MS Access has several limitations that may prevent you from using it in the enterprise environment. It is hard to scale, it has limitation in DB size and tool sets. As a result, you may need to convert existing Access DB into SQL Server DB. There are many reasons why this is a good idea. On the reasons is that Microsoft makes it easy for us to convert DB from Access to SQL Server via Upsizing Wizard.

The Upsizing Wizard preserves database schema as well as data. It transfers indexes, default settings of the database such as FK/PK, attribute defaults.

The Upsizing Wizard can be downloaded from the Microsoft MSDN site at the following link: Download Upsizing Wizard

You can also look at this resource Access to SQL Server Migration

Database Modeling is not an easy task. It requires good analytical skills and a lot of hours spent on defining entities and attributes and creating relationships. However, database modelers spent little time on following standards for defining database schema elements.

There are many databases that are created without following solid naming convention making it hard to developers to use database and for DBAs administer. Database naming convention became even more critical in last decade with the proliferation of reporting. End Users now access database via reporting tools and good schema definition is now more critical due this and other facts.

There are few known examples of Database Naming Convention which may be useful. Microsoft has one for its Consulting Services
1. Database Naming Convention by Microsoft Consulting Services
2. DevCampus Database Naming Conventions
3. DB Object Naming Convention

Short list of Database Naming Convention Rules are:
Prefix -> Object
vw -> View
usp -> User-defined stored procedure
fn -> User-defined FUNCTION
trg -> Trigger

Steven Bates Naming Convention is another good approach to naming your Database Objects

Silverlight is going mainstream with new version being released every year and each version bring new features that are useful if you are developing in Silverlight.

We compiled a list of Silverlight programming resources that will let you start developing in Silverlight as well as enhance your knowledge.

First thing first, you need to download and install Silverlight on your computer first.

After you succeeded in installation of Silverlight, which should not take too much time, it is time to view insightful videos of Silverlight

I personally spent few hours watching all the videos and then moved in into doing Silverlight hands of labs readily available on one of the Microsoft sites.

We are expanding scope of technologies that we are going to cover on our website. Silverlight is becoming very popular development environment and we are members of ever expanding Silverlight community...

Check out our profile on Silverlight site.

We are happy to inform our reader that new SharePoint Tutorial section was added on our Tutorial section of the site.

We are planning to release more useful information about SharePoint on our website. We used Blog on our website for the most part when we tried to bring SharePoint related information and with the popularity of the SharePoint we introduce this new section.

Here is the link to Download SharePoint 2010

I tried it already and you just need to make your computer is configure and have proper OS to run SharePoint 2010

Hardware Reqs

1. 64-bit, four-core, 2.5 GHz minimum per core processor
2. 4 GB RAM
3. 8 GB RAM for farm
4. 80 GB Hard Disk

Double up every Req for your production environment.

SharePoint 2010 was introduced on March 3rd of 2010 and it has more collaboration features than any other prior version.

I like to see new feature called Site Modeling which is designed to provide a template based infra. for the the custom website deployment. It has reach user interface allowing users to customize and format SharePoint 2010 website.

Master Pages as well as more advance customization is required by SharePoint 2008 but not so with 2010. Microsoft did a good job enhancing webstie customization in their new version of the SharePoint 2010 server.

Silverlight Web Part is another nice addition that allows to integrate Silverlight application within SharePoint 2010 in a more intuitive way. It was somewhat a challange to use Silverlight in 2008 and I am glad they released this web part.

Please find the list of the SharePoint 2010 collaboration features

• SharePoint 2010 Document collaboration via document libraries
• Wikis and enhanced blogs
• RSS support with capabilities of displaying ATOM feeds
• Discussion boards and Messaging
• Project task management and Project Management Office Tools
• Contacts, calendars, and tasks all integreated under one umbrela of the SharePoint 2010
• E-mail storing, retrival and management
• Better interworkings with Microsoft Office 2010
• Offline support using SharePoint Workspace 2010

You may look at the full list of features at this website SharePoint 2010 by Microsoft

You need to use download Manager to Install the Visual Studio 2010 and copy paste the following files

1. You can select all four files at the same time. http://download.microsoft.com/download/8/5/c/85c7cca1-7d25-4c9b-85fc-5e837a393a0b/WS08_RTM_x86_EnterpriseVHD.exe

http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/C/0/9C036510-3218-4258-8B03-67DC1D6A497C/SQLFULL_ENU.iso

http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/B/7/1B71259E-9D37-4EB7-BC8A-1B53DF7C7D86/VS2010B2TFS_3PartsTotal.part1.exe

http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/B/7/1B71259E-9D37-4EB7-BC8A-1B53DF7C7D86/VS2010B2TFS_3PartsTotal.part2.rar

http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/B/7/1B71259E-9D37-4EB7-BC8A-1B53DF7C7D86/VS2010B2TFS_3PartsTotal.part3.rar

http://download.microsoft.com/download/F/A/1/FA1DAEA6-B719-461D-96B0-31C9C63680C8/VS2010B2Ult_4PartsTotal.part1.exe

http://download.microsoft.com/download/F/A/1/FA1DAEA6-B719-461D-96B0-31C9C63680C8/VS2010B2Ult_4PartsTotal.part2.rar

http://download.microsoft.com/download/F/A/1/FA1DAEA6-B719-461D-96B0-31C9C63680C8/VS2010B2Ult_4PartsTotal.part3.rar

http://download.microsoft.com/download/F/A/1/FA1DAEA6-B719-461D-96B0-31C9C63680C8/VS2010B2Ult_4PartsTotal.part4.rar

2. Launch the user interface for Free Download Manager (either from the Start Menu or via the system tray icon if FDM is already running).

3. Click File -> Import -> Import List of URLs from Clipboard.

4. When prompted for a download group, accept the default ("Other") and click OK.

Teamprise did a good job at helping to integrate different programming development environments with the TFS and by acquiring it Microsoft improves chances of TFS to be used more widely.

There are many teams working together on the same project utilizing different programming languages such as Java and C#. Java can be used for Web Services and C# for WinForms etc... and there was always a question of how to manage these two different teams using two different languages and with the Teamprise in the Microsoft.

Microsoft will do a better job integrating the Teamprise with the TFS and hopefully it will lead to wider adaptation of the TFS.

You can find out more information about this acquisition online via reading Official Press Release

Newer version of the Microsoft's Visual Studio called Visual Studio 2010 brings a new list of features not available in prior versions of Visual Studio. We compiled short list of these features for your reference. You can always read more about these features on Microsoft MSDN site dedicated to Visual Studio 2010

• You can use the Navigate To feature to search for a symbol or file in the source code.
• You can search for keywords that are contained in a symbol by using Camel casing and underscore characters to divide the symbol into keywords.
• Generate From Usage supports programming styles such as test-driven development.
• Use suggestion mode for situations where classes and members are used before they are defined.
• Calls to and from a selected method, property, or constructor.
• Implementations of an interface member.
• Overrides of a virtual or abstract member.
• Text insertion: Type into a box selection to insert the new text on every selected line.
• Paste: Paste the contents of one box selection into another.
• Zero-length boxes: Make a vertical selection zero characters wide to create a multi-line insertion point for new or copied text.
• Tool windows can now move freely between docking at the edges of the IDE, floating outside the IDE, or filling part or all of the document frame. They remain in a dockable state at all times.

Microsoft does a good job of collecting and publishing the SharePoint Technical Articles code and detailed explanation on how to develop, extend and modify SharePoint API. Here is a brief list of the technical articles that Micorosoft published recently about SharePoint API and development and you should use it in your development process.

• Approaches to Creating Master Pages and Page Layouts in SharePoint Server 2007
• Best Practices: Writing SQL Syntax Queries for Relevant Results in Enterprise Search
• Capitalizing On the Social Network Capabilities of SharePoint Server 2007 User Profiles
• Configuring and Deploying Anonymous Publishing Sites for SharePoint Server 2007
• Creating a Custom Feature in SharePoint Server 2007
• Creating a Custom User Site Provisioning Solution with SharePoint Server 2007 (Part 1 of 2)
• Creating a Custom User Site Provisioning Solution with SharePoint Server 2007 (Part 2 of 2)
• Creating a Database Connection by Using the Business Data Catalog Definition Editor
• Creating a Web Service Connection by Using the Business Data Catalog Definition Editor
• Creating an Enterprise Search Crawl Log Viewer for SharePoint Server 2007
• Customizing and Branding Web Content Management-Enabled SharePoint Sites (Part 1 of 3)
• Customizing and Branding Web Content Management-Enabled SharePoint Sites (Part 2 of 3)
• Customizing and Branding Web Content Management-Enabled SharePoint Sites (Part 3 of 3)
• Data-Type Handling with Excel Services User-Defined Functions
• Delivering Modular SharePoint Workflow Functionality (Part 1 of 2)
• Delivering Modular SharePoint Workflow Functionality (Part 2 of 2)
• Deploying and Optimizing a SharePoint Web Part That Calls Excel Web Services
• Deploying Information Management Policy Using Feature Activation in SharePoint Server 2007
• Developer Introduction to Workflows for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and SharePoint Server 2007
• Developing Sequential Workflows for SharePoint Server 2007 Using Visual Studio 2008
• Developing SharePoint 2007 Sequential and State Machine Workflows with Visual Studio 2008
• Developing User-Defined Functions for Excel 2007 and Excel Services
• Developing Workflow Solutions with SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows Workflow Foundation
• Editing Business Data Using Business Data Catalog Actions and InfoPath Forms Services
• Evaluating and Customizing Search Relevance in SharePoint Server 2007
• Excel Services Technical Overview
• Extending the Excel Services Programmability Framework
• Finding Developer Help for SharePoint Products and Technologies
• Forms Authentication in SharePoint Products and Technologies (Part 1): Introduction
• Forms Authentication in SharePoint Products and Technologies (Part 2): Membership and Role Provider Samples
• Forms Authentication in SharePoint Products and Technologies (Part 3): Forms Authentication vs. Windows Authentication
• Helper Classes for the SharePoint Server 2007 Search Query Web Service Built Using the Microsoft .NET Framework
• How to Create a SharePoint Server 2007 Custom Master Page and Page Layouts for a Web Content Management Site
• How to Create a Silverlight Web Part in ASP.NET for Use in SharePoint Server 2007
• How to Optimize a SharePoint Server 2007 Web Content Management Site for Performance
• How to Optimize SharePoint Server 2007 Web Content Management Sites for Search Engines
• Identity and Access Strategies for SharePoint Products and Technologies (Part 1): Membership and Provider Architecture
• Identity and Access Strategies for SharePoint Products and Technologies (Part 2): Membership and Role Provider Assignment
• Implementing a Brand in a SharePoint Server 2007 Publishing Site
• Integrating External Document Repositories with SharePoint Server 2007
• Integrating Siebel CRM with Office SharePoint Server 2007
• Integrating SharePoint Server 2007 with Community Server Membership Databases
• Introduction to SharePoint Products and Technologies for the Professional .NET Developer
• Item-Level Auditing with SharePoint Server 2007
• Performing Incremental Crawling with the Business Data Catalog in SharePoint Server 2007
• Prescriptive Guidance for SharePoint Server 2007 Web Content Management Sites
• Searching Sites Protected by Forms Authentication with Enterprise Search in SharePoint Server 2007
• SharePoint Server 2007 for MCMS 2002 Developers
• Solution and Authored Artifact Development Models for SharePoint Products and Technologies
• Team-Based Development in SharePoint Server 2007
• Ten Tips for Using SharePoint Server 2007 with Excel Services
• Understanding Field Controls and Web Parts in SharePoint Server 2007 Publishing Sites
• Understanding the Report Center and Dashboards in SharePoint Server 2007
• Upgrading an MCMS 2002 Application to SharePoint Server 2007 (Part 1 of 2)
• Upgrading an MCMS 2002 Application to SharePoint Server 2007 (Part 2 of 2)
• Upgrading SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Customizations to SharePoint Server 2007 (Part 1 of 2)
• Upgrading SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Customizations to SharePoint Server 2007 (Part 2 of 2)
• Using Enterprise Search Property Filters in SharePoint Server 2007
• Using Excel Web Services in a SharePoint Web Part
• Using Team Foundation Server to Develop Custom SharePoint Products and Technologies Applications

URL to access each of these articles is published on main Micorosoft MSDN SharePoint site. I purposly did not link each indvidual article due to changing nature of the MSND site and link updates that Microsoft does time to time.

One way to check for the SharePoint site existance is to pass site name to a method that wil return true or false based on the end result. Otherwise, you may run into run time errors when trying to add a file to the SharePoint site that does not exist.

private static bool CheckSPSite(string siteName) 
{
            using (SPSite site = new SPSite(siteName)) 
            { 
                using (SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb()) 
                {                     
                    if (!web.Exists) 
                    { 
                        return false; 
                    } 
                    else
                    { 
                        return true; 
                    } 
                } 
            } 
        }

I would recommend creating util Library where you can store all your helper methods and re-use in other projects.

I was looking around for the simple way of getting unique values from SharePoint list without affecting performance too much. I have seen several ways of doing it. For example, people say that you can get all the items and then check if item exists in the array or some other collection. Another example, you can load your data into DataTable and then select unique values using DataTable method but I disciovered one very simple method for selecting Distinct Values in SharePoint called GetDistinctFieldValues. Please see snippet of code below on how to use it

SPWeb web = new SPSite("http://site").OpenWeb();
SPList objList = web.Lists["List Name"];
SPField field = objList.Fields.GetField("Field Name"); 

object[,] values;
uint numberValues = objList.GetDistinctFieldValues(field, out values); 
       

for (int i = 0; i < numberValues; i++)
    comboBox1.Items.Add(values.GetValue(0, i).ToString()); 

There are many ways to provision your SharePoint site. First, you can write totaly custom made script and provision it with SharePoint admin commands. Second, you can use third party tools to provision sites. Finally, you can provision with the SharePoint workflows. This is the site provisioning method that I would prefer and I would also recommend for other who is tasked with the site provisioning.

Here is starting point that I used: Site Provisioning Workflow with Custom SharePoint Designer Activity

We published next batch of Microsoft exam reviews which will help you in your preparations for these exams.

• Exam 70-272
• Exam 70-284
• Exam 70-290
• Exam 70-291
• Exam 70-292
• Exam 70-293
• Exam 70-294
• Exam 70-297
• Exam 70-298
• Exam 70-299
• Exam 70-300
• Exam 70-305
• Exam 70-306
• Exam 70-315
• Exam 70-316
• Exam 70-320
• Exam 70-350
• Exam 70-351
• Exam 70-400
• Exam 70-431
• Exam 70-433
• Exam 70-445
• Exam 70-446
• Exam 70-500
• Exam 70-504
• Exam 70-510
• Exam 70-529
• Exam 70-536
• Exam 70-541
• Exam 70-542
• Exam 70-548
• Exam 70-553
• Exam 70-554
• Exam 70-556
• Exam 70-557
• Exam 70-561
• Exam 70-564
• Exam 70-567
• Exam 70-568
• Exam 70-571
• Exam 70-601
• Exam 70-632
• Exam 70-633
• Exam 70-634
• Exam 70-638
• Exam 70-640
• Exam 70-642
• Exam 70-643
• Exam 70-647
• Exam 70-720

There is no easy way to unit test SharePoint code. Every time you try to do it on your development computer, you will run into problem of missing SharePoint DLLs. The reason is that in order to make calls to API you really need to have server installed on your computer. There are several ways you can deal with this unique challenge.

1. You can use Server as your development environment, it can be an Image or real server.

2. You can utilize Mocking mechanism that will allow you to make calls to SharePoint object model but these call will be re-routed to dummy objects that replicate same functionality as original API calls

Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) is the new way of implementing SOA and I was thinking about using it for the SharePoint. As we all know, SharePoint has its own set of Web Services which are based on the original approach to SOA and with the help of WCF we can take SharePoint to the next level.

Recently, I was tasked with updating SharePoint libraries with the external documents. However, there is no web service now that can do it. As a result, I decided to use WCF and in the process wanted to convert all of the existing WebService to WCF.

I was browsing several sites on the internet and found several implementations of WCF for the SharePoint but mostly on the site level and not on the server level. In my case, I need to have WCF implemented for the admin operations with the SharePoint for the entire collection of sites, not just one site at a time.

Microsoft is coming up with the new SharePoint 2010 and I am hoping that they will utalize WCF instead of WebServices which will make it more up to day.

We have uploaded several Microsoft exam reviews on our site and you can find them by going into each corresponding exam:

• Exam 70-058
• Exam 70-100
• Exam 70-121
• Exam 70-123
• Exam 70-210
• Exam 70-215
• Exam 70-216
• Exam 70-217
• Exam 70-218
• Exam 70-228
• Exam 70-229
• Exam 70-237
• Exam 70-260
• Exam 70-270
• Exam 70-271

We started new section on our Tutorial Page called Exam where we provide descriptions and guidance on each of the known Microsoft Exams.

We are hoping to build community where our readers can exchange information and provide advice to each other with regards to each of the exams listed on our Microsoft Exams page.

SharePoint Feature allow for different types of elements to be incorporated into SharePoint site. You can define several element types: menu command, template, page instance, event handler, workflow, list definition, list instance and link command.

It is most likely that you already have features defined in your SharePoint server. In order to see what you have in it you need to navigate to the following folder: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\FEATURES

Each feature would normally have two files associated with it: “feature.xml” and “elements.xml”. Sometimes you will also find aspx pages inside this feature folder.

In order to create feature you need to start up a new class library dll project using your Visual Studio 2005. The first step that we need to take is to re-create same folder structure as WSS 3.0 in our case we need to create TEMPLATE/FEATURES/OurFeatureName folder under the root of the project. Once we have this feature folder created, we need to create new XML file called feature.xml. Inside this file we need to define attributes of this feature. We need to make this feature hidden for instance, then we need to set attribute Hidden=”TRUE” and etc…

<Feature  
Id=“can be unique id something like GUID”  
Title=“My Feature“ 
Description=“My Feature Description.“  
Scope=“Web“  
Hidden=“TRUE“ 
ImageUrl=“menuprofile.gif“  
xmlns=“http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/“>    
    <ElementManifests>    
         <ElementManifest Location=“elements.xml“ />  
    <ElementManifests>
</Feature>  

Attributes of the feature and their meanings are summarized below:

Id: unique identifier or GUID. In order to get one you need to navigate inside your Visual Studio 2005 to menu toolbar and select Tools ? Create GUID. You will see a new window in which you need to select “4 Registry Format…” then click button called Copy and Exit. You have now new GUID that you can paste into id attribute of your feature.

• Title: Feature Title.
• Description: Feature Description.
• Scope: Scoping is important is you want to activate and deactivate feature in different SharePoint contexts (Web, WebApplication, Farm, Site).
• Hidden: It can make feature visible or invisible. It can be set via command window as well.
• ImageUrl: Sets image to be displayed along with feautre.

There are also other element that are part of the feature. Theye are ElementManifests and ElementManifest. Both are playing an important role in referencing to other XML files. Most often, there is a file called “element.xml” which defines other elements needed to the feature. Element.xml file is also created within same folder as feature.xml and has several elements in it.

<Elements xmlns=“http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/“ >  <CustomAction    Id=“SiteActionsToolbar“    
GroupId=“SiteActions“    
Location=“Microsoft.SharePoint.StandardMenu“   
Sequence=“100“    
Title=“Hello World“    
Description=“A custom menu item added using a feature“    ImageUrl=“_layouts/images/menuprofile.gif“ > 
    <UrlAction Url=“http://www.google.com/>      
</CustomAction>
</Elements > 

Attributes are:

• Id: it has name of the menu or other page elements where we want this feature to appear.
• Title: Title of the item to be shown on the site element
• Description: Description of the feature

We also have several elements as a part of this file. UrlAction is one such element.

UrlAction: is used to redirect users if they click on the link

Once we have everything in place in terms of project files, we need to install this feature inside SharePoint Features Library. You can do it two ways, running installation process manually or creating Batch File. Batch file will look like this:

@SET DIR=”C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE”
@SET STSADM=”C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\BIN\stsadm” 
Echo Copying filesxcopy /e /y TEMPLATE\* %DIR% 
Echo Installing feature%STSADM% -o InstallFeature -filename YourFeatureName\feature.xml -force 
Echo Reatart IIS Worker Process
IISRESET  

Make sure you restart IIS in order for this feature to be activated.

We use STSADM.EXE utility to install this feature within our SharePoint server. In case you run into problem with installing this feature you can check to see if this feature files are inside your FEATURES folder by going to “C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\FEATURES” . Also, you can test your “feature.xml” and “element.xml” files for well formed XML.

SharePoint Feature

There are time when we need to create a new MOSS 2007 site. We can do it in two ways each of which has pros and cons. One is manual another if automated.

I would always recommend automated SharePoint site provisioning and for the following reason.

1. It is faster to provision something that is automated
2. No human errors
3. It can be scaled up easily if needed
4. It is easier to maintain integrity of the taxonomy
5. Ease of use once entire process is set up.

I also recommend to use one of the template sites that come with MOSS 2007 or creating your own. One good candidate for site provisioning template is STS#0 Team Site

There are severl resource online that can help you start with Site Provisioning.

• MOSS 2007 Sample Application
• MOSS 2007 SDK
• Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Tools: Visual Studio 2008 Extensions

I use Google.com search engine as everybody else but recently I started to see a message on the top right corner that says: Customized based on recent search activity.

I tried to look around and finally gave up. Google does not provide what is means and I am not logged into the google.com account. This message still shows up. How can it customize for me if it does not even know who I am. What if I am using public PC, how is it going to be customized for me based on my recent search activity?

I am planning to release a series of SharePoint tutorial this coming week. In preparation for this release I was studying several online materials that are readily available online. I try to summarize my list of SharePoint training material that was used in SharePoint tutorial which will be part of our tutorial section of the site.

First, you need to start with simple introduction to SharePoint if you have never heard about it. More senior developers who have knowledge may just skip this section all together.

I found that I can learn faster if I see, hear and write all at the same time. As a result, I really like to listen to SharePoint online videos and webcasts that expert produced and published online.

In order to gain information on most recent developments that happen with SharePoint, I like to read blogs of developers who actually developed and support SharePoint development community.

I then like to read up on SharePoint white-papers and practice guides all produced by Microsoft. I rarely follow white-papers by third companies since most of it just hidden form of advertisement for their services. There are actually several of them available online from Microsoft site and CodePlex site

Microsoft produced at least two different sets of training for WSS and MOSS that are deep technically and easy to understand and use.

Finally, when you ready to be certified, you need to complete these two important exams
70-541 TS: Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 – Application Development
70-542 TS: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 – Application Development

You don't need to purchase software to start working with SharePoint, just download SharePoint VPC from Microsoft site

Visual Studio Team System decided to expend its presense throuout social networking world and we have few of our own coial networking links for you to check out.

VSTS on Twitter

Bloglines Blog
Read our Bloglines Feed
VSTS on Blogger
Netvibes

We decided to explore possibility of opening up our own video channel on YouTube. We'll posting videos on our new video channel on YouTube with Visual Studio Tutorials and guides on how to use Visual Studio Team System.

I was browsing google.com and saw underneath each link a message that says "This site may harm your computer" I saw it for every legitimate site even for google itself.

I tried to click on the links and got another Warning page from google that said: "Warning - visiting this web site may harm your computer!"

I am not sure if my computer is infected in some way so that every link on the google.com page is getting this message or google.com really screw things up and This site may harm your computer message pops-up now every there.

There are reports that google.com main index may have been broken or even hacked.

You would normally see this message "This site may harm your computer" when google.com identifies website that has some sort of malware that it tries to install or if website is infected with the virus. This is a big blow to google.com reputation. The interesting part is that all websites that deal with Internet security have this message underneath its main Title on google.com results page.

Google explanation to this error message: "We want our users to feel safe when they search the web, and we're continuously working to identify dangerous sites and increase protection for our users." It means as of now I cannot access any of the site directly from google.com search results page because every site is identified as dangerous.

Here is what you can see if your search for google itself

I tried to type This site may harm your computer into google.com to search for this error message and got back several sites with the same issue

It has been almost 15 minutes since I noticed this message but google.com still is showing it on their website. I am hoping it will get resolved soon. At least, I am sure its not my computer. I have read that many people are experiencing same problem, so it must be google.com issue.

Its 10:45 am EST now and I see that error does not appear on google.com search result. It means that google.com got this issue resolved. I wonder what caused this issue

• A Virus
• Hacker attack
• Google tried to release new feature but broke the site

Error message this site may harm your computer stopped appearing on google.com site even though people from other countries are still experiencing it. It was brought to my attention that first case of this error was recorded in India.

There is a need to log errors, events, exceptions every time you design and develop an application. The Logging is important for many reasons. It helps you to track any issues happening with the application. It helps to track usage statistics. It helps with capturing exceptions. As a result, the Logging should always be an integral part of any solid application design and development

Thankfully, Microsoft's Enterprise Library has Logging Application Block amongst other Application Blocks and it is ready to be used by .NET Developers. This is one of the benefits working with the .NET Framework.

The Logging Application Block is an integral part of every major Enterprise Library release. It lets you capture errors, events, exceptions then email it to you or store this information to:

Application event log
Database
File
Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)
Custom Locations

In order to start using Logging Application Block you need to add reference to the following libraries that comes with the Logging Application Block:

• Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Logging
• Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Logging.ExtraInformation
• Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Logging.Filters

You may start learning more about the Logging Application Blocks on Microsoft website.

It is important to create error free and bug free code while developing website and with the help of .NET Framework it is easier now than before. Moreover, EntLib provides so much plumbing code that the only thing .NET Developer needs to do is to build business application without worring too much about caching, error logging, forms validations and other aspects of the .NET Development.

There is another system that Microsoft developed for .NET Developers that is not very known but important for overall approach to development of the .NET Applications. System is called The Health Monitoring. It is designed to help capture events raised by the application. Moreover it can store this events into Windows Application Log (EventLogWebEventProvider), SQL Database (SqlWebEventProvider), Email (SimpleMailWebEventProvider) it to your email account or map ASP.NET events to WMI event (WmiWebEventProvider)

In order to use Health Monitoring in you ASP.NET application you need to set a reference to the Enterprise Library in your code, enable Health Monitoring in your web.config file and choose a place to store all information that the Health Monitoring captures for you.

There is very detailed set of guidelines on how to do it developed by Microsoft.

Microsoft release updated version of its Microsoft Enterprise Library 4.1 back in October 2008. This release has several improvements over prior version. There are several blocks that we are all familiar with from other Microsoft Enterprise Libraries.

• Caching Application Block used for application caching. Web based projects or Windows Forms projects are all good candidates for caching.
• Cryptography Application Block takes care of encryption and decryption needed for any security needs while creating applications. .
• Exception Handling Application Block is another very useful block for a routine task such as exception handling within application. .
• Logging Application Block can be used for error logging, events logging which is a powerful way of tracking issues, usage statistics of your application. .
• Policy Injection Application Block can be used to validate form elements for valid inputs without writing your own custom validations. .
• Security Application Block used to incorporate authorization, authentication and security caching for Web or WinForms applications. .
• Unity Application Block. dependency injection container with support for constructor.
• Validation Application Block used to create validation rules for business objects. These Objects can be used in multi payers of the application. .

Links that will help you to further your knowledge about Microsoft Enterprise Library 4.1

1. EntLib
2. MSDN Information about Microsoft Enterprise Library 4.1

TFS Workspace is a one of the new concepts introduced with Team Foundation Server. TFS Workspace is a container that acts as a bridge between your local development machine and TFS Server with source files. TFS Workspace is local to you and only you aware of this workspace. Hence, the identity of the TFS Workspace is your computer name and your user account.

• Note: TFS Workspace name can be no longer than 64 characters and has to be unique.

TFS Workspace acts as a bridge as it was mentioned before as a result it needs to have links between your computer and server. These links are represented with the mappings between your working folder and folder with the source files located on the TFS server. It is TFS job to remember what files you downloaded, checkin or checked out to your local workspace. This information tracking allows TFS selectively provide you files that are needed once you issue update command. TFS is aware what is the latest on your computer and downloads only those files that are needed for your development.

TFS Workspace is also smart about files that have names changed or files that have been deleted on the server. All these changes are propagated to your local workspace one you issue “Get Latest” command.

TFS Workspace needed when you do checkin/checkout and any other operations that edit existing file. When you try to edit file for example, TFS checks your local version of the file with the TFS Source Control and updates it with the latest version before letting you edit it. On the other hand, when you try to checkin pending changes; TFS looks at you local workspace and checks against its own version. If both versions have conflict, TFS prompts you with the conflict resolution screen that you use to resolve any pending conflicts. One everything is resolved. TFS takes your local copy of the file from your own TFS workspace, creates changeset and commits changes to its own version of the source file.

We submitted our site to McAfee SECURE in order to certify our site as being safe for our users. They perform different tests against website for all known issues with the site being secured such as SQL injection, JavaScript injection attacks and others.

Here is official statements from McAfee Secure

• "McAfee SECURE web sites have passed a set of daily security scans that helps address your security concerns like hackers stealing your confidential information. McAfee SECURE shopping is your safe shopping destination. Browse and shop with confidence at hundreds of merchants."

You can always check if we are in compliance with the McAfee SECURE requirements here

Microsoft is reading new set of exams that will certify you in NET 3.5 and Visual Studio 2008. There are several exams for you to learn if you plan to pass MCPD for the first time and there is also a set of exams for the upgrade from MCPD 2005 to MCPD 2008.

New MCDP 2008 certification is following same pattern as MCDP 2005 with the new certifications available in the following exam paths:

• Windows Developer 3.5
• ASP.NET Developer 3.5
• Enterprise Application Developer 3.5

upgrade certifications available for the following exam paths:

• Windows Developer
• Web Developer
• Enterprise Application Developer

You can read more about MCPD 2008 on Microsoft website at:

P.S. Upgrade exams are not available as of 1/2/2009

TFS Branching is a hot topic amongst development team. There are many was to branch your project and each approach has its advantages as well as disadvantages. However, branching is needed and this is the only thing that is certain.

VSTS Rangers came very close in answering questions that so many development teams have with regards to branching. They identified three different strategies for TFS Branching. They also call them TFS Branching Plans

Basic TFS Branch Plan – the idea behind Basic Branch Plan is to enable dev. team to develop for the next release and at a same time keep fixing bugs in the new release. In other word, you have main TFS branch with two offshoots: development branch and release branch. You dev team can work on each individually and then changes are merged back into the main branch.

Standard TFS Branch Plan – this is more advanced TFS branching technique and it is aligned with your release strategy. If you push any type of service packs or hotfixes as a stand alone packages then you need to have additional branch just for these hotfixes or service packs. This new service pack branch will sit between your main TFS branch and your release branch and changes are merged between these three branches.

Advanced TFS Branch Plan – this is the most comprehensive approach and it is mostly done by companies like Microsoft when you have multiple releases of the service packs and along with the releases of the main application. Advanced TFS branching allows to have as many branches between main branch and release branch as necessary to support your release strategy. For example, if you release hot fixes along with major service packs then you’ll have two branches sitting between your main branch and your release branch.

You can read more about it on CodePlex...

It is alwasy easy to learn when you can see for yoursefl. Here is one of those valuable resources that everybody wants to find: http://www.asp.net/learn/videos/ (link)

They have great deal of Video Tutorials and it is important to watch them and then suppliment with books or MSDN Magazines.

I persinally prefer Video Tutorials when studying for the first time and then print outs with Step by Step guides if there is a need to configure or develop something.

Many people tried to categorize all aspects of Visual Studio Team System. Many attempts fail due to overwhelming amount of features and capabilities that VSTS has. Fortunately, there is a map out there that provides such a view.

I worked with VSTS for a while now and I believe this is complete tree like presentation of the all the useful VSTS tools and features.

I am hoping that this map will be updated with time and we’ll get a full benefit of this resource Site Link: http://www.cshost.members.winisp.net/blog/vstsresources.html

There is set of rules that you can run against your code for the Code Analysis.

Here is a list of those rules. You may not alwasy run all of them agsint your code and here is very good explanation for it.

Public Rule Set:

Design
CA1008 EnumsShouldHaveZeroValue
CA1009 DeclareEventHandlersCorrectly
CA1011 ConsiderPassingBaseTypesAsParameters
CA1012 AbstractTypesShouldNotHaveConstructors
CA1014 MarkAssembliesWithClsCompliant
CA1017 MarkAssembliesWithComVisible
CA1018 MarkAttributesWithAttributeUsage
CA1019 DefineAccessorsForAttributeArguments
CA1023 IndexersShouldNotBeMultidimensional
CA1025 ReplaceRepetitiveArgumentsWithParamsArray
CA1026 DefaultParametersShouldNotBeUsed
CA1027 MarkEnumsWithFlags
CA1028 EnumStorageShouldBeInt32
CA1030 UseEventsWhereAppropriate
CA1032 ImplementStandardExceptionConstructors
CA1034 NestedTypesShouldNotBeVisible
CA1036 OverrideMethodsOnComparableTypes
CA1038 EnumeratorsShouldBeStronglyTyped
CA1039 ListsAreStronglyTyped
CA1040 AvoidEmptyInterfaces
CA1041 ProvideObsoleteAttributeMessage
CA1043 UseIntegralOrStringArgumentForIndexers
CA1044 PropertiesShouldNotBeWriteOnly
CA1045 DoNotPassTypesByReference
CA1046 DoNotOverloadOperatorEqualsOnReferenceTypes
CA1050 DeclareTypesInNamespaces
CA1051 DoNotDeclareVisibleInstanceFields
CA1052 StaticHolderTypesShouldBeSealed
CA1053 StaticHolderTypesShouldNotHaveConstructors
CA1054 UriParametersShouldNotBeStrings
CA1055 UriReturnValuesShouldNotBeStrings
CA1056 UriPropertiesShouldNotBeStrings
CA1057 StringUriOverloadsCallSystemUriOverloads
CA1058 TypesShouldNotExtendCertainBaseTypes
CA1059 MembersShouldNotExposeCertainConcreteTypes

Globalization
CA1300 SpecifyMessageBoxOptions
CA1301 AvoidDuplicateAccelerators
CA1304 SpecifyCultureInfo
CA1305 SpecifyIFormatProvider
CA1306 SetLocaleForDataTypes
CA1307 SpecifyStringComparison
CA1309 UseOrdinalStringComparison
CA2101 SpecifyMarshalingForPInvokeStringArguments

Interoperability
CA1401 PInvokesShouldNotBeVisible
CA1402 AvoidOverloadsInComVisibleInterfaces
CA1403 AutoLayoutTypesShouldNotBeComVisible
CA1404 CallGetLastErrorImmediatelyAfterPInvoke
CA1405 ComVisibleTypeBaseTypesShouldBeComVisible
CA1406 AvoidInt64ArgumentsForVB6Clients
CA1408 DoNotUseAutoDualClassInterfaceType
CA1413 AvoidNonpublicFieldsInComVisibleValueTypes

Naming
CA1700 DoNotNameEnumValuesReserved
CA1701 ResourceStringCompoundWordsShouldBeCasedCorrectly
CA1702 CompoundWordsShouldBeCasedCorrectly
CA1703 ResourceStringsShouldBeSpelledCorrectly
CA1704 IdentifiersShouldBeSpelledCorrectly
CA1707 IdentifiersShouldNotContainUnderscores
CA1708 IdentifiersShouldDifferByMoreThanCase
CA1709 IdentifiersShouldBeCasedCorrectly
CA1710 IdentifiersShouldHaveCorrectSuffix
CA1711 IdentifiersShouldNotHaveIncorrectSuffix
CA1712 DoNotPrefixEnumValuesWithTypeName
CA1713 EventsShouldNotHaveBeforeOrAfterPrefix
CA1714 FlagsEnumsShouldHavePluralNames
CA1715 IdentifiersShouldHaveCorrectPrefix
CA1716 IdentifiersShouldNotMatchKeywords
CA1719 ParameterNamesShouldNotMatchMemberNames
CA1720 IdentifiersShouldNotContainTypeNames
CA1721 PropertyNamesShouldNotMatchGetMethods
CA1722 IdentifiersShouldNotHaveIncorrectPrefix
CA1724 TypeNamesShouldNotMatchNamespaces

Performance
CA1811 AvoidUncalledPrivateCode
CA1812 AvoidUninstantiatedInternalClasses
CA1813 AvoidUnsealedAttributes
CA1815 OverrideEqualsAndOperatorEqualsOnValueTypes
CA1816 DisposeMethodsShouldCallSuppressFinalize
CA1819 PropertiesShouldNotReturnArrays

Portability
CA1900 ValueTypeFieldsShouldBePortable
CA1901 PInvokeDeclarationsShouldBePortable

Reliability
CA2001 AvoidCallingProblematicMethods
CA2002 DoNotLockOnObjectsWithWeakIdentity
CA2004 RemoveCallsToGCKeepAlive
CA2006 UseSafeHandleToEncapsulateNativeResources

Security
CA2102 CatchNonClsCompliantExceptionsInGeneralHandlers
CA2103 ReviewImperativeSecurity
CA2104 DoNotDeclareReadOnlyMutableReferenceTypes
CA2105 ArrayFieldsShouldNotBeReadOnly
CA2106 SecureAsserts
CA2107 ReviewDenyAndPermitOnlyUsage
CA2108 ReviewDeclarativeSecurityOnValueTypes
CA2109 ReviewVisibleEventHandlers
CA2111 PointersShouldNotBeVisible
CA2112 SecuredTypesShouldNotExposeFields
CA2114 MethodSecurityShouldBeASupersetOfType
CA2115 CallGCKeepAliveWhenUsingNativeResources
CA2116 AptcaMethodsShouldOnlyCallAptcaMethods
CA2117 AptcaTypesShouldOnlyExtendAptcaBaseTypes
CA2118 ReviewSuppressUnmanagedCodeSecurityUsage
CA2119 SealMethodsThatSatisfyPrivateInterfaces
CA2120 SecureSerializationConstructors
CA2121 StaticConstructorsShouldBePrivate
CA2122 DoNotIndirectlyExposeMethodsWithLinkDemands
CA2123 OverrideLinkDemandsShouldBeIdenticalToBase
CA2124 WrapVulnerableFinallyClausesInOuterTry
CA2126 TypeLinkDemandsRequireInheritanceDemands
CA2127 SecurityTransparentAssembliesShouldNotContainSecurityCriticalCode
CA2128 SecurityTransparentCodeShouldNotAssert
CA2129 SecurityTransparentCodeShouldNotReferenceNonpublicSecurityCriticalCode

Usage
CA1806 DoNotIgnoreMethodResults
CA2207 InitializeValueTypeStaticFieldsInline
CA2208 InstantiateArgumentExceptionsCorrectly
CA2209 AssembliesShouldDeclareMinimumSecurity
CA2211 NonConstantFieldsShouldNotBeVisible
CA2213 DisposableFieldsShouldBeDisposed
CA2214 DoNotCallOverridableMethodsInConstructors
CA2216 DisposableTypesShouldDeclareFinalizer
CA2217 DoNotMarkEnumsWithFlags
CA2218 OverrideGetHashCodeOnOverridingEquals
CA2220 FinalizersShouldCallBaseClassFinalizer
CA2221 FinalizersShouldBeProtected
CA2224 OverrideEqualsOnOverloadingOperatorEquals
CA2225 OperatorOverloadsHaveNamedAlternates
CA2227 CollectionPropertiesShouldBeReadOnly
CA2228 DoNotShipUnreleasedResourceFormats
CA2229 ImplementSerializationConstructors
CA2230 UseParamsForVariableArguments
CA2233 OperationsShouldNotOverflow
CA2234 PassSystemUriObjectsInsteadOfStrings
CA2235 MarkAllNonSerializableFields
CA2236 CallBaseClassMethodsOnISerializableTypes
CA2237 MarkISerializableTypesWithSerializable
CA2240 ImplementISerializableCorrectly

Non-Public Rule Set:

Globalization
CA2101 SpecifyMarshalingForPInvokeStringArguments

Portability
CA1900 ValueTypeFieldsShouldBePortable
CA1901 PInvokeDeclarationsShouldBePortable

Reliability
CA2002 DoNotLockOnObjectsWithWeakIdentity

Security
CA2100 ReviewSqlQueriesForSecurityVulnerabilities
CA2102 CatchNonClsCompliantExceptionsInGeneralHandlers
CA2103 ReviewImperativeSecurity
CA2104 DoNotDeclareReadOnlyMutableReferenceTypes
CA2105 ArrayFieldsShouldNotBeReadOnly
CA2106 SecureAsserts
CA2107 ReviewDenyAndPermitOnlyUsage
CA2108 ReviewDeclarativeSecurityOnValueTypes
CA2109 ReviewVisibleEventHandlers
CA2111 PointersShouldNotBeVisible
CA2112 SecuredTypesShouldNotExposeFields
CA2114 MethodSecurityShouldBeASupersetOfType
CA2115 CallGCKeepAliveWhenUsingNativeResources
CA2116 AptcaMethodsShouldOnlyCallAptcaMethods
CA2117 AptcaTypesShouldOnlyExtendAptcaBaseTypes
CA2118 ReviewSuppressUnmanagedCodeSecurityUsage
CA2119 SealMethodsThatSatisfyPrivateInterfaces
CA2120 SecureSerializationConstructors
CA2121 StaticConstructorsShouldBePrivate
CA2122 DoNotIndirectlyExposeMethodsWithLinkDemands
CA2123 OverrideLinkDemandsShouldBeIdenticalToBase
CA2124 WrapVulnerableFinallyClausesInOuterTry
CA2126 TypeLinkDemandsRequireInheritanceDemands
CA2127 SecurityTransparentAssembliesShouldNotContainSecurityCriticalCode
CA2128 SecurityTransparentCodeShouldNotAssert
CA2129 SecurityTransparentCodeShouldNotReferenceNonpublicSecurityCriticalCode

Usage
CA2233 OperationsShouldNotOverflow

http://blogs.msdn.com/fxcop/archive/2007/08/09/what-rules-do-microsoft-have-turned-on-internally.aspx

In addition, you don't have to use Microsoft toolset even though it comes for free. There are other nice commercial tools out there that can do better job at visually presenting you with the charts and other visual effects of your code analysis. NDepend is one such example. You can read an article on how to use this tool here.

http://www.ndepend.com/

Do we Migrate or Re-Write? This is one of the main questions that anyone who tried to re-engineer legacy VB 6.0 application.

Microsoft done supporting VB 6.0 as of 3/1/2008 and now millions of lines of code hanging out here and the only solution is to re-engineer.

As always, Microsoft provided lots of useful information on their website. Here is a list of site that I found useful:

VB Run
- one of the better resources for VB 6.0 professionals.

In addition, Microsoft released Patterns and Practices on VB 6.0 Migration with excellent samples and step-by-step guides. It is also worth looking at.

Also, this blog post is good source of information. We used some of the links for VB 6.0 Migration from them: http://blogs.msdn.com/annali/archive/2006/02/07/526296.aspx

Continuous Integration is a commonly accepted and aknowledged software development practice. During Continuous Integration members of a software development team build or integrate their work daily. Moreover, each Continuous Integration is validated with the help of the TFS Build Tool. Continuous Integration is important for several reasons: it helps to detect errors with your build early in the process and it is good testing strategy if your software development requires software integration process.

Continuous Integration is an integral part of the TFS Build Tool and it is not difficutl to configure it. All you have to do is to specify or check an option that requires TFS Build to perform project build every time there is a check-in by a member of the team into Source Control.

List of strategies for the continuous integration
The following list identifies various strategies used for continuous integration builds:

• Build on each check-in.
• Rolling build after a specific number of check-ins.
• Rolling build after a specific time interval.
• Rolling build after a specific number of check-ins or time interval.

MSDN Resources that I found to be very usefull

TFS 2005 Continuous Integration
Continuous Integration Using Team Foundation Build
Visual Studio Team System CI solution installer

TFS 2005 Continuous Integration
TFS 2008 has its own wizard like CI set up. You don't need to install anything on your server for Continuous Integration being part of TFS 2008.

I find it useful to take virtual labs that Microsoft provides and then download PVC Image to a local computer and play around with the Visual Studio 2008 that way untill you have a good understanding of its capabilities.

As a result, I want to share my first steps.

Online Lab

Virtual PC

We got new studio and we got new visual capability to manage Branching and Merging. This is really big deal with the Branching and Merging which was only availble via command line.

Microsoft's Channel 9 produced nice video about Branching and Merging in Visual Studio 2010.

I strongly recommend this video for the Branching and Merging as a concept as well as particular application.

I am sure you heard many time the name of this person if you tried to read on or learn about Team Foundation Server. In fact, Brian Harry is a father of TFS and sometime is called Microsoft Big Brains: Brian Harry

Brian introduced us to TFS via his blog and video tutorials that he posts regularly on Channel 9 website. One of his personal contribution is a set of tools bundled together that helps us manager Work Item templates, work with project structure and other useful tools that any developer who works with TFS find invaluable.

Number of fields in TFS Template is very important indeed, you should not have too many and too few will not be very useful. So, what is the number of field in the TFS Template is just right?

Unfortunately, there is no a single answer that can explain to you what is the golden middle. Microsoft tries to answer this question here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa974183(VS.80).aspx

In general, there are several areas of TFS where number of fields can have an impact. Datawarehouse is one such place. SSRS is using TFS Datawarehouse.

Another thing you have to consider is maintainability of the Template. It is always harder to work with too many fields and setting up rules around those fields.

I would strongly recommend starting up with few fields, building workflow rules around them and then expend as needed. There are several templates already available that you can use as your starting point.

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