Elsinore is on schedule to release IssueNet 4.7 at the beginning of February, and a beta is now available. This short beta period will allow you to test drive and provide feedback on a couple of significant new features, performance enhancements, and fixes.

The most significant new feature of 4.7 is integration to Exchange Server. The integration allows issues, tasks and other items to be created and updated via e-mail sent to a designated e-mail address. The integration also provides the ability to execute workflow transitions and workflows via e-mail. The message syntax is simple enough to be implemented in a simple mailto link or a simple command typed into the e-mail subject. More sophisticated messages can update multiple properties of an item or append information in multi-line text fields. The goal of the integration was to make execution of simple e-mail commands obvious and more sophisticated updates and workflow actions possible. In addition to e-mail based issue submission and updates, we are very eager to see organizations use the integration to allow users to execute workflow transition and other workflow actions via Blackberry and other mobile devices.

We have also seen a lot of increased interest in use of IssueNet Workspace. If you are not familiar with Workspace, it is a series of integrations which allows you to access your issue management system from within Outlook, Visual Studio, and Project. Workspace also allows you to leverage features specific to the host application such as creating issues from e-mail items or importing issues and tasks into a project plan. Accordingly, 4.7 makes it easier for users to access Workspace by allowing users to launch it from the IssueNet Central deployment site. In the past Workspace required an installation package. Now it can be launched from a URL like all other IssueNet Products.

4.7 also includes a round of performance enhancements and bug fixes. If you are interested in evaluating the beta contact John Lockhart at: john.lockhart@elsitech.com.

Jake Morgan has submitted a great article to Codeproject.com on the creation and use of an ASP.NET Dynamic Gradient Handler. We use this on our own site to dynamically create and adjust the background.

From the article:

Gradients are an essential tool for any serious graphic designer. Disciplined use of gradients can provide a simple professional touch to virtually any graphical layout. However, HTML and CSS provide no intrinsic support for gradients. Generally a tool such as Photoshop is used to save a static image file that is then tiled as a background. While this approach is effective, it can be tedious and inflexible because it requires an additional tool to manage the images. The GradientHandler can eliminate needless steps when dealing with simple linear gradients. Gradients are defined with URL parameters leading to a much more manageable code base.

Visit codeproject.com for the full article with sample code. A demonstration page for the gradient handler concept is active on elsitech.com.