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Updated 12 June 2009 - I have been having problems using this technique of Typemock with Sharepoint Workflows, the workflows keep unexpectedly idling as opposed to activating. If you suffer similar problem please check for later posts as to any solutions I find. Updated 6 April 2009 – Also see Testing SharePoint Workflows using TypeMock Isolator (Part 2) I have for a while been trying to test SharePoint workflows using TypeMock Isolator to mock out the SharePoint fixtures, I want to remove the dependency of having SharePoint on any test boxes where possible. I have at last got this working after getting a new version of TypeMock Isolator 5.3.0 + a fix from the very helpful team at TypeMock ...

A book arrived recently on my desk ‘Software Testing with Visual Studio Team System 2008’ by Subashni. S and N Satheesh Kumar. On reading the book it provides a workmanlike coverage of the testing features of Visual Studio 2008 including some of the API options in the testing namespace, but I can’t see what it adds to the subject beyond what a user already has access to in the general introductions on MSDN/Help files. ...

Thanks to everyone who attended my session at SQLBits IV. My slides on Visual Studio 2008 Database edition GDR release can be downloaded from the Black Marble website. Also a bit thank you to the organiser for putting on such as successful event, it is really good to not have to travel to the London or Reading for IT events.

As I am sure you noticed there was an unfortunate clash of dates between Alt.net ‘in the North’ in Bradford and WebDD in Reading on the 18th of April. Well I see that WebDD over the weekend has published it’s agenda, opened registrations and is now full. So if you are disappointed that you can’t get a place for the WebDD event have you thought of trying an Open Spaces event like Alt.net? We still have some spaces left. The key difference of this type of event, as opposed to the more traditional lecture format of WebDD, is that the attendees decide the agenda when they arrive and most sessions take the format of an open discussion of peoples real work experiences and opinions. ...

As well as speaking on the GDR release of VSTS Database Edition at SQLbits this weekend I will also be at VBug Newcastle on the 22nd April.

Whilst preparing for my session at SQLBits next weekend I was re-watched Gert Drapers’ PDC session (TL45) where he used a command tool to deploy a database via a USB pen drive (about 30 minutes into the session). Now it seems that the createdeployment command line tool he used is not currently available outside Microsoft, but the same effect can be achieved use the VSDBCMD command. Step 1 - get the files onto the distribution device ...

I have been away at the MVP summit and then on holiday for a couple of weeks. On this trip every hotel I stayed in had free internet, though often only wired. Seem many hotels have Wifi contracts with mobile phone companies and they are still charging for. So top tip make sure you have UTP cable in your bag. The ‘most interesting’ system I had was at a hotel in Whistler. ...

I did a post before going to the MVC summit called Do you need work item hierarchy in TFS? which mentioned the new tools from Notion for TFS. Well there are many ways to skin a cat, and also to produce a hierarchy of TFS work items. Also have a look at Artiso Workitem Manager. This product is interesting as it provides tools that work outside of Visual Studio to manage hierarchies of work items. This might be just what you need for people such as project manager who do not live in a development environment. The nicest feature for me is that allows the import and export of work items into Word document, thus allowing production of specification documents from TFS with the click of a button. ...

As I am sure you will have heard the MVC 1.0 has been released. I downloaded this on my Windows 7 and tried to install it but got an Error 1722, the MSI then rolled back. Turns out the problem was simply that I had Visual Studio open at the time I installed, it needs to be closed. It seems the MSI does not check for this before it attempts the copy. ...

Whilst at SC2009 today a request was made by Emad Ghoshen for attendees, and any other developers they knew, to assist him in his PhD research into maintainability of web applications. He asked if people could download some Java/JSP code and answer a few questions on it, don’t worry if this is not your usual languages this is one of the questions he is researching. All the details can be found at http://www.sueblack.co.uk/clarosexp.html, ...