http://sharepointserver

More than often I will run into a problem where when I copy and paste these commands, stsadm says that it is invalid “Command line error“.  This can be very frustrating because the command looks correct in every sense.  Sometimes I even copy and paste from a known good command and I still get rejected.  If I type in the command, it works just fine.
So eventually I had enough and converted the copied and pasted string and the manually typed  string to binary to compare.

stsadm –o createsiteinnewdb

011100110111010001110011011000010110010001101101001000001001011001101111
001000000110001101110010011001010110000101110100011001010111001101101001
011101000110010101101001011011100110111001100101011101110110010001100010

stsadm -o createsiteinnewdb

011100110111010001110011011000010110010001101101001000000010110101101111
001000000110001101110010011001010110000101110100011001010111001101101001
011101000110010101101001011011100110111001100101011101110110010001100010

I highlighted the octet that is different in the two strings.  These bits represent the dash in the -o flag.  In the rejected string, the dash turned out to be an en-dash (&#8211) while in the accepted string, the dash is a hyphen (&#x2d).  In the text-editors I use, the en-dash and hyphen have no visual diference.  In most font-faces used by text editors (Courier-New) for example, the two are visually identical. Somewhere along the line, hypens are being converted to en-dashes.  I know word processors will do this automatically, but I am obviously not using a word processor.

I know this all sounds silly, but if you do some Googling you will find quite a few people who have experienced this problem specifically with stsadm.  So if stsadm rejects you like an ambitious nerd trying to pick up girls at the bar, check your dashes!

]]> http://studioshorts.com/blog/2010/07/stsadm-exe-copy-and-paste-command-line-error/feed/ 0