Data Cogs Information Technology

Visual Studio Crashes When Debugging SharePoint Workflow

Mark Daunt — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:52:00 GMT

This has happened to me in the past - sometimes randomly, sometimes consistently. After a quick search I found that all you need to do is make sure you select "Workflow" as the type of code you want to attach to, as described nicely in this article:

How to solve Visual studio crash on attach process for debugging a sharepoint workflow

Debugging an ASP.NET Server control at Design Time

Mark Daunt — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 09:10:00 GMT

I was having trouble with a custom ASP.NET 3.5 server control. It was getting a run time error as I dropped it on the winform. The problem was a bit tricky to debug but this article got me going. The article is written for VS 2005, but it worked for me with VS 2008.

Entity Framework

Mark Daunt — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 10:03:00 GMT

I'm just about to try and design a web application around the new ADO.NET Entity Framework (comes with Visual Studio 2008 SP1). This crib sheet from Amirthalingam Prasanna, along with the MS Quickstart example, look like a good place to start.

Sharepoint Cascading Dropdown List Project on Codeplex

Mark Daunt — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 11:22:00 GMT

I see that there is now a CodePlex project based on my original posting of cascading dropdown lists for SharePoint

Thanks maiden123!

http://www.codeplex.com/CustomFieldControls

Error Using PerformancePoint 2007 Dashboard Designer

Mark Daunt — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:04:00 GMT

While setting up my SQL Server 2008 RTM image, I needed to create a demo using PerformancePoint.

After installing PerformancePoint (by the way, I had to point it to a SQL Server 2005 instance for it's own databases, it didn't like 2008) I went to connect to an Analysis Services 2008 data source. I got an error, something about data source not found. I wasn;t sure if this was going to be a problen with 2008 cubes in general.

After some investigation, I realised the problem was not with connecting to SQL Server, but rather PerfPoints own web service. In IE, I browsed to http://localhost/WebService/PmService.asmx. There was an error message “could not system.web.extension version=1.0.61025.0.“

A couple of articles talked about some workarounds,

http://nickbarclay.blogspot.com/2007/11/pps-data-source-connection-problems.html

http://hassansyed.blogspot.com/2008/02/ms-performance-point-connection-issue.html

But they looked like a bit too much hard work. So I tried installing ASP.NET Ajax 1.0 from

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=ca9d90fa-e8c9-42e3-aa19-08e2c027f5d6&displaylang=en

and everything is sweet now. PerformancePoint Dashboards working fine connecting to SQL Server 2008 cubes!

SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services Add-in for SharePoint Problem

Mark Daunt — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 10:26:00 GMT

I am trying to set up two instances of SSRS 2008, one in Native mode and the other in SharePoint integrated mode. I tried to make the default instance Native and then created a second instance in SharePoint Integrated mode. However, there seems to be a problem with the new Reporting Services Add-in for SharePoint. (Well for me anyway. I'd be interested if others have had the same problem) After installation no Report Services Integration items showed up in SharePoint Central Administration, although the new content types did appear in my MOSS site. So I was unable to tell SharePoint which instance I wanted it to use.

Also, the add-in installation seemed to trash all my Site Collection Administration settings in all my WSS sites. Very bizarre! They came back on any site collections that I deleted and recreated.

So anyway I tried a couple of different things to see if I could get it working. I switched the instances around and made the default instance SharePoint Integrated mode, and tried reinstalling the Add-In. This still didn't seem to solve the problem.

The next thing I tried was to uninstall the RTM Add-in and install the RC0 version of the Add-In. (Well the Report Builder 2.0 RC0 seemed to be working fine, so I thought, what the heck I'll try it)

Well, the Report Services Integration items showed up right away, allowing me to configure the thing! Now it's all working fine with SSRS RTM, but SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services Add-in for SharePoint RC0. Not entirely sure why! But at least it's up and running :-)

OK, Where is the new SQL Server 2008 Report Designer/Builder?

Mark Daunt — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 20:48:00 GMT

With SQL Server 2008 just released. I was keen to see how the new standalone Report Designer (Report Builder 2.0) turned out. Well, I found out it's not released with the RTM! It will be available for download sometime later. To find out more about the release plan of Report Builder 2.0 have a look here.

At first glance, it appears that the RC0 version of Report Builder 2.0 still works with SQL Server 2008 RTM. Search for ReportBuilder.msi and you might find an old copy of RC0 floating around.

Visual Studio 2008 SP1 Now Released

Mark Daunt — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 12:54:00 GMT

So now I can finish my installation of SQL Server 2008 RTM!

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/products/cc533447.aspx

Back at work now - having fun trying to put together a SQL Server 2008 VM

Mark Daunt — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:39:00 GMT

We'll I've been back to work now for a few weeks. We had an amazing family holiday, driving through the US and Canada.

Click below to see the route we took (more or less)...

Trip Map

Anyway, since SQL Server 2008 RTM'd last week, I've been putting together a virtual machine image that I intend to use for a pre-conference session that I am delivering at Tech Ed, here in Australia.

Unfortunately, there is a bit of a snag in that, if you are going to use Business Intelligence Studio - there is a dependency on Visual Studio 2008 SP1, which won't be released until later this week!

So, because of deadlines for this image, I will have to stick with RC0....

Time Off

Mark Daunt — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 14:26:00 GMT

I'm taking a few weeks off after working at Tech Ed for the last couple of weeks.

I have seen some great stuff already this trip, like the Space Shuttle launch in Orlando, a great air show in Quebec City, the Colorado Rockies, and today Mount Rushmore. I'll post some pictures when I get a chance.