The Ramblings of Two Microsoft .NET Developers, TFS, and Visual Studio ALM Guys --- "Yes, we are both named Ed."

.NET Rocks! "Live from Tulsa TechFest 2006"



 

The DotNetRocks show "Live from Tulsa TechFest 2006", show number 201, has been posted. This is one of the best shows I have heard in a while. Not just because "The Eds" are on it, but because of the humor and wide variety of people interview. Caleb Jenkins jokes, David Walkers references and Bill Vaughn's thoughts are a  few of the great momonents in the show. You can catch "The Eds" at minute 13. We had the opportunity to do a plug at the end of our talk so, we Bragged about  our employer Sogeti USA (a Capgemini Group company.) 

Download the show here.

Thanks for interviewing us Carl and Richard! We love the show and are huge fans!

Ed K.

Posted in


.Net 3.0 Framework Released



The 3.0 Framework has been release today and is available for download here. Visual Studio 2005 Extensions for the 3.0 Framework can be downloaded here.

The Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 is the new managed code programming model for Windows®. It combines the power of the .NET Framework version 2.0 with new technologies for building applications that have visually compelling user experiences, seamless communication across technology boundaries, and the ability to support a wide range of business processes. These new technologies are Windows Presentation Foundation, Windows Communication Foundation, Windows Workflow Foundation, and Windows CardSpace. The .NET Framework 3.0 is included as part of the Windows Vista™ operating system; you can install it or uninstall it using Windows Features Control Panel. This redistributable package is for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. (Microsoft, 2006)

For customers that already have the .NET Framework 2.0 installed, this .NET Framework 3.0 redistributable package installs only the new Windows Vista components. This ensures that any .NET Framework 2.0-based applications work seamlessly when the .NET Framework 3.0 is installed, with no application migration or updates of any kind required. (Microsoft, 2006)

Ed K.

Posted in


837 differences that can cause headache's



If your working in HealthCare with BizTalk odds are you have a solution for the 837. The 837 is the standard for a HealthCare Claim. There are three different flavors of the 837, Dental, Professional and Institutional. There are many differences between these formats, impeticular, the beginning name of each node, TS837Q3 for Institutional, TS837Q1 for professional and TS837Q2 for Dental. The differences I speak of are very subtle. The one I want to share is the a node in the 2300 segment that we currently use to store a unique ID which we call the BizTalkID; it is how we track claims as we send it to different vendors for repricing. I am not saying that is a best practice but its what we have to deal with in the current BizTalk solution we have adopted.

Listed below is the node and its attributes on an Institutional claim:

<TS837Q3_2300_REF_ClaimIdentificationNumberForClearinghousesAndOtherTransmissionIntermediaries TS837Q3_2300_REF01__ReferenceIdentificationQualifier="D9" TS837Q3_2300_REF02__ValueAddedNetworkTraceNumber="02397SC05232604" />

Listed below is the node and its attributes on an Professional Claim:

<TS837Q1_2300_REF_ClaimIdentificationNumberForClearingHousesAndOtherTransmissionIntermediaries TS837Q1_2300_REF01__ReferenceIdentificationQualifier="D9" TS837Q1_2300_REF02__ClearinghouseTraceNumber="03497SC05318645" />

Can you spot the difference's.... besides the Q1 and Q3? That's right they are subtle.

The first and most oblivious is REF02 segment. One is ValueAddedNetworkTraceNumber and the other is ClearinghouseTraceNumber. The difference that has bitten us time and time again in XSL Transforms and XPaths is the node name. One has a capital H and the other has a lower case h.

TS837Q3_2300_REF_ClaimIdentificationNumberForClearinghousesAndOtherTransmissionIntermediaries
TS837Q1_2300_REF_ClaimIdentificationNumberForClearingHousesAndOtherTransmissionIntermediaries

 

Why is this? Their both are based off the 837 spec.......The answer is, who knows. Maybe different people were in charge of each sub type of the 837 and did not communicate. Just be careful and don't assume that they are the same.

 

Ed K.

Posted in


Ed B looks better than Rory Blyth.....



So as the night continued on Ed B makes the bold statement that he looks better than the infamous Rory Blyth. This came out of nowhere and the statement left me and Tim Rayburn, of TimRayburn.net, speechless, confused and laughing. The man in the blue shirt is Ed B.

Here is Rory's Blog ..... you be the judge...... if you really care.

 

 

 

 

Ed K.

Posted in

Shared Sentiments for Spammers



We have a really huge problem with SPAM in our Trackbacks.  It's crazy.  I know several other people have been having this same problem and I am seriously thinking about upgrading to one of the nightly builds of dasBlog which has a new feature to help this.

Clemens Vasters:  %#%^@^ you Spammers

Tim Rayburn:  Upgrading to dasBlog 1.9.6288

 

Ed B.

Posted in


My new Laptop!



HP Pavilion dv9035nr Notebook PC. Here is some specs:

  • The next-generation Intel® Core™2 Duo processor is based on the innovative Intel® Core™ microarchitecture, so it runs faster and is more energy-efficient for cooler, quieter operation
  • 17" WXGA+ high-definition widescreen display with BrightView technology and 1440 x 900 resolution
  • 160GB Serial ATA hard drive capacity (two 80GB; 5400 rpm)
  • NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 graphics with 256MB discrete video memory; S-video TV-out
  • 2GB DDR2 memory for multitasking power
  • Built-in HP Pavilion 1.3MP WebCam with microphone makes it easy to chat with and send video mail to family and friends 
  • QuickPlay music and DVD buttons; HP mobile remote and ear bud headphones included
  • Hewlett-Packard ExpressCard analog TV tuner with Media Center remote
  • 5-in-1 digital media reader supports Secure Digital, MultiMediaCard, Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO and xD-Picture Card
  • IEEE 1394 (FireWire) interface and 4 high-speed USB 2.0 ports for fast digital video, audio and data transfer
  • Built-in 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN with RJ-45 connector; 56 Kbps high-speed modem; Expansion Port 3 connector
  • Long-lasting HP Imprint high-gloss finish with inlaid wave design; backlit media control panel
  • Weighs 7.8 lbs. and measures 1.6" thin for portable power; lithium-ion battery and AC adapter
  • Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition operating system preinstalled; software package included with Sonic DigitalMedia Plus, muvee autoProducer DVD Edition with Burning, HP Photosmart Premier and more

I am really loving this laptop. When searching for a laptop, I decided that I wanted a laptop that was powerful enough to serve as a desktop replacement and be able to handle the advanced graphics of Vista. I am hardly ever at home...so it made sense to get something that I could develop on anywhere and at anytime. This machine certainly fit the bill for my needs; I can develop, play games and watch movies all without having to worry about performance and quality. O ya, almost forgot you can't beat the price tag for this beast of a laptop......$1499 at your local BestBuy.

 

Ed K.

Posted in


Undo Changeset in Team Foundation Server Version Control - TFS Power Toys



Update:  If you are wanting to learn how to undo or rollback a changeset using TFS 2010, visit my new blog post about this topic here:  http://www.edsquared.com/2010/02/02/Rollback+Or+Undo+A+Changeset+In+TFS+2010+Version+Control.aspx

 

So...  I really needed to undo a changeset that was previously made by another user and started looking around for it.  I knew you could do it but just hadn't ever had a need for it.  I figure I start right-clicking different places in Source Control Explorer but that didn't lead me to anything :(

Until I remembered there were cool new features in the Team Foundation Server Power Toys.  Once of which was an undo changeset command.  Take a look at them because I know you will find several features handy.  One of my favorites in there as well is Annotate.  (Thanks to Dave McKinstry for previewing that one to us!)  It's basically a solution to point-the-finger game for changes...  It will show a bar on the side next to every line that shows who the last person was that edited it, date/time, and the changeset number.  You can even double-click on the changeset number and the actual details of the changeset will pop-up.  Very handy!

 

Other features in the power toys package: (taken from the documentation)

 

Unshelve Command

Use the unshelve command to unshelve and merge the changes in the workspace.

Rollback Command

Use the rollback command to roll back changes that have already been committed to Team Foundation Server.

Online Command

Use the online command to create pending edits on writable files that do not have pending edits.

GetCS Command

Use the GetCS (Get Changeset) command to get the changes in a particular changeset.

UU Command

Use the UU (Undo Unchanged) command to undo unchanged files, including adds, edits, and deletes.

Annotate Command

Use the annotate command to download all versions of the specified files and show information about when and who changed each line in the file.

Review Command

Use the review command to optimize the code review process to avoid checking in or shelving.

History Command

Use the history command to display the revision history for one or more files and folders. The /followbranches option returns the history of the file branch’s ancestors.

Workitem Command

Use the workitem command to create, update, or view work items.

Query Command

Use the query command to run a work item query and display the results. If you do not provide a specific query, all the active work items assigned to you are displayed.

TreeDiff Command

Use the treediff command to display a visual representation of the differences between files in two server folders, in a server folder and a local folder, or in two local folders.

 

Ed B.



VS 2005 Team Edition for Database Professionals



Community Technology Preview (CTP) 6 is now available for download here. Recently at TulsaTechFest 2006 we attended a session where Dave McKinstry ( Team System MVP ) of Notion Solutions showed an overview of what DataDude is and the benefits it exposes to the software development life cycle. We really think this is an awesome addition to the already great product offering from Microsoft. VSTS is really beginning to bring all silos of development shops under one tool for better communication and manageability.

Ed K.

Posted in VSTS


Tulsa Tech Fest 2006 - Recap



Schedule was great, excitement was high and the Speakers were awesome, TulsaTechFest 2006 was a roaring success and a load of fun! There was a great turnout… I think the final number was around 625 people attending the event. It was great being able to meet and talk to all the big .Net names out there that we all look up too. Some sessions suffered a little due to low attendance. Overall, the TechFest was a success and an enjoyable afternoon in Oklahoma. We are very much looking forward to Tulsa Tech Fest 2007.

Ed and I were also invited to speak on .Net Rocks! We love that show and jump at the opportunity to talk to two of our idols (Carl Franklin and Richard Campbell). Here are some pictures of Ed and I during the .NET Rocks! interview.

Go here to visit Tulsa Tech Fest website.

Go here to see more pictures from Tulsa Tech Fest 2007.

Go here to visit .NET Rocks! Radio Show website.

 

Ed K. & Ed B.

Posted in


IEventService: Filter Expressions, Event Types



When playing around with this Interface you will notice that it is very easy to subscribe and unsubscribe to events via the TFS Object Model.
The method signature for Subscribing to an event is:

 

int SubscribeEvent (
        string userID,
        string eventType,
        string filterExpression,
        DeliveryPreference preferences
)
 

As you can note there is several string values that are needed to pass in. I found no documentation on what eventTypes
or Filter expressions were available.  Hopefully the following information will help you as you develop with the
Object Model.

UserID: simple enough. 
eventType: Out of the Box
  • AclChangedEvent
  • BranchMovedEvent
  • BuildCompletionEvent
  • BuildStatusChangeEvent
  • CheckinEvent
  • CommonStructureChangedEvent
  • DataChangedEvent
  • IdentityCreatedEvent
  • IdentityDeletedEvent
  • MembershipChangedEvent
  • NodeCreatedEvent
  • NodePropertiesChangedEvent
  • NodeRenamedEvent
  • NodesDeletedEvent
  • ProjectCreatedEvent
  • ProjectDeletedEvent
  • WorkItemChangedEvent

To view event types on a certain TFS server you can consume http://ServerName:8080/Services/v1.0/Registration.asmx to enumerate through the list
or, you can use the IRegistration interface and loop through each RegistrationEntry for each EventType.

Filter Expression:

  • PortfolioProject
  • System.AreaPath
  • System.AssignedTo
  • System.AuthorizedAs
  • System.ChangedBy
  • System.ChangedDate
  • System.Id
  • System.IterationPath
  • System.OpenedBy
  • System.Reason
  • System.State
  • System.Title
  • System.WorkItemType

Example expression:

Condition String = "PortfolioProject" = 'Project Name' AND ("CoreFields/StringFi
elds/Field[ReferenceName='System.AssignedTo']/OldValue" = 'Ed Kisinger' OR "Core
Fields/StringFields/Field[ReferenceName='System.AssignedTo']/NewValue" = 'Ed Kis
inger') AND "CoreFields/StringFields/Field[ReferenceName='System.AuthorizedAs']/
NewValue" <> 'Ed Kisinger'

 
Ed K.
Posted in TFS | VSX