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• Remove Trusted Site Popup

  - by Mike Koerner

  I keep getting this The current webpage is trying to open a site in your Trusted sites list.  Do you want to allow this? Solution is here http://forums.techarena.in/technology-internet/1218469.htm To turn it off, open your browser, go to Tools > Internet Options > Security > select Trusted Sites > click Custom Level to view the browser settings. "Websites in less privileged web content zone " could be set to prompt. You may want to change the setting to enable or disable instead.

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• New Horizons arrives at Neptune on a 25-year anniversary!

  - by TATWORTH

  Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/TATWORTH/archive/2014/08/25/new-horizons-arrives-at-neptune-on-a-25-year-anniversary.aspxToday the New Horizons probe to the planet Pluto crosses the orbit of the planet Neptune. By a “cosmic coincidence”, this is exactly 25 years since Voyager 2 took close-up pictures of Neptune and its satellite Triton. For more see http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/mission/passingplanets/passingPlanets_current.php New Horizons current position is shown at http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/mission/whereis_nh.php

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• Clear for take off - Azure account setup and ready to go

  - by Rainer

  I completed today the Azure account setup and started working on a project to really test drive the Azure Platform and Azure SQL. Cool stuff! Ready for takeoff into the clear blue sky, where are the clouds?

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• WinToolbar Silverlight widget available on Codeplex

  - by Braulio Díez Botella

  Today we (Sebastian Stehle and my self) have published winToolbar on Codeplex (http://wintoolbar.codeplex.com/). About WinToolbar is a Silverlight library that implements common widgets that allows us to build a rich toolbar control in our applications, it incorporates: group panels, drop down buttons, pickers…

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• Referencing a picture in another DLL in Silverlight and Windows Phone 7

  - by Laurent Bugnion

  This one has burned me a few times, so here is how it works for future reference: Usually, when I add an Image control into a Silverlight application, and the picture it shows is local (as opposed to loaded from the web), I set the picture’s Build Action to Content, and the Copy to Output Directory to Copy if Newer. What the compiler does then is to copy the picture to the bin\Debug folder, and then to pack it into the XAP file. In XAML, the syntax to refer to this local picture is: <Image Source="/Images/mypicture.jpg" Width="100" Height="100" /> And in C#: return new BitmapImage(new Uri( "/Images/mypicture.jpg", UriKind.Relative)); One of the features of Silverlight is to allow referencing content (pictures, resource dictionaries, sound files, movies etc…) located in a DLL directly. This is very handy because just by using the right syntax in the URI, you can do this in XAML directly, for example with: <Image Source="/MyApplication;component/Images/mypicture.jpg" Width="100" Height="100" /> In C#, this becomes: return new BitmapImage(new Uri( "/MyApplication;component/Images/mypicture.jpg", UriKind.Relative)); Side note: This kind of URI is called a pack URI and they have been around since the early days of WPF. There is a good tutorial about pack URIs on MSDN. Even though it refers to WPF, it also applies to Silverlight Side note 2: With the Build Action set to Content, you can rename the XAP file to ZIP, extract all the files, change the picture (but keep the same name), rezip the whole thing and rename again to XAP. This is not possible if the picture is embedded in an assembly! So what’s the catch? Well the catch is that this does not work if you set the Build Action to Content. It’s actually pretty simple to explain: The pack URI above tells the Silverlight runtime to look within an assembly named MyOtherAssembly for a file named MyPicture.jpg in the Images folder. If the file is included as Content, however, it is not in the assembly. Silverlight does not find it, and silently returns nothing. The image is not displayed. And the fix? The fix, for class libraries, is to set the Build Action to Resource. With this, the picture will gets packed into the DLL itself. Of course, this will increase the size of the DLL, and any change to the picture will require recompiling the class library, which is not ideal. But in the cases where you want to distribute pictures (icons etc) together with a plug-in assembly, well, this is a good way to have everything in the same place Happy coding, Laurent   Laurent Bugnion (GalaSoft) Subscribe | Twitter | Facebook | Flickr | LinkedIn

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• iPad2 - Yet Another Fundamental Defect in an Apple product

  - by Kit Ong

  First it was antenna defect in iPhone4 now it has been reported that some iPad 2 have display issues, Apple really needs to look at their manufacturing process. It doesn't help that workers are working like robots in their main supplier's factory Foxconn. More info on reported display light bleeding http://www.cultofmac.com/if-your-ipad-2-has-display-problems-do-not-return-it-heres-why/87197   How to check your iPad for dead pixel / light leak / bleed http://www.theipadguide.com/content/ipad-dead-pixel-test-how/7171269

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• SQL Injection Attacks are still occurring

  - by TATWORTH

  It should be of concern to all developers that SQL Injection attacks are still occurring. Here are some resources on the subject: http://www.darkreading.com/DatabaseSecurity/util/4576/download.html (needs free registration) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQL_injection http://www.unixwiz.net/techtips/sql-injection.html http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms161953.aspx http://www.sitepoint.com/sql-injection-attacks-safe/ And for a funny view on it see http://xkcd.com/327/ So what are you doing to harden your applications?

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• Redgate ANTS Performance Profiler

  - by Jon Canning

  Seemingly forever I've been working on a business idea, it's a REST API delivering content to mobiles, and I've never really had much idea about its performance. Yes, I have a suite of unit tests and integration tests, but these only tell me that it works, not how well it works. I was also about to embark on a major refactor, swapping the database from MongoDB to RavenDB, and was curious to see if that impacted performance at all, so I needed a profiler that supported IIS Express that I can run my integration tests against, and Google gave me:   http://www.red-gate.com/supportcenter/content/ANTS_Performance_Profiler/help/7.4/app_iise   Excellent. Following the above guide an instance of IIS Express and is launched, as is Internet Explorer. The latter eventually becomes annoying, I would like to decide whether I want a browser opened, but thankfully the guide is wrong in that it can be closed and profiling will continue. So I ran my tests, stopped profiling, and was presented with a call tree listing the endpoints called and allowing me to drill down to the source code beneath.     Although useful and fascinating this wasn't what I was expecting to see, I was after the method timings from the entire test suite. Switching Show to Methods Grid presented me with a list of my methods, with the slowest lit up in red at the top. Marvellous.     I did find that if you switch to Methods Grid before Call tree has loaded, you do not get the red warnings.   StructureMap was very busy, and next on the list was a request filter that I didn't expect to be so overworked. Highlighting it, the source code was presented to me in the bottom window with timings and a nice red indicator to show me where to look. Oh horror, that reflection hack I put in months ago, I'd forgotten all about it. It was calling Validate<T>() which in turn was resolving a validator from StructureMap. Note to self, use //TODO: when leaving smelly code lying around.     Before refactoring, remember to Save Profile Results from the File menu. Annoyingly you are not prompted to save your results when exiting, and using Save Project will only leave you thankful that you have version control and can go back in time to run your tests again.   Having implemented StructureMap’s ForGenericType, I ran my tests again and:     Win, thankyou ANTS (What does ANTS stand for BTW?)   There's definitely room in my toolbox for a profiler; what started out as idle curiosity actually solved a potential problem. When presented with a new codebase I can see enormous benefit from getting an overview of the pipeline from the call tree before drilling into the code, and as a sanity check before release it gives a little more reassurance that you've done your best, and shows you exactly where to look if you haven’t.   Next I’m going to profile a load test.

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• Silverlight Cream Monday WP7 App Review # 2

  - by Dave Campbell

  Today's Review (alphabetic order): GooNews, Grocery Shopping List, Need for Speed, SurfCube, and United Nations News. I'm a day late if these are going to be 'Monday' posts, but there are lots of apps, lots of goodness, and lots of email, so I might try to do 2 a week, we'll see. So once again I've got a small review of 5 apps that are either on my phone or have been. Disclaimers at the end. In this Issue:   GooNews is a very cool app from Shawn Wildermuth (AgiliTrain). I don't know if he uses this as a demo during his instruction, but it definitely serves a purpose... wanna pick up the top news items from Google on a never-ending basis? ... this is it. You can add your own keyword searches, and send stories to InstaPaper or share via email. I like this because it brings me the news quickly and updated, and works great. GooNews is by AgiliTrain and is Free This was a request by the author, and actually surprised me. I'm a big one for lists, but I would have just done a OneNote list to SkyDrive and to my phone. This app is a lot more than that, but will take you some setup to make it be 'yours'. For obvious reasons, there are no unit prices on things, so you have to set that up to get some idea of the cost of what you're shopping for. But if you do that, you'll get a nice total. Lots of thought went into the various categories and you can add your own. There's a bit of animation on the category selection that's nice. He seems to have covered all the bases necessary to use this, even shopping 'plans' that can be saved, and emailing of lists. As I said, I'm more of a raw list person, but if you take the time to set this up, it should work very nicely for you. Grocery Shopping List is by Grocery Shopper and is $0.99 ($1.99 after Feb 1) with a free trial. This was my 2nd commercial game I bought, and the one I've played the most. I ran the trial, thought it worked great, and bought it. I've had a lot of fun with this... there's no gas pedal.. your foot is in the carbeurator from the GO!, and unless you wanna tap the screen and brake like a little girl, just hang onto the steering wheel (the phone), and guide your way through. Hours of fun and challenges here. I like this because it's got some challenge to it, and the cars seem to be very realistic in their reactions. Need for Speed Undercover is by Electronic Arts is $4.99 and has a free trial. SurfCube Browser is another app by the folks that did the GuitarTuner I reviewed on Monday. You have to see SurfCube to believe it. You've probably seen the YouTube video, if not check SilverlightCream number 1017. The app works very solid, and just as the video demonstrates. I downloaded and tried this, and it immediately did 2 things: bought it, and pinned it to my start page. I like this because it's fun to work with, and it works great as a browser. I'm about *this* close to replacing the IE tile on my front page with SurfCube. SurfCube Browser is by Kinabalu Innovation Limited and is $1.99 and has a free trial. Coming in with another News app is United Nations News by Justin Angel. This is definitely a news aggregator for 'grown ups'... news, photos, videos, and radio broadcsts from the international community all in one very slick app. This is an amazingly well thought-out and complete app. Even better yet, Justin has the code on CodePlex. A very well-done International news aggregator. United Nations News is by Justin Angel and is Free. A few disclaimers: Feel free to write me about your app and tell me about it. While it would be very cool to receive a whole bunch of xap files to review, at this point, for technical reasons, I'm unable to side-load my device. Since I plan on only doing this one day a week (twice if I find time), and only 5, I may never get caught up, so if you send me some info, be patient. Re: games ... remember I'm old... I'm from the era of Colossal Cave and Zork. Duke-Nukem 2D and Captain Comic were awesome. I don't own an XBOX or any other game system, so take game reviews from my perspective -- who knows, it may be refreshing :) I won't pay for an app or game just to try it. If you expect me to test-drive your app, it's going to have to have a Free Trial. I'm still playing with the format, comments are welcome. I decided I should alphabetize the list today... so there's no order implied Let me know what you think of the idea of doing reviews, or the layout/whatever, and Stay in the 'Light! Twitter SilverlightNews | Twitter WynApse | WynApse.com | Tagged Posts | SilverlightCream Join me @ SilverlightCream | Phoenix Silverlight User Group Technorati Tags: Silverlight    Silverlight 3    Silverlight 4    Windows Phone MIX10

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• Python in Finance by Yuxing Yan, Packt Publishing Book Review

  - by Compudicted

  Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/Compudicted/archive/2014/06/04/python-in-finance-by-yuxing-yan-packt-publishing-book-review.aspx I picked Python in Finance from Packt Publishing to review expecting to bore myself with complex algorithms and senseless formulas while seeing little actual Python in action, indeed at 400 pages plus it may seem so. But, it turned out to be quite the opposite. I learned a lot about practical implementations of various Python modules as SciPy, NumPy and several more, I think they empower a developer a lot. No wonder Python is on the track to become a de-facto scientist language of choice! But I am not going to compromise the truth, the book does discuss numerous financial terms, many of them, and this is where the enormous power of this book is coming from: it is like standing on the shoulders of a giant. Python is that giant - flexible and powerful, yet very approachable. The TOC is very detailed thanks to Packt, any one can see what financial algorithms are covered, I am only going to name a few which I had most fun with (though all of them are covered in enough details): Fama*, Fat Tail, ARCH, Monte-Carlo and of course the volatility smile! I am under an impression this book is best suited for students in Finance, especially those who are about to join the workforce, but I suspect the material in this book is very well suited for mature Financists, an investor who has some programming skills and wants to benefit from it, or even a programmer, or a mathematician who already knows Python or any other language, but wants to have fun in Quantitative Finance and earn a few buck! Pure fun, real results, tons of practical insight from reading data from a file to downloading trade data from Yahoo! Lastly, I need to complement Yuxing – he is a talented teacher, this book could not be what it is otherwise. It is a 5 out of 5 product. Disclaimer: I received a  free copy of this book for review purposes from the publisher.

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• MDX needs a function or macro syntax

  - by Darren Gosbell

  I was having an interesting discussion with a few people about the impact of named sets on performance (the same discussion noted by Chris Webb here: http://cwebbbi.wordpress.com/2011/03/16/referencing-named-sets-in-calculations). And apparently the core of the performance issue comes down to the way named sets are materialized within the SSAS engine. Which lead me to the thought that what we really need is a syntax for declaring a non-materialized set or to take this even further a way of declaring an MDX expression as function or macro so that it can be re-used in multiple places. Because sometimes you do want the set materialised, such as when you use an ordered set for calculating rankings. But a lot of the time we just want to make our MDX modular and want to avoid having to repeat the same code over and over. I did some searches on connect and could not find any similar suggestions so I posted one here: https://connect.microsoft.com/SQLServer/feedback/details/651646/mdx-macro-or-function-syntax Although apparently I did not search quite hard enough as Chris Webb made a similar suggestion some time ago, although he also included a request for true MDX stored procedures (not the .Net style stored procs that we have at the moment): https://connect.microsoft.com/SQLServer/feedback/details/473694/create-parameterised-queries-and-functions-on-the-server Chris also pointed out this post that he did last year http://cwebbbi.wordpress.com/2010/09/13/iccube/ where he pointed out that the icCube product already has this sort of functionality. So if you think either or both of these suggestions is a good idea then I would encourage you to click on the links and vote for them.

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• VSDB to SSDT Series : Introduction

  - by Etienne Giust

  At the office, we extensively use VS2010 SQL Server 2008 Database Projects and SQL Server 2008 Server Projects  in our Visual Studio 2010 solutions. With Visual Studio 2012, those types of projects are replaced by the  SQL Server Database Project  using the SSDT (SQL Server Data Tools) technology. I started investigating the shift from Visual Studio 2010 to Visual Studio 2012 and specifically what needs to be done concerning those database projects in terms of painless migration, continuous integration and standalone deployment. I will write my findings in a series of 4 short articles: Part 1 will be about the database projects migration process and the cleaning up that ensues Part 2 will be about creating SQL Server 2008 Server Projects equivalents with the new SSDT project type Part 3 will introduce a replacement to the vsdbcmd.exe command used for deployment in our continuous integration process Part 4 will explain how to create standalone packages of SSDT projects for deployment on non accessible servers (such as a production server)

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• Wordnik Accelerator

  - by prabhpreet

  Wow, creating IE Accelerators is superbly easy. If you want to learn how to create one, go here (some MSDN blog) and the MSDN documentation (clearly written). I was fed up of dictionary.com bringing all those popups and the stupid definitions of Google's dictionary. So I decided to scratch my own itch. I randomly stumbled on the site called Wordnik and it provides with all examples plus definitions plus lots more for words and its popup-free (as far as I know). So I decided to write and accelerator. Here is the source code (Yes, this is it): <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <os:openServiceDescription xmlns:os="http://www.microsoft.com/schemas/openservicedescription/1.0"> <os:homepageUrl>http://www.wordnik.com</os:homepageUrl> <os:display> <os:name>View on Wordnik</os:name> <os:description>Looking up words on an awesome word site called Wordnik </os:description> <os:icon>http://www.wordnik.com/favicon.ico</os:icon> </os:display> <os:activity category="Define"> <os:activityAction context="selection"> <os:execute method="get" action="http://www.wordnik.com/words/{selection}" ></os:execute> </os:activityAction> </os:activity> </os:openServiceDescription> That’s it. To get it, go here. Enjoy!

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• Leveraging .Net 4.0 Framework Tools For Encrypting Web Configuration Sections

  - by Sam Abraham

  I would like to share a few points with regards to encrypting web configuration sections in .Net 4.0. This information is also applicable to .Net 3.5 and 2.0. Two methods can work perfectly for encrypting connection strings in a Web project configuration file:   1-Do It All Yourself! In this approach, helper functions for encrypting/decrypting configuration file content are implemented. Program would explicitly retrieve appropriate content from configuration file then decrypt it appropriately.  Disadvantages of this implementation would be the added overhead for maintaining the encryption/decryption code as well the burden of always ensuring sections are appropriately decrypted before use and encrypted appropriately whenever edited.   2- Leverage the .Net 4.0 Framework (The Way to go!) Fortunately, all needed tools for protecting configuration files are built-in to the .Net 2.0/3.5/4.0 versions with very little setup needed. To encrypt connection strings, one can use the ASP.Net IIS Registration Tool (Aspnet_regiis.exe). Note that a 64-bit version of the tool also exists under the Framework64 folder for 64-bit systems. The command we need to encrypt our web.config file connection strings is simply the following:   Aspnet_regiis –pe “connectionstrings” –app “/sampleApplication” –prov “RsaProtectedConfigurationProvider”   To later decrypt this configuration section:   Aspnet_regiis –pd “connectionstrings” –app “/SampleApplication”   The following is a brief description of the command line options used in the example above. Aspnet_regiis supports many more options which you can read about in the links provided for reference below.   Option Description -pe  Section name to encrypt -pd  Section name to decrypt -app  Web application name -prov  Encryption/Decryption provider   ASP.Net automatically decrypts the content of the Web.Config file at runtime so no programming changes are needed.   Another tool, aspnet_setreg.exe is to be used if certain configuration file sections pertinent to the .Net runtime are to be encrypted. For more information on when and how to use aspnet_setreg, please refer to the references below.   Hope this helps!   Some great references concerning the topic:   http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff650037.aspx http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/zhhddkxy.aspx http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dtkwfdky.aspx http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/68ze1hb2.aspx

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• Interfaces and Virtuals Everywhere????

  - by David V. Corbin

  First a disclaimer; this post is about micro-optimization of C# programs and does not apply to most common scenarios - but when it does, it is important to know. Many developers are in the habit of declaring member virtual to allow for future expansion or using interface based designs1. Few of these developers think about what the runtime performance impact of this decision is. A simple test will show that this decision can have a serious impact. For our purposes, we used a simple loop to time the execution of 1 billion calls to both non-virtual and virtual implementations of a method that took no parameters and had a void return type: Direct Call:     1.5uS Virtual Call:   13.0uS The overhead of the call increased by nearly an order of magnitude! Once again, it is important to realize that if the method does anything of significance then this ratio drops quite quickly. If the method does just 1mS of work, then the differential only accounts for a 1% decrease in performance. Additionally the method in question must be called thousands of times in order to produce a meaqsurable impact at the application level. Yet let us consider a situation such as the per-pixel processing of a graphics processing application. Here we may have a method which is called millions of times and even the slightest increase in overhead can have significant ramification. In this case using either explicit virtuals or interface based constructs is likely to be a mistake. In conclusion, good design principles should always be the driving force behind descisions such as these; but remember that these decisions do not come for free.   1) When a concrete class member implements an interface it does not need to be explicitly marked as virtual (unless, of course, it is to be overriden in a derived concerete class). Nevertheless, when accessed via the interface it behaves exactly as if it had been marked as virtual.

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• What label of tests are BizUnit tests?

  - by charlie.mott

  BizUnit is defined as a "Framework for Automated Testing of Distributed Systems.  However, I've never seen a catchy label to describe what sort of tests we create using this framework. They are not really “Unit Tests” that's for sure. "Integration Tests" might be a good definition, but I want a label that clearly separates it from the manual "System Integration Testing" phase of a project where real instances of the integrated systems are used. Among some colleagues, we brainstormed some suggestions: Automated Integration Tests Stubbed Integration Tests Sandbox Integration Tests Localised Integration Tests All give a good view of the sorts of tests that are being done. I think "Stubbed Integration Tests" is most catchy and descriptive. So I will use that until someone comes up with a better idea.

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• Books are Dead! Long Live the Books!

  - by smisner

  We live in interesting times with regard to the availability of technical material. We have lots of free written material online in the form of vendor documentation online, forums, blogs, and Twitter. And we have written material that we can buy in the form of books, magazines, and training materials. Online videos and training – some free and some not free – are also an option. All of these formats are useful for one need or another. As an author, I pay particular attention to the demand for books, and for now I see no reason to stop authoring books. I assure you that I don’t get rich from the effort, and fortunately that is not my motivation. As someone who likes to refer to books frequently, I am still a big believer in books and have evidence from book sales that there are others like me. If I can do my part to help others learn about the technologies I work with, I will continue to produce content in a variety of formats, including books. (You can view a list of all of my books on the Publications page of my site and my online training videos at Pluralsight.) As a consumer of technical information, I prefer books because a book typically can get into a topic much more deeply than a blog post, and can provide more context than vendor documentation. It comes with a table of contents and a (hopefully accurate) index that helps me zero in on a topic of interest, and of course I can use the Search feature in digital form. Some people suggest that technology books are outdated as soon as they get published. I guess it depends on where you are with technology. Not everyone is able to upgrade to the latest and greatest version at release. I do assume, however, that the SQL Server 7.0 titles in my library have little value for me now, but I’m certain that the minute I discard the book, I’m going to want it for some reason! Meanwhile, as electronic books overtake physical books in sales, my husband is grateful that I can continue to build my collection digitally rather than physically as the books have a way of taking over significant square footage in our house! Blog posts, on the other hand, are useful for describing the scenarios that come up in real-life implementations that wouldn’t fit neatly into a book. As many years that I have working with the Microsoft BI stack, I still run into new problems that require creative thinking. Likewise, people who work with BI and other technologies that I use share what they learn through their blogs. Internet search engines help us find information in blogs that simply isn’t available anywhere else. Another great thing about blogs, also, is the connection to community and the dialog that can ensue between people with common interests. With the trend towards electronic formats for books, I imagine that we’ll see books continue to adapt to incorporate different forms of media and better ways to keep the information current. At the moment, I wish I had a better way to help readers with my last two Reporting Services books. In the case of the Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2005 Reporting Services Step by Step book, I have heard many cases of readers having problems with the sample database that shipped on CD – either the database was missing or it was corrupt. So I’ve provided a copy of the database on my site for download from http://datainspirations.com/uploads/rs2005sbsDW.zip. Then for the Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2008 Reporting Services Step by Step book, we decided to avoid the database problem by using the AdventureWorks2008 samples that Microsoft published on Codeplex (although code samples are still available on CD). We had this silly idea that the URL for the download would remain constant, but it seems that expectation was ill-founded. Currently, the sample database is found at http://msftdbprodsamples.codeplex.com/releases/view/37109 but I have no idea how long that will remain valid. My latest books (#9 and #10 which are milestones I never anticipated), Building Integrated Business Intelligence Solutions with SQL Server 2008 R2 and Office 2010 (McGraw Hill, 2011) and Business Intelligence in Microsoft SharePoint 2010 (Microsoft Press, 2011), will not ship with a CD, but will provide all code samples for download at a site maintained by the respective publishers. I expect that the URLs for the downloads for the book will remain valid, but there are lots of references to other sites that can change or disappear over time. Does that mean authors shouldn’t make reference to such sites? Personally, I think the benefits to be gained from including links are greater than the risks of the links becoming invalid at some point. Do you think the time for technology books has come to an end? Is the delivery of books in electronic format enough to keep them alive? If technological barriers were no object, what would make a book more valuable to you than other formats through which you can obtain information?

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• SQL Server Date Comparison Functions

  - by HighAltitudeCoder

  A few months ago, I found myself working with a repetitive cursor that looped until the data had been manipulated enough times that it was finally correct.  The cursor was heavily dependent upon dates, every time requiring the earlier of two (or several) dates in one stored procedure, while requiring the later of two dates in another stored procedure. In short what I needed was a function that would allow me to perform the following evaluation: WHERE MAX(Date1, Date2) < @SomeDate The problem is, the MAX() function in SQL Server does not perform this functionality.  So, I set out to put these functions together.  They are titled: EarlierOf() and LaterOf(). /**********************************************************                               EarlierOf.sql   **********************************************************/ /**********************************************************   Return the later of two DATETIME variables.   Parameter 1: DATETIME1 Parameter 2: DATETIME2   Works for a variety of DATETIME or NULL values. Even though comparisons with NULL are actually indeterminate, we know conceptually that NULL is not earlier or later than any other date provided.   SYNTAX: SELECT dbo.EarlierOf('1/1/2000','12/1/2009') SELECT dbo.EarlierOf('2009-12-01 00:00:00.000','2009-12-01 00:00:00.521') SELECT dbo.EarlierOf('11/15/2000',NULL) SELECT dbo.EarlierOf(NULL,'1/15/2004') SELECT dbo.EarlierOf(NULL,NULL)   **********************************************************/ USE AdventureWorks GO   IF EXISTS       (SELECT *       FROM sysobjects       WHERE name = 'EarlierOf'       AND xtype = 'FN'       ) BEGIN             DROP FUNCTION EarlierOf END GO   CREATE FUNCTION EarlierOf (       @Date1                              DATETIME,       @Date2                              DATETIME )   RETURNS DATETIME   AS BEGIN       DECLARE @ReturnDate     DATETIME         IF (@Date1 IS NULL AND @Date2 IS NULL)       BEGIN             SET @ReturnDate = NULL             GOTO EndOfFunction       END         ELSE IF (@Date1 IS NULL AND @Date2 IS NOT NULL)       BEGIN             SET @ReturnDate = @Date2             GOTO EndOfFunction       END         ELSE IF (@Date1 IS NOT NULL AND @Date2 IS NULL)       BEGIN             SET @ReturnDate = @Date1             GOTO EndOfFunction       END         ELSE       BEGIN             SET @ReturnDate = @Date1             IF @Date2 < @Date1                   SET @ReturnDate = @Date2             GOTO EndOfFunction       END         EndOfFunction:       RETURN @ReturnDate   END -- End Function GO   ---- Set Permissions --GRANT SELECT ON EarlierOf TO UserRole1 --GRANT SELECT ON EarlierOf TO UserRole2 --GO                                                                                             The inverse of this function is only slightly different. /**********************************************************                               LaterOf.sql   **********************************************************/ /**********************************************************   Return the later of two DATETIME variables.   Parameter 1: DATETIME1 Parameter 2: DATETIME2   Works for a variety of DATETIME or NULL values. Even though comparisons with NULL are actually indeterminate, we know conceptually that NULL is not earlier or later than any other date provided.   SYNTAX: SELECT dbo.LaterOf('1/1/2000','12/1/2009') SELECT dbo.LaterOf('2009-12-01 00:00:00.000','2009-12-01 00:00:00.521') SELECT dbo.LaterOf('11/15/2000',NULL) SELECT dbo.LaterOf(NULL,'1/15/2004') SELECT dbo.LaterOf(NULL,NULL)   **********************************************************/ USE AdventureWorks GO   IF EXISTS       (SELECT *       FROM sysobjects       WHERE name = 'LaterOf'       AND xtype = 'FN'       ) BEGIN             DROP FUNCTION LaterOf END GO   CREATE FUNCTION LaterOf (       @Date1                              DATETIME,       @Date2                              DATETIME )   RETURNS DATETIME   AS BEGIN       DECLARE @ReturnDate     DATETIME         IF (@Date1 IS NULL AND @Date2 IS NULL)       BEGIN             SET @ReturnDate = NULL             GOTO EndOfFunction       END         ELSE IF (@Date1 IS NULL AND @Date2 IS NOT NULL)       BEGIN             SET @ReturnDate = @Date2             GOTO EndOfFunction       END         ELSE IF (@Date1 IS NOT NULL AND @Date2 IS NULL)       BEGIN             SET @ReturnDate = @Date1             GOTO EndOfFunction       END         ELSE       BEGIN             SET @ReturnDate = @Date1             IF @Date2 > @Date1                   SET @ReturnDate = @Date2             GOTO EndOfFunction       END         EndOfFunction:       RETURN @ReturnDate   END -- End Function GO   ---- Set Permissions --GRANT SELECT ON LaterOf TO UserRole1 --GRANT SELECT ON LaterOf TO UserRole2 --GO                                                                                             The interesting thing about this function is its simplicity and the built-in NULL handling functionality.  Its interesting, because it seems like something should already exist in SQL Server that does this.  From a different vantage point, if you create this functionality and it is easy to use (ideally, intuitively self-explanatory), you have made a successful contribution. Interesting is good.  Self-explanatory, or intuitive is FAR better.  Happy coding! Graeme

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• Windows Azure SDK 1.3 addresses early adopter feedback

  - by Eric Nelson

  At the end of November 2010 we released a new version of the Windows Azure SDK which contains many new features driven by the great feedback of early adopters plus a shiny new portal. New Portal implemented in Silverlight: The new portal is implemented using Silverlight and replaces the (IMHO rather clunky) original HTML + JavaScript portal. It is 100% better although does still have a few bugs. Enjoy! P.S. You can if you wish still use the old portal:   New runtime functionality: The following functionality is now generally available through the Windows Azure SDK and Windows Azure Tools for Visual Studio and the new Windows Azure Management Portal: Elevated Privileges and Full IIS. You can now run a portion or all of your code in Web and Worker roles with elevated administrator privileges. The Web role now provides Full IIS functionality, which enables multiple IIS sites per Web role and the ability to install IIS modules. Remote Desktop functionality enables you to connect to a running instance of your application or service in order to monitor activity and troubleshoot common problems. Windows Server 2008 R2 Roles: Windows Azure now supports Windows Server 2008 R2 in its Web, worker and VM roles. This new support enables you to take advantage of the full range of Windows Server 2008 R2 features such as IIS 7.5, AppLocker, and enhanced command-line and automated management using PowerShell Version 2.0. New runtime functionality – in beta: Windows Azure Virtual Machine Role: Support for more types of new and existing Windows applications will soon be available with the introduction of the Virtual Machine (VM) role. You can move more existing applications to Windows Azure, reducing the need to make costly code or deployment changes. Extra Small Windows Azure Instance, which is priced at $0.05 per compute hour, provides developers with a cost-effective training and development environment. Developers can also use the Extra Small instance to prototype cloud solutions at a lower cost. Windows Azure Connect: (formerly Project Sydney), which enables a simple and easy-to-manage mechanism to set up IP-based network connectivity between on-premises and Windows Azure resources, is the first Windows Azure Virtual Network feature that we’re making available as a CTP. You can sign up for any of the betas via the Windows Azure Management Portal. Improved processes and simplified operations New portal! (see above) Access to new diagnostic information including the ability to click on a role to see role type, deployment time and last reboot time A new sign-up process that dramatically reduces the number of steps needed to sign up for Windows Azure. New scenario based Windows Azure Platform forums to help answer questions and share knowledge more efficiently. Multiple Service Administrators: Windows Azure now supports multiple Windows Live IDs to have administrator privileges on the same Windows Azure account. The objective is to make it easy for a team to work on the same Windows Azure account while using their individual Windows Live IDs.   Related Links Please also let us know through Microsoft Platform Ready if and when you intend to build an application using the Windows Azure Platform. Or indeed if you already have (Well done). You will get access to some great benefits if you do (more on that in a future post). It also really helps us better understand the demand out there which directly impacts how we will plan the next six months of activities around the Windows Azure Platform. Visit Microsoft Platform Ready to tell us about your plans for your applications UK based? Interested in the Windows Azure Platform? Join http://ukazure.ning.com Get started with the Windows Azure Platform http://bit.ly/startazure

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• Visual Studio 2010: Custom Start Page

  - by Steve Clements

  As Visual Studio 2010 IDE has been mostly written in WPF, extending the start page has become pretty darn easy and I for one find this quite interesting as I always open with the start page and the more customisation I can have the better! There are a few things you will need to install first to get going Visual Studio 2010 SDK Start page project template, which you can either get from the New Project dialog, in the online gallery section in VS or download from here   I was going to write a blog post on how to create a custom start page, but decided that msdn have done such a good job I was pretty much wasting my time, so take a look here, it has in detail everything you need to know to get it done! :) Technorati Tags: Visual Studio 2010,Custom Start Pages

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• The New Media Consumer: 2009

  Edison/Arbitron reveals new data on how users interact with online audio/video, podcasting, blogs and social networking sites.

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• The New Media Consumer: 2009

  Edison/Arbitron reveals new data on how users interact with online audio/video, podcasting, blogs and social networking sites.

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• A few unpleasant facts about Visual Studio 2012.

  - by Ilya Verbitskiy

  I have been playing with Visual Studio 2012 for the last couple of days. New IDE is pretty good, but, unfortunately, I found a few unpleasant facts. First of all, new release is coming without Visual Studio setup projects. I am disappointed, because I am using it for my pet project – Easy Shutdown. The tool is a small widget-like application which allows you to reboot, log out or shut down you PC. I have not done any decision yet, but I would probably migrate to WiX. The second surprise is Microsoft will not add Visual Studio macros to the next release. Since I am lazy guy, I like small hacks using macros. For example I have macros to refresh all projects or attach to IIS.  The only way how to solve the problem is to convert your macros to Visual Studio plugin. I have not tried it yet, but I will definitely do in the nearest future. The third fact, I do not like, is Visual Studio default themes. May be somebody like it, but they are hard to adopt after Visual Studio 2010. Fortunately there is a solution. Matthew Johnson released Visual Studio 2012 Color Theme Editor. It comes with a few predefined themes. I really like the Blue one.

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• Blogging from Office RT

  - by Dennis Vroegop

  During the last Build conference all attendees were given a brand new sparkling exciting Surface RT device (I love that machine despite its name but that's beside the point). On it came a version of Office 2013 RT, or better: the preview version. Now, I translated that term "Preview" to "Beta". Which is OK, since I've been using a lot of beta products from Microsoft and they all were great. And then I wanted to post a blogposting from Word. I knew I could, I have been doing this for a long time (I prefer Live Writer but that isn't available on Windows 8 RT). So I wrote the entry and hit "Publish". Instead of my blogsite I got a nice non-descriptive error telling me I couldn't post. So I fired up my other (Intel based) Win8 tablet, opened Word RT Preview, it loaded my blogpost (you've got to love the automatic synchronization through Skydrive) and tried from that machine. Same error. So, I installed Live Writer (remember, the other machine is Intel based) and posted from there. That worked like a charm. Apparently, there was something wrong with Word. I gave up and didn't think about it anymore. Yet… what you're reading now is written in Word 2013 RT on my Surface RT. So what did do? Simple: I updated from the Preview version to the final version. That's all there was to it. So…. If you're still on the preview I urge you to upgrade. You need to go to the "classic desktop update" window instead of going through the Windows Store App style update since Office is a desktop system, but once you do that you'll have the full version as well. Happy blogging!

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• New partnership allows auto-transposition of client/server application to Windows Azure

  - by Webgui

  The economics of IT is changing rapidly, and organizations are searching to widen and secure availability of their systems and at the same time lower costs which is exactly what the cloud meant to do. Running your systems on Microsoft’s Windows Azure cloud for example would improve and secure the availability, accessibility and scalability (both up and down) of your systems and support the new IT economics. However, in order to take advantage of the cloud's promise of lower cost of ownership, the applications must be built or adjusted to work on that platform and in most cases this is not a simple task.  Even existing web applications cannot always be transferred to Azure without some changes, and for client/server applications, the task is way more challenging even to the point where it seems impossible. The reason is the gaps between the client/server desktop technology and the cloud's. For that reason, most of the known methodologies to migrate existing client/server applications actually involve rewrite of the desktop systems for the cloud. A unique approach is introduced by Visual WebGui which creates a virtualization layer atop ASP.Net web server, it moves the transformed or generated .Net code to that layer, and then using a patent pending protocol it renders a user interface within a plain browser. The end result is pure .NET code that is a base code for a pure rich web application and now due to a collaboration with Microsoft Windows Azure Visual WebGui provides the shortest path from client/server to the Azure cloud by being able to handle close to 95% of the transformation to the cloud platform in an automatic way. Application Migration to Azure without migraines More information about the Instant CloudMove Azure solution here.

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