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• Answers to “What source control system do you use?” (and some winners)

  - by jamiet

  About a month ago I posed a question here on my blog SQL Server devs–what source control system do you use, if any? (answer and maybe win free stuff) in which I asked SQL Server developers to answer the following questions: Are you putting your SQL Server code into a source control system? If so, what source control server software (e.g. TFS, Git, SVN, Mercurial, SourceSafe, Perforce) are you using? What source control client software are you using (e.g. TFS Team Explorer, Tortoise, Red Gate SQL Source Control, Red Gate SQL Connect, Git Bash, etc…)? Why did you make those particular software choices? Any interesting anecdotes to share in regard to your use of source control and SQL Server? I had some really great responses (I highly recommend going and reading them). I promised that the five best, most thought-provoking, responses (as determined by me) would win one of five pairs of licenses for Red Gate SQL Source Control and Red Gate SQL Connect; here are the five that I chose (note that if you responded but did not leave a means of getting in touch then you weren’t considered for one of the prizes – sorry): In general, I don't think the management overhead and licensing cost associated with TFS is worthwhile if all you're doing is using source control. To get value from TFS, at a minimum you need to be using team build, and possibly other stuff as well, such as the sharepoint integration. If that's all you need, then svn with Tortoise would be my first choice. If you want to add build automation later, you can do this with cruisecontrol (is it still called that?), JetBrains, etc. For a long time I thought that Redgate's claims about "bridging the SSMS-VS divide" were a load of hot air, since in my experience anyone who knew what they were doing was using Visual Studio, in particular SSDT and its predecessors. However, on a recent client I was putting in source control for the first time, and I discovered that the "divide" really does exist. That client has ended up using svn with Redgate SQL Source Control, with no build automation, but with scope to add it in the future. Gavin Campbell I think putting the DB under source control is a great idea.  I have issues with the earlier versions of SQL Source Control in that it provides little help in versioning the DB. I think the latest version merges SQL Compare and SQL Source Control together.  Which is how it should have been all along. Sure I have the DB scripts in SVN, but I can't automate DB builds and changes without more tools.  Frankly I'm surprised databases don't have some sort of versioning built into them. Nick Portelli Source control has been immensely useful and saved me from a lot of rework on more than one occasion.  I have learned that you have to be extremely careful checking in data.  Our system is internal only so during the system production run once a week, if there is a problem that I can fix easily(for example, a control table points to a file in the wrong environment), I'll do it directly in production so the run can continue as soon as possible since we have a specified time window.  We do full test runs to minimize this but it has come up once or twice.  We use Red-Gate source control to "push" from the test environment to the production environment.  There have been a couple of occasions where the test environment with the wrong setting was pushed back over the production environment because the change was made only in production.  Gotta keep an eye on that. Alan Dykes Goodness is it manual.  And can be extremely painful at times.  Not only are we running thin, we are constrained on the tools we can get ($$ must mean free).  Certainly no excuse, and a great opportunity to improve my skills by learning new things.  But...  Getting buy in a on a proven process or methodology is hard, takes time, and diverts us from development.  If SQL Source Control is easy to use and proven oh boy could you get some serious fans around here!  Seriously though, as the "accidental dba" of this shop any new ideas / easy to implement tools can make a world of difference in productivity and most importantly accuracy.  Manual = bad. :) John Hennesey (who left his email address) The one thing I would love to know more about is the unique challenges of working with databases as source code - you can store scripts, but are they written as deployment scripts with all the logic about how to apply them to an existing DB? Where is that baseline DB? Where's the data? How does a team share the data and the code? It's a real challenge. Merrill Aldrich Congratulations to the five of you. Red Gate will be in touch with you soon about your free licenses. Thank you to all those that responded. And again, go and check out all the responses – those above are only small proportion from what is a very interesting comment thread. @Jamiet

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• Patch an Existing NK.BIN

  - by Kate Moss' Open Space

  As you know, we can use MAKEIMG.EXE tool to create OS Image file, NK.BIN, or ROMIMAGE.EXE with a BIB for more accurate. But what if the image file is already created but need to be patched or you want to extract a file from NK.BIN? The Platform Builder provide many useful command line utilities, and today I am going to introduce one, BINMOD.EXE. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee504622.aspx is the official page for BINMOD tool. As the page says, The BinMod Tool (binmod.exe) extracts files from a run-time image, and replaces files in a run-time image and its usage binmod [-i imagename] [-r replacement_filename.ext | -e extraction_filename.ext] This is a simple tool and is easy to use, if we want to extract a file from nk.bin, just type binmod –i nk.bin –e filename.ext And that's it! Or use can try -r command to replace a file inside NK.BIN. The small tool is good but there is a limitation; due to the files in MODULES section are fixed up during ROMIMAGE so the original file format is not preserved, therefore extract or replace file in MODULE section will be impossible. So just like this small tool, this post supposed to be end here, right? Nah... It is not that easy. Just try the above example, and you will find, the tool is not work! Double check the file is in FILES section and the NK.BIN is good, but it just quits. Before you throw away this useless toy, we can try to fix it! Yes, the source of this tool is available in your CE6, private\winceos\COREOS\nk\tools\romimage\binmod. As it is a tool run in your Windows so you need to Windows SDK or Visual Studio to build the code. (I am going to save you some time by skipping the detail as building a desktop console mode program is fairly trivial) The cbinmod.cpp is the core logic for this program and follow up the error message we got, it looks like the following code is suspected.   //   // Extra sanity check...   //   if((DWORD)(HIWORD(pTOCLoc->dllfirst) << 16) <= pTOCLoc->dlllast &&       (DWORD)(LOWORD(pTOCLoc->dllfirst) << 16) <= pTOCLoc->dlllast)   {     dprintf("Found pTOC  = 0x%08x\n", (DWORD)dwpTOC);     fFoundIt = true;     break;   }    else    {     dprintf("NOTICE! Record %d looked like a TOC except DLL first = 0x%08X, and DLL last = 0x%08X\r\n", i, pTOCLoc->dllfirst, pTOCLoc->dlllast);   } The logic checks if dllfirst <= dlllast but look closer, the code only separated the high/low WORD from dllfirst but does not apply the same to dlllast, is that on purpose or a bug? While the TOC is created by ROMIMAGE.EXE, so let's move to ROMIMAGE. In private\winceos\coreos\nk\tools\romimage\romimage\bin.cpp    Module::s_romhdr.dllfirst  = (HIWORD(xip_mem->dll_data_bottom) << 16) | HIWORD(xip_mem->kernel_dll_bottom);   Module::s_romhdr.dlllast   = (HIWORD(xip_mem->dll_data_top) << 16)    | HIWORD(xip_mem->kernel_dll_top); It is clear now, the high word of dll first is the upper 16 bits of XIP DLL bottom and the low word is the upper 16 bits of kernel dll bottom; also, the high word of dll last is the upper 16 bits of XIP DLL top and the low word is the upper 16 bits of kernel dll top. Obviously, the correct statement should be if((DWORD)(HIWORD(pTOCLoc->dllfirst) << 16) <= (DWORD)(HIWORD(pTOCLoc->dlllast) << 16) &&    (DWORD)(LOWORD(pTOCLoc->dllfirst) << 16) <= (DWORD)(LOWORD(pTOCLoc->dlllast) << 16)) So update the code like this should fix this issue or just like the comment, it is an extra sanity check, you can just get rid of it, either way can make the code moving forward and everything worked as advertised.  "Extracting out copies of files from the nk.bin... replacing files... etc." Since the NK.BIN can be compressed, so the BinMod needs the compress.dll to decompress the data, the DLL can be found in C:\program files\microsoft platform builder\6.00\cepb\idevs\imgutils.

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• SQL SERVER – Number-Crunching with SQL Server – Exceed the Functionality of Excel

  - by Pinal Dave

  Imagine this. Your users have developed an Excel spreadsheet that extracts data from your SQL Server database, manipulates that data through the use of Excel formulas and, possibly, some VBA code which is then used to calculate P&L, hedging requirements or even risk numbers. Management comes to you and tells you that they need to get rid of the spreadsheet and that the results of the spreadsheet calculations need to be persisted on the database. SQL Server has a very small set of functions for analyzing data. Excel has hundreds of functions for analyzing data, with many of them focused on specific financial and statistical calculations. Is it even remotely possible that you can use SQL Server to replace the complex calculations being done in a spreadsheet? Westclintech has developed a library of functions that match or exceed the functionality of Excel’s functions and contains many functions that are not available in EXCEL. Their XLeratorDB library of functions contains over 700 functions that can be incorporated into T-SQL statements. XLeratorDB takes advantage of the SQL CLR architecture introduced in SQL Server 2005. SQL CLR permits managed code to be compiled into the database and run alongside built-in SQL Server functions like COUNT or SUM. The Westclintech developers have taken advantage of this architecture to bring robust analytical functions to the database. In our hypothetical spreadsheet, let’s assume that our users are using the YIELD function and that the data are extracted from a table in our database called BONDS. Here’s what the spreadsheet might look like. We go to column G and see that it contains the following formula. Obviously, SQL Server does not offer a native YIELD function. However, with XLeratorDB we can replicate this calculation in SQL Server with the following statement: SELECT *, wct.YIELD(CAST(GETDATE() AS date),Maturity,Rate,Price,100,Frequency,Basis) AS YIELD FROM BONDS This produces the following result. This illustrates one of the best features about XLeratorDB; it is so easy to use. Since I knew that the spreadsheet was using the YIELD function I could use the same function with the same calling structure to do the calculation in SQL Server. I didn’t need to know anything at all about the mechanics of calculating the yield on a bond. It was pretty close to cut and paste. In fact, that’s one way to construct the SQL. Just copy the function call from the cell in the spreadsheet and paste it into SMS and change the cell references to column names. I built the SQL for this query by starting with this. SELECT * ,YIELD(TODAY(),B2,C2,D2,100,E2,F2) FROM BONDS I then changed the cell references to column names. SELECT * --,YIELD(TODAY(),B2,C2,D2,100,E2,F2) ,YIELD(TODAY(),Maturity,Rate,Price,100,Frequency,Basis) FROM BONDS Finally, I replicated the TODAY() function using GETDATE() and added the schema name to the function name. SELECT * --,YIELD(TODAY(),B2,C2,D2,100,E2,F2) --,YIELD(TODAY(),Maturity,Rate,Price,100,Frequency,Basis) ,wct.YIELD(GETDATE(),Maturity,Rate,Price,100,Frequency,Basis) FROM BONDS Then I am able to execute the statement returning the results seen above. The XLeratorDB libraries are heavy on financial, statistical, and mathematical functions. Where there is an analog to an Excel function, the XLeratorDB function uses the same naming conventions and calling structure as the Excel function, but there are also hundreds of additional functions for SQL Server that are not found in Excel. You can find the functions by opening Object Explorer in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) and expanding the Programmability folder under the database where the functions have been installed. The  Functions folder expands to show 3 sub-folders: Table-valued Functions; Scalar-valued functions, Aggregate Functions, and System Functions. You can expand any of the first three folders to see the XLeratorDB functions. Since the wct.YIELD function is a scalar function, we will open the Scalar-valued Functions folder, scroll down to the wct.YIELD function and and click the plus sign (+) to display the input parameters. The functions are also Intellisense-enabled, with the input parameters displayed directly in the query tab. The Westclintech website contains documentation for all the functions including examples that can be copied directly into a query window and executed. There are also more one hundred articles on the site which go into more detail about how some of the functions work and demonstrate some of the extensive business processes that can be done in SQL Server using XLeratorDB functions and some T-SQL. XLeratorDB is organized into libraries: finance, statistics; math; strings; engineering; and financial options. There is also a windowing library for SQL Server 2005, 2008, and 2012 which provides functions for calculating things like running and moving averages (which were introduced in SQL Server 2012), FIFO inventory calculations, financial ratios and more, without having to use triangular joins. To get started you can download the XLeratorDB 15-day free trial from the Westclintech web site. It is a fully-functioning, unrestricted version of the software. If you need more than 15 days to evaluate the software, you can simply download another 15-day free trial. XLeratorDB is an easy and cost-effective way to start adding sophisticated data analysis to your SQL Server database without having to know anything more than T-SQL. Get XLeratorDB Today and Now! Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL Tagged: Excel

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• Calculated Columns in Entity Framework Code First Migrations

  - by David Paquette

  I had a couple people ask me about calculated properties / columns in Entity Framework this week.  The question was, is there a way to specify a property in my C# class that is the result of some calculation involving 2 properties of the same class.  For example, in my database, I store a FirstName and a LastName column and I would like a FullName property that is computed from the FirstName and LastName columns.  My initial answer was: 1: public string FullName 2: { 3: get { return string.Format("{0} {1}", FirstName, LastName); } 4: } Of course, this works fine, but this does not give us the ability to write queries using the FullName property.  For example, this query: 1: var users = context.Users.Where(u => u.FullName.Contains("anan")); Would result in the following NotSupportedException: The specified type member 'FullName' is not supported in LINQ to Entities. Only initializers, entity members, and entity navigation properties are supported. It turns out there is a way to support this type of behavior with Entity Framework Code First Migrations by making use of Computed Columns in SQL Server.  While there is no native support for computed columns in Code First Migrations, we can manually configure our migration to use computed columns. Let’s start by defining our C# classes and DbContext: 1: public class UserProfile 2: { 3: public int Id { get; set; } 4: 5: public string FirstName { get; set; } 6: public string LastName { get; set; } 7: 8: [DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.Computed)] 9: public string FullName { get; private set; } 10: } 11: 12: public class UserContext : DbContext 13: { 14: public DbSet<UserProfile> Users { get; set; } 15: } The DatabaseGenerated attribute is needed on our FullName property.  This is a hint to let Entity Framework Code First know that the database will be computing this property for us. Next, we need to run 2 commands in the Package Manager Console.  First, run Enable-Migrations to enable Code First Migrations for the UserContext.  Next, run Add-Migration Initial to create an initial migration.  This will create a migration that creates the UserProfile table with 3 columns: FirstName, LastName, and FullName.  This is where we need to make a small change.  Instead of allowing Code First Migrations to create the FullName property, we will manually add that column as a computed column. 1: public partial class Initial : DbMigration 2: { 3: public override void Up() 4: { 5: CreateTable( 6: "dbo.UserProfiles", 7: c => new 8: { 9: Id = c.Int(nullable: false, identity: true), 10: FirstName = c.String(), 11: LastName = c.String(), 12: //FullName = c.String(), 13: }) 14: .PrimaryKey(t => t.Id); 15: Sql("ALTER TABLE dbo.UserProfiles ADD FullName AS FirstName + ' ' + LastName"); 16: } 17: 18: 19: public override void Down() 20: { 21: DropTable("dbo.UserProfiles"); 22: } 23: } Finally, run the Update-Database command.  Now we can query for Users using the FullName property and that query will be executed on the database server.  However, we encounter another potential problem. Since the FullName property is calculated by the database, it will get out of sync on the object side as soon as we make a change to the FirstName or LastName property.  Luckily, we can have the best of both worlds here by also adding the calculation back to the getter on the FullName property: 1: [DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.Computed)] 2: public string FullName 3: { 4: get { return FirstName + " " + LastName; } 5: private set 6: { 7: //Just need this here to trick EF 8: } 9: } Now we can both query for Users using the FullName property and we also won’t need to worry about the FullName property being out of sync with the FirstName and LastName properties.  When we run this code: 1: using(UserContext context = new UserContext()) 2: { 3: UserProfile userProfile = new UserProfile {FirstName = "Chanandler", LastName = "Bong"}; 4: 5: Console.WriteLine("Before saving: " + userProfile.FullName); 6: 7: context.Users.Add(userProfile); 8: context.SaveChanges(); 9:  10: Console.WriteLine("After saving: " + userProfile.FullName); 11:  12: UserProfile chanandler = context.Users.First(u => u.FullName == "Chanandler Bong"); 13: Console.WriteLine("After reading: " + chanandler.FullName); 14:  15: chanandler.FirstName = "Chandler"; 16: chanandler.LastName = "Bing"; 17:  18: Console.WriteLine("After changing: " + chanandler.FullName); 19:  20: } We get this output: It took a bit of work, but finally Chandler’s TV Guide can be delivered to the right person. The obvious downside to this implementation is that the FullName calculation is duplicated in the database and in the UserProfile class. This sample was written using Visual Studio 2012 and Entity Framework 5. Download the source code here.

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• How to nest transactions nicely - &quot;begin transaction&quot; vs &quot;save transaction&quot; and SQL Server

  - by Brian Biales

  Do you write stored procedures that might be used by others?  And those others may or may not have already started a transaction?  And your SP does several things, but if any of them fail, you have to undo them all and return with a code indicating it failed? Well, I have written such code, and it wasn’t working right until I finally figured out how to handle the case when we are already in a transaction, as well as the case where the caller did not start a transaction.  When a problem occurred, my “ROLLBACK TRANSACTION” would roll back not just my nested transaction, but the caller’s transaction as well.  So when I tested the procedure stand-alone, it seemed to work fine, but when others used it, it would cause a problem if it had to rollback.  When something went wrong in my procedure, their entire transaction was rolled back.  This was not appreciated. Now, I knew one could "nest" transactions, but the technical documentation was very confusing.  And I still have not found the approach below documented anywhere.  So here is a very brief description of how I got it to work, I hope you find this helpful. My example is a stored procedure that must figure out on its own if the caller has started a transaction or not.  This can be done in SQL Server by checking the @@TRANCOUNT value.  If no BEGIN TRANSACTION has occurred yet, this will have a value of 0.  Any number greater than zero means that a transaction is in progress.  If there is no current transaction, my SP begins a transaction. But if a transaction is already in progress, my SP uses SAVE TRANSACTION and gives it a name.  SAVE TRANSACTION creates a “save point”.  Note that creating a save point has no effect on @@TRANCOUNT.  So my SP starts with something like this: DECLARE @startingTranCount int SET @startingTranCount = @@TRANCOUNT IF @startingTranCount > 0 SAVE TRANSACTION mySavePointName ELSE BEGIN TRANSACTION -- … Then, when ready to commit the changes, you only need to commit if we started the transaction ourselves: IF @startingTranCount = 0 COMMIT TRANSACTION And finally, to roll back just your changes so far: -- Roll back changes... IF @startingTranCount > 0 ROLLBACK TRANSACTION MySavePointName ELSE ROLLBACK TRANSACTION Here is some code that you can try that will demonstrate how the save points work inside a transaction. This sample code creates a temporary table, then executes selects and updates, documenting what is going on, then deletes the temporary table. if running in SQL Management Studio, set Query Results to: Text for best readability of the results. -- Create a temporary table to test with, we'll drop it at the end. CREATE TABLE #ATable( [Column_A] [varchar](5) NULL ) ON [PRIMARY] GO SET NOCOUNT ON -- Ensure just one row - delete all rows, add one DELETE #ATable -- Insert just one row INSERT INTO #ATable VALUES('000') SELECT 'Before TRANSACTION starts, value in table is: ' AS Note, * FROM #ATable SELECT @@trancount AS CurrentTrancount --insert into a values ('abc') UPDATE #ATable SET Column_A = 'abc' SELECT 'UPDATED without a TRANSACTION, value in table is: ' AS Note, * FROM #ATable BEGIN TRANSACTION SELECT 'BEGIN TRANSACTION, trancount is now ' AS Note, @@TRANCOUNT AS TranCount UPDATE #ATable SET Column_A = '123' SELECT 'Row updated inside TRANSACTION, value in table is: ' AS Note, * FROM #ATable SAVE TRANSACTION MySavepoint SELECT 'Save point MySavepoint created, transaction count now:' as Note, @@TRANCOUNT AS TranCount UPDATE #ATable SET Column_A = '456' SELECT 'Updated after MySavepoint created, value in table is: ' AS Note, * FROM #ATable SAVE TRANSACTION point2 SELECT 'Save point point2 created, transaction count now:' as Note, @@TRANCOUNT AS TranCount UPDATE #ATable SET Column_A = '789' SELECT 'Updated after point2 savepoint created, value in table is: ' AS Note, * FROM #ATable ROLLBACK TRANSACTION point2 SELECT 'Just rolled back savepoint "point2", value in table is: ' AS Note, * FROM #ATable ROLLBACK TRANSACTION MySavepoint SELECT 'Just rolled back savepoint "MySavepoint", value in table is: ' AS Note, * FROM #ATable SELECT 'Both save points were rolled back, transaction count still:' as Note, @@TRANCOUNT AS TranCount ROLLBACK TRANSACTION SELECT 'Just rolled back the entire transaction..., value in table is: ' AS Note, * FROM #ATable DROP TABLE #ATable The output should look like this: Note                                           Column_A ---------------------------------------------- -------- Before TRANSACTION starts, value in table is:  000 CurrentTrancount ---------------- 0 Note                                               Column_A -------------------------------------------------- -------- UPDATED without a TRANSACTION, value in table is:  abc Note                                 TranCount ------------------------------------ ----------- BEGIN TRANSACTION, trancount is now  1 Note                                                Column_A --------------------------------------------------- -------- Row updated inside TRANSACTION, value in table is:  123 Note                                                   TranCount ------------------------------------------------------ ----------- Save point MySavepoint created, transaction count now: 1 Note                                                   Column_A ------------------------------------------------------ -------- Updated after MySavepoint created, value in table is:  456 Note                                              TranCount ------------------------------------------------- ----------- Save point point2 created, transaction count now: 1 Note                                                        Column_A ----------------------------------------------------------- -------- Updated after point2 savepoint created, value in table is:  789 Note                                                     Column_A -------------------------------------------------------- -------- Just rolled back savepoint "point2", value in table is:  456 Note                                                          Column_A ------------------------------------------------------------- -------- Just rolled back savepoint "MySavepoint", value in table is:  123 Note                                                        TranCount ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------- Both save points were rolled back, transaction count still: 1 Note                                                            Column_A --------------------------------------------------------------- -------- Just rolled back the entire transaction..., value in table is:  abc

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• Making a Statement: How to retrieve the T-SQL statement that caused an event

  - by extended_events

  If you’ve done any troubleshooting of T-SQL, you know that sooner or later, probably sooner, you’re going to want to take a look at the actual statements you’re dealing with. In extended events we offer an action (See the BOL topic that covers Extended Events Objects for a description of actions) named sql_text that seems like it is just the ticket. Well…not always – sounds like a good reason for a blog post. When is a statement not THE statement? The sql_text action returns the same information that is returned from DBCC INPUTBUFFER, which may or may not be what you want. For example, if you execute a stored procedure, the sql_text action will return something along the lines of “EXEC sp_notwhatiwanted” assuming that is the statement you sent from the client. Often times folks would like something more specific, like the actual statements that are being run from within the stored procedure or batch. Enter the stack Extended events offers another action, this one with the descriptive name of tsql_stack, that includes the sql_handle and offset information about the statements being run when an event occurs. With the sql_handle and offset values you can retrieve the specific statement you seek using the DMV dm_exec_sql_statement. The BOL topic for dm_exec_sql_statement provides an example for how to extract this information, so I’ll cover the gymnastics required to get the sql_handle and offset values out of the tsql_stack data collected by the action. I’m the first to admit that this isn’t pretty, but this is what we have in SQL Server 2008 and 2008 R2. We will be making it easier to get statement level information in the next major release of SQL Server. The sample code For this example I have a stored procedure that includes multiple statements and I have a need to differentiate between those two statements in my tracing. I’m going to track two events: module_end tracks the completion of the stored procedure execution and sp_statement_completed tracks the execution of each statement within a stored procedure. I’m adding the tsql_stack events (since that’s the topic of this post) and the sql_text action for comparison sake. (If you have questions about creating event sessions, check out Pedro’s post Introduction to Extended Events.) USE AdventureWorks2008GO -- Test SPCREATE PROCEDURE sp_multiple_statementsASSELECT 'This is the first statement'SELECT 'this is the second statement'GO -- Create a session to look at the spCREATE EVENT SESSION track_sprocs ON SERVERADD EVENT sqlserver.module_end (ACTION (sqlserver.tsql_stack, sqlserver.sql_text)),ADD EVENT sqlserver.sp_statement_completed (ACTION (sqlserver.tsql_stack, sqlserver.sql_text))ADD TARGET package0.ring_bufferWITH (MAX_DISPATCH_LATENCY = 1 SECONDS)GO -- Start the sessionALTER EVENT SESSION track_sprocs ON SERVERSTATE = STARTGO -- Run the test procedureEXEC sp_multiple_statementsGO -- Stop collection of events but maintain ring bufferALTER EVENT SESSION track_sprocs ON SERVERDROP EVENT sqlserver.module_end,DROP EVENT sqlserver.sp_statement_completedGO Aside: Altering the session to drop the events is a neat little trick that allows me to stop collection of events while keeping in-memory targets such as the ring buffer available for use. If you stop the session the in-memory target data is lost. Now that we’ve collected some events related to running the stored procedure, we need to do some processing of the data. I’m going to do this in multiple steps using temporary tables so you can see what’s going on; kind of like having to “show your work” on a math test. The first step is to just cast the target data into XML so I can work with it. After that you can pull out the interesting columns, for our purposes I’m going to limit the output to just the event name, object name, stack and sql text. You can see that I’ve don a second CAST, this time of the tsql_stack column, so that I can further process this data. -- Store the XML data to a temp tableSELECT CAST( t.target_data AS XML) xml_dataINTO #xml_event_dataFROM sys.dm_xe_sessions s INNER JOIN sys.dm_xe_session_targets t    ON s.address = t.event_session_addressWHERE s.name = 'track_sprocs' SELECT * FROM #xml_event_data -- Parse the column data out of the XML blockSELECT    event_xml.value('(./@name)', 'varchar(100)') as [event_name],    event_xml.value('(./data[@name="object_name"]/value)[1]', 'varchar(255)') as [object_name],    CAST(event_xml.value('(./action[@name="tsql_stack"]/value)[1]','varchar(MAX)') as XML) as [stack_xml],    event_xml.value('(./action[@name="sql_text"]/value)[1]', 'varchar(max)') as [sql_text]INTO #event_dataFROM #xml_event_data    CROSS APPLY xml_data.nodes('//event') n (event_xml) SELECT * FROM #event_data event_name object_name stack_xml sql_text sp_statement_completed NULL <frame level="1" handle="0x03000500D0057C1403B79600669D00000100000000000000" line="4" offsetStart="94" offsetEnd="172" /><frame level="2" handle="0x01000500CF3F0331B05EC084000000000000000000000000" line="1" offsetStart="0" offsetEnd="-1" /> EXEC sp_multiple_statements sp_statement_completed NULL <frame level="1" handle="0x03000500D0057C1403B79600669D00000100000000000000" line="6" offsetStart="174" offsetEnd="-1" /><frame level="2" handle="0x01000500CF3F0331B05EC084000000000000000000000000" line="1" offsetStart="0" offsetEnd="-1" /> EXEC sp_multiple_statements module_end sp_multiple_statements <frame level="1" handle="0x03000500D0057C1403B79600669D00000100000000000000" line="0" offsetStart="0" offsetEnd="0" /><frame level="2" handle="0x01000500CF3F0331B05EC084000000000000000000000000" line="1" offsetStart="0" offsetEnd="-1" /> EXEC sp_multiple_statements After parsing the columns it’s easier to see what is recorded. You can see that I got back two sp_statement_completed events, which makes sense given the test procedure I’m running, and I got back a single module_end for the entire statement. As described, the sql_text isn’t telling me what I really want to know for the first two events so a little extra effort is required. -- Parse the tsql stack information into columnsSELECT    event_name,    object_name,    frame_xml.value('(./@level)', 'int') as [frame_level],    frame_xml.value('(./@handle)', 'varchar(MAX)') as [sql_handle],    frame_xml.value('(./@offsetStart)', 'int') as [offset_start],    frame_xml.value('(./@offsetEnd)', 'int') as [offset_end]INTO #stack_data    FROM #event_data        CROSS APPLY    stack_xml.nodes('//frame') n (frame_xml)    SELECT * from #stack_data event_name object_name frame_level sql_handle offset_start offset_end sp_statement_completed NULL 1 0x03000500D0057C1403B79600669D00000100000000000000 94 172 sp_statement_completed NULL 2 0x01000500CF3F0331B05EC084000000000000000000000000 0 -1 sp_statement_completed NULL 1 0x03000500D0057C1403B79600669D00000100000000000000 174 -1 sp_statement_completed NULL 2 0x01000500CF3F0331B05EC084000000000000000000000000 0 -1 module_end sp_multiple_statements 1 0x03000500D0057C1403B79600669D00000100000000000000 0 0 module_end sp_multiple_statements 2 0x01000500CF3F0331B05EC084000000000000000000000000 0 -1 Parsing out the stack information doubles the fun and I get two rows for each event. If you examine the stack from the previous table, you can see that each stack has two frames and my query is parsing each event into frames, so this is expected. There is nothing magic about the two frames, that’s just how many I get for this example, it could be fewer or more depending on your statements. The key point here is that I now have a sql_handle and the offset values for those handles, so I can use dm_exec_sql_statement to get the actual statement. Just a reminder, this DMV can only return what is in the cache – if you have old data it’s possible your statements have been ejected from the cache. “Old” is a relative term when talking about caches and can be impacted by server load and how often your statement is actually used. As with most things in life, your mileage may vary. SELECT    qs.*,     SUBSTRING(st.text, (qs.offset_start/2)+1,         ((CASE qs.offset_end          WHEN -1 THEN DATALENGTH(st.text)         ELSE qs.offset_end         END - qs.offset_start)/2) + 1) AS statement_textFROM #stack_data AS qsCROSS APPLY sys.dm_exec_sql_text(CONVERT(varbinary(max),sql_handle,1)) AS st event_name object_name frame_level sql_handle offset_start offset_end statement_text sp_statement_completed NULL 1 0x03000500D0057C1403B79600669D00000100000000000000 94 172 SELECT 'This is the first statement' sp_statement_completed NULL 1 0x03000500D0057C1403B79600669D00000100000000000000 174 -1 SELECT 'this is the second statement' module_end sp_multiple_statements 1 0x03000500D0057C1403B79600669D00000100000000000000 0 0 C Now that looks more like what we were after, the statement_text field is showing the actual statement being run when the sp_statement_completed event occurs. You’ll notice that it’s back down to one row per event, what happened to frame 2? The short answer is, “I don’t know.” In SQL Server 2008 nothing is returned from dm_exec_sql_statement for the second frame and I believe this to be a bug; this behavior has changed in the next major release and I see the actual statement run from the client in frame 2. (In other words I see the same statement that is returned by the sql_text action  or DBCC INPUTBUFFER) There is also something odd going on with frame 1 returned from the module_end event; you can see that the offset values are both 0 and only the first letter of the statement is returned. It seems like the offset_end should actually be –1 in this case and I’m not sure why it’s not returning this correctly. This behavior is being investigated and will hopefully be corrected in the next major version. You can workaround this final oddity by ignoring the offsets and just returning the entire cached statement. SELECT    event_name,    sql_handle,    ts.textFROM #stack_data    CROSS APPLY sys.dm_exec_sql_text(CONVERT(varbinary(max),sql_handle,1)) as ts event_name sql_handle text sp_statement_completed 0x0300070025999F11776BAF006F9D00000100000000000000 CREATE PROCEDURE sp_multiple_statements AS SELECT 'This is the first statement' SELECT 'this is the second statement' sp_statement_completed 0x0300070025999F11776BAF006F9D00000100000000000000 CREATE PROCEDURE sp_multiple_statements AS SELECT 'This is the first statement' SELECT 'this is the second statement' module_end 0x0300070025999F11776BAF006F9D00000100000000000000 CREATE PROCEDURE sp_multiple_statements AS SELECT 'This is the first statement' SELECT 'this is the second statement' Obviously this gives more than you want for the sp_statement_completed events, but it’s the right information for module_end. I leave it to you to determine when this information is needed and use the workaround when appropriate. Aside: You might think it’s odd that I’m showing apparent bugs with my samples, but you’re going to see this behavior if you use this method, so you need to know about it.I’m all about transparency. Happy Eventing- Mike Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! | kick it! | live it!

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• Monitoring your WCF Web Apis with AppFabric

  - by cibrax

  The other day, Ron Jacobs made public a template in the Visual Studio Gallery for enabling monitoring capabilities to any existing WCF Http service hosted in Windows AppFabric. I thought it would be a cool idea to reuse some of that for doing the same thing on the new WCF Web Http stack. Windows AppFabric provides a dashboard that you can use to dig into some metrics about the services usage, such as number of calls, errors or information about different events during a service call. Those events not only include information about the WCF pipeline, but also custom events that any developer can inject and make sense for troubleshooting issues.      This monitoring capabilities can be enabled on any specific IIS virtual directory by using the AppFabric configuration tool or adding the following configuration sections to your existing web app, <system.serviceModel> <serviceHostingEnvironment aspNetCompatibilityEnabled="true" multipleSiteBindingsEnabled="true" /> <diagnostics etwProviderId="3e99c707-3503-4f33-a62d-2289dfa40d41"> <endToEndTracing propagateActivity="true" messageFlowTracing="true" /> </diagnostics> <behaviors> <serviceBehaviors> <behavior name=""> <etwTracking profileName="EndToEndMonitoring Tracking Profile" /> </behavior> </serviceBehaviors> </behaviors> </system.serviceModel>   <microsoft.applicationServer> <monitoring> <default enabled="true" connectionStringName="ApplicationServerMonitoringConnectionString" monitoringLevel="EndToEndMonitoring" /> </monitoring> </microsoft.applicationServer> Bad news is that none of the configuration above can be easily set on code by using the new configuration model for WCF Web stack.  A good thing is that you easily disable it in the configuration when you no longer need it, and also uses ETW, a general-purpose and high-speed tracing facility provided by the operating system (it’s part of the windows kernel). By adding that configuration section, AppFabric will start monitoring your service automatically and providing some basic event information about the service calls. You need some custom code for injecting custom events in the monitoring data. What I did here is to copy and refactor the “WCFUserEventProvider” class provided as sample in the Ron’s template to make it more TDD friendly when using IoC. I created a simple interface “ILogger” that any service (or resource) can use to inject custom events or monitoring information in the AppFabric database. public interface ILogger { bool WriteError(string name, string format, params object[] args); bool WriteWarning(string name, string format, params object[] args); bool WriteInformation(string name, string format, params object[] args); } The “WCFUserEventProvider” class implements this interface by making possible to send the events to the AppFabric monitoring database. The service or resource implementation can receive an “ILogger” as part of the constructor. [ServiceContract] [Export] public class OrderResource { IOrderRepository repository; ILogger logger;   [ImportingConstructor] public OrderResource(IOrderRepository repository, ILogger logger) { this.repository = repository; this.logger = logger; }   [WebGet(UriTemplate = "{id}")] public Order Get(string id, HttpResponseMessage response) { var order = this.repository.All.FirstOrDefault(o => o.OrderId == int.Parse(id, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture)); if (order == null) { response.StatusCode = HttpStatusCode.NotFound; response.Content = new StringContent("Order not found"); }   this.logger.WriteInformation("Order Requested", "Order Id {0}", id);   return order; } } The example above uses “MEF” as IoC for injecting a repository and the logger implementation into the service. You can also see how the logger is used to write an information event in the monitoring database. The following image illustrates how the custom event is injected and the information becomes available for any user in the dashboard. An issue that you might run into and I hope the WCF and AppFabric teams fixed soon is that any WCF service that uses friendly URLs with ASP.NET routing does not get listed as a available service in the WCF services tab in the AppFabric console. The complete example is available to download from here.

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• In the Mobile and Tablet World, How Much is Too Much?

  - by andrewbrust

  The week of April 26th was a huge one in the world of mobile and tablet devices,  There were so many individual developments, announcements and solidifications of strategy, it’s almost impossible to believe they occurred in the same month, let alone the same week. Things started with Apple and Gizmodo having a Law and Order moment over the latter’s procurement of what appears to be the former’s 4th gen iPhone prototype.  We found out on the 26th that Gizmodo blogger Jason Chen’s apartment was raided by police and, honestly, that was a bit much. But Apple didn’t stop there.  They also published Steve Job’s critique of Adobe Flash and his explanation of Cupertino’s embargo of Flash on iPhones, iPods and iPads.  If you ask me, this too, was a bit much. Apple finished up the week by releasing the 3G version of its iPad product to the US market. I like (iLike?) my WiFi iPad.  The idea of getting a version of it that required a second 3G service monthly subscription, is, well, a bit  much. Microsoft was in the news too.  It killed a project it hadn’t even acknowledged the existence of: the Courier tablet.  That’s a bit much too.  If a tree falls in the woods, and Microsoft says they can’t hear it anyway, could they really have chopped it down? Maybe Microsoft Research should have licensed some of Courier’s technology from other parts of Microsoft.  Then maybe they could have kept the product alive.  Ask HTC: they’re going to be licensing technology from Microsoft because Redmond insists that Google’s Android operating system infringes on certain of their patents.  And since HTC now builds a number of handsets on Android, instead of being beholden, as they once were, to Windows Mobile, that means they can keep making their products.  Why does HTC have to pay the royalties, and not Google?  Maybe Microsoft decided that going after GOOG would have been a bit much, even for them. The agreement came not a moment to soon: HTC released their “Droid Incredible” (that name’s a bit much), an Android 2.1 handset with amazing hardware and HTC’s own Sense UI, on April 30th (this past Friday). This phone is very well-reviewed.  Maybe that’s why Google basically decided to beg off introducing a version of its Nexus One phone (also manufactured by HTC) on the Verizon Wireless network.  Google backing down?  That’s incredible, if not also a bit much. And that brings us to HP.  Which this week announced its acquisition of Palm and its webOS mobile phone touch-oriented operating system.  HP also killed its own Slate initiative.  Apparently HP realized that Windows 7, even with a proprietary HP touch UI added on top, is no match for the iPad.  I’m guessing they think webOS might work a bit better,  And I’m wondering if HP even wants to use webOS for phone handsets, beyond the Pre and Pixi.  Using it just for slate devices would be a bit extreme, but maybe not too much. Honestly, this was not Microsoft’s best week.  It killed a project and a close partner did likewise.  Then that same partner bought a competing OS product, while another partner released their new product that uses yet another competing OS platform. What did Microsoft actually produce this past week? An update to its Windows Phone 7 developer tools that actually works with the version of Visual Studio 2010 released on April 12th, and the version of Silverlight released three days later. That took three weeks to get synced up, and that’s a bit much too. But at least it happened. Windows Phone 7 is Microsoft’s best hope for a comeback in the SmartPhone market and to offer a credible touch-based tablet device.  This week, two of Microsoft’s slate initiatives died, and its only mobile phone victory was around its competitor’s operating system.  I hope the new platform gets Redmond out of the PC ghetto and into the classes of device that get people really excited today.  If it can’t, that would be a bit much; probably too much.  And, as the signs at the Lonestar Cafe in NYC used to say, too much ain’t enough.

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• Microsoft TechEd 2010 - Day 2 @ Bangalore

  - by sathya

  Microsoft TechEd 2010 - Day 2 @ Bangalore Today is the day 2 @ Microsoft TechEd 2010. We had lot of technical sessions as usual there were many tracks going on side by side and I was attending the Web simplified track, Which comprised of the following sessions :   Developing a scalable Media Application using ASP.NET MVC - This was a kind of little advanced stuff. Anyways I couldn't understand much because this was not my piece of cake and I havent worked on this before ASP.Net MVC Unplugged - This was really great because this session covered from the basics of MVC showing what is Model,View and Controller and how it worked and the speaker went into the details of the same. Building RESTful Applications with the Open Data Protocol - There were some concepts explained about this from the basics on how to build RESTful Services and it went on till some advanced configurations of the same. Developing Scalable Web Applications with AppFabric Caching - This session showed about the integration of AppFabric with the .Net Web Applications. Instead of using Inproc Sessions, we can use this AppFabric as a substitute for Caching and outofProc Session Storage without writing code and doing a little bit of configurations which brings in High Scalability, performance to our applications. (But unfortunately there were no demos for this session ) Deep Dive : WCF RIA Services - This session was also an interactive one, in this the speaker presented from the basics of WCF and took a Book Store Application as a sample and explained all details concepts on linking with RIA Services   Apart from these sessions, in between there happened some small events in the breaks like Some discussions about Technology, Innovations Music Jokes Mimicry, etc. And on doing all these things, the developers were given some kool gifts / goodies like USBs, T-Shirts, etc. And today I got a chance to do the following certification : (70-562) Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist in .NET 3.5 Web Applications Since I already have an MCTS in .NET 2.0, I wanted to do an MCPD and for doing the same I was required to do an update to my MCTS with the .NET 3.5 framework and I did the same I cleared it and now am an MCTS in .NET 3.5 Web Apps And on doing this I got a T-Shirt and they gave something called Learning $ of worth 30$. And in various stalls for attending each quiz or some game or some referrals we got some Learning $ which we can redeem later based on our Total Learning $. I got 105 $ which i was able to redeem and got a Microsoft Learning BagPack, 1 free Microsoft certification offer, a laptop light and an e-learning content activated. And after all these sessions and small events, we had something called Demo Extravaganza like I mentioned yesterday. This was a great funfilled event with lot of goodies for the attendees. There were some lucky draw which enabled 2 attendees to get Netbooks (Sponsored by Intel) and 1 attendee to get X-box (Sponsored by Citrix). After Choosing the raffle in the lucky draw they kept it on a device called Microsoft Surface which is a kind of big touch screen device and on putting the raffle on that it detected the code of the attendee and said intelligently how many sessions that person has attended and if he has attended more than 5 he got a Netbook and this was coded by a guy called Imran. Apart from they showed demos on : Research by 2 Tamilnadu students from Krishna Arts and Science college, taken 1200 photographs of their college from different angles and put that up in Bing maps using silverlight and linked with Photosynth, which showed a 3d view of their college based on the photos they uploaded Reasearch by Microsoft on Panaramic HD views of the images. One young guy from Microsoft Research showed a demo of this on Srivilliputhur Andal Temple, in Tamil Nadu and its history with a panoramic view of the temple and the near by places with narration of the historical information on the same and with the videos embedded in it with high definition images which we can zoom to a very detailed level. Some Demo on a business app with Silverlight, Business Intelligence (BI) and maps integrated. It showed the sales of a particular product across locations. Some kool demos by 2 geeks who used Robots to show their development talents. 2 Robots fought with each other 2 Robots danced in sync for the A.R. Rehman song Humma Humma... A dream home project by Raman. He is currently using the same in his home too. Robots are controlling his home currently. They showed a video on this. Here are the list of activities that Robot does for him When he reads a book, robot automatically scans that and shows that image of that person in the screen (TV or comp) in front of him. It shows a wikipedia about that person. It says that person is not in linked in. do you want to add him If he sees an IPL Match news in the book and smiles it understands he is interested in that and opens a website related to that and shows the current game and the scorecard. It cooks for him It cleans the room for him whenever he leaves the house when he is doing something if some intruder comes inside his house his computer automatically switches his screen showing the video of the person coming inside. When he wakes up it automatically opens up the system, loads his mails and the news by the side, etc. Some Demos on Microsoft Pivot. This was there in livelabs but it is now available in getpivot.com its a pivoting of the pictorial data based on some categories and filters on the searches that we do. And finally on filling up some feedback forms we got T-Shirts and Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Training Kit CDs. Whats more on TechEd??? Stay tuned!!! Will update you soon on the other happenings!! PS : I typed a lot of content for more than a hour but I pressed a backspace and it went to the previous page and all my content were lost and I was not able to retrieve the same and I typed everything again.

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• SQL SERVER – Beginning New Weekly Series – Memory Lane – #002

  - by pinaldave

  Here is the list of curetted articles of SQLAuthority.com across all these years. Instead of just listing all the articles I have selected a few of my most favorite articles and have listed them here with additional notes below it. Let me know which one of the following is your favorite article from memory lane. 2006 Query to Find ByteSize of All the Tables in Database This was my second blog post and today I do not remember what was the business need which has made me build this query. It was built for SQL Server 2000 and it will not directly run on SQL Server 2005 or later version now. It measured the byte size of the tables in the database. This can be done in many different ways as well for example SP_HELPDB as well SP_HELP. I wish to build similar script in 2005 and later version. 2007 This week I had completed my – 1 Year (365 blogs) and very first 1 Million Views. I was pretty excited at that time with this new achievement. SQL SERVER Versions, CodeNames, Year of Release When I started with SQL Server I did not know all the names correctly for each version and I often used to get confused with this. However, as time passed by I started to remember all the codename as well. In this blog post I have not included SQL Server 2012′s code name as it was not released at the time. SQL Server 2012′s code name is Denali. Here is the question for you – anyone know what is the internal name of the SQL Server’s next version? Searching String in Stored Procedure I have already started to work with 2005 by this time and I was personally converting each of my stored procedures to SQL Server 2005 compatible. As we were upgrading from SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2005 we had to search each of the stored procedures and make sure that we remove incompatible code from it. For example, syscolumns of SQL Server 2000 was now being replaced by sys.columns of SQL Server 2005. This stored procedure was pretty helpful at that time. Later on I build few additional versions of the same stored procedure. Version 1: This version finds the Stored Procedures related to Table Version 2: This is specific version which works with SQL Server 2005 and later version 2008 Clear Drop Down List of Recent Connection From SQL Server Management Studio It happens to all of us when we connected to some remote client server and we never ever have to connect to it again. However, it keeps on bothering us that the name shows up in the list all the time. In this blog post I covered a quick tip about how we can remove the same. I also wrote a small article about How to Check Database Integrity for all Databases and there was a funny question from a reader requesting T-SQL code to refresh databases. 2009 Stored Procedure are Compiled on First Run – SP is taking Longer to Run First Time A myth is quite prevailing in the industry that Stored Procedures are pre-compiled and they should always run faster. It is not true. Stored procedures are compiled on very first execution of it and that is the reason why it takes longer when it executes first time. In this blog post I had a great time discussing the same concept. If you do not agree with it, you are welcome to read this blog post. Removing Key Lookup – Seek Predicate – Predicate – An Interesting Observation Related to Datatypes Performance Tuning is an interesting concept and my personal favorite one. In many blog posts I have described how to do performance tuning and how to improve the performance of the queries. In this quick quick tip I have explained how one can remove the Key Lookup and improve performance. Here are very relevant articles on this subject: Article 1 | Article 2 | Article 3 2010 Recycle Error Log – Create New Log file without a Server Restart During one of the consulting assignments I noticed DBA restarting server to create new log file. This is absolutely not necessary and restarting server might have many other negative impacts. There is a common sp_cycle_errorlog which can do the same task efficiently and properly. Have you ever used this SP or feature? Additionally I had a great time presenting on SQL Server Best Practices in SharePoint Conference. 2011 SSMS 2012 Reset Keyboard Shortcuts to Default It is very much possible that we mix up various SQL Server shortcuts and at times we feel like resetting it to default. In SQL Server 2012 it is not easy to do it, there is a process to follow and I enjoyed blogging about it. Fundamentals of Columnstore Index Columnstore index is introduced in SQL Server 2012 and have been a very popular subject. It increases the speed of the server dramatically as well can be an extremely useful feature with Datawharehousing. However updating the columnstore index is not as simple as a simple UPDATE statement. Read in a detailed blog post about how Update works with Columnstore Index. Additionally, you can watch a Quick Video on this subject. SQL Server 2012 New Features I had decided to explore SQL Server 2012 features last year and went through pretty much every single concept introduced in separate blog posts. Here are two blog posts where I describe how SQL Server 2012 functions works. Introduction to CUME_DIST – Analytic Functions Introduction to FIRST _VALUE and LAST_VALUE – Analytic Functions OVER clause with FIRST_VALUE and LAST_VALUE – Analytic Functions I indeed enjoyed writing about SQL Server 2012 functions last year. Have you gone through all the new features which are introduced in SQL Server 2012? If not, it is still not late to go through them. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)   Filed under: Memory Lane, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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• Windows Azure Recipe: Enterprise LOBs

  - by Clint Edmonson

  Enterprises are more and more dependent on their specialized internal Line of Business (LOB) applications than ever before. Naturally, the more software they leverage on-premises, the more infrastructure they need manage. It’s frequently the case that our customers simply can’t scale up their hardware purchases and operational staff as fast as internal demand for software requires. The result is that getting new or enhanced applications in the hands of business users becomes slower and more expensive every day. Being able to quickly deliver applications in a rapidly changing business environment while maintaining high standards of corporate security is a challenge that can be met right now by moving enterprise LOBs out into the cloud and leveraging Azure’s Access Control services. In fact, we’re seeing many of our customers (both large and small) see huge benefits from moving their web based business applications such as corporate help desks, expense tracking, travel portals, timesheets, and more to Windows Azure. Drivers Cost Reduction Time to market Security Solution Here’s a sketch of how many Windows Azure Enterprise LOBs are being architected and deployed: Ingredients Web Role – this will host the core of the application. Each web role is a virtual machine hosting an application written in ASP.NET (or optionally php, or node.js). The number of web roles can be scaled up or down as needed to handle peak and non-peak traffic loads. Many Java based applications are also being deployed to Windows Azure with a little more effort. Database – every modern web application needs to store data. SQL Azure databases look and act exactly like their on-premise siblings but are fault tolerant and have data redundancy built in. Access Control – this service is necessary to establish federated identity between the cloud hosted application and an enterprise’s corporate network. It works in conjunction with a secure token service (STS) that is hosted on-premises to establish the corporate user’s identity and credentials. The source code for an on-premises STS is provided in the Windows Azure training kit and merely needs to be customized for the corporate environment and published on a publicly accessible corporate web site. Once set up, corporate users see a near seamless single sign-on experience. Reporting – businesses live and die by their reports and SQL Azure Reporting, based on SQL Server Reporting 2008 R2, can serve up reports with tables, charts, maps, gauges, and more. These reports can be accessed from the Windows Azure Portal, through a web browser, or directly from applications. Service Bus (optional) – if deep integration with other applications and systems is needed, the service bus is the answer. It enables secure service layer communication between applications hosted behind firewalls in on-premises or partner datacenters and applications hosted inside Windows Azure. The Service Bus provides the ability to securely expose just the information and services that are necessary to create a simpler, more secure architecture than opening up a full blown VPN. Data Sync (optional) – in cases where the data stored in the cloud needs to be shared internally, establishing a secure one-way or two-way data-sync connection between the on-premises and off-premises databases is a perfect option. It can be very granular, allowing us to specify exactly what tables and columns to synchronize, setup filters to sync only a subset of rows, set the conflict resolution policy for two-way sync, and specify how frequently data should be synchronized Training Labs These links point to online Windows Azure training labs where you can learn more about the individual ingredients described above. (Note: The entire Windows Azure Training Kit can also be downloaded for offline use.) Windows Azure (16 labs) Windows Azure is an internet-scale cloud computing and services platform hosted in Microsoft data centers, which provides an operating system and a set of developer services which can be used individually or together. It gives developers the choice to build web applications; applications running on connected devices, PCs, or servers; or hybrid solutions offering the best of both worlds. New or enhanced applications can be built using existing skills with the Visual Studio development environment and the .NET Framework. With its standards-based and interoperable approach, the services platform supports multiple internet protocols, including HTTP, REST, SOAP, and plain XML SQL Azure (7 labs) Microsoft SQL Azure delivers on the Microsoft Data Platform vision of extending the SQL Server capabilities to the cloud as web-based services, enabling you to store structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data. Windows Azure Services (9 labs) As applications collaborate across organizational boundaries, ensuring secure transactions across disparate security domains is crucial but difficult to implement. Windows Azure Services provides hosted authentication and access control using powerful, secure, standards-based infrastructure. See my Windows Azure Resource Guide for more guidance on how to get started, including links web portals, training kits, samples, and blogs related to Windows Azure.

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• 5 minutes WIF: Make your ASP.NET application use test-STS

  - by DigiMortal

  Windows Identity Foundation (WIF) provides us with simple and dummy STS application we can use to develop our system with no actual STS in place. In this posting I will show you how to add STS support to your existing application and how to generate dummy application that plays you real STS. Word of caution! Although it is relatively easy to build your own STS using WIF tools I don’t recommend you to build it. Identity providers must be highly secure and stable in every means and this makes development of your own STS very complex task. If it is possible then use some known STS solution. I suppose you have WIF and WIF SDK installed on your development machine. If you don’t then here are the links to download pages: Windows Identity Foundation Windows Identity Foundation SDK Adding STS support to your web application Suppose you have web application and you want to externalize authentication so your application is able to detect users, send unauthenticated users to login and work in other terms exactly like it worked before. WIF tools provide you with all you need. 1. Click on your web application project and select “Add STS reference…” from context menu to start adding or updating STS settings for web application. 2. Insert your application URI in application settings window. Note that web.config file is already selected for you. I inserted URI that corresponds to my web application address under IIS Express. This URI must exist (later) because otherwise you cannot use dummy STS service. 3. Select “Create a new STS project in the current solution” and click Next button. 4. Summary screen gives you information about how your site will use STS. You can run this wizard always when you have to modify STS parameters. Click Finish. If everything goes like expected then new web site will be added to your solution and it is named as YourWebAppName_STS. Dummy STS application Image on right shows you dummy STS web site. Yes, it is created as web site project not as web application. But it still works nice and you don’t have to make there any modifications. It just works but it is dummy one. Why dummy STS? Some points about dummy STS web site: Dummy STS is not template for your own custom STS identity provider. Dummy STS is very good and simple replacement of real STS so you have more flexible development environment and you don’t have to authenticate yourself in real service. Of course, you can modify dummy STS web site to mimic some behavior of your real STS. Pages in dummy STS Dummy STS has two pages – Login.aspx and  Default.aspx. Default.aspx is the page that handles requests to STS service. Login.aspx is the page where authentication takes place. Dummy STS authenticates users using FBA. You can insert whatever username you like and dummy STS still works. You can take a look at the code behind these pages to get some idea about how this dummy service is built up. But again – this service is there to simplify your life as developer. Authenticating users using dummy STS If you are using development web server that ships with Visual Studio 2010 I suggest you to switch over to IIS or IIS Express and make some more configuration changes as described in my previous posting Making WIF local STS to work with your ASP.NET application. When you are done with these little modifications you are ready to run your application and see how authentication works. If everything is okay then you are redirected to dummy STS login page when running your web application. Adam Carter is provided as username by default. If you click on submit button you are authenticated and redirected to application page. In my case it looks like this. Conclusion As you saw it is very easy to set up your own dummy STS web site for testing purposes. You coded nothing. You just ran wizard, inserted some data, modified configuration a little bit and you were done. Later, when your application goes to production you can run again this STS configuration utility and it generates correct settings for your real STS service automatically.

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• .NET 4: &ldquo;Slim&rdquo;-style performance boost!

  - by Vitus

  RTM version of .NET 4 and Visual Studio 2010 is available, and now we can do some test with it. Parallel Extensions is one of the most valuable part of .NET 4.0. It’s a set of good tools for easily consuming multicore hardware power. And it also contains some “upgraded” sync primitives – Slim-version. For example, it include updated variant of widely known ManualResetEvent. For people, who don’t know about it: you can sync concurrency execution of some pieces of code with this sync primitive. Instance of ManualResetEvent can be in 2 states: signaled and non-signaled. Transition between it possible by Set() and Reset() methods call. Some shortly explanation: Thread 1 Thread 2 Time mre.Reset(); mre.WaitOne(); //code execution 0 //wating //code execution 1 //wating //code execution 2 //wating //code execution 3 //wating mre.Set(); 4 //code execution //… 5 Upgraded version of this primitive is ManualResetEventSlim. The idea in decreasing performance cost in case, when only 1 thread use it. Main concept in the “hybrid sync schema”, which can be done as following:   internal sealed class SimpleHybridLock : IDisposable { private Int32 m_waiters = 0; private AutoResetEvent m_waiterLock = new AutoResetEvent(false);   public void Enter() { if (Interlocked.Increment(ref m_waiters) == 1) return; m_waiterLock.WaitOne(); }   public void Leave() { if (Interlocked.Decrement(ref m_waiters) == 0) return; m_waiterLock.Set(); }   public void Dispose() { m_waiterLock.Dispose(); } } It’s a sample from Jeffry Richter’s book “CLR via C#”, 3rd edition. Primitive SimpleHybridLock have two public methods: Enter() and Leave(). You can put your concurrency-critical code between calls of these methods, and it would executed in only one thread at the moment. Code is really simple: first thread, called Enter(), increase counter. Second thread also increase counter, and suspend while m_waiterLock is not signaled. So, if we don’t have concurrent access to our lock, “heavy” methods WaitOne() and Set() will not called. It’s can give some performance bonus. ManualResetEvent use the similar idea. Of course, it have more “smart” technics inside, like a checking of recursive calls, and so on. I want to know a real difference between classic ManualResetEvent realization, and new –Slim. I wrote a simple “benchmark”: class Program { static void Main(string[] args) { ManualResetEventSlim mres = new ManualResetEventSlim(false); ManualResetEventSlim mres2 = new ManualResetEventSlim(false);   ManualResetEvent mre = new ManualResetEvent(false);   long total = 0; int COUNT = 50;   for (int i = 0; i < COUNT; i++) { mres2.Reset(); Stopwatch sw = Stopwatch.StartNew();   ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem((obj) => { //Method(mres, true); Method2(mre, true); mres2.Set(); }); //Method(mres, false); Method2(mre, false);   mres2.Wait(); sw.Stop();   Console.WriteLine("Pass {0}: {1} ms", i, sw.ElapsedMilliseconds); total += sw.ElapsedMilliseconds; }   Console.WriteLine(); Console.WriteLine("==============================="); Console.WriteLine("Done in average=" + total / (double)COUNT); Console.ReadLine(); }   private static void Method(ManualResetEventSlim mre, bool value) { for (int i = 0; i < 9000000; i++) { if (value) { mre.Set(); } else { mre.Reset(); } } }   private static void Method2(ManualResetEvent mre, bool value) { for (int i = 0; i < 9000000; i++) { if (value) { mre.Set(); } else { mre.Reset(); } } } } I use 2 concurrent thread (the main thread and one from thread pool) for setting and resetting ManualResetEvents, and try to run test COUNT times, and calculate average execution time. Here is the results (I get it on my dual core notebook with T7250 CPU and Windows 7 x64): ManualResetEvent ManualResetEventSlim Difference is obvious and serious – in 10 times! So, I think preferable way is using ManualResetEventSlim, because not always on calling Set() and Reset() will be called “heavy” methods for working with Windows kernel-mode objects. It’s a small and nice improvement! ;)

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• Upgrading SSIS Custom Components for SQL Server 2012

  Having finally got around to upgrading my custom components to SQL Server 2012, I thought I’d share some notes on the process. One of the goals was minimal duplication, so the same code files are used to build the 2008 and 2012 components, I just have a separate project file. The high level steps are listed below, followed by some more details. Create a 2012 copy of the project file Upgrade project, just open the new project file is VS2010 Change target framework to .NET 4.0 Set conditional compilation symbol for DENALI Change any conditional code, including assembly version and UI type name Edit project file to change referenced assemblies for 2012 Change target framework to .NET 4.0 Open the project properties. On the Applications page, change the Target framework to .NET Framework 4. Set conditional compilation symbol for DENALI Re-open the project properties. On the Build tab, first change the Configuration to All Configurations, then set a Conditional compilation symbol of DENALI. Change any conditional code, including assembly version and UI type name The value doesn’t have to be DENALI, it can actually be anything you like, that is just what I use. It is how I control sections of code that vary between versions. There were several API changes between 2005 and 2008, as well as interface name changes. Whilst we don’t have the same issues between 2008 and 2012, I still have some sections of code that do change such as the assembly attributes. #if DENALI [assembly: AssemblyDescription("Data Generator Source for SQL Server Integration Services 2012")] [assembly: AssemblyCopyright("Copyright © 2012 Konesans Ltd")] [assembly: AssemblyVersion("3.0.0.0")] #else [assembly: AssemblyDescription("Data Generator Source for SQL Server Integration Services 2008")] [assembly: AssemblyCopyright("Copyright © 2008 Konesans Ltd")] [assembly: AssemblyVersion("2.0.0.0")] #endif The Visual Studio editor automatically formats the code based on the current compilation symbols, hence in this case the 2008 code is grey to indicate it is disabled. As you can see in the previous example I have distinct assembly version attributes, ensuring I can run both 2008 and 2012 versions of my component side by side. For custom components with a user interface, be sure to update the UITypeName property of the DtsTask or DtsPipelineComponent attributes. As above I use the conditional compilation symbol to control the code. #if DENALI [DtsTask ( DisplayName = "File Watcher Task", Description = "File Watcher Task", IconResource = "Konesans.Dts.Tasks.FileWatcherTask.FileWatcherTask.ico", UITypeName = "Konesans.Dts.Tasks.FileWatcherTask.FileWatcherTaskUI,Konesans.Dts.Tasks.FileWatcherTask,Version=3.0.0.0,Culture=Neutral,PublicKeyToken=b2ab4a111192992b", TaskContact = "File Watcher Task; Konesans Ltd; Copyright © 2012 Konesans Ltd; http://www.konesans.com" )] #else [DtsTask ( DisplayName = "File Watcher Task", Description = "File Watcher Task", IconResource = "Konesans.Dts.Tasks.FileWatcherTask.FileWatcherTask.ico", UITypeName = "Konesans.Dts.Tasks.FileWatcherTask.FileWatcherTaskUI,Konesans.Dts.Tasks.FileWatcherTask,Version=2.0.0.0,Culture=Neutral,PublicKeyToken=b2ab4a111192992b", TaskContact = "File Watcher Task; Konesans Ltd; Copyright © 2004-2008 Konesans Ltd; http://www.konesans.com" )] #endif public sealed class FileWatcherTask: Task, IDTSComponentPersist, IDTSBreakpointSite, IDTSSuspend { // .. code goes on... } Shown below is another example I found that needed changing. I borrow one of the MS editors, and use it against a custom property, but need to ensure I reference the correct version of the MS controls assembly. This section of code is actually shared between the 2005, 2008 and 2012 versions of my component hence it has test for both DENALI and KATMAI symbols. #if DENALI const string multiLineUI = "Microsoft.DataTransformationServices.Controls.ModalMultilineStringEditor, Microsoft.DataTransformationServices.Controls, Version=11.0.00.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=89845dcd8080cc91"; #elif KATMAI const string multiLineUI = "Microsoft.DataTransformationServices.Controls.ModalMultilineStringEditor, Microsoft.DataTransformationServices.Controls, Version=10.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=89845dcd8080cc91"; #else const string multiLineUI = "Microsoft.DataTransformationServices.Controls.ModalMultilineStringEditor, Microsoft.DataTransformationServices.Controls, Version=9.0.242.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=89845dcd8080cc91"; #endif // Create Match Expression parameter IDTSCustomPropertyCollection100 propertyCollection = outputColumn.CustomPropertyCollection; IDTSCustomProperty100 property = propertyCollection.New(); property = propertyCollection.New(); property.Name = MatchParams.Name; property.Description = MatchParams.Description; property.TypeConverter = typeof(MultilineStringConverter).AssemblyQualifiedName; property.UITypeEditor = multiLineUI; property.Value = MatchParams.DefaultValue; Edit project file to change referenced assemblies for 2012 We now need to edit the project file itself. Open the MyComponente2012.cproj  in you favourite text editor, and then perform a couple of find and replaces as listed below: Find Replace Comment Version=10.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=89845dcd8080cc91 Version=11.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=89845dcd8080cc91 Change the assembly references version from SQL Server 2008 to SQL Server 2012. Microsoft SQL Server\100\ Microsoft SQL Server\110\ Change any assembly reference hint path locations from from SQL Server 2008 to SQL Server 2012. If you use any Build Events during development, such as copying the component assembly to the DTS folder, or calling GACUTIL to install it into the GAC, you can also change these now. An example of my new post-build event for a pipeline component is shown below, which uses the .NET 4.0 path for GACUTIL. It also uses the 110 folder location, instead of 100 for SQL Server 2008, but that was covered the the previous find and replace. "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\Bin\NETFX 4.0 Tools\gacutil.exe" /if "$(TargetPath)" copy "$(TargetPath)" "%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft SQL Server\110\DTS\PipelineComponents" /Y

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• Adventures in Scrum: Lesson 1 &ndash; The failed Sprint

  - by Martin Hinshelwood

  I recently had a conversation with a product owner that wanted to have the Scrum team broken up into smaller units so that less time was wasted on the Scrum Ceremonies! Their complaint was around the need in Scrum to have the entire “Team” (7+-2) involved in the sizing of the work during the “Sprint Planning Meeting”.  The standard flippant answer of all Scrum professionals, “Well that's not Scrum”, does not get you any brownie points in these situations. The response could be “Well we are not doing Scrum then” which in turn leads to “We are doing Scrum…But, we have split the scrum team into units of 2/3 so that they can concentrate on a specific area of work”. While this may work, it is not Scrum and should not be called so… It is just a form of Agile. Don’t get me wrong at this stage, there is nothing wrong with Agile, just don’t call it Scrum. The reason that the Product Owner wants to do this is that, in effect, through a number of miscommunications and failings in our implementation of Scrum, there was NO unit of potentially Shippable software at the end of the first sprint. It does not matter to them that most Scrum teams will fail the first Sprint, even those that are high performing teams. Remember it is the product owners their money! We should NOT break up scrum teams into smaller units for the purpose of having less people tied up in the Scrum Ceremonies. The amount of backlog the Team selects is solely up to the Team… Only the Team can assess what it can accomplish over the upcoming Sprint. - Scrum Guide, Scrum.org The entire team must accept the work and in order to understand what they can accept they must be free to size it as a team. This both encourages common understanding and increases visibility on why team members think a task is of a particular size. This has the benefit of increasing the knowledge of the entire team in the problem domain. A new Team often first realizes that it will either sink or swim as a Team, not individually, in this meeting. The Team realizes that it must rely on itself. As it realizes this, it starts to self-organize to take on the characteristics and behaviour of a real Team. - Scrum Guide, Scrum.org This paragraph goes to the why of having the whole team at the meeting; The goal of Scrum it to produce a unit of potentially shippable software at the end of every Sprint. In order to achieve this we need high performing teams and this is what Scrum as a framework has been optimised to produce. I think that our Product Owner is understandably upset over loosing two weeks work and is losing sight the end goal of Scrum in the failures of the moment. As the man spending the money, I completely understand his perspective and I think that we should not have started Scrum on an internal project, but selected a customer  that is open to the ideas and complications of Scrum. So, what should we have NOT done on our first Scrum project: Should not have had 3 interns as the only on site resource – This lead to bad practices as the experienced guys were not there helping and correcting as they usually would. Should not have had the only experienced guys offsite – With both the experienced technical guys in completely different time zones it was difficult to get time for questions. Helping the guys on site was just plain impossible. Should not have used a part time ScrumMaster – Although the ScrumMaster attended all of the Ceremonies, because they are only in 2 full days of the week it makes it difficult for the team to raise impediments as they go. Should not have used a proxy product owner. – This was probably the worst decision that was made. Mainly because the proxy product owner did not have the same vision as the product owner. While Scrum does not explicitly reject the idea of a Proxy Product Owner, I do not think it works very well in practice. The “single wringable neck” needs to contain both the Money and the Vision as well as attending the required meetings. I will be brining all of these things up at the Sprint Retrospective and we will learn from our mistakes and move on. Do, Inspect then Adapt…   Technorati Tags: Scrum,Sprint Planing,Sprint Retrospective,Scrum.org,Scrum Guide,Scrum Ceremonies,Scrummaster,Product Owner Need Help? Professional Scrum Developer Training SSW has six Professional Scrum Developer Trainers who specialise in training your developers in implementing Scrum with Microsoft's Visual Studio ALM tools.

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• Windows Azure Recipe: Software as a Service (SaaS)

  - by Clint Edmonson

  The cloud was tailor built for aspiring companies to create innovative internet based applications and solutions. Whether you’re a garage startup with very little capital or a Fortune 1000 company, the ability to quickly setup, deliver, and iterate on new products is key to capturing market and mind share. And if you can capture that share and go viral, having resiliency and infinite scale at your finger tips is great peace of mind. Drivers Cost avoidance Time to market Scalability Solution Here’s a sketch of how a basic Software as a Service solution might be built out: Ingredients Web Role – this hosts the core web application. Each web role will host an instance of the software and as the user base grows, additional roles can be spun up to meet demand. Access Control – this service is essential to managing user identity. It’s backed by a full blown implementation of Active Directory and allows the definition and management of users, groups, and roles. A pre-built ASP.NET membership provider is included in the training kit to leverage this capability but it’s also flexible enough to be combined with external Identity providers including Windows LiveID, Google, Yahoo!, and Facebook. The provider model provides extensibility to hook into other industry specific identity providers as well. Databases – nearly every modern SaaS application is backed by a relational database for its core operational data. If the solution is sold to organizations, there’s a good chance multi-tenancy will be needed. An emerging best practice for SaaS applications is to stand up separate SQL Azure database instances for each tenant’s proprietary data to ensure isolation from other tenants. Worker Role – this is the best place to handle autonomous background processing such as data aggregation, billing through external services, and other specialized tasks that can be performed asynchronously. Placing these tasks in a worker role frees the web roles to focus completely on user interaction and data input and provides finer grained control over the system’s scalability and throughput. Caching (optional) – as a web site traffic grows caching can be leveraged to keep frequently used read-only, user specific, and application resource data in a high-speed distributed in-memory for faster response times and ultimately higher scalability without spinning up more web and worker roles. It includes a token based security model that works alongside the Access Control service. Blobs (optional) – depending on the nature of the software, users may be creating or uploading large volumes of heterogeneous data such as documents or rich media. Blob storage provides a scalable, resilient way to store terabytes of user data. The storage facilities can also integrate with the Access Control service to ensure users’ data is delivered securely. Training & Examples These links point to online Windows Azure training labs and examples where you can learn more about the individual ingredients described above. (Note: The entire Windows Azure Training Kit can also be downloaded for offline use.) Windows Azure (16 labs) Windows Azure is an internet-scale cloud computing and services platform hosted in Microsoft data centers, which provides an operating system and a set of developer services which can be used individually or together. It gives developers the choice to build web applications; applications running on connected devices, PCs, or servers; or hybrid solutions offering the best of both worlds. New or enhanced applications can be built using existing skills with the Visual Studio development environment and the .NET Framework. With its standards-based and interoperable approach, the services platform supports multiple internet protocols, including HTTP, REST, SOAP, and plain XML SQL Azure (7 labs) Microsoft SQL Azure delivers on the Microsoft Data Platform vision of extending the SQL Server capabilities to the cloud as web-based services, enabling you to store structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data. Windows Azure Services (9 labs) As applications collaborate across organizational boundaries, ensuring secure transactions across disparate security domains is crucial but difficult to implement. Windows Azure Services provides hosted authentication and access control using powerful, secure, standards-based infrastructure. Developing Applications for the Cloud, 2nd Edition (eBook) This book demonstrates how you can create from scratch a multi-tenant, Software as a Service (SaaS) application to run in the cloud using the latest versions of the Windows Azure Platform and tools. The book is intended for any architect, developer, or information technology (IT) professional who designs, builds, or operates applications and services that run on or interact with the cloud. Fabrikam Shipping (SaaS reference application) This is a full end to end sample scenario which demonstrates how to use the Windows Azure platform for exposing an application as a service. We developed this demo just as you would: we had an existing on-premises sample, Fabrikam Shipping, and we wanted to see what it would take to transform it in a full subscription based solution. The demo you find here is the result of that investigation See my Windows Azure Resource Guide for more guidance on how to get started, including more links web portals, training kits, samples, and blogs related to Windows Azure.

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• Introducing sp_ssiscatalog (v1.0.0.0)

  - by jamiet

  Regular readers of my blog may know that over the last year I have made available a suite of SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) reports that provide visualisations of the data in the SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) 2012 Catalog. Those reports are available at http://ssisreportingpack.codeplex.com. As I have built these reports and used them myself on a real life project a couple of things have dawned on me: As soon as your SSIS Catalog gets a significant amount of data in it the performance of the reports degrades rapidly. This is hampered by the fact that there are limitations as to the SQL statements that I can embed within a SSRS report. SSIS professionals are data guys at heart and those types of people feel more comfortable in a query environment rather than having to go through the rigmarole of standing up a reporting server (well, I know I do anyway) Hence I have decided to take a different tack with the reporting pack. Taking my lead from Adam Machanic’s sp_whoisactive and Brent Ozar’s sp_blitz I have produced sp_ssiscatalog, a stored procedure that makes it easy to get at the crucial data in the SSIS Catalog. I will spend the rest of this blog explaining exactly what sp_ssiscatalog does and how to use it but if you would rather just download the bits yourself and start to play you can download v1.0.0.0 from DB v1.0.0.0. Usage Scenarios Most Recent Execution I find that the most frequent information that one needs to get from the SSIS Catalog is information pertaining to the most recent execution. Hence if you execute sp_ssiscatalog with no parameters, that is exactly what you will get. EXEC [dbo].[sp_ssiscatalog] This will return up to 5 resultsets: EXECUTION - Summary information about the execution including status, start time & end time EVENTS - All events that occurred during the execution OnError,OnTaskFailed - All events where event_name is either OnError or OnTaskFailed OnWarning - All events where event_name is OnWarning EXECUTABLE_STATS - Duration and execution result of every executable in the execution All 5 resultsets will be displayed if there is any data satisfying that resultset. In other words, if there are no (for example) OnWarning events then the OnWarning resultset will not be displayed. The display of these 5 resultsets can be toggled respectively by these 5 optional parameters (all of which are of type BIT): @exec_execution @exec_events @exec_errors @exec_warnings @exec_executable_stats Any Execution As just explained the default behaviour is to supply data for the most recent execution. If you wish to specify which execution the data should return data for simply supply the execution_id as a parameter: EXEC [dbo].[sp_ssiscatalog] 6 All Executions sp_ssiscatalog can also return information about all executions: EXEC [dbo].[sp_ssiscatalog] @operation_type='execs' The most recent execution will appear at the top. sp_ssiscatalog provides a number of parameters that enable you to filter the resultset: @execs_folder_name @execs_project_name @execs_package_name @execs_executed_as_name @execs_status_desc Some typical usages might be: //Return all failed executions EXEC [dbo].[sp_ssiscatalog] @operation_type='execs',@execs_status_desc='failed' //Return all executions for a specified folder EXEC [dbo].[sp_ssiscatalog] @operation_type='execs',@execs_folder_name='My folder' //Return all executions of a specified package in a specified project EXEC [dbo].[sp_ssiscatalog] @operation_type='execs',@execs_project_name='My project', @execs_package_name='Pkg.dtsx' Installing sp_ssicatalog Under the covers sp_ssiscatalog actually calls many other stored procedures and functions hence creating it on your server is not simply a case of running a CREATE PROCEDURE script. I maintain the code in an SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) database project which means that you have two ways of obtaining it. Download the source code You can download the latest (at the time of writing) source code from http://ssisreportingpack.codeplex.com/SourceControl/changeset/view/70192. Hit the download button to download all the source code in a zip file. The contents of that zip file will include an SSDT database project which you can open up in SSDT and publish just like any other SSDT database project. You can publish to a new database or any existing database, even [SSISDB] if you prefer. Download a dacpac Maintaining the code in an SSDT database project means that it can all get packaged up into a dacpac that you can then publish to your SQL Server. That dacpac is available from DB v1.0.0.0: Ordinarily a dacpac can be deployed to a SQL Server from SSMS using the Deploy Dacpac wizard however in this case there is a limitation. Due to sp_ssiscatalog referring to objects in the SSIS Catalog (which it has to do of course) the dacpac contains a SqlCmd variable to store the name of the database that underpins the SSIS Catalog; unfortunately the Deploy Dacpac wizard in SSMS has a rather gaping limitation in that it cannot deploy dacpacs containing SqlCmd variables. Hence, we can use the command-line tool, sqlpackage.exe, instead. Don’t worry if reverting to the command-line sounds a little daunting, I assure you it is not. Simply open a Visual Studio command-prompt and cd to the folder containing the downloaded dacpac: Type: "%PROGRAMFILES(x86)%\Microsoft SQL Server\110\DAC\bin\sqlpackage.exe" /action:Publish /TargetDatabaseName:SsisReportingPack /SourceFile:SSISReportingPack.dacpac /Variables:SSISDB=SSISDB /TargetServerName:(local) or the shortened form: "%PROGRAMFILES(x86)%\Microsoft SQL Server\110\DAC\bin\sqlpackage.exe" /a:Publish /tdn:SsisReportingPack /sf:SSISReportingPack.dacpac /v:SSISDB=SSISDB /tsn:(local) remembering to set your server name appropriately (here mine is set to “(local)” ). If everything works successfully you will see this: And you’re done! You’ll have a new database called [SsisReportingPack] which contains sp_ssiscatalog:   Good luck with sp_ssiscatalog. I have been using it extensively on my own projects recently and it has proved to be very useful indeed. Rest-assured however, I will be adding many new capabilities in the future. Feedback is welcome. @Jamiet

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• Guidance: How to layout you files for an Ideal Solution

  - by Martin Hinshelwood

  Creating a solution and having it maintainable over time is an art and not a science. I like being pedantic and having a place for everything, no matter how small. For setting up the Areas to run Multiple projects under one solution see my post on  When should I use Areas in TFS instead of Team Projects and for an explanation of branching see Guidance: A Branching strategy for Scrum Teams. Update 17th May 2010 – We are currently trialling running a single Sprint branch to improve our history. Whenever I setup a new Team Project I implement the basic version control structure. I put “readme.txt” files in the folder structure explaining the different levels, and a solution file called “[Client].[Product].sln” located at “$/[Client]/[Product]/DEV/Main” within version control. Developers should add any projects you need to create to that solution in the format “[Client].[Product].[ProductArea].[Assembly]” and they will automatically be picked up and built automatically when you setup Automated Builds using Team Foundation Build. All test projects need to be done using MSTest to get proper IDE and Team Foundation Build integration out-of-the-box and be named for the assembly that it is testing with a naming convention of “[Client].[Product].[ProductArea].[Assembly].Tests” Here is a description of the folder layout; this content should be replicated in readme files under version control in the relevant locations so that even developers new to the project can see how to do it. Figure: The Team Project level - at this level there should be a folder for each the products that you are building if you are using Areas correctly in TFS 2010. You should try very hard to avoided spaces as these things always end up in a URL eventually e.g. "Code Auditor" should be "CodeAuditor". Figure: Product Level - At this level there should be only 3 folders (DEV, RELESE and SAFE) all of which should be in capitals. These folders represent the three stages of your application production line. Each of them may contain multiple branches but this format leaves all of your branches at the same level. Figure: The DEV folder is where all of the Development branches reside. The DEV folder will contain the "Main" branch and all feature branches is they are being used. The DEV designation specifies that all code in every branch under this folder has not been released or made ready for release. And feature branches MUST merge (Forward Integrate) from Main and stabilise prior to merging (Reverse Integration) back down into Main and being decommissioned. Figure: In the Feature branching scenario only merges are allowed onto Main, no development can be done there. Once we have a mature product it is important that new features being developed in parallel are kept separate. This would most likely be used if we had more than one Scrum team working on a single product. Figure: when we are ready to do a release of our software we will create a release branch that is then stabilised prior to deployment. This protects the serviceability of of our released code allowing developers to fix bugs and re-release an existing version. Figure: All bugs found on a release are fixed on the release.  All bugs found in a release are fixed on the release and a new deployment is created. After the deployment is created the bug fixes are then merged (Reverse Integration) into the Main branch. We do this so that we separate out our development from our production ready code.  Figure: SAFE or RTM is a read only record of what you actually released. Labels are not immutable so are useless in this circumstance.  When we have completed stabilisation of the release branch and we are ready to deploy to production we create a read-only copy of the code for reference. In some cases this could be a regulatory concern, but in most cases it protects the company building the product from legal entanglements based on what you did or did not release. Figure: This allows us to reference any particular version of our application that was ever shipped.   In addition I am an advocate of having a single solution with all the Project folders directly under the “Trunk”/”Main” folder and using the full name for the project folders.. Figure: The ideal solution If you must have multiple solutions, because you need to use more than one version of Visual Studio, name the solutions “[Client].[Product][VSVersion].sln” and have it reside in the same folder as the other solution. This makes it easier for Automated build and improves the discoverability of your code and its dependencies. Send me your feedback!   Technorati Tags: VS ALM,VSTS Developing,VS 2010,VS 2008,TFS 2010,TFS 2008,TFBS

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• A little primer on using TFS with a small team

  - by johndoucette

  The scenario; A small team of 3 developers mostly in maintenance mode with traditional ASP.net, classic ASP, .Net integration services and utilities with the company’s third party packages, and a bunch of java-based Coldfusion web applications all under Visual Source Safe (VSS). They are about to embark on a huge SharePoint 2010 new construction project and wanted to use subversion instead VSS. TFS was a foreign word and smelled of “high cost” and of an “over complicated process”. Since they had no preconditions about the old TFS versions (‘05 & ‘08), it was fun explaining how simple it was to install a TFS server and get the ball rolling, with or without all the heavy stuff one sometimes associates with such a huge and powerful application management lifecycle product. So, how does a small team begin using TFS? 1. Start by using source control and migrate current VSS source trees into TFS. You can take the latest version or migrate the entire version history. It’s up to you on whether you want a clean start or need quick access to all the version notes and history of the bits. 2. Since most shops are mainly in maintenance mode with existing applications, begin using bug workitems for everything. When you receive an issue/bug from your current tracking system, manually enter the workitem in TFS right through Visual Studio. You can automate the integration to the current tracking system later or replace it entirely. Believe me, this thing is powerful and can handle even the largest of help desks. 3. With new construction, begin work with requirements and task workitems and follow the traditional sprint-based development lifecycle. Obviously, some minor training will be needed, but don’t fear, this is very intuitive and MSDN has a ton of lesson based labs and videos. 4. For the java developers, use the new Team Explorer Everywhere 2010 plugin (recently known as Teamprise). There is a seamless interface in Eclipse, but also a good command-line utility for other environments such as Dreamweaver. 5. Wait to fully integrate the whole workitem/project management/testing process until your team is familiar with the integrated workitems for bugs and code. After a while, you will see the team wanting more transparency into the work they are all doing and naturally, everyone will want workitems to help them organize the chaos! 6. Management will be limited in the value of the reports until you have a fully blown implementation of project planning, construction, build, deployment and testing. However, there are some basic “bug rate” reports and current backlog listings that can provide good information. Some notable explanations of TFS; Work Item Tracking and Project Management - A workitem represents the unit of work within the system which enables tracking of all activities produced by a user, whether it is a developer, business user, project manager or tester. The properties of a workitem such as linked changesets (checked-in code), who updated the data and when, the states and reasons for change, are all transitioned to a data warehouse within TFS for reporting purposes. A workitem can be defines as a "bug", "requirement", test case", or a "change request". They drive the work effort by the individual assigned to it and also provide a key role in defining what needs to be done. Workitems are the things the team needs to do to accomplish a goal. Test Case Management - Starting with a workitem known as a "test case", a tester (or developer) can now author and manage test cases within a formal test plan subsystem. Although TFS supports the test case workitem type, there is a new product known as the VS Test Professional 2010 which allows a tester to facilitate manual tests including fast forwarding steps in the process to arrive at the assertion point quickly. This repeatable process provides quick regression tests and can be conducted by the business user to ensure completeness during UAT. In addition, developers no longer can provide a response to a bug with the line "cannot reproduce". With every test run, attachments including the recorded session, captured environment configurations and settings, screen shots, intellitrace (debugging history), and in some cases if the lab manager is being used, a snapshot of the tested environment is available. Version Control - A modern system allowing shared check-in/check-out, excellent merge conflict resolution, Shelvesets (personal check-ins), branching/merging visualization, public workspaces, gated check-ins, security hierarchy capabilities, and changeset/workitem tracking. Knowing what was done with the code by any developer has become much easier to picture and resolve issues. Team Build - Automate the compilation process whether you need it to be whenever a developer checks-in code, periodically such as nightly builds for testers in the morning, or manual builds to be deployed into production. Each build can run through pre-determined tests, perform code analysis to see if the developer conforms to the team standards, and reject the build if either fails. Project Portal & Reporting - Provide management with a dashboard with insight into the project(s). "Where are we" in each step of the way including past iterations and the current burndown rate. Enabling this feature is easy as it seamlessly interfaces with existing SharePoint implementations.

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• CodePlex Daily Summary for Friday, July 26, 2013

  CodePlex Daily Summary for Friday, July 26, 2013Popular ReleasesOpen Url Rewriter for DotNetNuke: Open Url Rewriter Core 0.4.3 (Beta): bug fix for removing home page New Tab with rules count for each Portal with memory use estimation OpenUrlRewriter_00.04.03_Install.zip : for dnn 6.01 to 7.06 OpenUrlRewriter71_00.04.03_Install.zip : for dnn 7.1KerbalAlarmClock: v2.5.0.0 Release: Version 2.5.0.0 Recompiled it for 0.21 Fixed some issues with Hyperbolic orbits and AN/DN NodesPayPal Express Checkout for nopCommerce: PayPal Express Checkout for nopCommerce 3.0: - Initial releaseAJAX Control Toolkit: July 2013 Release: AJAX Control Toolkit Release Notes - July 2013 Release Version 7.0725July 2013 release of the AJAX Control Toolkit. AJAX Control Toolkit .NET 4.5 – AJAX Control Toolkit for .NET 4.5 and sample site (Recommended). AJAX Control Toolkit .NET 4 – AJAX Control Toolkit for .NET 4 and sample site (Recommended). AJAX Control Toolkit .NET 3.5 – AJAX Control Toolkit for .NET 3.5 and sample site (Recommended). Notes: - Instructions for using the AJAX Control Toolkit with ASP.NET 4.5 can be found at...MJP's DirectX 11 Samples: Specular Antialiasing Sample: Sample code to complement my presentation that's part of the Physically Based Shading in Theory and Practice course at SIGGRAPH 2013, entitled "Crafting a Next-Gen Material Pipeline for The Order: 1886". Demonstrates various methods of preventing aliasing from specular BRDF's when using high-frequency normal maps. The zip file contains source code as well as a pre-compiled x64 binary.English Practice Helper: English Practice Helper Demo v1.0: The first demoTweetinvi a friendly C# Twitter API: Alpha 0.8.0.1: This is the first release of Tweetinvi. Please report any issue in the discussion or issues. Sincerely, LinviKartris E-commerce: Kartris v2.5003: This fixes an issue where search engines appear to identify as IE and so trigger the noIE page if there is not a non-responsive skin specified.VG-Ripper & PG-Ripper: VG-Ripper 2.9.45: changes NEW: Added Support for "ImgBabes.com" links NEW: Added Support for "ImagesIon.com" linksLogicCircuit: LogicCircuit 2.13.07.22: Logic Circuit - is educational software for designing and simulating logic circuits. Intuitive graphical user interface, allows you to create unrestricted circuit hierarchy with multi bit buses, debug circuits behavior with oscilloscope, and navigate running circuits hierarchy. Changes of this versionYou can make visual elements of the circuit been visible on its symbols. This way you can build composite displays, keyboards and reuse them. Please read about displays for more details http://ww...LINQ to Twitter: LINQ to Twitter v2.1.08: Supports .NET 3.5, .NET 4.0, .NET 4.5, Silverlight 4.0, Windows Phone 7.1, Windows Phone 8, Client Profile, Windows 8, and Windows Azure. 100% Twitter API coverage. Also supports Twitter API v1.1! Also on NuGet.AcDown?????: AcDown????? v4.4.3: ??●AcDown??????????、??、??、???????。????，????，?????????????????????????。???????????Acfun、????(Bilibili)、??、??、YouTube、??、???、??????、SF????、????????????。 ●??????AcPlay?????，??????、????????????????。 ● AcDown???????C#??，????.NET Framework 2.0??。?????"Acfun?????"。 ??v4.4.3 ?? ??Bilibili????????????? ???????????? ????32??64? Windows XP/Vista/7/8 ???? 32??64? ???Linux ????(1)????????Windows XP???，????????.NET Framework 2.0???(x86)，?????"?????????"??? (2)???????????Linux???，????????Mono?? ??2.10?...Magick.NET: Magick.NET 6.8.6.601: Magick.NET linked with ImageMagick 6.8.6.6. These zip files are also available as a NuGet package: https://nuget.org/profiles/dlemstra/MISAO: Ver. 5.33: Latest app and add-insfacebook???????????: Ver0.0.2: Ver0.0.2CodeCopy Auto Code Converter: Updated for VS2012: Update for Visual Studio 2012C# Intellisense for Notepad++: Initial release: Members auto-complete Integration with native Notepad++ Auto-Completion Auto "open bracket" for methods Right-arrow to accept suggestionsUpida.Net: Upida.Net 0.9.9 (Source code and example): Ability to create validation extensions is added. Some new validation extensions are created.Biko (formally Starksoft FTPS client library): Starksoft FreeFTP: Free FTP client that uses the Biko library.People Picker Plus for SharePoint 2010: PeoplePickerPlus.wsp 1.0.5: This release adds the ability to exclude the People Picker Plus from specific pages. By default the People Picker Plus will be excluded from workflow management pages because of the dynamic (and completely convoluted) people pickers that exist on those pages.New ProjectsAcademy Works: Academy Works offers new solutions for common programming issues like storing data in memory, generic type management or standardized arithmetic operations.Alert Me Web Part for SharePoint 2013: This web part displays all lists in the current site for the current user to subscribe to and allows the current user to remove existing his/her alerts.Bahar Narenj: Bahar Narenj is a content management system (CMS), which enables you to build Web sites. Best of allBahar Narenj, is an open source and full jQuery - Ajaxed.BindingEngine: Custom Binding Engine that support WinFrom. WPF, Web and Mono. It support Property, Collection, Command and Method binding. One ViewModel support mutilple ViewBlakeTest: Blaketest is a mod for the Minecraft-based game Minetest. It aims to add mystical, industrial, scientific, and survival aspects to the game.DIRGeometry: DIRGeometry is a C# based directional geometry, simple and easy to use library.jean0725aspnetwebmmm: djean0725jabbryaminimmm: ddnodeServer: Just a simple node.js serverOLAPExtensions: Query Analysis Services via T-SQL. Execute MDX with more than 8000 characters. Analysis Services temp table. Great alternative to querying cubes with OPENQUERY.OpenRefineEngine: OpenRefineEngine.NET is a Class Library that could perform operations exported by OpenRefine (aka Google Refine) as JSON operations.Optionset Creator: Optionset Creator is a utility for Dynamics CRM 2011 intended to create and update multiple options to an option set(global or local) at one go.prakark07252013git01: *bold* _italics_ +underline+ ! Heading 1 !! Heading 2 * Bullet List ** Bullet List 2 # Number List ## Number List 2 [another wiki page] [url:http://www.example.prakark07252013Hg01: *bold* _italics_ +underline+ ! Heading 1 !! Heading 2 * Bullet List ** Bullet List 2 # Number List ## Number List 2 [another wiki page] [url:http://www.example.prakark07252013Hg02: *bold* _italics_ +underline+ ! Heading 1 !! Heading 2 * Bullet List ** Bullet List 2 # Number List ## Number List 2 [another wiki page] [url:http://www.example.prakark07252013hg03: *bold* _italics_ +underline+ ! Heading 1 !! Heading 2 * Bullet List ** Bullet List 2 # Number List ## Number List 2 [another wiki page] [url:http://www.example.prakark07252013tfs01: *bold* _italics_ +underline+ ! Heading 1 !! Heading 2 * Bullet List ** Bullet List 2 # Number List ## Number List 2 [another wiki page] [url:http://www.example.prakark07252013tfs02: *bold* _italics_ +underline+ ! Heading 1 !! Heading 2 * Bullet List ** Bullet List 2 # Number List ## Number List 2 [another wiki page] [url:http://www.example.QAS Electronic Updates: Sample code for Experian QAS Electronic Updates.ScriptingCollection: a collection of languae to make your application scriptableStudySamples: ssasaTimerService: .NET4.0 Windows????????，??log4net????TProt: Discover the API and functionality of ComputerCraft by dan200 in this C# port. Use the Issues tab to discuss feature requests, bugs, and other comments.UtorrentToXBMC: UTorrent To XBMC This project just fills the gap between UTorrent and XBMC. VAS: EXACT_VASWAOS: WAOSWebParts By Steve: CORE TreeView Webpart allows for place a treeview on any page in the site. This will display any document library in a treeviewXmlObjectMapper: Xml Object Mapper is a framework for transforming .NET objects from/to XML.yince: opop

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• Certify August Updates

  - by Sadia2

  Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 We have added some release and platform certifications to MOS Certify. Applications : Oracle Demantra Demand Management 7.3.1.5, Oracle Demantra Predictive Trade Planning 7.3.1.5, Oracle Demantra Sales and Operations Planning 7.3.1.5 Database: Oracle Database Client 12.1.0.1.0 11.2.0.4.0, Oracle Clusterware 11.2.0.4.0, Oracle Database 11.2.0.4.0, Oracle Real Application Clusters 11.2.0.4.0 E-Business Suite: Oracle E-Business Suite 12.1.3, Oracle E-Business Suite 12.1.2, Oracle E-Business Suite 12.1.1, Oracle E-Business Suite 12.0.6, Oracle E-Business Suite 11.5.10.2 Edge Applications: Oracle Transportation Management 6.3.2 Enterprise Manager: Oracle Application Management Pack for Oracle E-Business Suite 12.1.0.1.0 Fusion Middleware: Discoverer Administrator 11.1.1.6.0, Discoverer Desktop 11.1.1.6.0, Forms Builder 11.1.1.6.0, Oracle Application Development Framework 11.1.1.6.0, Oracle Application Development Runtime 11.1.1.6.0, Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher 11.1.1.6.0, Oracle Directory Services Manager 11.1.1.6.0, Oracle Forms 11.1.1.6.0, Oracle GoldenGate 11.1.1.1.0, 11.1.1.1.2, 11.1.1.1.1, Oracle GoldenGate Application Adapters 11.1.1.1.1, Oracle Identity and Access Management 11.1.2.0.0, 11.1.2.1.0, Oracle Identity Federation 11.1.1.6.0, Oracle Real-Time Decision Load Generator 11.1.1.7.0, Oracle Real-Time Decision Studio 11.1.1.7.0, Oracle Real-Time Decisions 11.1.1.6.0, Oracle Reports 11.1.1.6.0, Oracle Segmentation Server 11.1.1.6.0, Oracle Virtual Directory 11.1.1.6.0, Oracle Web Cache 11.1.1.6.0, Oracle WebCenter Content Imaging 11.1.1.8.0, Oracle WebCenter Content Inbound Refinery Server 11.1.1.8.0, Oracle WebCenter Content Records 11.1.1.8.0, Oracle WebCenter Content Rights 11.1.1.8.0, Oracle WebCenter Content UI 11.1.1.8.0, Oracle WebCenter Enterprise Capture 11.1.1.8.0, Oracle WebCenter Portal 11.1.1.8.0, Oracle WebCenter Sites 11.1.1.8.0, Oracle WebCenter Sites: CIP for EMC Documentum 11.1.1.8.0, Oracle WebCenter Sites: CIP for File Systems and MS SharePoint 11.1.1.8.0, Oracle WebCenter Sites: Community-Gadgets 11.1.1.8.0, Oracle WebCenter Sites: Explorer 11.1.1.8.0, Oracle WebCenter Universal Content Management 11.1.1.8.0, Reports Builder 11.1.1.6.0, Oracle WebCenter Content Records 11.1.1.8.0, Oracle WebCenter Content Rights 11.1.1.8.0, Oracle WebCenter Content UI 11.1.1.8.0, Oracle WebCenter Sites: Developer Tools 11.1.1.8.0 FSGBU Insurance Group : Oracle Health Insurance Claims 2.13.3.0.0, 2.13.2.0.0, 2.13.1.0.0 JD Edwards EnterpriseOne: JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Tools 9.1.3.0, 9.1.2.0, 9.1.0.0 JD Edwards World: JD Edwards World Service Enablement A93SE, A931SE PeopleSoft: PeopleSoft PeopleTools 8.52 Siebel Enterprise: Siebel Application Server 8.2.2.4.0, 8.2.2.3.0, 8.2.2.2.0, 8.1.1.11.0, 8.1.1.10.0, 8.1.1.9.0, Siebel CRM Desktop Client 8.2.2.4.0, 8.2.2.3.0, 8.2.2.2.0, 8.1.1.11.0, 8.1.1.10.0, 8.1.1.9.0, Siebel Database Server 8.2.2.4.0, 8.2.2.3.0, 8.2.2.2.0, 8.1.1.11.0, 8.1.1.10.0, 8.1.1.9.0, Siebel HI Web Client 8.2.2.2.0, 8.1.1.9.0, Siebel Gateway Server 8.2.2.4.0, 8.2.2.3.0, 8.2.2.2.0, 8.1.1.11.0, 8.1.1.10.0, 8.1.1.9.0, Siebel Outlook Add-in Client 8.2.2.2.0, Siebel Remote Client 8.2.2.4.0, 8.2.2.3.0, 8.2.2.2.0, 8.1.1.11.0, 8.1.1.10.0, 8.1.1.9.0, Siebel Tools Client 8.2.2.4.0, 8.2.2.3.0, 8.2.2.2.0, 8.1.1.11.0, 8.1.1.10.0, 8.1.1.9.0, Siebel Web Server Extension 8.2.2.4.0, 8.2.2.3.0, 8.2.2.2.0, 8.1.1.11.0, 8.1.1.10.0, 8.1.1.9.0 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}

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• CodePlex Daily Summary for Saturday, May 31, 2014

  CodePlex Daily Summary for Saturday, May 31, 2014Popular ReleasesTooltip Web Preview: ToolTip Web Preview: Version 1.0Image View Slider: Image View Slider: This is a .NET component. We create this using VB.NET. Here you can use an Image Viewer with several properties to your application form. We wish somebody to improve freely. Try this out! Author : Steven Renaldo Antony Yustinus Arjuna Purnama Putra Andre Wijaya P Martin Lidau PBK GENAP 2014 - TI UKDWAspose for Apache POI: Missing Features of Apache POI WP - v 1.1: Release contain the Missing Features in Apache POI WP SDK in Comparison with Aspose.Words for dealing with Microsoft Word. What's New ?Following Examples: Insert Picture in Word Document Insert Comments Set Page Borders Mail Merge from XML Data Source Moving the Cursor Feedback and Suggestions Many more examples are yet to come here. Keep visiting us. Raise your queries and suggest more examples via Aspose Forums or via this social coding site.babelua: V1.5.6.0: V1.5.6.0 - 2014.5.30New feature: support quick-cocos2d-x project now; support text search in scripts folder now, you can use this function in Search Result Window;SEToolbox: 01.032.014 Release 1: Added fix when loading game Textures for icons causing 'Unable to read beyond the end of the stream'. Added new Resource Report, that displays all in game resources in a concise report. Added in temp directory cleaner, to keep excess files from building up. Fixed use of colors on the windows, to work better with desktop schemes. Adding base support for multilingual resources. This will allow loading of the Space Engineers resources to show localized names, and display localized date a...FileTable Services for Lightswitch: FileTable Services for Lightswitch version 1.0.4: 30 MAY 2014 version 1.0.4SqlFileTableDataSource changes: Updated Delete command to run in batch mode (Insert and Update commands already ran that way) Changed Update command to silently fail if an attempt is made to change something unchangeable (e.g., attempt to change IsFolder) FileNode changes: Made ID property editable, but not (by default) visible in Lightswitch (this is to allow the creator of a FileNode to specify its ID) Made IsFolder editable (this is to allow callers to more eas...HERB.IQ: HERB.IQ.0.7.6 UPGRADE (Windows) BETA 2: HERB.IQ.0.7.6 UPGRADE (Windows) BETA 2SQL Scripts to Improve DNN Performance: Turbo Scripts 0.8.7 for DNN 7.1.2 - 7.2.2: fixed a missing dbo/oq and a misspelled view nameIndonesian Red-Letter Day Calendar: Indonesian Red-Letter Day Calendar: This is a composite has been made by Microsoft Visual Studio 2013.Visual F# Tools: Daily Builds Preview 05-29-2014: This preview is released for use under a proprietary license.ClosedXML - The easy way to OpenXML: ClosedXML 0.71.2: More memory and performance improvements. Fixed an issue with pivot table field order.Magick.NET: Magick.NET 6.8.9.101: Magick.NET linked with ImageMagick 6.8.9.1. Breaking changes: - Int/short Set methods of WritablePixelCollection are now unsigned. - The Q16 build no longer uses HDRI, switch to the new Q16-HDRI build if you need HDRI.QuickMon: Version 3.13: 1. Adding an Audio/sound notifier that can be used to simply draw attention to the application of a warning pr error state is returned by a collector. 2. Adding a property for Notifiers so it can be set to 'Attended', 'Unattended' or 'Both' modes. 3. Adding a WCF method to remote agent host so the version can be checked remotely. 4. Adding some 'Sample' monitor packs to installer. Note: this release and the next release (3.14 aka Pie release) will have some breaking changes and will be incom...fnr.exe - Find And Replace Tool: 1.7: Bug fixes Refactored logic for encoding text values to command line to handle common edge cases where find/replace operation works in GUI but not in command line Fix for bug where selection in Encoding drop down was different when generating command line in some cases. It was reported in: https://findandreplace.codeplex.com/workitem/34 Fix for "Backslash inserted before dot in replacement text" reported here: https://findandreplace.codeplex.com/discussions/541024 Fix for finding replacing...VG-Ripper & PG-Ripper: VG-Ripper 2.9.59: changes NEW: Added Support for 'GokoImage.com' links NEW: Added Support for 'ViperII.com' links NEW: Added Support for 'PixxxView.com' links NEW: Added Support for 'ImgRex.com' links NEW: Added Support for 'PixLiv.com' links NEW: Added Support for 'imgsee.me' links NEW: Added Support for 'ImgS.it' linksXsemmel - XML Editor and Viewer: 29-MAY-2014: WINDOWS XP IS NO LONGER SUPPORTED If you need support for WinXP, download release 15-MAR-2014 instead. FIX: Some minor issues NEW: Better visualisation of validation issues NEW: Printing CHG: Disabled Jumplist CHG: updated to .net 4.5, WinXP NO LONGER SUPPORTEDPerformance Analyzer for Microsoft Dynamics: DynamicsPerf 1.20: Version 1.20 Improved performance in PERFHOURLYROWDATA_VW Fixed error handling encrypted triggers Added logic ACTIVITYMONITORVW to handle Context_Info for Dynamics AX 2012 and above with this flag set on AOS Added logic to optional blocking to handle Context_Info for Dynamics AX 2012 and above with this flag set on AOS Added additional queries for investigating blocking Added logic to collect Baseline capture data (NOTE: QUERY_STATS table has entire procedure cache for that db during...Toolbox for Dynamics CRM 2011/2013: XrmToolBox (v1.2014.5.28): XrmToolbox improvement XrmToolBox updates (v1.2014.5.28)Fix connecting to a connection with custom authentication without saved password Tools improvement New tool!Solution Components Mover (v1.2014.5.22) Transfer solution components from one solution to another one Import/Export NN relationships (v1.2014.3.7) Allows you to import and export many to many relationships Tools updatesAttribute Bulk Updater (v1.2014.5.28) Audit Center (v1.2014.5.28) View Layout Replicator (v1.2014.5.28) Scrip...Microsoft Ajax Minifier: Microsoft Ajax Minifier 5.10: Fix for Issue #20875 - echo switch doesn't work for CSS CSS should honor the SASS source-file comments JS should allow multi-line comment directivesKartris E-commerce: Kartris v2.6002: Minor release: Double check that Logins_GetList sproc is present, sometimes seems to get missed earlier if upgrading which can give error when viewing logins page Added CSV and TXT export option; this is not Google Products compatible, but can give a good base for creating a file for some other systems such as Amazon Fixed some minor combination and options issues to improve interface back and front Turn bitcoin and some other gateways off by default Minor CSS changes Fixed currenc...New Projectsbrute force ip blocker: Utility which will search registry for invalid login attempts and blocked IPs which are attempting BRUTE Force attacksChristofides heuristic: This class can solve salesman travel problem using the Christofides heuristic.CLR Toolbox (Reloaded): "CLR Toolbox (Reloaded)" is a refactored version of "CLR Toolbox" (https://clrtoolbox.codeplex.com) that is written in C# and that targets on .NET and Mono.CPU Frequency Tuner: Calculate approximate frequency of AMD CPU.DAS (Data Access Service) Constructor: A simple data access layer code generator. Actual implementation only connect to a SQL Server.Fancontroller: The Fancontroller is a little tray program for the Fujitsu-Siemens Xa 3530 notebook computer. It has Auto,Fast, Cruise, Low noise speed options.Fractal generator: This class can generate Mandelbrot and Julia set fractal images.igolder curve: We're students from Duta Wacana Chritstian University who built a component for VB.Net. This component draw the points using a formula that We made by ourselvesMDriven Getting started - WPF: This is the suggested starting point if you want to start a new WPF MDriven project. See more at capableobjects.comMegacpu: Megacpu it's a small system tray tool to start and switch between custom profiles created with Turion Power control.Mercator projection: This class can render geograpic coordinates with the mercator projection.modify the .dex: ??DEX?????My Common Portable Library: Notify Property ChangedNearest Neighbor and Voronoi cluster: Find nearest neighbor of a set of points and cluster the points using a voronoi diagram and a dendogram.Otaku Perfection: This is the source code for the game show called Otaku Perfection.Simplified Application Framework: Simplified Application FrameworkSQLSetupHelper: SQL Setup helper for .net application standup-timer-modified: ???????Android????standup-timer??????????，????????????????（???????????）。???????jni??.so?????????dex(odex)??????。Top Verses ( Ayat Emas ): Top Verses Component for VB.NET 2012 or aboveVi-AIO SearchBar: Vi – AIO Search Bar is a project from subject Component Oriented Programming in IT Faculty of Duta Wacana Christian University Yogyakarta.VK9 - .Net Vkontakte API Implementation: VK9 is library that allows you to easily work with official VK (Vkontakte) API in your Microsoft .NET application. ??????V1.0: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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• VB Myth - Case Insensitivity is Awesome!

  - by Damon

  I was reading Andy Brown's article 10 Reasons Why Visual Basic is Better than C# and the first claim is that VB is superior because of case insensitivity.  I think the reasons he outlines are basically as follows: Your fingers get tired finding the shift key (e.g. typing PascalCase and camelCase members) You are much more likely to make mistakes while typing names When you accidentally leave caps lock on, it really matters These three arguments culminate in the conclusion: "It doesn't matter if you disagree with everything else in this article: case-sensitivity alone is sufficient reason to ditch C#!" Righto.  I've been using Visual Basic since version 5.0, I wrote a book about ASP.NET in Visual Basic, so I want everyone to know I'm definitely not a VB.NET hater.  I had to converted to C# because it was the language of preference at the places I've worked, so I'm used to both languages.  I love me some case sensitivity.  So first, let's debunk the claims. First, your fingers do not get tired of finding the shift key unless you are writing code in notepad and compiling everything on the command line.  Visual Studio pretty much takes away the need to use the shift key at all. For the most part, any programmer worth a damn doesn't have to type more than about 3-5 characters of any variable or method name before IntelliSense kicks in to help.  VB or C#, if you are not using the tab key for autocomplete then you are typing too much anyway, regardless of whether the shift key is involved or not.  Also, you've got to be a pretty hard-core candy ass if you're complaining at the end of the day that your little fingers are hurting from hitting the shift key. Second, I cannot logically refute the fact that if there are more stringent rules about case sensitivity it will lead to more mistakes.  As such, know that you will be more prone to mistakes in C#.  However, lets talk about the magnitude of the problem.  If you are using IntelliSense then you have auto-correction built in so you probably won't have much of a problem in the first place.  If you manage to bypass IntelliSense and type something wrong you normally are immediately presented with a red-squiggly to let you know something is amiss.  Normally, a person would look at the problem, figure out what the heck went wrong, and then avoid that problem again in the future.  Granted, I have met people who seem to lack this capability, but their problem is deeper than a decision between VB.NET and C#.  So let's make sure that we're all on the same page about this problem.  If you have two teams of developers, one that uses VB.NET and one that uses C#, do not expect to see the VB.NET team drinking beer at the end of the project in festive revelry while the C# team is crying over what the hell to do because their code is riddled with case-sensitivity problems that nobody can resolve. Lastly, if you leave your caps lock key on, turn it off.  Really, what kind of ass-hat would write an entire VB.NET application ENTIRELY IN CAPS?  I happen to be a fan of case sensitivity because it encourages precision and uniformity.  The last thing I need is a code base that looks like it was ransacked by LeEt HacKors wHo Can uSe wHateVer cASe tHey wanT.  I mean really, if you saw someone write this: PuBLIc Sub MyMethod . End Sub And upon asking them why BL was upper case, they responded "Oh, I accidentally hit the shift key there.  Fortunately for me VB.NET is a case insensitive language so I saved a couple of keystrokes by leaving it in there."  Or if you saw: PUBLIC SUB ANOTHERMETHOD . END SUB And the response to why it was uppercased was "Yeah, I accidentally had caps locks on, fortunately for me VB.NET doesn't care.  Really dodged a bullet there, glad I wasn't using C#."  Would you not think that a bit ridiculous?  If you want to convince C# developers that C# sucks, go for it.  But the case insensitivity argument is crap.

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• Win32 and Win64 programming in C sources?

  - by Nick Rosencrantz

  I'm learning OpenGL with C and that makes me include the windows.h file in my project. I'd like to look at some more specific windows functions and I wonder if you can cite some good sources for learning the basics of Win32 and Win64 programming in C (or C++). I use MS Visual C++ and I prefer to stick with C even though much of the Windows API seems to be C++. I'd like my program to be portable and using some platform-indepedent graphics library like OpenGL I could make my program portable with some slight changes for window management. Could you direct me with some pointers to books or www links where I can find more info? I've already studied the OpenGL red book and the C programming language, what I'm looking for is the platform-dependent stuff and how to handle that since I run both Linux and Windows where I find the development environment Visual Studio is pretty good but the debugger gdb is not available on windows so it's a trade off which environment i'll choose in the end - Linux with gcc or Windows with MSVC. Here is the program that draws a graphics primitive with some use of windows.h This program is also runnable on Linux without changing the code that actually draws the graphics primitive: #include <windows.h> #include <gl/gl.h> LRESULT CALLBACK WindowProc(HWND, UINT, WPARAM, LPARAM); void EnableOpenGL(HWND hwnd, HDC*, HGLRC*); void DisableOpenGL(HWND, HDC, HGLRC); int WINAPI WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE hPrevInstance, LPSTR lpCmdLine, int nCmdShow) { WNDCLASSEX wcex; HWND hwnd; HDC hDC; HGLRC hRC; MSG msg; BOOL bQuit = FALSE; float theta = 0.0f; /* register window class */ wcex.cbSize = sizeof(WNDCLASSEX); wcex.style = CS_OWNDC; wcex.lpfnWndProc = WindowProc; wcex.cbClsExtra = 0; wcex.cbWndExtra = 0; wcex.hInstance = hInstance; wcex.hIcon = LoadIcon(NULL, IDI_APPLICATION); wcex.hCursor = LoadCursor(NULL, IDC_ARROW); wcex.hbrBackground = (HBRUSH)GetStockObject(BLACK_BRUSH); wcex.lpszMenuName = NULL; wcex.lpszClassName = "GLSample"; wcex.hIconSm = LoadIcon(NULL, IDI_APPLICATION);; if (!RegisterClassEx(&wcex)) return 0; /* create main window */ hwnd = CreateWindowEx(0, "GLSample", "OpenGL Sample", WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW, CW_USEDEFAULT, CW_USEDEFAULT, 256, 256, NULL, NULL, hInstance, NULL); ShowWindow(hwnd, nCmdShow); /* enable OpenGL for the window */ EnableOpenGL(hwnd, &hDC, &hRC); /* program main loop */ while (!bQuit) { /* check for messages */ if (PeekMessage(&msg, NULL, 0, 0, PM_REMOVE)) { /* handle or dispatch messages */ if (msg.message == WM_QUIT) { bQuit = TRUE; } else { TranslateMessage(&msg); DispatchMessage(&msg); } } else { /* OpenGL animation code goes here */ glClearColor(0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f); glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT); glPushMatrix(); glRotatef(theta, 0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f); glBegin(GL_TRIANGLES); glColor3f(1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f); glVertex2f(0.0f, 1.0f); glColor3f(0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f); glVertex2f(0.87f, -0.5f); glColor3f(0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f); glVertex2f(-0.87f, -0.5f); glEnd(); glPopMatrix(); SwapBuffers(hDC); theta += 1.0f; Sleep (1); } } /* shutdown OpenGL */ DisableOpenGL(hwnd, hDC, hRC); /* destroy the window explicitly */ DestroyWindow(hwnd); return msg.wParam; } LRESULT CALLBACK WindowProc(HWND hwnd, UINT uMsg, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam) { switch (uMsg) { case WM_CLOSE: PostQuitMessage(0); break; case WM_DESTROY: return 0; case WM_KEYDOWN: { switch (wParam) { case VK_ESCAPE: PostQuitMessage(0); break; } } break; default: return DefWindowProc(hwnd, uMsg, wParam, lParam); } return 0; } void EnableOpenGL(HWND hwnd, HDC* hDC, HGLRC* hRC) { PIXELFORMATDESCRIPTOR pfd; int iFormat; /* get the device context (DC) */ *hDC = GetDC(hwnd); /* set the pixel format for the DC */ ZeroMemory(&pfd, sizeof(pfd)); pfd.nSize = sizeof(pfd); pfd.nVersion = 1; pfd.dwFlags = PFD_DRAW_TO_WINDOW | PFD_SUPPORT_OPENGL | PFD_DOUBLEBUFFER; pfd.iPixelType = PFD_TYPE_RGBA; pfd.cColorBits = 24; pfd.cDepthBits = 16; pfd.iLayerType = PFD_MAIN_PLANE; iFormat = ChoosePixelFormat(*hDC, &pfd); SetPixelFormat(*hDC, iFormat, &pfd); /* create and enable the render context (RC) */ *hRC = wglCreateContext(*hDC); wglMakeCurrent(*hDC, *hRC); } void DisableOpenGL (HWND hwnd, HDC hDC, HGLRC hRC) { wglMakeCurrent(NULL, NULL); wglDeleteContext(hRC); ReleaseDC(hwnd, hDC); }

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• Declarative Architectures in Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

  - by BuckWoody

  I deal with computing architectures by first laying out requirements, and then laying in any constraints for it's success. Only then do I bring in computing elements to apply to the system. As an example, a requirement might be "world-side availability" and a constraint might be "with less than 80ms response time and full HA" or something similar. Then I can choose from the best fit of technologies which range from full-up on-premises computing to IaaS, PaaS or SaaS. I also deal in abstraction layers - on-premises systems are fully under your control, in IaaS the hardware is abstracted (but not the OS, scale, runtimes and so on), in PaaS the hardware and the OS is abstracted and you focus on code and data only, and in SaaS everything is abstracted - you merely purchase the function you want (like an e-mail server or some such) and simply use it. When you think about solutions this way, the architecture moves to the primary factor in your decision. It's problem-first architecting, and then laying in whatever technology or vendor best fixes the problem. To that end, most architects design a solution using a graphical tool (I use Visio) and then creating documents that  let the rest of the team (and business) know what is required. It's the template, or recipe, for the solution. This is extremely easy to do for SaaS - you merely point out what the needs are, research the vendor and present the findings (and bill) to the business. IT might not even be involved there. In PaaS it's not much more complicated - you use the same Application Lifecycle Management and design tools you always have for code, such as Visual Studio or some other process and toolset, and you can "stamp out" the application in multiple locations, update it and so on. IaaS is another story. Here you have multiple machines, operating systems, patches, virus scanning, run-times, scale-patterns and tools and much more that you have to deal with, since essentially it's just an in-house system being hosted by someone else. You can certainly automate builds of servers - we do this as technical professionals every day. From Windows to Linux, it's simple enough to create a "build script" that makes a system just like the one we made yesterday. What is more problematic is being able to tie those systems together in a coherent way (as a solution) and then stamp that out repeatedly, especially when you might want to deploy that solution on-premises, or in one cloud vendor or another. Lately I've been working with a company called RightScale that does exactly this. I'll point you to their site for more info, but the general idea is that you document out your intent for a set of servers, and it will deploy them to on-premises clouds, Windows Azure, and other cloud providers all from the same script. In other words, it doesn't contain the images or anything like that - it contains the scripts to build them on-premises or on a cloud vendor like Microsoft. Using a tool like this, you combine the steps of designing a system (all the way down to passwords and accounts if you wish) and then the document drives the distribution and implementation of that intent. As time goes on and more and more companies implement solutions on various providers (perhaps for HA and DR) then this becomes a compelling investigation. The RightScale information is here, if you want to investigate it further. Yes, there are other methods I've found, but most are tied to a single kind of cloud, and I'm not into vendor lock-in. Poppa Bear Level - Hands-on EvaluateRightScale at no cost.  Just bring your Windows Azurecredentials and follow the these tutorials: Sign Up for Windows Azure Add     Windows Azure to a RightScale Account Windows Azure Virtual Machines     3-tier Deployment Momma Bear Level - Just the Right level... ;0)  WindowsAzure Evaluation Guide - if you are new toWindows Azure Virtual Machines and new to RightScale, we recommend that youread the entire evaluation guide to gain a more complete understanding of theWindows Azure + RightScale solution.    WindowsAzure Support Page @ support.rightscale.com - FAQ's, tutorials,etc. for  Windows Azure Virtual Machines (Work in Progress) Baby Bear Level - Marketing WindowsAzure Page @ www.rightscale.com - find overview informationincluding solution briefs and presentation & demonstration videos   Scale     and Automate Applications on Windows Azure  Solution Brief     - how RightScale makes Windows Azure Virtual Machine even better SQL     Server on Windows Azure  Solution Brief   -       Run Highly Available SQL Server on Windows Azure Virtual Machines

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