Friday, September 14, 2007

Visual Basic Pack for Visual Studio 2005 SDK Now Available for Download

Microsoft Downloads - Visual Basic Pack for Visual Studio 2005 SDK

"This is the Visual Basic Pack for VS SDK 2005 V4 targeting VS 2005. It contains Visual Basic samples and wizards for creating VSIP packages using Visual Basic.

..."

VSX Team Blog - Visual Basic Pack for Visual Studio 2005 SDK

"...

Visual Basic Samples
As part of the Visual Studio product development team’s community initiative, the team has converted the samples included in the Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 SDK to the Visual Basic language. The new Visual Basic samples can be accessed from the Visual Studio SDK Browser.

Visual Basic Visual Studio Integration Package Wizard
A new wizard has been added that will assist in generating Visual Basic Integration Packages for Microsoft Visual Studio. The wizard can be accessed by choosing the new project type Visual Basic."

VB 2005 get's some VS SDK Sample love... (Okay, that just... doesn't sound right... )

[Humor] An example of over engineering?

Master the Business - Warning sign not needed

I saw this, and besides having a good laugh, it reminded me of how so many software development projects/features/tasks get over engineered. (I admit, I'm just as bad sometimes... adding stuff "because we may need it one day"... but at least I KNOW and acknowledge I'm over engineering it. ;)

A very wise man once said, "Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler."

MSXML4 is not being killed... (for now)

Microsoft XML Team's WebLog - We are NOT Killbit-ing MSXML4!

"...

In March , we posted our intention to killbit MSXML4 and encouraged users to move to MSXML6 and asked for feedback – And we received lots and lots of it. The summary is MSXML4 is still being used extensively and the suggested timeframe for killbit seemed aggressive for most customers. The lack of CAB for MSXML6 was also making the migration difficult.
So in the best interest of our customers , we have decided to NOT killbit MSXML4.
...

We would like to stress that MSXML4 will only be updated for security issues and is in a maintenance mode. Any/All functionality & performance improvements WILL ONLY be made in MSXML6...
We are working on the details on an updated MSXML4 release timeline and will update the community as soon as we have that timeline.
..."

So MSXML4 will still be around for a bit yet...

Capturing PRINT Statements Embedded in T-SQL Stored Procedures

SSIS Stuff - Capture PRINT messages from a stored procedure

"I recently helped with a customer issue where they had a long running stored procedure which output status messages periodically using PRINT statements. They wanted to capture these statements and output them into the SSIS log. Unfortunately, the Execute SQL Task doesn't support this (it's something we're considering for the future), but it's fairly easy to do through a script task.

...

The print statements return the messages as InfoMessage events, which we catch with our handler and turn into SSIS information events.
..."

I like to pepper PRINT statements in my T-SQL, using them for informational/feedback messages. So this post caught my eye...

The SqlInfoMessageEventHandler & InfoMessage nugget is one that I'll want to remember.

One thing to remember, PRINT statements are batched and are not sent to the output/client immediately. If you need an immediate message sent, use a raiserrror with a severity <= 10 and the "WITH NOWAIT" option.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Another Free WPF DataGrid (This time from Infragistics)

Andrew Flick - Infragistics NetAdvantage for WPF Express (aka free grid)

"...This Express SKU is a fully functional version of our XamDataGrid and the expectation was set that we would do bug fixes and you could use our forums to ask questions about it, but we would not be adding any additional functionality. It was a gesture of good will to the MSDN subscriber to give them a DataGrid in WPF that had a stable feature set and could achieve the basic needs achievable by a simple datagrid. (Of course, we also threw in the rest of the Grid features in the V1 release including: Outlook Group-By and the support of Hierarchical Data).

And It's now September, we're gearing up to ship our next iteration of the WPF product (download the XamChart CTP) and the Express Grid rises up again and we were faced with the question of what Product Management plans to do with it. And the end result, is that we've decided to give it away for free to everyone [GD:Emphasis added] and recompile/test it with the latest hotfix already installed. It's available now and you can grab it here.
..."

Another free (registration-ware) for everyone WPF DataGrid. Never hurts to have options...

Now all I need to do is start doing some WPF development... ;)

Lucene.Net & C# Indexing and Searching WinForm Example

ASPCode.net - C# and Lucene to index and search

"This sample will show you how to use Lucene from your .NET application to index and search content. There are some articles and samples to be found on the web, but it seems that they are a bit outdated. Myself I used Lucene version 1.4 something some year(s) ago and thought now that I needed it again I could just download the new dll:s and copy my existing code. Turns out they have made quite a few API changes.

..."

Extra and updated examples never hurt...

If you have plain text (or can get it, say via IFilter) and need or want full text indexing/searching, then Lucene.net deserves a look.

I've seen it used in a number of open source/free/etc projects and have always been impressed with its indexing speed and query performance.

(via DotNetKicks.com - C# and Lucene to index and search)

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

SuperList - Outlook Style Grouped List Control

CodeProject - Outlook Style Grouped List Control

"I've been a member of CodeProject pretty much since its inception in one form or another and have been meaning to post an article for a while, this is a great site and I'm glad that I can finally give something back.

I built the Superlist control whilst developing an RSS reader called FeedGhost. Although there are plenty of commercial grouped list controls available I wanted to have total control over the code and of course its usability. Superlist supports drag drop column customisation, grouping as well as handling thousands of entries smoothly. It's also highly customisable if you want to change its look and feel. In this article I'll explain how to use and extend the control in a demo project. If you download the source, you can find demo project under the Tests/SuperListTest directory.
Background

Before deciding to develop my own list control I spent a couple of weeks fighting the standard Listview, trying to get it to work the way I wanted, but I finally gave up when I couldn't get the selected items in the grouped visual order. We needed this in FeedGhost so that articles that the user multi-selected would be displayed in the same order in the corresponding HTML view.
I decided to write the control from scratch rather than basing it for example on the Grid controls..."

This looks like a pretty darn cool listview... I like how it's designed to easily handle thousands of entries (as well many of its other features).

(via WindowsClient.net - Outlook Style Grouped List Control)

Free "Execute this/these T-SQL scripts in a translation" Utility from xSQL Software (aka "Query Analyzer is scary to users but they still need to execute T-SQL scripts" Utility...)

xSQL Software - xSQL Script Executor

"Free utility that provides for transactional execution of T-SQL scripts

Execute multiple scripts at once

Support different transactional execution

Robust error handling

Command line options for batch execution

Simple and intuitive interface

Script executor is a small, free utility that allows you to run multiple T-SQL scripts at once against a Sql Server database. You can choose to run a single script file or a group of files identified by a pattern. You can select different script execution modes, run it interactively via the user interface or in batches via the command line options.
..."

If Query Analyzer is overkill or to scary to give to your users, but those same users need to execute one or more T-SQL scripts, then this little utility may come in handy for you.

In a very brief, quick and dirty test, it worked just fine for me, even where the T-SQL script contained a number of embedded GO statements...

It can also be used via the command line, which could come in handy too (the UI will help you with that in that you can set everything up in the UI and then click on the Show Command Line button to see the final/finished command line...which is a nice touch)

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Second Annual Simi Valley Freedom Walk, 9/11/2007

I just got back from the second annual Simi Valley Freedom Walk held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and let me say that this year's was a great program.

Each of the speakers were outstanding and very "real." There were a number of heart felt moments during the speeches (that was NOT a tear in my eye... the wind blew some dust into it... oh, there was no wind?... um... well... still... yeah) that I still feel the effects of.

Corporal Leavey and Deena Burnett Bailey's speeches were extremely touching. They received standing ovations and deserved every second of them.

The entire program moved quickly and with a purpose. The organizers did a great job.

A great touch was the "Service Anthems" where the outstanding 1st Marine Division Band played a medley of military branch anthems and as a given service's was played, they asked that active members, veterans, people with serving family members, or who've lost family members in that service to stand and be recognized. That made us all a part of the program, to be able say thank you, to be thanked and to feel the strength and love of the community.

9/11/2001 still effects me deep in my gut, and while I wish it never happened, this was a great way to share the pain and to show the world we will not forget and we stand together as Americans...

Anyway...

I've uploaded my pictures now to a LiveSpaces Photo Album (cause there's a bunch of them and with the new Live Windows Photo Gallery it's so to do, and I like LiveSpaces Photo Album viewing experience ... ;)

Here's a select few of them...

The handbill

Corporal Leavey

Deena Burnett Bailey

During the Service Anthems...

DCP_2621

Playing with the Panoramic feature in the Windows Live Photo Gallery..

Never Forget

Monday, September 10, 2007

Visual Studio Hyperlink to Code Addin

CodePlex - HyperAddin: A Visual Studio Addin which adds hyperlinking in your source code

"Visual Studio already had the ability to recognize and quickly navigate (with Ctrl LeftClick) to URLs embedded in the comments of the code. This is great, but what is really needed is a way of referring quickly and easily from one part of the code to another part of the code (or to architectural documents checked in with the code). That is exactly what the HyperAddin does: It makes creating and following hyper-links in your code trivial. Now you only have to explain something once in a comment and refer to it many times (got lots of overloaded methods? They should all refer to the 'master' that does the real work).

Hyperlinks in your source code are one of those features that once you have used it, you wonder how you ever got by without it. If you use Visual Studio, you really should try it. Anyone reading your source code (including yourself!) will thank you for it.

..."

vb:feeds - Hyperlink your source code -> Brad Adams - Hyperlink your source code

"...

Here are a few simple examples:

You can refer to a function or type (or any other symbol), but using code:name. For example
        // In this comment I wanted to talk about the code:MethodTable::Unbox method.
	// By Adding a code: hyperlink, readers can quickly navigate to it.  Any name
	// that can be found using the Edit.FindSymbol (Alt-F12) can be used.  If you
	// need to refer to an overloaded method, it is best to use an anchor (see below).
You can generate your own URL anchors by simply putting #name in the comment somewhere. For example.
        // #mytopic
        //
        // ...
        // Somewhere else in the file you can refer to code:#mytopic.  Now readers
	// can quickly navigate to the #mytopic anchor.  
Without further qualification, # anchors only work within a single file. If you wish to refer to an anchor outside the current file (a common case), then you need to specify some programming symbol that is in the same file as your anchor. For example:
        // I need to refer to #mytopic but it is not in the current file.  But I
	// know that this anchor is related to the class 'MethodTable' and thus will
	// be in the same file as that class definition by using code:MethodTable#mytopic
 	// I can refer to #mytopic anywhere in any code within the solution.
..."

That's pretty darn cool...

I really like the idea of being able to quickly navigate to specific code functions/methods/blocks/etc via easily added hyperlinks...

Sunday, September 09, 2007

Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager (MSCVMM) 2007 Trial Available via VHD

Microsoft Downloads - Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007 VHD

"This download comes as a pre-configured VHD. This download enables you evaluate Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007.

...

System Center Virtual Machine Manager provides centralized administration of virtual machine infrastructure and enables increased physical server utilization and rapid provisioning of new virtual machines by the administrator and authorized end users."

I find it ironic that the Virtual Machine Manager trial is downloadable as a Virtual Machine...

Anyway, there's some pretty cool stuff on MSCVMM that I'd like to check out "one day." For me and my work life, the self provisioning and P2V sounds pretty cool.