Visual Studio and Team Foundation Server (TFS) 2010 provided support for system testing. Test cases were added as a work item type. But test plans and suites are not work items and this greatly limits the visibility into the management of test artifacts. For example, there is no easy way out-of-the-box to find test cases that don’t belong to a test plan. Here’s the SQL that creates a list of test cases providing the test case: ID Title State Assigned To Area Path Iteration Path Plan and Suite Path...
Although it doesn’t have any specific tools to help responsive or mobile site design this is still possible in Expression Web and I’ve created a number of snippets to help the process. HTML5 and CSS3 are the key to responsive design, so the snippets cover the new HTML5 layout elements, form input types and microdata tags, and the CSS3 snippets cover box-radius, box-shadow, gradients etc. The mobile snippets include the CSS3 media queries, mobile meta tags and the responsd.js shim that enables older...
So as you know I am yet again involved in SPS NYC with my awesome teammates, Greg Hurlman, Jason Gallicchio, Tasha Scott, and Tom Daly. The speakers have finally been picked and a first draft schedule has been posted at http://www.sharepointsaturd... We are also still looking for sponsors if you guys are interested you can also click on the link to grab the form, sign it, and send it to sponsors@spsnyc.com. We are also looking for volunteers and you can fill out the form at the same place...
So as you can see this blog has not been the best in the world lately. Life changes and burn out are killing me lately. Don’t get me wrong I love my job. I love writing things in Visual Studio, in fact this week I got to work with MVC3 for the first time ever. I am completely hooked on MVC3 and will further explore that in the upcoming months. I have entertaining a completely different idea, because I think it would be fun and interesting. The downside is it involves me buying an Apple computer....
Microsoft had just released a new website http://www.meetwindowsazure... which announced an outstanding event named “MEET Windows Azure”. There will be some awesome new features and releases being published around the Windows Azure Platform, the cloud computing platform and cloud-based technologies Microsoft offers. From what I know, this might be the biggest innovation in Windows Azure till now. The event will be hosted at 1pm PDT, June 7th at the Madrone Studio in San Francisco with limited sites....
public static class QueryableExtensions { public static IQueryable<T> Filter<T>(this IQueryable<T> queryable, IEnumerable<KeyValuePair... string>> filters) where T : class { foreach (var filter in filters) { var propertyName = typeof(T).GetProperties().S... => x.Name).SingleOrDefault(x => x.ToLower() == filter.Key.ToLower()); if (propertyName.IsNullOrWhite... continue; var parameterExpression = Expression.Parameter(typeof... var propertyExpression...
I came across this the other day. Using SQL 2000 I could not get a Top statement to work with a variable. I had forgotten that only with SQL 2005 and higher could you do this trick. I found a good way around it, you can read about it here. Anyway this works on SQL 2000: declare @top intset @top = 5 BEGINset rowcount @top select Some_ID from tblStuffset rowcount 0END The code above would return the first five records from tblStuff. For any of the newer SQL Server version you can simply use the @top...
I know there are afew places where you can check out the differences between Sass or Less, but I thought it may be helpful for others to know why I chose one over the other.Here are some of my sources:http://sass-lang.co... my main decision was affected by my IDE I need to mention my development environment:Visual Studio...
There is some helpful information from Ewald Hofman on passing in parameters to the TFS SQL Server Analysis Services OLAP reports. But, the 2010 schema has changed. You can use the SQL Server Mgmgt Studio to access the metadata and query the tables to seee the new schema and record values. As an example of the Task Burndown report on the TFS 2010 Project Portal, here's the URL that worked in a browser: http://{your tfs server}/Reports/Pages/Repor...
My goal was to have the burndown chart on the team project portal main page display the current iteration. The default report displays the tasks for the entire team project starting 5 days before the current date and ending 25 days after the current date. FRUSTRATING, to say the least! I mean, what a useless report! Who's Agile book did they get that one from? What I wanted was to see the burndown for the current iteration. That is, tasks for that iteration only and that iteration starting on a fixed...
We don’t use the term “Bug,” rather we use “Software Action Request” or “SAR.” I renamed the Bug WI definition from Bug to SAR. I added a few custom fields to our SAR WI definition, but all the Microsoft fields are used and unchanged. What I want is for the MTLM client to be configured to open a SAR rather than a Bug. In other words, out-of-the-box when a user is manually executing a test case with the MTLM Test Runner client and one of the steps fail, the user clicks a button to create a Bug or...
When using TFS work items you may find that when you transition from one state to another that you selected the wrong reason code, or you found out shortly afterwards that the reason code you selected is incorrect. Well, you may be surprised to find that reason codes (System.Reason) cannot be updated within the same state. After some looking into, I came to understand the intent of reason code is to document the "reason" the state changed. As opposed to indicate within state changes. However, it...
Tomorrow I will be presenting “Building Scalable Apps in Windows Azure” at VS Live in New York City. I will be co-presenting with my colleague Vishwas Lele of Azure fame. Should be a great event...
I loved RIL Pro for iPad and used it every day, but about a month ago I was forced to upgrade to new version, named Pocket.The new version has so many problems, that it's almost unusable.The main issue is that iPad app doesn't show many of the saved links. I've posted my opinion that it would be better to have Pocket as a new separate application and recommend users to install it side by side with RIL Pro and try before replace at Pocket forum APR 20, 2012 http://help.getpocket.com/c...
Since the 2012 Transit of Venus is the last transit of Venus across the face of the Sun as viewed from Earth, for many years, being able to locate a web cam feed that will be in clear daylight for the whole of the transit period. So far I have only located one. This is at: http://www.transitofvenus.c... the transit of Venus was very important for determining the absolute size of the solar system, however high power radar has allowed direct measurement of distance at any time...
Stepping through IWindsorInstaller implementations in web services created using the WcfFacility[1] is not as immediately accessible compared to debugging the start up of a console application. Just pressing F5 with the web service set as a start up project causes the start up code to have already been run before the debugger attaches to the IIS worker process. Fortunately there is a simple way of causing the start up code to be re-run whilst remaining attached to the IIS worker process, so that...
I'm running Mahara in a Windows Server 2008 environment using Apache web server and just for fun I wanted to enable SSL :-). I setup SSL and tested the setup using a self-signed certificate, all good, SSL was working. I requested a server certificate from our corporate CA, which is an intermediate CA for GlobalSign, this was done using an online MS certificate server service. When the certificate was ready, I revisit the site, and the certificate is installed automagically into the current user certificate...
After configuring user profile you get the correlation id and in event logs you get The Forefront Identity Manager Service cannot connect to the SQL Database Server. The SQL Server could not be contacted. The connection failure may be due to a network failure, firewall configuration error, or other connection issue. Additionally, the SQL Server connection information could be configured incorrectly. Verify that the SQL Server is reachable from the Forefront Identity Manager Service computer. Ensure...
Everyone has done it, you know you have too. When someone asks you for a status update on a new feature you just finished coding, you say "That's Done!" Think about what you just said for a minute, is it really done? Can someone use that feature in production for its intended purpose? That's really what done means, right? To the end user, done means its up and running, in production, providing value. Code complete is just another stage in the pipeline getting us out to really done. You may say, that...
In answering this question it helps to look at the overall creation of a website and the processes involved.The term 'web design' still in common use, is something of a misnomer. 'Web creation' seems to be a better term and it involves three distinct processes.The design of the ‘look and feel’ of the site or the ‘UI’. This is often (and best) done by someone with artistic or graphic design skills, but with an appreciation of what is possible on the web. This is the real ‘design’ activity.The translation...
Stylecop 4.7.20.0 has been released at http://stylecop.codeplex.co... Notes Compatible with the Visual Studio 11 Preview.Install order should be : VS10VS11R#6.1.1 msi (for VS10)R#6.1.1 vsix (for VS11)StyleCop 4.7 This version is now compatible with R# 5.1 (5.1.3000.12), R# 6.0 (6.0.2202.688), R# 6.1 (6.1.37.86) and R# 6.1.1 (6.1.1000.82).Here are the bug details for fixed in 4.7 and closed in 4.7 issues (over 100 issues fixed since 4.6)Here are the bug details for all issues...
So I have decided to hold a community dinner the first week of June. I invited a bunch of MS community members who run user groups or contribute a lot in the NYC Metro area. If anyone is interested drop me comment on this blog with your email address. I won’t publish the comment with your email in case you don’t want everyone to see your address. I just figured that some people might see this blog that I missed via email. I am also going to spam the main community list for njny metro area. Hopefully,...
A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of being able to participate in Conestoga College’s Software Engineering Technology project demo day as a guest judge, along with 4 other members of the IT community. This event is held every year at the end of April, and provides graduating students the opportunity to present their group projects to those in attendance, discussing the business problem it solved, the challenges they faced, how they addressed those challenges, and the future direction they have...
Here's a short tutorial on how to use log4net in C#1. Get log4net from the apache website.2. Open your project with visual studio.3. Add the reference to your project: You find the reference in the zip that you just downloaded: \bin\net\xxx\release\log4ne... xxx is your .net version.4. Add the Appender section to your app.config. The following code uses a file for the logging: <configuration> <configSections> <section name="log4net" type="log4net.Config.Log4Ne...
Today is a day to celebrate mother’s everywhere. There will be breakfasts cooked, cards opened, gifts given, brunches and dinners shared. There will be church services where mothers are given flowers from their children and sermons will talk of the blessings mothers are. People who aren’t even related will wish others who are mothers a “Happy Mother’s Day”. And all of this will go on without any consideration or thought to the forgotten mothers in our midst. For many, mother’s day (and father’s day)...
Photo quality aside, it seems that Canon DSLRs are more popular than Nikon DSLRs right now based on Flickr stats.Below is a ranking of popularity based on daily users (taken from Flickr.com)Canon Camera (Average daily users)EOS 5D Mark II (4350) $2500EOS REBEL T2i / 550D (3908) $500-$600EOS 7D (3577) $1500-$1800EOS REBEL T1i / 500D (2507) $400-$500EOS 60D (2219) $800-$1300Nikon Camera (Average daily users)D90 (3985) $1000-$1200D7000 (2664) $1200-$1500D3100 (2173) $500-$700D700 (1912) $2200-$3000D5000...
HiIf you have good debugging skill then you can save lots of time. In visual studio lots of options are available for debugging. Here are some good URL for debugging. It will be really useful in our daily working project.http://www.codeproj...
One of my colleagues asked how to create SQL query to show results as columns of a row, that actually stored in multiple rows in the table. Other co-worker suggested to use cursor to manually generate required rows.I’ve found a few links about SQL PIVOT. It is easy to start withhttp://www.kodyaz.com/a... or http://programmingsolution.... More detailed are articles...
This week I was working with a customer and one of the interesting things in the organisation is that they have a fairly large investment in BizTalk but in general few people in the organisation are knowledgeable about how important a role it plays. I decided it might be interesting to do a small PR exercise; I would write a little post with 10 bits of information about their BizTalk investment that they might not be aware of. It was also interesting that I found out a few things that I didn't know...
Very simple, but a handy way of viewing nicely-formatted JSON in LINQPad: I use Json.NET as it does indented formatting, and represents JSON dates properly. To add as an extension, download Json.NET, add a reference to Newtonsoft.Json.dll to your “My Extensions” query and add the following code to your MyExtensions class: public static object DumpJson(this object value, string description = null) { return GetJsonDumpTarget(value).Du... } public static object DumpJson(this object value,...
Where’s Daddy? My wife, one year old daughter and I play a game that most other parents have played at some point; my wife will hold her and ask her "Where’s daddy?” and the response is invariably a wide-eyed scan of the room by my daughter, culminating in a big snotty slobbery smile when she locates me. This is a game and is fun for her but it is an important exercise for linking a name and role with a face for her and for enforcing the idea that when she looks for me, she will find me. So what...
Over the last several months, I’ve been modifying LINQ to Twitter to support multiple platforms. Originally, I had targeted full profile .NET, ASP.NET Web Forms, and ASP.NET MVC apps. An easy stop along the way was Mono compatibility, but that was simple because Mono is good about running any CLR app. The code-base was good until I started porting to Silverlight. Porting to Silverlight Silverlight requires a different type of class library, so right-away I couldn’t use the same libraries as the full...
TechEd 2012 Orlando Blogger Hub We are proud to announce today that Geekswithblogs.net will be at Microsoft TechEd 2012 in Orlando, hosting the Blogger Hub for the event. This area in the Expo Hall will be dedicated to blogging. If you need a spot to gather your thoughts, grab some power, and write a blog post, we will have it. If you need to talk with a veteran blogger to help you gather ideas for your blog, information on how to get started, or how to find your blog’s voice, swing by and we will...
Microsoft press are offering 50% off Access books at http://shop.oreilly.com/cat... Powerful Database Solutions with Access Save 50% on Related Ebooks – One Week Only Learn the secrets of this powerful database program so you can use your data in creative ways -- from creating product catalogs and publishing information online to producing invoices and reports."...
Today, O'Reilly are offering a free e-book "What is Dart?" at http://shop.oreilly.com/pro... ready to build modern web apps. This concise book covers the Dart language, libraries, and tools that help you develop structured, fast, and maintainable web apps that run in any modern browser. The Dart platform has been designed to scale from simple scripts to complex apps, running on both the client and the server. With this book, you can use Dart to architect and develop HTML5 apps...
Those nice people at Jetbrains have have just released DotPeek 1.0. The notice at http://blogs.jetbrains.com/... states:"Free .NET decompiler and assembly browser from JetBrains is now officially live! Please download dotPeek 1.0 and enjoy high-standard decompilation with ReSharper-inspired navigation and search!"There is even a video on that page describing using DotPeek...
Jetbrains at http://blogs.jetbrains.com/... have released the following:"ReSharper 7 EAP opened up just over a month ago providing early support for Visual Studio 11. We have now opened this up also to other editions of Visual Studio, specifically 2005, 2008 and 2010. As such, if you’re not yet working with VS11, you can install ReSharper 7 on previous versions. Get the latest editions from the EAP page. As new releases appear, new features...
AZGroups 6/19/2012 Scott Guthrie, Scott Hanselman, and Brady Gaster! June is hot in Phoenix... and June 19th is just a week before what was the hottest we've ever had. AZGroups is going to give 6/26/1990 a run for it's money by having Scott Guthrie back in town for an all-day free event! Scott is being joined this year by Scott Hanselman and Brady Gaster and will present on the following topics: Azure, ASP.NET, SignalR, and Web API. Seating is great but limited We're back to the Scottsdale Center...
The European Cookie Law finally became part of UK law in May 2011 and the ICO (Information Commissioners Office) will now start to enforce it after a year’s grace. Interpreting the requirements isn’t easy and there has been little guidance from the ICO itself. Some clarification has finally come from the International Chamber of Commerce as this article from UK magazine PC Pro explains. http://tinyurl.com/cf3g8wgv...
I would like to share a post from the Visual WebGui Blog on ASP.NET. The post "The link between Windows CE/Windows Mobile applications, ASP.NET and HTML5" discusses the developer's alternatives when facing the need to update applications that were written for Windows CE and Windows Mobile. If you have written such application you are again facing a critical decision since Microsoft's current mobile platform - Windows Phone has no backwards compatibility to those not so old platforms."(organizations)....
When you try to add a BTAHL7 Common Project, e.g. BTAHL7V2XCommon, to your Visual Studio 2010 solution you may encounter the following error: “Object reference not set to an instance of an object” This error occurs when you try to create the BTAHL7 Common Project within a Solution Folder that matches the location of a Physical Folder within your solution’s root folder. That is, you might be following a best practice of storing your Visual Studio Projects within a "Projects" solution folder that matches...
Funny, after having blogged today about not using Portable Libraries because of lack of features the BCL team released Portable Library Tools 2 Beta. Since IQueryable is supported too I’ll have to take another look for LINQ to Twitter. @JoeMayo...
I have been working on a Windows Phone application for the user group that I help to run and have been experiencing head ache after head ache. The problem isn’t the Windows Phone development itself. The issues are with the external web service APIs that I am trying to use for sites like SlideShare and Box.net. The main issue is that while there is a lot of documentation and examples for the output of the APIs, the input format is sketchy at best. The web service for SlideShare, for example, requires...
In the Developer Preview of Windows 8, Visual Studio 11 conveniently allowed references to .NET 4.0 apps. I had blogged previously on how to use LINQ to Twitter with Windows 8. Subsequently, the Consumer Preview of Windows 8 no longer allowed references to .NET libraries and requires references to Windows 8 Metro Style Application Libraries. I looked at Portable Class Libraries, but that doesn’t work because LINQ to Twitter is an IQueryable LINQ provider, which isn’t supported. So, I redirected my...
I had the pleasure of visiting and speaking at the 2012 Carolina Code Camp. A big thank you for the warm welcome to the volunteer leadership team: Mark Wilson, Bill Jones, Syl Walker, Brian Gough and many others whose name I don’t remember at this time due my exhausted brain circuits after the long 12 hour long drive to and from North Carolina. With several hundred registrants and many on the waiting list, the event was a great success with what I was told by the organizing team to be a record turnout....
Because there is so little information on database continuous integration in the wild, I’ve taken it upon myself to aggregate as much as possible and post the links to this blog. Because it’s my area of expertise, this will focus on SQL Server and Red Gate tooling, although I am keen to include any quality articles that discuss the topic in general terms. Please let me know if you find a resource that I haven’t listed! General database Continuous Integration · What is Database Continuous Integration?...
A post on the Expression Forum asked the question, 'Is Expression Web moribund?'. It was prompted by this article written by add-in developer Dennis DeRobertis. It gave rise to some interesting replies. Mine was as follows, with some further thoughts added."No one here is able to say whether MS regard Expression Web as moribund but I certainly hope not. One thing for sure though is that it's in urgent need of updates.The web evolves continually and since SP2 was released, has moved into what Brett...
Here in the UK we recently had a long weekend due to a public holiday. So what better time to sit back in a comfy chair with the laptop and read the latest MSDN Magazine online? Unless you have children, of course, keeping them trapped in the house for three whole days would be a nightmare. So that means heading out and about on buses, trains and heading off to the Isleworth Spring Fayre. Now you can read the MSDN Magazine web site on a smartphone but on a 9cm screen it’s not ideal, and I don’t really...
If you want to follow my blog, please visit MarlonRibunal.com. These are some of the posts you'll see on my blog:On the road less traveled: a DBA Roadmap reviewWho are the sysadmins in this sql server?Limiting user access to your databaseThanks!Marlon...
Deciding the amount of metadata needed for a SharePoint project is one of the most complicated tasks in the project life cycle. Commonly known as Information Architecture, this task can really get messy if not done correct since there is a thin line between what's needed and what's a burden.As shown in the figure below, the metadata caters to your search, record management and business process needs. Thereby making it the prime ingredient of a successful SharePoint implementation. Metadata is complicated...
Geekswithblogs Gets a Facelift
Celebrating the five year anniversary of the first post on Geekswithblogs, the GWB team has launched a new look and functionality for the community designed to help the community continue to grow and increase interaction amongst bloggers.
The new design offers bloggers and readers the ability to quickly check recent posts, popular posts, Twitter users from the community, community news, and featured bloggers.
The redesign also makes it easier for bloggers to find tutorials on how to get the most from their blogs, support information, and a community-wide tag cloud.
We hope that you will enjoy the new features and look. Here’s to another five years and to everyone that makes up Geekswithblogs!
GWB Goes to PDC ’08 – Let Us “Tag Your Top”
Geekswithblogs is proud to be a Silver Media Sponsor for the upcoming PDC ’08! This will be a great opportunity for face-to-face interaction with the developer community.
If you happen to be going to Los Angeles for the PDC, and we highly suggest you do, make sure to swing by the Geekswithblogs booth (#100) in the Expo Hall to say hi! We will have some amazing looking Geekswithblogs stickers hot off the press ready to “tag your top” – so bring your laptop by to take it from drab to fab!
GWB Podcasting from PDC ‘08
Make sure to look for fellow Geekswithbloggers Chris Williams and D’Arcy Lussier roaming around the floor. They will be playing the part of on-site GWB ambassadors and roving reporters; stop and chat with them!
We’d like to know what you think about the upcoming podcast. We are thinking of firing PodcastStudio.net (the official podcast of GWB) back up after the event and would like to hear your thoughts and suggestions.
GWB and PDC ’08 – We’ll Make You Famous!
A major part of our display at our PDC booth is going to include a video featuring none other than the Geekswithblogs community members! We’re proud to have you as contributors to a large, healthy blogging community and want to give you some additional exposure.
Here’s what to do; record yourself saying “I’m a geek with a blog, and I…”. Simply fill in the rest with something interesting about yourself. It could be anything from what technology you love, what you like to do in your spare time, where you live, etc.
Examples include:
- I’m a geek with a blog, and I rock at ASP.NET.
- I'm a geek with a blog, and I support my development community by presenting at user groups.
- I'm a geek with a blog, and I love playing guitar.
- I’m a geek with a blog, and I volunteer to help the homeless.
- I’m a geek with a blog, and I chug energy drinks.
First 30 bloggers that send in a video with at least 5 statements get a ultra-stylish Geekswithblogs t-shirt with their blog URL on the back!
Stay tuned for FTP information for uploading your files!