Monday, November 24, 2008

Connect Remotely to SQL Server Express.

If you are using MS SQL Server 2005 standard edition or enterprise edition this remote connection feature is enabled by default but for SQL Server Express edition by default this feature is disabled , if your application need to connect SQL server express database remotely then you need to enable remote connection manually, here are those 8 simple steps to enable the feature and allow you application to connect remotely

1. Go to start menu, browse to Microsoft SQL Server 2005 – > Configuration Tools –> and open SQL Sever Surface Area Configuration

1

2. Click on “Surface Area Configuration for Services and connections”

 

2

 

3. Select “Remote Connection” , you can see there the option “Local connection only” selected as default selection.

 

3

4. change this to Local and Remote connections.

4

5. it will show you a message windows indicating that this change  need SQL Server restart. say “OK”

5

 

6. now again Browse to main menu-> Microsoft SQL Server 2005 –> Configuration Tools-> and select SQL Server Configuration Manager

 

6

 

7. In SQL Server Configuration Manager Select Protocols for SQLEXPRESS and double click on TCPIP Protocol.

7

8. Open IP Address Tag in IP One set Enabled  as ‘Yes’, enter IP of you machine in IP1, and select TCP Port as 1433 ( you may use other port, 1433 is default port on which SQL Server communicates") in all IP section you can set same port no as 1433. ( no need to set dynamic port values, leave them with default values)

 

8

Click Apply and then ok, you are done with settings, now in SQL SERVR 2005 Services node right click on SQLEXPRESS and say restart to restart SQLEXPRESS Service.

Now from remote machine simply Enter IP address of this machine on which you did above configuration as a Server name, you don't need to specify instance name if it is default instance. Enter SQL Server Login name and password to connect to database.

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

BizTalk RFID Mobile Evaluation Version is Available

Microsoft Announced availability of its mobile version of BizTalk RFID “BizTalk RFID Mobile”.

Evaluation is available for download at

  • BizTalk RFID Mobile for 32 bit systems
  • BizTalk RFID Mobile for 64 bit Systems
  • launch events are planed in Las Vegas(Dec 8-10), Paris(Dec 8-10) and Dubai(Jan 5-7).

     

    Original post: BizTalk RFID Mobile Evaluation Version is Available !!!

    Thursday, October 30, 2008

    Just Released: Enterprise Library 4.1

    clip_image001
    Microsoft patterns & practices Team announced the latest addition to
    the p&p library of software architecture guidance:
    Enterprise Library 4.1
    October 2008 Release
    Quick Links:
    – MSDN site: http://msdn.microsoft.com/entlib
    – Community Forum: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=119312
    – Community Extensions: http://codeplex.com/entlibcontrib
    What is Enterprise Library?
    Enterprise Library is a collection of reusable software components (application blocks) designed to assist software developers with common enterprise development challenges (such as logging, validation, caching, exception handling, and many others). Application blocks are a type of guidance encapsulating Microsoft recommended development practices; they are provided as source code, tests plus documentation that can be used "as is," extended, or modified by developers to use on complex, enterprise-level line-of-business development projects.
    Goals for Enterprise Library
    Enterprise Library is intended for use by developers who build complex, enterprise-level applications that are typically to be deployed widely and to interoperate with other applications and systems. In addition, they generally have strict security, reliability, and performance requirements. The goals of Enterprise Library are the following:
    Consistency. All Enterprise Library application blocks feature consistent design patterns and implementation approaches.
    Extensibility. All application blocks include defined extensibility points that allow developers to customize the behavior of the application blocks by adding their own code.
    Ease of use. Enterprise Library offers numerous usability improvements, including a graphical configuration tool, a simpler installation procedure, and clearer and more complete documentation and samples.
    Integration. Enterprise Library application blocks are designed to work well together or individually.
    What’s New?
    This release of Enterprise Library is a service release that includes the following:
    – Unity interception mechanism and integration of the Policy Injection Application Block with the Unity Application Block
    – Added support for generics in the Unity Application Block
    – Added support for arrays in the Unity Application Block
    – Performance improvements
    – Usability improvements to the configuration tool
    – Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1 support
    – Bug fixes
    For the detailed list of all changes, see About This Release of Enterprise Library.
    Note: existing public APIs (v3.1 and v4.0) are still supported.
    Getting Started
    If you are new to Enterprise Library:
    − read the Introduction to the Enterprise Library;
    − download, compile and run the QuickStart samples—study the code;
    − read through the related QuickStart Walkthroughs and “Key Scenarios” sections of the documentation;
    − practice the Hands-On Labs;
    − review the source and unit tests for deeper understanding;
    − view webcasts on Enterprise Library and Unity, review demo code.

    If you already know and love Enterprise Library:
    − check out the change log for this release;
    − upgrade to V4.1—no code change is required—simply update the references to the corresponding application block assemblies and to the common assemblies;
    − download the updated QuickStarts and run through the Unity-integrated examples to get the flavor of new dependency injection style of using the Enterprise Library;
    − review the documentation on how to use interception with Unity;
    − view webcasts on Enterprise Library and Unity, review demo code.
    Information on Microsoft patterns & practices
    – Visit us at http://msdn.microsoft.com/practices/ to see the full line of existing patterns & practices.
    Source : http://msdn.microsoft.com/entlib

    Saturday, October 25, 2008

    New .NET Logos announced

    Microsoft Announced its New Logo for .NET

    NET_v_rgb_thumb

    and for the horizontally inclined:

    NET_h_rgb_thumb

    you must be thinking “Why Change?”

    here is the answer published by Chris Koenig on his blog.

    Why change?  The original .NET logo was designed just before Forum 2000. It was designed to be attached to other Microsoft brands as a suffix. The result was a logo that did not stand well on its own and lacked impact.

    “We needed a logo that was in sync with the key values that we want .NET to stand for: consistency, robustness and great user experiences. We also wanted a logo that conformed to the design principles that are driving Microsoft’s brand identity evolution and is reflected in newer brands such as Silverlight, Surface and more.  Finally, we needed a logo that is more strongly aligned with the portfolio of brands that .NET is most strongly aligned with: Silverlight, Visual Studio and our server products.”

    Source: Chris Koenig’s Blog

    Tuesday, October 21, 2008

    Installing and Configuring BizTalk RFID

    Installing server products like BizTalk or SharePoint is always a painful work for me, as there are too many dependencies and prerequisites for these servers. It is not a simple installation like Office or Visual studio :)

    When I decided to install BizTalk RFID on my machine, and as like everyone I was going through the installation guide at very first stage I was totally confused between BizTalk Server and BizTalk RFID. though BizTalk RFID is part of BizTalk Server 2006 R2, the most important thing I want say is , You don't need to install full BizTalk Server 2006 R2 on your machine to use BizTalk RFID, you can choose to install only BizTalk RFID.

    you can install BizTalk RFID on:

    • Windows XP Professional with SP2 or higher
    • Windows Server 2003 with SP1or higher
    • Windows Vista
    • Windows Server 2008 ( I am not very sure about this as it is not mentioned officially anywhere on Microsoft website but I found one article on MS innovation blog which says that you can install it on windows server 2008 Enterprise edition.)

    Now we are going to install BizTalk RFID (only)

    Before actually start installation lets make a list of all prerequisites.

    1. Windows XP Professional with SP2 or Windows Server 2003 with SP1 or windows vista
    2. Internet Information Services (IIS)
    3. World Wide Web Publishing Service
    4. Microsoft Message Queuing service (MSMQ)
    5. Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 – Download
    6. Web Services Enhancements (WSE) 3.0 - Download
    7. Microsoft Management Console (MMC) 3.0 – Download
    8. Microsoft SQL Server 2005 with SP2, or Microsoft SQL Sever 2000 with SP4 – Download Express
    9. Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006 R2 – Download Trial

     

    Note: This article is not for Development Machine, so I am not considering Visual Studio, or any SDK required.

    I have a Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 fresh installed machine with me.

    make sure you are logged in as Administrator

    Step 1: Install IIS, MSMQ, WWW Publishing services from Add Remove Program - Windows Components section.

    IIS Install

    Step 2: Install Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0

    DotNEt30

    Step 3: Install Web Services Enhancements (WSE) 3.0

    Select Runtime or Administrative Tool option ( If you are installing BizTalk on Development machine and planning to use same machine for development then  select other option which requires Visual Studio 2005 pre-installed on machine.

    WSE

    Step 4: Install Microsoft Management Console (MMC) 3.0

    MMC

    Step 5: Install SQL Server Express

    Make sure you have windows installer 3.1 installed before starting SQL Express installation

    SQlExpress

    Now I am ready to install BizTalk RFID.

    Step 6: Start Installing BizTalk RFID – Insert BizTalk Server 2006 R2 DVD and Select BizTalk RFID option.

    BiztalkRFID-1

    BiztalkRFID-2

    click next, then accept License agreement and Provide Product key then

    Select right type of installation

    Setup allows you to choose from the following types of installation:

    • Typical. Installs the following features on your computer:
      • RFID Services
      • RFID Tools and Client Connector
    • Custom. Allows you to choose the features that you want to install:
      • RFID Services
      • RFID Tools and Client Connector
      • RFID SDK
    • Complete. Installs all three of the following features:
      • RFID Services
      • RFID Tools and Client Connector
      • RFID SDK

     

    BiztalkRFID-3

    If you select Complete installation with SDK then Visual studio 2005 must be installed before.

    I am selected Typical but includes RFID Service and Tools.

    Next select SQL Server details, you can install database on same machine or on remote machine, provide authentication details as per SQL server settings

    BiztalkRFID-4

    if you are installing BizTalk RFID on same machine second time then you may select check box “Overwrite contents of RFID configuration database

    BiztalkRFID-5

    Select RFID Service Account which will be used by RFID Service to run.

    BiztalkRFID-6

    you are DONE with setup click finish, this will popup Business Rule Configuration windows, enter Service account details and click configure, select basic configuration, it is recommended for new users.  for Windows XP and Windows Vista default service account is  RFIDSvcAcc

    BiztalkRFID-7

    Now your BizTalk RFID Server is ready to use. to check go to start menu-> in Microsoft BizTalk RFID select RFID Manager

    it will show you following window with status of RFID Server, if it is started then you have successfully installed RFID Server and now can proceed to use it with devices

     

    BiztalkRFID-Manager

    Important Note:

    1. RFID Services Port Number;
    The port number that RFID Services uses has changed from 8081 (in the previous version) to 7891. You must add 7891 to the list of exceptions in Windows Firewall.

    2. Before you install BizTalk RFID, uninstall any previous version, and delete the BizTalk RFID installation folder.

    3.For BizTalk RFID, IIS must be configured to run in native mode. BizTalk RFID is not supported in IIS 5.0 Isolation mode

    4.The SQL Server or MSDE database must be available and configured to support Windows authentication.

    you may want Refer full installation guide publish by Microsoft at http://download.microsoft.com/download/8/a/9/8a947a42-4f44-4f9a-886a-2fe48f8ecc6e/Installation%20Guide%20for%20BizTalk%20RFID.htm

    Microsoft Press - "Free E-Book of the Month" offer!

    For 25 years, Microsoft Press books have focused on helping you take your skills and knowledge to the next level. Celebrate our 25th Anniversary with a "Free E-Book of the Month" offer! Simply sign up for the Microsoft Press Book Connection Newsletter for notification of offers, register, and download the selection of the month.

     

    TCPIPEbook

    Windows Server® 2008 TCP/IP Protocols and Services - http://csna01.libredigital.com/?urws8un4p7

    RoboticsEbook

    Programming Microsoft Robotics Studio http://csna01.libredigital.com/?urrs4gt63d

    Sunday, October 19, 2008

    Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Report Builder 2.0 released

    On October 17th, Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Report Builder 2.0 was released as part of the SQL Server 2008 Feature Pack.

    Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Report Builder 2.0 provides an intuitive report authoring environment for business and power users. It supports the full capabilities of SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services. including:

    • Flexible report layout capabilities of SQL Server 2008 Report Definition Language
    • Data Visualizations including charts and gauges
    • Richly formatted textboxes
    • Export to Microsoft Office Word format

    Features specific to Report Builder 2.0 are focused on simplifying the process of creating and editing reports and queries and include the following:
    • Easy to use wizards for creating table, matrix and chart data regions
    • Support for directly opening and editing reports stored on the report server
    • Support for using server resources such as shared data sources
    • Query designers for multiple data sources including a Microsoft SQL Server-specific query designer

    The download provides a stand-alone installer for Report Builder 2.0

    Download here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9f783224-9871-4eea-b1d5-f3140a253db6

    Reportbuilder2.0

    Source: www.microsoft.com

    Friday, October 17, 2008

    ASP.NET MVC Beta Released

    Microsoft announced beta of their new ASP.NET MVC framework.

    You can download it from :

    http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=A24D1E00-CD35-4F66-BAA0-2362BDDE0766&displaylang=en

    This works with .NET3.5 and .NET 3.5 SP1 and Visual Studio 2008 and VS 2008 Express too.

    you can check www.asp.net/mvc to learn more about this and can catch some nice tutorials about MVC there.

    Tuesday, September 30, 2008

    Microsoft BizTalk RFID - Robust, scalable, secure server platform for RFID solutions

    15 days back I was contacted by one of my old client with whom I am working almost 2+ years and architected and developed couple of applications for them. when I went to his office, in very first meeting I came to know that, this time scope of project is vast and this is going to be a mission critical project as we have very less time to execute we have to work on Live system . though RFID is not new for me but this time requirement was somewhat different. initially I thought about all those common requirement was there like read tag, write tag, based on that execute couple of event etc. but when they told me that they want deploy this application in 7 cities of India in first phase and they want to do a runtime synchronization and also want to generate reports and publish same data on web etc and also one most important thing is system need to handle high volume.

    I was thinking architecture with my limited  knowledge :P, like use of SQL Server level synchronization or use of web service to update etc. mean while I was also searching internet ( may be using Google) I found something very interesting “Microsoft BizTalk RFID”. I heard these words couple of times from Microsoft people in various sessions or meeting but never bother to know or understand. but when i read about and that solve my entire problem.

    BizTalk RFID + BizTalk RFID Mobile + Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006 R2 + SQL Server 2005 ---- Done !!! completes my all requirements.

    AS said by Microsoft “Microsoft BizTalk RFID is an innovative device management and event processing platform at the edge of the enterprise. It is designed to provide a scalable, extensible platform for development, deployment, and management of rich RFID and sensor solutions.”

    its really very simple to use, understand, and also very easy to deploy, secure, scalable platform. one can easily learn and develop applications.

    now onwards I will try to share my experience of working with BizTalk RFID staring from installation , architecture development. deployment etc. so keep visiting my blog for all these update…

    you can read about BizTalk RFID at http://www.microsoft.com/biztalk/en/us/rfid.aspx

    Pune User Group presents: Search, Share, Collaborate, with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

    SharePoint Day - Search, CONNECT, Collaborate with SharePoint Server 2007

    A special event for key business and it decision makers, developers

    Date: 2nd October, 2008
    Time: 9:30 AM – 2:00 PM
    Venue: Maratha Chamber of Commerce, Industries & Agriculture.

    505 & 506 ,A Wing ,5th Floor, MCCIA Trade Tower , ICC 403 A, Senapati Bapat Road , Pune 411016

    Dear sir/madam

    Did you know that employees get most of their relevant information directly from other people? Or think about the cost associated with employees searching for organizational knowledge and information, which resides in individual desktops and in personal files? Ever consider how much knowledge is lost when an individual leaves an organization unexpectedly?

    Find out how to empower your people and partner organizations to work together more effectively at a special event designed for business executives and technology decision makers and professionals.

    Pune User group in association with Rizmos solutions is pleased to invite you to attend a seminar showcasing Microsoft Office SharePoint 2007 products and technologies. Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 is an integrated suite of server capabilities that can help improve organizational effectiveness by providing comprehensive solutions for Searching, Sharing information and Colaborating by providing content management and enterprise search solution, by accelerating shared business processes, and by facilitating information-sharing across boundaries for better business insight.

    Learn how Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 can help your organization to:

    • Derive increased business value from existing information assets by being able to efficiently and securely find, share, and manage information across boundaries
    • Get the right information to the right people with a search interface for finding people, information and business data based on user security permission
    • Make better-informed decisions through simplified, enterprise-wide access to one consistent version of information and by streamlining shared business processes across people and business data
    • Provide IT professionals a single, integrated, extensible platform for managing intranet, extranet, and Internet applications across the organization

    Go to http://www.puneusergroup.org/events/sharepointday to register. We look forward to seeing you there!

    Regards,
    Pune User Group Team

    Monday, August 25, 2008

    INETA-PUG DevCon 2008: : Simply can't afford to miss


    Welcome to INETA PUG DevCon 2008 - A unique Developer Conference.

    PUG DevCon is like a boon for every developer in Pune. DevCon is a conglomeration of speakers and trainers of national repute who take the centre stage to share their knowledge. PUG DevCon not only serves as an amazing platform for interactive sessions but also as a catalyst for learning and sharing new technology, networking opportunities and much much more. This is the fourth consecutive successful year of PUG DevCon.

    This year to add some spice to the PUG DevCon, it's not going to be only about distributing gyan but also a funfilled learning process We have come up with interesting quizzes (what is the garbage collector, remember?), power-packed games (darting...? Bull's Eye! ) and some key events in between the sessions. And you know what's the best part about PUG DevCon 2008? YOU DECIDE THE TOPICS AND CONTENT!!!
    2 DAYS, 6 TRACKS, 8 SESSIONS BACK2BACK !!!

    Attend DevCon and Win exciting prizes like

    Windows Vista Ultimate,Visual Studio Team System 2008

    Team Suite with

    MSDN Premium worth $20,000 and lots more...

    Calling all Designers and Developers to be a part of this unique event.

    Entry FREE !! Registration Required.

    For more information and Registration , Please visit :

    Vote for Topic

    http://devcon.puneusergroup.org

    Hurry up and Register Today !!

    For any queries/suggestions,Please contact us at :

    devcon2008@puneusergroup.org

    Venue: Dewang Mehta Auditorium, Persistent Systems Private Limited, 402, Senapati Bapat Road, Pune - 411016

    Thursday, August 21, 2008

    Silverlight Blueprints for SharePoint Released to CodePlex!

    The source code for the Silverlight Blueprints for SharePoint—based on the Silverlight Beta 2 release is now available on CodePlex. you can download it from

    http://www.codeplex.com/SL4SP

    http://www.codeplex.com/SL4SP/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=16420

    This Blueprint provides a way for developers to understand the integration of Silverlight application into SharePoint site

    In this release, you’ll find five blueprint samples:

    1. Hello World

    2. Media Player

    3. Slider Control

    4. Custom Navigation

    5. Colleague Viewer

     

    documentation for each of the samples and the source code has been included in the release.

    For more information about Software-plus-Services Blueprints you can check chanel 9 site at http://channel9.msdn.com/blueprints

    Tuesday, July 08, 2008

    Indian railway should shut down their web sites

    I think Indian railway should shut down their web sites (all), but specially www.irctc.co.in a web site where you can book your ticket.

    This is the worst web site I ever came across. if you think that in place of booking ticket at railway reservation center and wait for hrs in a queue, lets book a ticket online to save all this time, then I will say you are wrong its better to book a ticket at reservation center than a web site

    First of all this web takes long time to load, then again long time more than a 1-2 min to login, then you need to search your train, there it again takes time..., then you need to select a train and check the availability, if it available then say book ticket and then enter the name of passengers and also identity details of one passenger, then confirm that and then say book, then it will redirect you to payment page and again you need to select different payment gate way and then do the payment... and then take a print , big thing if you do not have a printer connected to your machine then ... ??? since there is no option to save the ticket. :( only print

    You must be thinking that above process must be taking not more that 5 min? yes you are right this should not take but since this is a India railway web site it take more time... like for every post back it take more than 1-2 min, so calculate the post backs and multiply it by 1.5 (average) its more than 30 min

    The most horrible thing I face in this is Session Expiry , I don't understand what are their session expiry policies, within a min or 2 the session get expire and you need to login again to web site and .... Start you process again from first step (login), means if you are in between the process of confirm the ticket and do the payment if your session get expire or timeout occurs for the post back event then...; you will get a nice Error message and ask you to go to home page where you need to login again and again start the entire cycle

    Let me tell you in my last 2 years use of this web site I never able to book a ticket without getting any error and in less than 1/2 hr for a ticket.

    Other things I you can notice that the looks are also not so good , see the image quality of the top banner its so bad...

    One more important thing I forgot to mention, this is not a 24 hr service , after 11:00 PM you can not use this web site for booking

    I do not understand where is problem is ? in technology ? server capacity ? or the system architecture? answer is NO.. then ?

    why a big organization like Indian Railway which is own by the Government of India can't have a simple plain web site where one can book a ticket in 5 min, can search the train easily, can get accurate time table for trains ???

    the Answer is YES they can...

    but only problem is THEY DON'T WANT THAT...

    Friday, June 20, 2008

    How to delete workspace from TFS (Team Foundation Server)?

    Now its long time I’m working on TFS, everyday leaning something new as it’s creates new problem for me. (It’s really a sweet product, but only if you are good in command prompts use and expert to use TFS)

    Yesterday due to some locking and conflict issues I need to delete a workspace on one machine. Initially I was searching Visual studio for any option to delete it something like Right click delete optionJ, unfortunately there is no option like this; I don’t understand why Microsoft is not providing nice GUI interface for TFS management just like other Microsoft servers. Command prompt is only way to do any TFS management related operations.

    Ok so next problem is- the command to delete or unlock the workspace?
    Some MSDN and Google search solves the problem. Here are the TFS commands which you can use on “Visual studio Command prompt”

    List the Workspace names, owners etc

    • tf workspaces /server: ServerName /owner:*
    • tf workspaces /server: ServerName /owner: OwnerName

    Delete the workspace

    • tf workspace /server: ServerName /delete WorkspaceName

    Remember after deleting workspace you can not recover it…
    you can find more workspace related commands at

    http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/54dkh0y3(VS.80).aspx