Posts

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, ...

Today has been interesting, I have been to conferences where you sit and listen, such as DDD, TechEd etc. I have been to conferences where everyone is encouraged to talk open spaces style such as Alt.Net, but today has fallen between the two styles. The Software Craftsmanship 2009 conference has been in more of a workshop style; most sessions have started with a short presentation to set the scene then the attendees split to forms small groups to do some exercise or chat, reporting back later in the session. A sort of lead open spaces feel if you want. ...

Is so have a look at Notion Tools from Team System. This set of tools provides A timesheet based on works items that you access inside Visual Studio A work organizer to manage work items and documents allowing creation of hierarchies A work planner to help schedule resources for future iterations. Well worth a look as a means to extend the reach of TFS into your Agile projects.

I have been looking at porting a old content editor I wrote from WinForm to SilverLight and hit the problem there was no HTML editor control available in the standard Silverlight 2 control set. Roll in the excellent SLExtensions controls on CodePlex, to save the day….. Now I did hit one problem with the HTMLEditor, that was addressed very quickly in for support forums. The point to watch out for is that for the HTMLEditor control to work the Silverlight object must be loaded into the web page with the setting to be windowless ...

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