That I knew that I would end up building such a beast I would probably give up.

 

 

Just kidding.

 

Actually, I am not. We Judoka never give up when faced with the challenge. It is all part of the mindset.

 

So what did I finally build. A little monster hiding behind three innocent web pages.

 

I ended up implementing a motion detector, X10/INSTEON controller, web services bridge for INSTEON DeviceManager and webcam area monitor.

 

My little hGadget component has a relational backend, webservices interface, integrated security and bunch of other bells and whistles.

And you can barely tell ... all because of that awful CSS that I love and hate so much.

 

I've spect 20% of the project time implementing all these wrinkled features such as WebServices, image recognition, device controls ... and 80% tweaking UI. I discovered along the road that Visual Studion Express has some strange feature where it overrides the style of the component if for instance image is bigger than expected.

 

Uuu, that really messed me up.

 

All in all, the biggest discovery of the project was ASP.NET. It is amazing how productive that technology is. With the browser open and Google handy I was just flying through the API. I never spent more than 30 min on an issue (except for CSS that just ate me alive).

 

I am just too tired to type any more.

 

Just to mention that my daughter is doing much better.

 

One more thing:

 

I wish all finalists the best of luck and lots of success in the final "grading" as well as in their professional careers. I wish all my projects are this much fun.