TechEd Bloggers News

Connecting to the Virtual Server COM interfaces on a x64 Machine

Shawn Cicoria — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:41:06 GMT

Shawn Cicoria writes I messed up a set of VHD files that were based upon differencing disks...I killed the parent drive - so, any child drives are useless...how do you know which drives are differencing disks and what is their parent?...Visual Studio is 32 bit and the COM registration on x64 machines is not visible via the WOW64 Registry redirection. So, a simple fix... more

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:41:06 GMT

Microsoft is Thinking About Monetizing Developer Products!

Scott Dorman — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 19:54:58 GMT

Scott Dorman writes Absolutely not! While I understand the desire to monetize every "product" coming out of Microsoft, it sometimes ends up hurting the community as a whole...The other problem is that you then start sending mixed signals to the community. On one hand you say that running static code analysis is a best practice but you then restrict that capability to companies/developers willing to spend $10K+ on a Team System SKU. This makes it hard for the community to recognize the real value since it becomes seen as a restricted/ elite/ enterprise-only feature. It also makes it harder for us to talk about things... more

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 19:54:58 GMT

Have You Been Looking for Activity Monitor?

Dan Jones — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:15:05 GMT

Dan Jones writes Yes, we did kill off Activity Monitor. No, it's not totally gone. Well, the old one is totally gone. But the totally new one is there but we moved the launch point. It's now launched from the toolbar and the context menu off of the server. See the screen shots...I'll let you in on two cool things... more

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:15:05 GMT

Workaround for Using ScriptManager with other Frameworks

Bertrand Le Roy — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:40:20 GMT

Bertrand LeRoy writes...ScriptManager isn't really usable without Microsoft Ajax because it includes the Microsoft library... The workaround is a simple control derived from ScriptManager and that enables the replacement of the MicrosoftAjax.js reference with a script of your choice:..This should broaden developer choice in terms of client framework while keeping the great benefits of ScriptManager. Hope that helps. more

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:40:20 GMT

Creating Event Handlers in C# using VS

Keith Elder — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:39:14 GMT

Keith Elder writes Here is how you create an event handler in C# using Visual Studio. Here is a form I built in a matter of seconds....How many key strokes was that? Let's see. I had to type in my form the characters: this.Lo += TAB TAB. Easy quick and simple. more

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:39:14 GMT

What is the Benefit to Using IsNullOrEmpty?

Scott Dorman — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 22:00:01 GMT

Scott Dorman writes ...I know that every time I need to perform this test it is executing the exact same code in the same order. I don’t have to worry about someone accidentally testing “Length == 0” before the “!= null” and causing a NullReferenceExcpetion... Here is a more complete NullObjectExtensions class: more

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 22:00:01 GMT

Adding references - WebSite versus WebApplication

Geert Verhoeven — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:17:02 GMT

Geert Verhoeven writes When adding a reference to dll A using the WebSite template, Visual Studio automatically adds a reference to all dll’s that dll A references. This is done to ease the deployment but it can give some unwanted side effects. To make this clearer, I’ve created a simple solution structure that shows this issue... more

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:17:02 GMT

Virtual Earth Wrapper for Silverlight aka VIEWS refined and ready

Public Sector DPE Team — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:25:31 GMT

Marc Schweigert writes The idea of being able to use managed code instead of JavaScript to build your Virtual Earth applications is very appealing to many...There is an interim solution for those of you dying to write some managed code in the browser instead of JavaScript...Hop on over to...get your hands on VIEWS more

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:25:31 GMT

Creating your base Virtual Machine

Keith Elder — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:38:20 GMT

Keith Elder writes The purpose of this setup is to configure Windows Server 2008 as a development platform using VMWare...When starting from scratch I always create what I call a base virtual machine (VM). This VM serves as my base image for all of my needs and will be re-used for various setups. There are few things you need to keep in mind when you create a base image... more

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:38:20 GMT

4 SQL Injection Rules when Implementing URLScan 3.0

Steve Schofield — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:52:59 GMT

Steve Schofield writes It is good to be aware when you are implementing URLScan 3.0 and sql injection rules, what to actually check for. These 4 options are outlined in the sample rules offered in the URLScan 3.0 docs. I posted a sample rule...showing where they show-up. more

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:52:59 GMT

How to choose the right SQL Server Agent job step type

Matthew Roche — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:19:10 GMT

Matthew Roche writes Microsoft has provided two different SQL Server Agent job step types that you can use...Now which one leaps out at you as being ideal for running SQL Server Integration Services packages?...the answer... more

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:19:10 GMT

What happened to the Silverlight Watermark?

Kathy Kam — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 14:30:17 GMT

Kathy Kam writes One breaking change you may have noticed between Silverlight 2 Beta 1 and Beta 2 is that WatermarkedTextBox is no longer available in the Silverlight SDK...Because the update to TextBox will not happen until a future version of Silverlight feel free download and use the WatermarkedTextBox source code and unit test in the mean time... Here is an example on how to use it: more

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 14:30:17 GMT

How to add your own files to the VS Import/Export Settings

Sara Ford — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 17:14:36 GMT

Sara Ford writes If you go to the Reset page on the Tools – Import / Export Settings Wizard, you’ll see the list of files you can reset to. These settings files are the ones created by the VS teams. But, let’s say that one of the default files just has some small option that just annoys you...or you want to add your own to the list... more

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 17:14:36 GMT

Frustrating error solved in Performance Point Monitoring

Darren Gosbell — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 18:44:14 GMT

Darren Gosbell writes I could have solved this without having to resort to a web search. I have found that PerformancePoint has a few other non-specific error messages like this which are quite frustrating. I know there is the concept of not putting too much detail in the error messages for security reasons, but this error message is almost useless. Another interesting development that I stumbled across is that the Dashboard Designer does not even seem to know that it stores this setting... more

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 18:44:14 GMT

The SQLPS Firestorm

Dan Jones — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:10:50 GMT

Dan Jones writes Within the PowerShell community there's a firestorm raging over SQLPS.exe our mini-shell that we're introducing in SQL2K8....I'm very proud of the work the team did in SQL2K8. Is everything perfect? Absolutely not. Are we adding a ship load of value to the product? Absolutely. If you don't like what we've down with PowerShell you're free to roll your own. PowerShell is an open environment for which you can register your own providers and build your own cmdlets. There's no restriction that states you must use sqlps.exe.... more

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:10:50 GMT

Example of how to limit the SharePoint People Picker List

Mauro Cardarelli — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 18:38:45 GMT

Mauro Cardarelli writes Found another goodie in MOSS SP1...here is a new operation for stsadm available with SP1 called setsiteuseraccountdirectorypath. The setsiteuseraccountdirectorypath operation allows the user's directory path to be set to a specific OU in the same domain. After the directory path is set to a site collection, the People Picker control will only search under that particular OU. more

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 18:38:45 GMT

Beta of Live Messenger Embedded in a Web Page

Eileen Brown — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:39:44 GMT

Eileen Brown writes It’s the beta of Live Messenger, embedded in a web page - any web page. My presence is enabled so you can chat to me whenever you see me online...All you need to do is to enable the IM control here and then paste the code onto your web page...So if any of you are thinking about helpdesk type enabled web pages for your customers, then this sort of control may be just what you’re looking for – to make that closer connection... more

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:39:44 GMT

Full Compact CheckBox Template with Sample Code

Mike Hillberg — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 13:25:53 GMT

Mike Hillberg writes I was creating a view of an object that had a bunch of boolean properties, but I wanted to keep the visual representation small. So I created a look for a compact CheckBox...As an example scenario, say I’m visualizing a the attributes of a file (hidden, system, archive, and read-only). I could do it with a TextBlock and some CheckBoxes easy enough, to create a look like this: more

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 13:25:53 GMT

TechEd USA Developers 2008 -Top Scoring Speakers and Sessions

Rob Tiffany — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:29:14 GMT

Rob Tiffany writes Last week’s developer event just marked three milestones: 1. Bill Gates’ final Keynote 2. MEDC integration into Tech Ed 3. The separation of Tech Ed North America into two weeks for Developers and IT Pros...At this developer event we reached out to over 5,500 developers, customers and partners....I’m happy to announce that we had the #1 session at the entire event! Darren Shaffer scored an amazing 8.87 on his session covering “Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Compact Edition Ultimate Performance Tuning” to take the top spot.... more

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:29:14 GMT

Is the TechEd split a good thing?

Jeff Sigman — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 20:08:46 GMT

Jeff Sigman writes The show this year has followed the TechEd Europe model – one week of Dev TechEd, one week of IT Pro TechEd. Most people I have spoken to at the show appreciated the split as it lowered the crowds of having one huge show. Some folks did mention that they wear both hats – Developer and IT Pro and they wished it was still a one-stop shop. I think the split is a good thing overall as it feels like a focused event... more

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 20:08:46 GMT