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  • Part 2&ndash;Load Testing In The Cloud

    - by Tarun Arora
    Welcome to Part 2, In Part 1 we discussed the advantages of creating a Test Rig in the cloud, the Azure edge and the Test Rig Topology we want to get to. In Part 2, Let’s start by understanding the components of Azure we’ll be making use of followed by manually putting them together to create the test rig, so… let’s get down dirty start setting up the Test Rig.  What Components of Azure will I be using for building the Test Rig in the Cloud? To run the Test Agents we’ll make use of Windows Azure Compute and to enable communication between Test Controller and Test Agents we’ll make use of Windows Azure Connect.  Azure Connect The Test Controller is on premise and the Test Agents are in the cloud (How will they talk?). To enable communication between the two, we’ll make use of Windows Azure Connect. With Windows Azure Connect, you can use a simple user interface to configure IPsec protected connections between computers or virtual machines (VMs) in your organization’s network, and roles running in Windows Azure. With this you can now join Windows Azure role instances to your domain, so that you can use your existing methods for domain authentication, name resolution, or other domain-wide maintenance actions. For more details refer to an overview of Windows Azure connect. A very useful video explaining everything you wanted to know about Windows Azure connect.  Azure Compute Windows Azure compute provides developers a platform to host and manage applications in Microsoft’s data centres across the globe. A Windows Azure application is built from one or more components called ‘roles.’ Roles come in three different types: Web role, Worker role, and Virtual Machine (VM) role, we’ll be using the Worker role to set up the Test Agents. A very nice blog post discussing the difference between the 3 role types. Developers are free to use the .NET framework or other software that runs on Windows with the Worker role or Web role. Developers can also create applications using languages such as PHP and Java. More on Windows Azure Compute. Each Windows Azure compute instance represents a virtual server... Virtual Machine Size CPU Cores Memory Cost Per Hour Extra Small Shared 768 MB $0.04 Small 1 1.75 GB $0.12 Medium 2 3.50 GB $0.24 Large 4 7.00 GB $0.48 Extra Large 8 14.00 GB $0.96   You might want to review the Windows Azure Pricing FAQ. Let’s Get Started building the Test Rig… Configuration Machine Role Comments VM – 1 Domain Controller for Playpit.com On Premise VM – 2 TFS, Test Controller On Premise VM – 3 Test Agent Cloud   In this blog post I would assume that you have the domain, Team Foundation Server and Test Controller Installed and set up already. If not, please refer to the TFS 2010 Installation Guide and this walkthrough on MSDN to set up your Test Controller. You can also download a preconfigured TFS 2010 VM from Brian Keller's blog, Brian also has some great hands on Labs on TFS 2010 that you may want to explore. I. Lets start building VM – 3: The Test Agent Download the Windows Azure SDK and Tools Open Visual Studio and create a new Windows Azure Project using the Cloud Template                   Choose the Worker Role for reasons explained in the earlier post         The WorkerRole.cs implements the Run() and OnStart() methods, no code changes required. You should be able to compile the project and run it in the compute emulator (The compute emulator should have been installed as part of the Windows Azure Toolkit) on your local machine.                   We will only be making changes to WindowsAzureProject, open ServiceDefinition.csdef. Ensure that the vmsize is small (remember the cost chart above). Import the “Connect” module. I am importing the Connect module because I need to join the Worker role VM to the Playpit domain. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <ServiceDefinition name="WindowsAzureProject2" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceDefinition"> <WorkerRole name="WorkerRole1" vmsize="Small"> <Imports> <Import moduleName="Diagnostics" /> <Import moduleName="Connect"/> </Imports> </WorkerRole> </ServiceDefinition> Go to the ServiceConfiguration.Cloud.cscfg and note that settings with key ‘Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.%%%%’ have been added to the configuration file. This is because you decided to import the connect module. See the config below. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <ServiceConfiguration serviceName="WindowsAzureProject2" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceConfiguration" osFamily="1" osVersion="*"> <Role name="WorkerRole1"> <Instances count="1" /> <ConfigurationSettings> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Diagnostics.ConnectionString" value="UseDevelopmentStorage=true" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.ActivationToken" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Refresh" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.WaitForConnectivity" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Upgrade" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.EnableDomainJoin" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainFQDN" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainControllerFQDN" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainAccountName" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainPassword" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainOU" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Administrators" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainSiteName" value="" /> </ConfigurationSettings> </Role> </ServiceConfiguration>             Let’s go step by step and understand all the highlighted parameters and where you can find the values for them.       osFamily – By default this is set to 1 (Windows Server 2008 SP2). Change this to 2 if you want the Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system. The Advantage of using osFamily = “2” is that you get Powershell 2.0 rather than Powershell 1.0. In Powershell 2.0 you could simply use “powershell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted ./myscript.ps1” and it will work while in Powershell 1.0 you will have to change the registry key by including the following in your command file “reg add HKLM\Software\Microsoft\PowerShell\1\ShellIds\Microsoft.PowerShell /v ExecutionPolicy /d Unrestricted /f” before you can execute any power shell. The other reason you might want to move to os2 is if you wanted IIS 7.5.       Activation Token – To enable communication between the on premise machine and the Windows Azure Worker role VM both need to have the same token. Log on to Windows Azure Management Portal, click on Connect, click on Get Activation Token, this should give you the activation token, copy the activation token to the clipboard and paste it in the configuration file. Note – Later in the blog I’ll be showing you how to install connect on the on premise machine.                       EnableDomainJoin – Set the value to true, ofcourse we want to join the on windows azure worker role VM to the domain.       DomainFQDN, DomainControllerFQDN, DomainAccountName, DomainPassword, DomainOU, Administrators – This information is specific to your domain. I have extracted this information from the ‘service manager’ and ‘Active Directory Users and Computers’. Also, i created a new Domain-OU namely ‘CloudInstances’ so all my cloud instances joined to my domain show up here, this is optional. You can encrypt the DomainPassword – refer to the instructions here. Or hold fire, I’ll be covering that when i come to certificates and encryption in the coming section.       Now once you have filled all this information up, the configuration file should look something like below, <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <ServiceConfiguration serviceName="WindowsAzureProject2" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceConfiguration" osFamily="2" osVersion="*"> <Role name="WorkerRole1"> <Instances count="1" /> <ConfigurationSettings> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Diagnostics.ConnectionString" value="UseDevelopmentStorage=true" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.ActivationToken" value="45f55fea-f194-4fbc-b36e-25604faac784" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Refresh" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.WaitForConnectivity" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Upgrade" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.EnableDomainJoin" value="true" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainFQDN" value="play.pit.com" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainControllerFQDN" value="WIN-KUDQMQFGQOL.play.pit.com" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainAccountName" value="playpit\Administrator" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainPassword" value="************************" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainOU" value="OU=CloudInstances, DC=Play, DC=Pit, DC=com" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Administrators" value="Playpit\Administrator" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainSiteName" value="" /> </ConfigurationSettings> </Role> </ServiceConfiguration> Next we will be enabling the Remote Desktop module in to the ServiceDefinition.csdef, we could make changes manually or allow a beautiful wizard to help us make changes. I prefer the second option. So right click on the Windows Azure project and choose Publish       Now once you get the publish wizard, if you haven’t already you would be asked to import your Windows Azure subscription, this is simply the Msdn subscription activation key xml. Once you have done click Next to go to the Settings page and check ‘Enable Remote Desktop for all roles’.       As soon as you do that you get another pop up asking you the details for the user that you would be logging in with (make sure you enter a reasonable expiry date, you do not want the user account to expire today). Notice the more information tag at the bottom, click that to get access to the certificate section. See screen shot below.       From the drop down select the option to create a new certificate        In the pop up window enter the friendly name for your certificate. In my case I entered ‘WAC – Test Rig’ and click ok. This will create a new certificate for you. Click on the view button to see the certificate details. Do you see the Thumbprint, this is the value that will go in the config file (very important). Now click on the Copy to File button to copy the certificate, we will need to import the certificate to the windows Azure Management portal later. So, make sure you save it a safe location.                                Click Finish and enter details of the user you would like to create with permissions for remote desktop access, once you have entered the details on the ‘Remote desktop configuration’ screen click on Ok. From the Publish Windows Azure Wizard screen press Cancel. Cancel because we don’t want to publish the role just yet and Yes because we want to save all the changes in the config file.       Now if you go to the ServiceDefinition.csdef file you will see that the RemoteAccess and RemoteForwarder roles have been imported for you. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <ServiceDefinition name="WindowsAzureProject2" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceDefinition"> <WorkerRole name="WorkerRole1" vmsize="Small"> <Imports> <Import moduleName="Diagnostics" /> <Import moduleName="Connect" /> <Import moduleName="RemoteAccess" /> <Import moduleName="RemoteForwarder" /> </Imports> </WorkerRole> </ServiceDefinition> Now go to the ServiceConfiguration.Cloud.cscfg file and you see a whole bunch for setting “Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteAccess.%%%” values added for you. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <ServiceConfiguration serviceName="WindowsAzureProject2" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceConfiguration" osFamily="2" osVersion="*"> <Role name="WorkerRole1"> <Instances count="1" /> <ConfigurationSettings> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Diagnostics.ConnectionString" value="UseDevelopmentStorage=true" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.ActivationToken" value="45f55fea-f194-4fbc-b36e-25604faac784" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Refresh" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.WaitForConnectivity" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Upgrade" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.EnableDomainJoin" value="true" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainFQDN" value="play.pit.com" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainControllerFQDN" value="WIN-KUDQMQFGQOL.play.pit.com" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainAccountName" value="playpit\Administrator" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainPassword" value="************************" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainOU" value="OU=CloudInstances, DC=Play, DC=Pit, DC=com" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Administrators" value="Playpit\Administrator" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainSiteName" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteAccess.Enabled" value="true" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteAccess.AccountUsername" value="Administrator" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteAccess.AccountEncryptedPassword" value="MIIBnQYJKoZIhvcNAQcDoIIBjjCCAYoCAQAxggFOMIIBSgIBADAyMB4xHDAaBgNVBAMME1dpbmRvd 3MgQXp1cmUgVG9vbHMCEGa+B46voeO5T305N7TSG9QwDQYJKoZIhvcNAQEBBQAEggEABg4ol5Xol66Ip6QKLbAPWdmD4ae ADZ7aKj6fg4D+ATr0DXBllZHG5Umwf+84Sj2nsPeCyrg3ZDQuxrfhSbdnJwuChKV6ukXdGjX0hlowJu/4dfH4jTJC7sBWS AKaEFU7CxvqYEAL1Hf9VPL5fW6HZVmq1z+qmm4ecGKSTOJ20Fptb463wcXgR8CWGa+1w9xqJ7UmmfGeGeCHQ4QGW0IDSBU6ccg vzF2ug8/FY60K1vrWaCYOhKkxD3YBs8U9X/kOB0yQm2Git0d5tFlIPCBT2AC57bgsAYncXfHvPesI0qs7VZyghk8LVa9g5IqaM Cp6cQ7rmY/dLsKBMkDcdBHuCTAzBgkqhkiG9w0BBwEwFAYIKoZIhvcNAwcECDRVifSXbA43gBApNrp40L1VTVZ1iGag+3O1" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteAccess.AccountExpiration" value="2012-11-27T23:59:59.0000000+00:00" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteForwarder.Enabled" value="true" /> </ConfigurationSettings> <Certificates> <Certificate name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteAccess.PasswordEncryption" thumbprint="AA23016CF0BDFC344400B5B82706B608B92E4217" thumbprintAlgorithm="sha1" /> </Certificates> </Role> </ServiceConfiguration>          Okay let’s look at them one at a time,       Enabled - Yes, we would like to enable Remote Access.       AccountUserName – This is the user name you entered while you were on the publish windows azure role screen, as detailed above.       AccountEncrytedPassword – Try and decode that, the certificate is used to encrypt the password you specified for the user account. Remember earlier i said, either use the instructions or wait and i’ll be showing you encryption, now the user account i am using for rdp has the same password as my domain password, so i can simply copy the value of the AccountEncryptedPassword to the DomainPassword as well.       AccountExpiration – This is the expiration as you specified in the wizard earlier, make sure your account does not expire today.       Remote Forwarder – Check out the documentation, below is how I understand it, -- One role in an application that implements a remote desktop connection must import the RemoteForwarder module. The two modules work together to enable the remote desktop connections to role instances. -- If you have multiple roles defined in the service model, it does not matter which role you add the RemoteForwarder module to, but you must add it to only one of the role definitions.       Certificate – Remember the certificate thumbprint from the wizard, the on premise machine and windows azure role machine that need to speak to each other must have the same thumbprint. More on that when we install Windows Azure connect Endpoints on the on premise machine. As i said earlier, in this blog post, I’ll be showing you the manual process so i won’t be scripting any star up tasks to install the test agent or register the test agent with the TFS Server. I’ll be showing you all this cool stuff in the next blog post, that’s because it’s important to understand the manual side of it, it becomes easier for you to troubleshoot in case something fails. Having said that, the changes we have made are sufficient to spin up the Windows Azure Worker Role aka Test Agent VM, have it connected with the play.pit.com domain and have remote access enabled on it. Before we deploy the Test Agent VM we need to set up Windows Azure Connect on the TFS Server. II. Windows Azure Connect: Setting up Connect on VM – 2 i.e. TFS & Test Controller Glad you made it so far, now to enable communication between the on premise TFS/Test Controller and Azure-ed Test Agent we need to enable communication. We have set up the Azure connect module in the Test Agent configuration, now the connect end points need to be enabled on the on premise machines, let’s have a look at how we can do this. Log on to VM – 2 running the TFS Server and Test Controller Log on to the Windows Azure Management Portal and click on Virtual Network Click on Virtual Network, if you already have a subscription you should see the below screen shot, if not, you would be asked to complete the subscription first        Click on Install Local Endpoints from the top left on the panel and you get a url appended with a token id in it, remember the token i showed you earlier, in theory the token you get here should match the token you added to the Test Agent config file.        Copy the url to the clip board and paste it in IE explorer (important, the installation at present only works out of IE and you need to have cookies enabled in order to complete the installation). As stated in the pop up, you can NOT download and run the software later, you need to run it as is, since it contains a token. Once the installation completes you should see the Windows Azure connect icon in the system tray.                         Right click the Azure Connect icon, choose Diagnostics and refer to this link for diagnostic detail terminology. NOTE – Unfortunately I could not see the Windows Azure connect icon in the system tray, a bit of binging with Google revealed that the azure connect icon is only shown when the ‘Windows Azure Connect Endpoint’ Service is started. So go to services.msc and make sure that the service is started, if not start it, unfortunately again, the service did not start for me on a manual start and i realised that one of the dependant services was disabled, you can look at the service dependencies and start them and then start windows azure connect. Bottom line, you need to start Windows Azure connect service before you can proceed. Please refer here on MSDN for more on Troubleshooting Windows Azure connect. (Follow the next step as well)   Now go back to the Windows Azure Management Portal and from Groups and Roles create a new group, lets call it ‘Test Rig’. Make sure you add the VM – 2 (the TFS Server VM where you just installed the endpoint).       Now if you go back to the Azure Connect icon in the system tray and click ‘Refresh Policy’ you will notice that the disconnected status of the icon should change to ready for connection. III. Importing Certificate in to Windows Azure Management Portal But before that you need to import the certificate you created in Step I in to the Windows Azure Management Portal. Log on to the Windows Azure Management Portal and click on ‘Hosted Services, Storage Accounts & CDN’ and then ‘Management Certificates’ followed by Add Certificates as shown in the screen shot below        Browse to the location where you saved the certificate earlier, remember… Refer to Step I in case you forgot.        Now you should be able to see the imported certificate here, make sure the thumbprint of the certificate matches the one you inserted in the config files        IV. Publish Windows Azure Worker Role aka Test Agent Having completed I, II and III, you are ready to publish the Test Agent VM – 3 to the cloud. Go to Visual Studio and right click the Windows Azure project and select Publish. Verify the infomration in the wizard, from the advanced settings tab, you can also enabled capture of intellitrace or profiling information.         Click Next and Click Publish! From the view menu bar select the Windows Azure Activity Log window.       Now you should be able to see the deployment progress in real time.             In the Windows Azure Management Portal, you should also be able to see the progress of creation of a new Worker Role.       Once the deployment is complete you should be able to RDP (go to run prompt type mstsc and in the pop up the machine name) in to the Test Agent Worker Role VM from the Playpit network using the domain admin user account. In case you are unable to log in to the Test Agent using the domain admin user account it means the process of joining the Test Agent to the domain has failed! But the good news is, because you imported the connect module, you can connect to the Test Agent machine using Windows Azure Management Portal and troubleshoot the reason for failure, you will be able to log in with the user name and password you specified in the config file for the keys ‘RemoteAccess.AccountUsername, RemoteAccess.EncryptedPassword (just that enter the password unencrypted)’, fix it or manually join the machine to the domain. Once you have managed to Join the Test Agent VM to the Domain move to the next step.      So, log in to the Test Agent Worker Role VM with the Playpit Domain Administrator and verify that you can log in, the machine is connected to the domain and the connect service is successfully running. If yes, give your self a pat on the back, you are 80% mission accomplished!         Go to the Windows Azure Management Portal and click on Virtual Network, click on Groups and Roles and click on Test Rig, click Edit Group, the edit the Test Rig group you created earlier. In the Connect to section, click on Add to select the worker role you have just deployed. Also, check the ‘Allow connections between endpoints in the group’ with this you will enable to communication between test controller and test agents and test agents/test agents. Click Save.      Now, you are ready to deploy the Test Agent software on the Worker Role Test Agent VM and configure it to work with the Test Controller. V. Configuring VM – 3: Installing Test Agent and Associating Test Agent to Controller Log in to the Worker Role Test Agent VM that you have just successfully deployed, make sure you log in with the domain administrator account. Download the All Agents software from MSDN, ‘en_visual_studio_agents_2010_x86_x64_dvd_509679.iso’, extract the iso and navigate to where you have extracted the iso. In my case, i have extracted the iso to “C:\Resources\Temp\VsAgentSetup”. Open the Test Agent folder and double click on setup.exe. Once you have installed the Test Agent you should reach the configuration window. If you face any issues installing TFS Test Agent on the VM, refer to the walkthrough on MSDN.       Once you have successfully installed the Test Agent software you will need to configure the test agent. Right click the test agent configuration tool and run as a different user. i.e. an Administrator. This is really to run the configuration wizard with elevated privileges (you might have UAC block something's otherwise).        In the run options, you can select ‘service’ you do not need to run the agent as interactive un less you are running coded UI tests. I have specified the domain administrator to connect to the TFS Test Controller. In real life, i would never do that, i would create a separate test user service account for this purpose. But for the blog post, we are using the most powerful user so that any policies or restrictions don’t block you.        Click the Apply Settings button and you should be all green! If not, the summary usually gives helpful error messages that you can resolve and proceed. As per my experience, you may run in to either a permission or a firewall blocking communication issue.        And now the moment of truth! Go to VM –2 open up Visual Studio and from the Test Menu select Manage Test Controller       Mission Accomplished! You should be able to see the Test Agent that you have just configured here,         VI. Creating and Running Load Tests on your brand new Azure-ed Test Rig I have various blog posts on Performance Testing with Visual Studio Ultimate, you can follow the links and videos below, Blog Posts: - Part 1 – Performance Testing using Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate - Part 2 – Performance Testing using Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate - Part 3 – Performance Testing using Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate Videos: - Test Tools Configuration & Settings in Visual Studio - Why & How to Record Web Performance Tests in Visual Studio Ultimate - Goal Driven Load Testing using Visual Studio Ultimate Now that you have created your load tests, there is one last change you need to make before you can run the tests on your Azure Test Rig, create a new Test settings file, and change the Test Execution method to ‘Remote Execution’ and select the test controller you have configured the Worker Role Test Agent against in our case VM – 2 So, go on, fire off a test run and see the results of the test being executed on the Azur-ed Test Rig. Review and What’s next? A quick recap of the benefits of running the Test Rig in the cloud and what i will be covering in the next blog post AND I would love to hear your feedback! Advantages Utilizing the power of Azure compute to run a heavy virtual user load. Benefiting from the Azure flexibility, destroy Test Agents when not in use, takes < 25 minutes to spin up a new Test Agent. Most important test Network Latency, (network latency and speed of connection are two different things – usually network latency is very hard to test), by placing the Test Agents in Microsoft Data centres around the globe, one can actually test the lag in transferring the bytes not because of a slow connection but because the page has been requested from the other side of the globe. Next Steps The process of spinning up the Test Agents in windows Azure is not 100% automated. I am working on the Worker process and power shell scripts to make the role deployment, unattended install of test agent software and registration of the test agent to the test controller automated. In the next blog post I will show you how to make the complete process unattended and automated. Remember to subscribe to http://feeds.feedburner.com/TarunArora. Hope you enjoyed this post, I would love to hear your feedback! If you have any recommendations on things that I should consider or any questions or feedback, feel free to leave a comment. See you in Part III.   Share this post : CodeProject

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  • Microsoft and Application Architectures

    Microsoft has dealt with several kinds of application architectures to include but not limited to desktop applications, web applications, operating systems, relational database systems, windows services, and web services. Because of the size and market share of Microsoft, virtually every modern language works with or around a Microsoft product. Some of the languages include: Visual Basic, VB.Net, C#, C++, C, ASP.net, ASP, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Java and XML. From my experience, Microsoft strives to maintain an n-tier application standard where an application is comprised of multiple layers that perform specific functions, for example: presentation layer, business layer, data access layer are three general layers that just about every formally structured application contains. The presentation layer contains anything to do with displaying information to the screen and how it appears on the screen. The business layer is the middle man between the presentation layer and data access layer and transforms data from the data access layer in to useable information to be stored later or sent to an output device through the presentation layer. The data access layer does as its name implies, it allows the business layer to access data from a data source like MS SQL Server, XML, or another data source. One of my favorite technologies that Microsoft has come out with recently is the .Net Framework. This framework allows developers to code an application in multiple languages and compiles them in to one intermediate language called the Common Language Runtime (CLR). This allows VB and C# developers to work seamlessly together as if they were working in the same project. The only real disadvantage to using the .Net Framework is that it only natively runs on Microsoft operating systems. However, Microsoft does control a majority of the operating systems currently installed on modern computers and servers, especially with personal home computers. Given that the Microsoft .Net Framework is so flexible it is an ideal for business to develop applications around it as long as they wanted to commit to using Microsoft technologies and operating systems in the future. I have been a professional developer for about 9+ years now and have seen the .net framework work flawlessly in just about every instance I have used it. In addition, I have used it to develop web applications, mobile phone applications, desktop applications, web service applications, and windows service applications to name a few.

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  • Why can't I install Microsoft Office 2007 in Ubuntu 11.04?

    - by DK new
    I am very new to Ubuntu and only just getting a hang of it, and my questions might sound stupid especially because I am a learner in terms of techie things as well. So because of the nature of work where everyone uses stupid Windows and Microsoft, I need to have access to MS Office 2007/2010 as documents with too many tables or images open all haywire in Libre Office (which has otherwise been great!). I have been reading up about installing MS Office through WINE/PlayonLinux, but have been unsuccessful so far. I downloaded a MS Office 2007 package from Pirate Bay, which I extracted into a folder. I tried numerous different ways to install through WINE and PlayonLinux, but will discuss the one which seems to be getting me somewhere. http://www.webupd8.org/2011/01/how-to-install-microsoft-office-2007-in.html ..... Initially, when I would click on the install button of MS Office, I get a message saying "The install location you selected does not have 1558MB free space. Free up space from the selected install location or choose a different install location". The install location in this case said "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office", which confused me as I don't have drives named as C, Z etc. I went to configure WINE and under the drives tab, created a drive named A with the path location /media/cd025f16-433b-4a90-abb6-bb7a025d0450/. Also the space thing is confusing as I have at least 450GB of unused space on my computer. anyways, when I selected the A drive for installation, the installation starts, but soon I get the following error message, "Office cannot find Office.en-us\OfficeLR.Cab. Browse to a valid installation source" .... The part saying "OfficeLR.Cab" have said different things after the Office bit every time I have made an attempt. When I select the Office.en-us sub-folder or any other folder within the folder where MS Office 2007 is saved, it says "invalid source"! I have been trying to get this sorted since 15hrs now (addictive!) and have learnt loads of things in the process, but have not managed to crack it. It might be something stupidly simple I am not aware off that is stopping it. I would really appreciate some help! Thanks a lot.. Also I am still getting used to the language, so might have many questions Also I am using Ubuntu 11.04 (tag 11.04). Also I think I don't have windows -- when my friend installed Ubuntu on my new laptop which had Windows 7, he was trying to keep windows in a separate partition, but something happened and windows was not there! Looking forward to some support! Again thanks a lot

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  • What changes can be made to a Microsoft Account using net user on Windows 8?

    - by nhinkle
    In Windows 8, you can log on with a local account or with a Microsoft Account. Both types show up in the Users control panel, but there are different options that you can change for each type. An administrator can change basically any aspect of a local user - name, password, access level, etc. For a Microsoft Account, you can only change the access level (admin/standard) or remove the account. From the command line though, there don't appear to be any restrictions on what you can do a Microsoft Account. Using the net user tool or the Local Users and Groups MMC snap-in, it looks like an administrator would be able to change the password, display name, profile path, etc. of Microsoft Accounts (as well as local accounts of course). Will these commands actually work when applied to a Microsoft Account? Will using them in some way break the link to the Microsoft Account, or will nothing happen at all? I'm hesitant to test since I don't want to mess up my account permanently.

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  • Avoid Powerpoint(/Word) 2010 creating temporary files in working directory

    - by Ben
    When opening a temporary file, Powerpoint 2010 usually creates a temporary, hidden file called ~$filename.pptx in the same directory. This is undesirable, since it can cause unnecessary activity with e.g. Dropbox. Furthermore, the "Documents" folder should not be used for temporary files -- we have the %TEMP% folder for that. So, is it possible to have Powerpoint create its temporary files in %TEMP% instead? The following link suggests that it might not be possible: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/211632 Also, why does Microsoft not use the %TEMP% folder?

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  • Excel - working in a bank

    - by Einsteins Grandson
    I am supposed to go to an interview to a bank for just supporting managers in projects. It's a part-time job and the thing is that bank uses Excel for everything. Modifications of tables of really lot of data... What can I expect to find in the test of Excel? I have some books that are around 1000 pages thick but I don't have time and also don't feel like reading everything that's in them. These are the books that I have: http://www.amazon.com/Excel-2010-Bible-John-Walkenbach/dp/0470474874/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347571864&sr=8-1&keywords=excel+bible http://www.amazon.com/Excel-2010-The-Missing-Manual/dp/1449382355/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347571884&sr=8-1&keywords=Excel+2010+The+Missing+Manual http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Excel-2010-In-Depth/dp/0789743086/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347571904&sr=8-1&keywords=Microsoft+Excel+2010+In+Depth So, anybody knows a good online tutorial or a book that would contain the basics and was not that much thick? ;-) Thanks so much!!!

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  • Them and us

    - by Plip
    As much as we try and create inclusive societies throughout the globe time and time again we revert to our tribal and clan origins back in the distant past, be those line split across the obvious like  Nationality, Religion or even the Football teams we follow. Microsoft to me has always been a “them”. I was always on the outside looking in, free to say as I wished and have an external objective viewpoint. Now, after my first week (well four days but who’s counting) Microsoft is an “us” for me. So when I look up in the Atrium of Building 1 at Microsoft’s UK headquarters I see banners like the one above and I already genuinely feel a part of this much bigger community. I looked up at that and I felt a sense of pride to be part of something bigger, something which is out there touching peoples lives everywhere (for the good and the bad). My objectivity has made me who I am today. I’m open to other ideas and concepts, I’ve worked hard to be understanding across the board be it from technology through to cultural differences in my life and it’s vital to me that I preserve that so I now have to learn how I balance the “them” of Microsoft to the “us” of Microsoft and maintain the objectivity. It’s my job to advise people on the best way to do things, which won’t always mean “Use Microsoft Technology X”, sometimes it’ll be my responsibility to say “Don’t use Microsoft Technology X”. My first and foremost responsibility is to the customer, to give them the best advice that I can and I want to maintain that. Yeah, I’m sure I’ll be tarred by some as a Microsoft guy, for many years I’ve had just that, but those out there in the non Microsoft communities I’ve engaged in I think know that I’m the first to say when I think something is a bit naff. So, here’s my ask to you ‘the community’. Keep me honest. If I start to sound like a fanboi I want you to find me and give me a slap. It’s all too easy to forget reality sometimes and I want to make sure I stay well and truly routed in that reality. Also, no matter how much I embed myself within Microsoft I fear I will never understand Microsoft’s marketing team. In the Gents just under the WP7 banner shown above I was faced with this. Draw your own conclusions on what it’s message is.

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  • Microsoft Access and Java JDBC-ODBC Error

    - by user1638362
    Trying to insert some values in a Microsoft access database using java. I can an error however, java.sql.SQLException: [Microsoft][ODBC Driver Manager] The specified DSN contains an architecture mismatch between the Driver and Application Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NullPointerException To create the data source im using SysWoW64 odbcad32 and adding it the datasource to system DNS. I say this as i have seen else where there are problems which occur with 64bit systems. However it still doesn't work for me. Microsoft Office 32bit. import java.sql.Connection; import java.sql.DriverManager; import java.sql.SQLException; import java.sql.Statement; public class RMIAuctionHouseJDBC { /** * @param args */ public static void main(String[] args) { String theItem = "Car"; String theClient="KHAN"; String theMessage="1001"; Connection conn =null; // Create connection object try{ Class.forName("sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver"); System.out.println("Driver Found"); } catch(Exception e) { System.out.println("Driver Not Found"); System.err.println(e); } // connecting to database try{ String database ="jdbc:odbc:Driver={Microsoft Access Driver (*.accdb)};DBQ=AuctionHouseDatabase.accdb;"; conn = DriverManager.getConnection(database,"",""); System.out.println("Conn Found"); } catch(SQLException se) { System.out.println("Conn Not Found"); System.err.println(se); } // Create select statement and execute it try{ /*String insertSQL = "INSERT INTO AuctionHouse VALUES ( " +"'" +theItem+"', " +"'" +theClient+"', " +"'" +theMessage+"')"; */ Statement stmt = conn.createStatement(); String insertSQL = "Insert into AuctionHouse VALUES ('Item','Name','Price')"; stmt.executeUpdate(insertSQL); // Retrieve the results conn.close(); } catch(SQLException se) { System.out.println("SqlStatment Not Found"); System.err.println(se); } } } java.sql.SQLException: [Microsoft][ODBC Driver Manager] Data source name not found and no default driver specified at sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbc.createSQLException(Unknown Source) at sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbc.standardError(Unknown Source) at sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbc.SQLDriverConnect(Unknown Source) at sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcConnection.initialize(Unknown Source)

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  • ReSharper - Possible Null Assignment when using Microsoft.Contracts

    - by HVS
    Is there any way to indicate to ReSharper that a null reference won't occur because of Design-by-Contract Requires checking? For example, the following code will raise the warning (Possible 'null' assignment to entity marked with 'NotNull' attribute) in ReSharper on lines 7 and 8: private Dictionary<string, string> _Lookup = new Dictionary<string, string>(); public void Foo(string s) { Contract.Requires(!String.IsNullOrEmpty(s)); if (_Lookup.ContainsKey(s)) _Lookup.Remove(s); } What is really odd is that if you remove the Contract.Requires(...) line, the ReSharper message goes away. Update I found the solution through ExternalAnnotations which was also mentioned by Mike below. Here's an example of how to do it for a function in Microsoft.Contracts: Create a directory called Microsoft.Contracts under the ExternalAnnotations ReSharper directory. Next, Create a file called Microsoft.Contracts.xml and populate like so: <assembly name="Microsoft.Contracts"> <member name="M:System.Diagnostics.Contracts.Contract.Requires(System.Boolean)"> <attribute ctor="M:JetBrains.Annotations.AssertionMethodAttribute.#ctor"/> <parameter name="condition"> <attribute ctor="M:JetBrains.Annotations.AssertionConditionAttribute.#ctor(JetBrains.Annotations.AssertionConditionType)"> <argument>0</argument> </attribute> </parameter> </member> </assembly> Restart Visual Studio, and the message goes away!

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  • Microsoft MVP 2013 - ASP.NET/IIS

    - by hajan
    Microsoft MVP 2013 I AM VERY PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THAT I'VE BEEN AWARDED MICROSOFT MVP 2013 - ASP.NET/IIS I'm honored and it feels great to see this kind of appreciation for what we do in community.This is my third year in a row being Microsoft MVP and getting the email from Microsoft feels exactly the same as the very first one... I'm pleased and really happy to be awarded again.And, here is part of the email message I got: Dear Hajan Selmani, Congratulations! We are pleased to present you with the 2013 Microsoft® MVP Award! This award is given to exceptional technical community leaders who actively share their high quality, real world expertise with others. We appreciate your outstanding contributions in ASP.NET/IIS technical communities during the past year. I would like to say a great THANK YOU to everyone who supports me in the quest of sharing and caring about others in community. A special THANK YOU to Microsoft who brings us this opportunity to encourage our work and increase our enthusiasm to create better community and make great impact through the products and technologies they innovate. Thanks to Yulia Belyanina & Alessandro Teglia for their leadership! Thanks to my family, friends, colleagues, students, acquaintances and all stakeholders who are directly or indirectly involved in my network and deserve respect for my success to getting awarded again with the most prestigious award in community, Microsoft MVP. THANK YOU! Hajan

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  • Error while installing Microsoft SharePoint 2010 on Windows 7 machine

    - by Brian Roisentul
    I've installed Microsoft SharePoint 2010 on my Windows 7 64bits machine. I've modified the config.xml file to accomplish this. Once it's installed I run the Configuration Wizard to create a new site and it throws me the following exception: An exception of type System.IO.FileNotFoundException was thrown. Additional exception information: Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.IdentityModel, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified. System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.IdentityModel, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified. File name: 'Microsoft.IdentityModel, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPFarm.CurrentUserIsAdministrator(Boolean allowContentApplicationAccess) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPConfigurationDatabase.Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.ISPPersistedStoreProvider.DoesCurrentUserHaveWritePermission(SPPersistedObject persistedObject) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPPersistedObject.BaseUpdate() at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPFarm.Update() at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPConfigurationDatabase.RegisterDefaultDatabaseServices(SqlConnectionStringBuilder connectionString) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPConfigurationDatabase.Provision(SqlConnectionStringBuilder connectionString) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPFarm.Create(SqlConnectionStringBuilder configurationDatabase, SqlConnectionStringBuilder administrationContentDatabase, IdentityType identityType, String farmUser, SecureString farmPassword, SecureString masterPassphrase) at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.ConfigurationDatabaseTask.CreateOrConnectConfigDb() at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.ConfigurationDatabaseTask.Run() at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.TaskThread.ExecuteTask() Note: I don't have the Microsoft SQL Server 2008 64bits installed, but SharePoint 2010 seems that installed its necessary components.

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  • Microsoft Researchers shows off best Touch Screen ever made. Better than Apple touch screens!

    - by Gopinath
    All the touch devices we have in market today like iPads, iPhones, Samsung tablets and phones, etc.  have a very small issue – 100 milliseconds of lag. The lag is the amount of time a touch device takes to respond after you touch the device. The 100 milliseconds of lag may not be an issue when you are tapping and swapping the interface elements on a device, but they are apparent when you wing your finger around the screen faster. For example if you use any painting app, the lag is very obvious and screen responds slowly than an artist can paint with his finger. Researchers at Microsoft labs came out with a prototype of touch device that drastically cuts down the 100 milliseconds of lag time to just 1 millisecond. That’s 100 times faster than today’s touch screen devices. Check out the video embedded below for a demo of new touch screen. Over at TechCrunch, Chris Velazco says: The difference is staggering, especially when Dietz trots out the slow-motion footage. With the delay between touch input and screen response slashed by orders of magnitude, a device that sports the sort of super-low-latency Dietz envisions has the potential to feel far more (for lack of a better term) natural than its brethren. There’s zero delay when you slide a checker across a board, for example, and bringing that sort of instantaneous feedback to the many screens in our lives could help to bridge the gap between operating a bit of software and the feeling of interacting with objects.   It will be great boost to Microsoft’s tablet strategy if they succeed in bringing this research into mass market and allow it’s partners to use the technology on Windows 8 tablets.

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  • Nothing gets displayed when debugging Microsoft Surface

    - by leftend
    I am trying to write my first Microsoft Surface application, and am doing the development on the Surface unit itself. I successfully re-created the quick "Photos" application that is shown on the PDC Video, however, now that I'm trying to create my own app - nothing actually shows up when I run it. I'm mainly just adding ScatterViews right now - and they show up fine in the designer, but as soon as I hit F5 - the shell is shown on the surface - but none of the ScatterViews show up. Here's my xaml code so far. Am I missing something?? <s:SurfaceWindow x:Class="SurfaceUITreeDemo.TreeDemo" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" xmlns:s="http://schemas.microsoft.com/surface/2008" Title="WYITT Tree Demo" AllowsTransparency="False" Background="Beige"> <s:SurfaceWindow.Resources> <ImageBrush x:Key="WindowBackground" Stretch="None" Opacity="0.6" ImageSource="pack://application:,,,/Resources/TreeDemoBackground.jpg"/> </s:SurfaceWindow.Resources> <Grid Background="{StaticResource WindowBackground}" > <s:ScatterView Name="test"> <Image Source="C:\dev\Network-Alt-icon.png"/> </s:ScatterView> <s:ScatterView Height="100" Margin="456,160,348,0" Name="scatterView1" VerticalAlignment="Top" Background="Black"> <s:ScatterViewItem Height="100" Width="150"> <Image Source="C:\dev\Network-Alt-icon.png"/> </s:ScatterViewItem> <s:ScatterViewItem></s:ScatterViewItem> ScatterView </s:ScatterView> </Grid> </s:SurfaceWindow>

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  • Goal =&gt; Microsoft Certification Exams for .NET 4

    - by Raghuraman Kanchi
    Microsoft Learning has announced the availability dates for .NET 4.0 Exams from 2nd July 2010 onwards. Being a MCSD.NET for 2005, My friend and I decided to skip certification exams for 2008 exams aiming towards MCST/MCPD coz we felt it was a mere layer on the top of .NET 2.0. But not so for .NET 4.0. We see .NET 4.0 as a major overhaul with the best of .NET releases in hand. The following exams and their link have been posted below for direct reference. Exam 71-511, TS: Windows Applications Development with Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Exam 71-515, TS: Web Applications Development with Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Exam 71-513: TS: Windows Communication Foundation Development with Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Exam 71-516: TS: Accessing Data with Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Exam 71-518: Pro: Designing and Developing Windows Applications Using Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Exam 71-519: Pro: Designing and Developing Web Applications Using Microsoft .NET Framework 4 I am planning to prepare for each of this exam along with my .NET 4.0 work. Ever since the release of VS 2010 beta 1, I have been working majorly on .NET 4.0 including Silverlight & MEF. Now it is the time to read documentation, prepare notes, understand material, do labs, write programs and application and pass the exam.

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  • With the outcome of the Oracle vs Google trial, does that mean Mono is now safe from Microsoft [closed]

    - by Evan Plaice
    According to the an article on ArsTechnica the judge of the case ruled that APIs are not patent-able. He referred to the structure of modules/methods/classes/functions as being like libraries/books/chapters. To patent an API would be putting a patent on thought itself. It's the internal implementations that really matter. With that in mind, Mono (C# clone for Linux/Mac) has always been viewed tentatively because, even though C# and the CLI are ECMA standards, Microsoft holds a patent on the technology. Microsoft holds a covenant not to sue open source developers based on their patents but has maintained the ability to pull the plug on the Mono development team if they felt the project was a threat. With the recent ruling, is Mono finally out of the woods. A firm precedent has been established that patents can't be applied to APIs. From what I understand, none of the Mono implementation is copied verbatim, only the API structure and functionality. It's a topic I have been personally interested in for years now as I have spent a lot of time developing cross-platform C# libraries in MonoDevelop. I acknowledge that this is a controversial topic, if you have opinions that's what commenting is for. Try to keep the answers factual and based on established sources.

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  • Telerik is First to Announce Support for Microsoft Silverlight Analytics Framework

    Yesterday at MIX 10 conference Microsoft announced the Microsoft Silverlight Analytics Framework Beta. The Silverlight Analytics Framework (SAF) is a new open-source framework to allow designers and developers to integrate web analytics into Silverlight applications in a consistent manner. Supporting out-of-browser and offline scenarios, Microsoft built this framework in conjunction with a number of web analytics services and control vendors to support multiple analytics services simultaneously without degrading application performance. Because the SAF is enabled as a set of behaviors in Microsoft Expression Blend, designers and developers can visually instrument their designs and configure A/B testing rapidly without writing any code. Telerik is proud to be the first control vendor to support the Silverlight Analytics Framework. RadControls for Silverlight can be used with the framework out of the box. The suite offers Silverlight Analytics Framework handlers and behavior, helping developers to fine tune the values sent to the analytics providers. Because the analytics framework is using the Managed Extensibility Framework (MEF) for composition, you don't need to change the way you use the controls to benefit from the Telerik handlers. Just add a reference to the Telerik assemblies that contains the handlers. Here is the code that you need to declare to use RadTreeView: <UserControl x:Class="Telerik.SLAF.MainPage"         xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"         xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"         xmlns:i="clr-namespace:System.Windows.Interactivity;assembly=System.Windows.Interactivity"         xmlns:ga="clr-namespace:Google.WebAnalytics;assembly=Google.WebAnalytics"         xmlns:sa="clr-namespace:Microsoft.WebAnalytics.Behaviors;assembly=Microsoft.WebAnalytics.Behaviors"         xmlns:ic="clr-namespace:Microsoft.Expression.Interactivity.Core;assembly=Microsoft.Expression.Interactions"         xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"         xmlns:telerikNavigation="clr-namespace:Telerik.Windows.Controls;assembly=Telerik.Windows.Controls.Navigation">        <Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot">         <i:Interaction.Behaviors>             <ga:GoogleAnalytics ProfileId="--Your GA ProfileId" Category="Demo" />         </i:Interaction.Behaviors>         <telerikNavigation:RadTreeView>             <i:Interaction.Triggers>                 <i:EventTrigger EventName="SelectionChanged">                     <sa:TrackAction />                 </i:EventTrigger>             </i:Interaction.Triggers>             <telerikNavigation:RadTreeViewItem Header="Item1">             </telerikNavigation:RadTreeViewItem>             <telerikNavigation:RadTreeViewItem Header="Item2" />             <telerikNavigation:RadTreeViewItem Header="Item3" />         </telerikNavigation:RadTreeView>     </Grid> </UserControl> Download the Telerik Microsoft Silverlight Analytics Framework Handlers and the sample project. This is our first Beta release - please drop us a line with any feedback you have or even better if you are at MIX10 - come visit us at the booth in the "Commons" hall so we can discuss it in person. Did you know that DotNetSlackers also publishes .net articles written by top known .net Authors? We already have over 80 articles in several categories including Silverlight. Take a look: here.

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  • Phones, Nokia, Microsoft and More

    - by Bill Evjen
    The phone revolution that is under way at the moment is insanely interesting and continuously full of buzz about directions, failures, and promises. The movement started with Apple completely reinventing what a smart phone was all about and now we have the followers. Though – don’t dismiss the followers, they are usually the ones that come out with the leap frog products when most of the world is thinking about jumping on. Remember the often used analogy – the USA invented the TV – but it was Japan that took it to the next level and now all TVs are from somewhere else other than the USA. Really there are two camps for the phones – the Cool Kids and other kids that no one wants to hang out with anymore. When it comes to cool – for some reason, the phone is an important part of that factor. Everyone wants to show their phone and its configuration (apps installed, etc) to their friends as a sign of (1) “I have money” and (2) I have smarts/tastes/style/etc when it comes to my applications that are on my phone. For those that don’t know – the Cool Kids include: Apple – this is quite obvious as everything Apple produces is in the cool camp. Just having an Apple product on your person means you can dance. Google – this is one of the more interesting releases as they have created something called Android (which in it’s own right is a major brand in itself). Microsoft – you might be saying “Really, Microsoft is cool?”. I would argue that they are indeed cool as it is now associated with XBOX 360, Kinect, and Windows 7. Gone are the days of Bob and that silly paperclip. Well – that’s it. There is nobody else I would stick in that camp. The other kids that weren’t picked for that dodgeball team include: Nokia Motorola Palm Blackberry and many many more The sad part of all this is that no matter what this second camp does now, it won’t be able to get out of this bucket easily. They will always be associated as yesterday’s technology and that association will drive the sales of the phone purchasers of the world. For those in that group, the only possible way out is to get invited to the cool club by one of the cool club members in the hope that their coolness somehow rubs off. To me, this is the move that Nokia is making. They are at this point where they have realized that they don’t have the full scope of the required end to end solution to make this all work. They have the plants to build the phones and the reach of the retailers that sell what they have. What they are missing is the proper operating system for the new world of multi-touch form factor phones. Even the companies that come up with some sort of new operating system for this type of new device, they are still associated with the yesterday and lack the developer community behind them to be the real wave of adoption that this market needs. Think about that – this is a major different between Nokia/Blackberry when you compare it to the likes of Apple, Google, and Microsoft. These three powerhouses having a very large and strong development community that will eagerly take on new initiatives using the skillsets that they have already cultivated over the years of already working with the company. This then results in a plethora of applications that are then placed on an app store of some kind. The developer gets a cut and then Apple/Google/Microsoft then get their cut. It is definitely a win-win. None of the other phone companies and wannabies can provide the same results. What Microsoft was missing was the major phone manufactures coming on board to create and push forward with the phones that are required to start the wave. This is where Nokia can come in and help Microsoft. They have the ability to promote the Windows Phone operating system on a new wave of phones. This does mean that Nokia will sell phones, but they lose out on the application store that they might have been thinking about making some money on as well as controlling the end to end solution. What is interesting is in questioning to oneself if Microsoft will purchase Nokia. It really depends upon how they want to compete and with whom Microsoft views as the major competitor. For instance, they can purchase Nokia and have their own hardware company and distribution network for phones – thereby taking on a model that is quite similar to Apple. On the other hand, they could just leave it up to the phone hardware companies such as Nokia and others to build and promote phones in a model that is similar to Google. Both ways have pluses and minuses. If they own the phone manufacturer, they really can put some thought into the design and technical specifications of the phone that is really designed to exactly how they want it. Microsoft has shown that they have this ability – especially with the XBOX initiative they have done over the years. Think about how good and powerful they have moved forward with XBOX – and I am not talking about just copying what others are doing, but coming up with leapfrog products that are steps ahead of everyone else. Though, if they didn’t do it themselves, they could then leave it up to the phone manufacturers to drive each other to build better and better phones that run the Microsoft OS – competition drives better products. We have seen this with the Android line of phones that are out there on the market. I have read a lot about Nokia investors really upset about the new Microsoft relationship – but really, this is a great thing. I for one am a fan of this relationship (I am also a Nokia stock holder btw). This will mean better days for Nokia.

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  • Apple has bigger market capitalization than Microsoft

    - by Paja
    Should I worry that my Microsoft programming skills (C#, .NET, WinAPI) will be obsolete in a few years, because everybody will be using Mac OS X, iPhone OS or some other Apple-originated OS? According to reuters, Apple has now bigger market capitalization than Microsoft. I know there is probably huge speculative bubble around Apple's shares, but just look at this graph (taken from business insider): I also know Windows have currently 90% of the OS market share, so we (Win devs) should be OK for a few years, but who knows, maybe in 10 years, it will be just 40%, and 0% on mobile phone OS market. Personally, I'm not much worried, because I think Microsoft will fight hard for their desktop OS market share, but I'm interested in your opinions.

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  • WinDbg can't find mfc90 version 9.0.30729.4148 symbols on msdl.microsoft.com

    - by Simon Hofverberg
    I think the title states my problem fairly well. Where are those mfc symbols? Some background info: I have a crash dump that I want to analyze in WinDbg. My symbol path contains msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols (and it says h t t p first but I'm a new user here so I'm not allowed to write that twice. The 9.0.30729.4148 version seems to be installed by some Windows update When a dump contains an earlier version of mfc90, it is located by WinDbg on the Microsoft symbol server with the same settings. When I use !sym noisy, the output for mfc90.dll contains: SYMSRV: http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols/mfc90.dll/4A596D4939c000/mfc90.dll not found The same thing happens on two different computers Edit: See my comments below. The symbols are present on the server, but WinDbg can't get them.

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  • Microsoft 2003 DNS sometimes cant query for some A pointers when their TTL expires

    - by Bq
    Warning Long question :) We have a win 2003 server with a DNS server, every now and then it cant provide us with some A pointers for a specific domain. I have a small script running which asks for SOA,NS and A records for the domain in question and sometimes when the TTL expires the DNS fails to get the A records again, a Clear Cache fixes the problem.. Have a look Here it worked when the TTL expired Thu Apr 29 15:24:20 METDST 2010 dig basefarm.net soa basefarm.net. 64908 IN SOA ns01.osl.basefarm.net. hostmaster.basefarm.net. 2010042613 86400 3600 2419200 600 ns01.osl.basefarm.net. 299 IN A 81.93.160.4 dig basefarm.net ns basefarm.net. 64908 IN NS ns01.sth.basefarm.net. basefarm.net. 64908 IN NS ns01.osl.basefarm.net. ns01.sth.basefarm.net. 299 IN A 80.76.149.76 ns01.osl.basefarm.net. 299 IN A 81.93.160.4 dig ns01.sth.basefarm.net a ns01.sth.basefarm.net. 299 IN A 80.76.149.76 The TTL expired for ns01.sth.basefarm.net and ns01.osl.basefarm.net but the DNS managed to get the new values (TTL 3600) Thu Apr 29 15:29:20 METDST 2010 dig basefarm.net soa basefarm.net. 64608 IN SOA ns01.osl.basefarm.net. hostmaster.basefarm.net. 2010042613 86400 3600 2419200 600 ns01.osl.basefarm.net. 3600 IN A 81.93.160.4 dig basefarm.net ns basefarm.net. 64608 IN NS ns01.sth.basefarm.net. basefarm.net. 64608 IN NS ns01.osl.basefarm.net. ns01.sth.basefarm.net. 3600 IN A 80.76.149.76 ns01.osl.basefarm.net. 3600 IN A 81.93.160.4 dig ns01.sth.basefarm.net a ns01.sth.basefarm.net. 3600 IN A 80.76.149.76 But then another time it fails, and we need to clear the dns cache for it to start working again... Thu Apr 29 17:24:23 METDST 2010 dig basefarm.net soa basefarm.net. 57705 IN SOA ns01.osl.basefarm.net. hostmaster.basefarm.net. 2010042613 86400 3600 2419200 600 ns01.osl.basefarm.net. 299 IN A 81.93.160.4 dig basefarm.net ns basefarm.net. 57705 IN NS ns01.sth.basefarm.net. basefarm.net. 57705 IN NS ns01.osl.basefarm.net. ns01.sth.basefarm.net. 299 IN A 80.76.149.76 ns01.osl.basefarm.net. 299 IN A 81.93.160.4 dig ns01.sth.basefarm.net a ns01.sth.basefarm.net. 299 IN A 80.76.149.76 The TTL expires but the DNS cant get the ip addresses for ns01.sth.basefarm.net and ns01.osl.basefarm.net Thu Apr 29 17:29:23 METDST 2010 dig basefarm.net soa basefarm.net. 57405 IN SOA ns01.osl.basefarm.net. hostmaster.basefarm.net. 2010042613 86400 3600 2419200 600 ns01.osl.basefarm.net. 3600 IN A 81.93.160.4 dig basefarm.net ns basefarm.net. 57405 IN NS ns01.sth.basefarm.net. basefarm.net. 57405 IN NS ns01.osl.basefarm.net. dig ns01.sth.basefarm.net a Lookup failed I'm really lost on this one and have tried asking Google but to no avail..

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  • Microsoft Office document is "locked for editing by 'another user'"

    - by Chris
    A few of my users are in and out of various Excel 2007 spreadsheets all day. One of them reports that "50% of the time" she tries to open a spreadsheet from the file server, an information message comes up stating: foo.xlsx is locked for editing by 'another user'. Open "Read-Only" or click "Notify" to open read-only and receive notification when the document is no longer in use. Nine times out of ten the document is not open by another user. My users immediately try to open the same document again, and it works. I imagine this is caused by Excel leaving owner files on the server, but I do not know why. An added clue: When one of my users selects "Notify," a dialog pops up in a moment informing them the file is available for them to edit. Any guidance on how to solve this issue and make my users' days flow better?

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  • Accessing microsoft office web apps (specifically OneNote) from iphone or android

    - by Howiecamp
    I'm trying to access some OneNote notebooks from the iphone and android browsers. On the iphone I can't seem to open the notebook and see it's text. When i click on the notebook it wants to download it And it's a file type that the browser can't understand. When using android the browser crashes everytime i click on the notebook. Interestingly this happens no matter which browser i use on android - The stock browser, skyfire and dolphin all crash the same at this point. I've also tried clicking on the "desktop version" link which forces the app to render the desktop version rather than the mobile version but same result. Finally i tried changing dolphin and skyfire to emulate iphone in firefox but again same results. Has anyone got this working?

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