Back in September I asked the question Does anyone need a VS2010 Custom Build Activity for StyleCop? and a good few people said yes and asked me when the activity would be released. Well I had forgotten to say that the Codeplex TFS Build Extensions project, which the activity code got included into, has made it’s first public alpha release i.e. a release that means you don’t have to download the source and build it yourself. There is now a downloadable ZIP will just the built assemblies. ...

Whilst doing some tidying on a multi-server TFS 2010 system I needed to move a team project collection from one Application Tier (AT) to another. Both ATs (which were not a load balanced pair) shared the same SQL server data tier (DT). It should have been easy using the TFS Administration Console. I backed up the TPC database using SQL Management tools, the TPC was then detached without any issue from the first AT. I then backed up the SQL DB again in the detached state. ...

When loading an ASP.NET 3.5 web application that has been compiler for Any CPU onto an IIS7 server I got the error The ‘Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0’ provider is not registered on the local machine. This was because the server was running a 64bit OS and only the 32bit Access Driver was installed. The quick fix to get this running was to enable 32-bit applications on the AppPools advanced settings.

DDD South West 3.0 has opened for session proposals, got an idea for one? Why not have a go and submit a session.

The TFS Integration Platform is an ALM Rangers project that provides an excellent set of tools to migrate or synchronise source code and/or work items between different TFS servers or TFS server and third party platforms. For many people the supported release on Code Gallery will do all they need. However if you have a need to connect to a system that there is no adaptor for you need the Codeplex version so you can write it yourself. To get the environment up and running, not unsurprisingly, the best place to start is the Getting Started documents. ...

Black Marble’s first WP7 game has been published onto the Marketplace, a game of strategy. Choose to grow the number of counters you have your jump squares to gain territory. It’s free so why not give it a try, assuming you have a WP7 phone!

I recently was asked why a client had experienced some unexpected results when merging a development branch back into the main trunk on a TFS 2010 installation. Turns out the issue was that during some tests that the both the Main and Dev branches had been renamed, and new branches of the same names created. So they had a structure like this: $/ProjectX Dev Newly created after the rename Main ...

A few days ago I got the regular ‘there is a new version of seesmic’ message. So I pressed update and got the less than helpful message After a quick search on the web I found the log files are in C:Users[username]DocumentsSeesmicSeesmic Desktop 2Logs, why that cannot be listed on the error dialog I don’t know!. Unfortunately there was nothing obvious in the log, just a list of plug-ins it loaded. So I went back and tried the upgrade again, reading the release notes (I know a strange idea) and noticed that it mentioned a specific version of Silverlight. A quick check of this showed I was not up to date, so I went to http://www.microsoftr.com/silverlight and ran the installer, which updated my install (I would have expected Windows Update to have done this). ...

Just spent an interesting hour trying to connect a Netgear WG111v2 USB WiFi Dongle to Netgear (Sky Branded) DG834GT router. They are both from the same manufacturer so you would they would work together! This router was setup with its default Sky settings so WiFi was setup as WPA. I installed the WG111 onto an XP laptop installed the newly downloaded V 5.1.1308 (26 Dec 2007) drivers and tried to connect. The router was spotted without problems and I was prompted to enter my WPA password, which was printed onto the bottom of the router (I had logged in to router via the web admin console to check this was correct). After what seemed like a long delay I was left not corrected to the router, but with no obvious error. ...

February’s Agile Yorkshire is on the 8th. The session will be given by Gojko Adzic on ’Long term value of acceptance tests’ I have seen Gojko speak at a number of events, including Agile Yorkshire, he is always an engaging speaker so well worth the effort to attend. I know I am going to give it a go, but have been really struggling to make Agile Yorkshire as Tuesday nights are a bit busy of late. My diary is just too full! ...