So... after looking and looking... and then some more looking at MSDN Subscriber Downloads this weekend I finally saw that Office 2007  was released.  Not all of the programs are available yet but the main applications are.

Beware though... if you were using prerelease versions of Office 2007 be sure to uninstall all of the components from them before you attempt to install the RTM version.  So far so good though.  I'm really impressed with the release.

Ed B.

I have been invited to attend a 5 day training class on Capgemini's Integrated Architecture Framework. The training will start this week and is located in Dallas TX. I had the opportunity to choose to take the training in either Dallas or Paris France. Do to the short notice I had to choose Dallas since I do not have a passport (the Microsoft .Net Passport won't work) and it takes to dang long to get one. O well, better to do it here locally so I will be more concentrated on learning rather than site seeing. I will do several post this week sharing what I learn.

Ed K.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

"Visual Studio Code Name "Orcas" delivers on Microsoft’s vision of smart client applications by enabling developers to rapidly create connected applications that deliver the highest quality rich user experiences. This new version enables any size organization to rapidly create more secure, manageable & reliable applications that take advantage of Windows Vista and the 2007 Office System. By building these new types of applications, organizations will find it easier than ever before to capture and analyze information so that they can make effective business decisions." (Microsoft 2006)

Microsoft 2006, Download Center Details 

Ed K.

Tim Rayburn of TimRayburn.net is trying to drum up some interest from the DFW area for a BizTalk Special Interest Group (SIG). This is a great idea seeing the need for BizTalk is becoming more relevant for business and there is little talent out there to guide and nurture solid BizTalk solutions for companies. If you are interested please visit his blog and shoot him an email.... Tell him "The Ed's" sent ya. Ed B and I will of course become members of this SIG since we love BizTalk :)

Ed K. & Ed B.

Wow... it took a little while but I finally got finished updating our site with dasBlog 1.9, the newest version after about a year of development.  We have to give it the team for their outstanding work!  Many Kudos!

What took so long was upgrading the solution to .NET 2.0 since the application comes as a 1.1 app.  For some help to upgrade the solution to the .NET Framework 2.0 see this helpful post:  http://www.dasBlog.us/viewtopic.php?t=244

Let me know if anyone needs any help with this...

Ed B.

Say you built an application that connects to TFS and you want a dialog box to appear if a user is not authorized to connect to TFS. To do this is quite simple.  There are two methods you might have seen when you are playing with the TeamFoundationServer object, Authenticate() and EnsureAuthenticated(). The difference between the two is Authenticate will always call the server and EnsureAuthenticated will only be called if the user has not already authenticated to the server. You should use the EnsureAuthenticated method as a performance point since you only want the call to go to the server if the user has not authenticated. Notice we are using the TeamFoundationServer constructor instead of the Factory; you can use the factory if you wish. The deciding point that you need to decide is if you want to reference the same object on subsequence calls and without the need to re-authenticate. Remember the factory method will return a cache instance of the object.

TeamFoundationServer tfs = new TeamFoundationServer(TFSServerName,new UICredentialsProvider());

tfs.EnsureAuthenticated();

If the user presses cancel on the dialog box then a UnauthorizedException will be thrown ,so handle it gracefully.

Ed K.

Here is a simple example of how to connect to a Team Foundation Server and display some of its properties.

To start we need to fire up VS 2005 and create a new console application.

Now that we have a new project we need to add a reference to Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Client.

Now we can access the TeamFoundationServer object. To create an instance of the object we will use the TeamFoundationServerFactory, we are using the factory so that we create a cache version of the object for subsequence calls.

 TeamFoundationServer tfs = TeamFoundationServerFactory.GetServer("FriendlyNameOfYourTFSServerOrURL");

Now lets display some data:

Console.WriteLine("The Authenticated User is: {0}", tfs.AuthenticatedUserDisplayName);
Console.WriteLine("TeamFoundationServer Name: {0}", tfs.Name);
Console.WriteLine("TeamFoundationServer Object GUID: {0}", tfs.InstanceId);
Console.ReadLine();

Here is the OutPut:

Thats it! Very simple and fun.

Ed K.

To build on Ed B's post of Hillarious Error, check this one out. We found this one today. Can you spot the not.

Ed K.

So, Wow... All of y'all that happen to use Facebook they have released an initial API that you can use to make applications that will read data from it once Facebook users have logged in and approved to use either your web or desktop application.  Pretty cool I think!

http://developers.facebook.com/index.php

I haven't dived too much into it since I am getting ready to leave out of town for Labor Day Weekend but at first glance:

1. One thing I don't like is that it uses the REST protocol.  For more info about it check out the Wiki on it:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representational_State_Transfer  It's pretty much making a POST of XML and then returning
2. They do say that they have plans on supporting SOAP:  http://developers.facebook.com/faq.php
3. I also noticed two guys have already made a VB.NET and a C# library to use.  I haven't looked at them yet and will take a look at them to see how well they did.  Obviously, I'll use the VB one :)  If I don't happen to think they will be useful for me, then I'll just create a Facebook.NET Library for it or just wait for them to implement SOAP so we can just use web services.
4. You can't get the entries of the logged in user's wall (or whichever user they choose to view.)  You can only get the wall count.  Boo!

Once again, it's a very early implementation.  I'm going to have to blame all those people who have nagged me for three years while I was in college about not having a MySpace and a Facebook because I broke in and now I'm glued on checking mine everyday.  I have gotten to meet up with a lot of people though that I haven't talked to in a long time.

Have a safe and fun Labor Day Weekend!  I'll be heading to Austin!

Ed B.

So... I was working with a client's application the other day and I got one of the funniest errors I have ever seen in my life.  Gotta love it!

If you ever see this error (or similar) then you really need to think about maybe refactoring a little... Anybody care to guess the complexity of this method?

Error Message:  "No overload for method MethodName takes '125' arguments."

Cyclomatic Complexity:  121 (extremely bad)
Maintenance Complexity:  13,031 (very very bad)

[Stats care of the wonderful tool:  CodeRush]

Ed B.

Just to save you a lot of time and hassle with a BizTalk installation... the computer name has to be 15 characters or less!  I guess only those of us with long names ever run into these kinds of problems :)

Ed B.

Here is a great post by Tim Rayburn on this issue. Here: http://www.timrayburn.net

It's inevitable... members of a development team are going to work really long hours.  Especially around crunch time!!!  We all know how it is!

It's both fun and frustrating to work at an organization who is growing in their software development lifecycle, process framework, and project management processes.  Almost everyone I have talked to describes places that have a less than perfect process in place for effective project management.  Even when there are policies in place, some of the times it's not even followed!

Has this ever happened to anyone?:  A resource is allocated for three different projects at a given time that have a total of nearly 90 hours of work in any given week?  And... that resource is also assigned with application management for production defects?

One of the things that makes a project run smoother is better resource allocation.  The critical path gets affected when resources are being shared between projects and application maintenance.  It's one of the "risks" that should be documented!

WARNING:  I am not a project manager.  This opinion is definitely coming from the development side of things :) I feel so bad for project managers at times.  I know that they care about just making sure that the project has a "green" light at all times and that everything will be finished on time (or early) with no defects!  I'm proud to say that I'm one of the members of the development staff that definitely strives for those same goals.

So... until later... keep being that Super Developer Resource!

Ed B.

So many people think that I work for DevExpress because of how much I rant and rave about CodeRush and Refactor Pro!

I'm telling you... CodeRush and Refactor Pro are definitely two of my most favorite tools!  But I really don't work for DevExpress... I'll blog later on both of them and some of the tools that I use from day to day that are built upon DX Core which is the foundation for both of their products and many other small tools.  If you haven't looked in DX Core (which is free) and you build or will build a Visual Studio add-in then you should definitely give it a shot.

My next plan for a coding tool that I could use from day to day is adding comments to code files in the format that I always use.  There is actually a tool that uses DX Core that does this called CR_Commenter but the bad thing:  It's only for C# code.  I thought about rewriting it for VB developers (and myself.)

Ed B.

So have you ever had the need to restore a SQL database because someone hit the delete button on a table or the whole Database? Well, my friend I have seen this happen several times. Here is some code to restore your database back to a certain point in time.

Start Server in single user mode :
sqlservr -m

RESTORE DATABASE YourDB

So this is the other Ed.  Ed B.  The Toy Boy as I am lovingly called.  I suppose I get my nickname because I like new gadgets and gizmos.  I also get my name from the constant search and discovery of new tools and components that make my life (and the rest of our lives) as developers better.

My professional objective in life is to provide more productivity and efficiency to people, developers, and processes.  I won't get all philisophical but I think that is how mankind will prosper :)

Enough of that!  From time to time, I'll add new commentary about new tools that I have found and ones that I use from daily in my developer life and in school.  There are some that I absolutely love more than anything else and just can't live without... some people even think I work for these companies since I am such a proponent! (I don't)

So until later, be more productive and efficient in your development!

Ed B.

Dallas Code camp was great! Good speakers and awesome content. My only suggestion would be to make the tracks a little longer, I wanted to learn more in-depth and I always ask crazy amounts of questions. I never know if speakers like or hate me when I ask questions, I make ‘em think J.

Anyways, here are the tracks I went to:

Programming with the Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) - David Walker

Good overview as to what to expect with WCF. I like the easy configuration of remoting and the ability to switch to web services. If anyone has done remoting in 1.1, you know the headache of configurations and implementation. WCF looks very promising.

WCF buzz word of the day:

WCF A,B,C’s

(A)ddress

(B)inding

(C)ontext

Practical Business Application of DNN - Jason Kergosien

DNN rocks, enough said. I love DNN because it is designed so well and the community support is awesome. I see DNN becoming a huge contender against SharePoint Portal, well, at least the current version of SharePoint. The track offered a very high level view of the features, the main thing I took from this session was the fact that there is a DNN users group here in Dallas J J http://dallas.dnnug.net/. I will be a regular at this group from now on.

I was only able to go to two tracks due to the wife wanting me to spend more time with her and less time with computer stuff…… anyone have that problem?

In closing, great job Dallas Code Camp and great job Omar for making it happen. I look forward to the next one. Hopefully, I will not be so busy with projects that maybe I can be a speaker. Here are the topics that I plan on speaking about when I get the time:

• Dot Net Nuke
• Team Foundation Server / VSTS 2005
• Design Patterns by the Gang of Four
• Principles of OOP and how it can help achieve a better SOA.

Ed K.

A.K.A. Eddie Kisinger

A.K.A. Edward Kisinger

A.K.A. CodeMonkey

J

Debugging .Net assemblies can be tricky in BizTalk 2004. When working with Orchestrations you need to make sure that the version of the Orchestration dll and .Net assembly corresponded. There are two way in which to do this and be able to debug successfully.

1. If your Orchestration project and .Net assembly project are in the same solution. Build/Rebuild solution that contains the Orchestration project and your .Net assembly project. Make sure your .Net assembly project is in debug mode. This can be configured in the 'Configuration Manager". Then, Delete their dll from GAC and install the new ones. Now you can debug by attaching to the process "BTSNTSvc.exe".

2. If your Orchestration project and .Net assembly project are in different solutions then you will need to change the versioning from the default VS configuration. To change this, open your projects "AssemblyInfo.cs" file and change [assembly: AssemblyVersion("X.X.X.*")] to a hard coded value such as[assembly: AssemblyVersion("1.0.0.1")]. Make sure your .Net assembly project is in debug mode. This can be configured in the 'Configuration Manager". Then, Delete their dll from GAC and install the new ones. Now you can debug by attaching to the process "BTSNTSvc.exe".

Ed K.

Tired of installing dll's to the GAC via command prompt or drag and drop to assembly folder?

Well have I got a solution for you. Follow these steps:

1. Create a command file with this information

@echo off

@echo *****************************************************************

@echo ** Add to register

@echo *****************************************************************

:Again

@if .%1.==.. goto Xit

@dir %1 /b

@C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322\gacutil /i %1

@Shift

@goto Again

:Xit

@echo *****************************************************************

@Pause

2. Click start - run and type in "sendto"

3. Drag and drop the command file to that location

4. BANG! Now you can simple right click a file and select "Send To" -- "InstallToGac.cmd"

BizTalk guys should really appreciate this one :)

Enjoy,

Ed K.

If you have a computer that you want to join a domain and the computer is connected via VPN you need to do the following steps. Hopefully this will helps someone, unlike me, I had to figure this out myself after search google high and low with no help.

1. Connect your site to site VPN.
2. Configure your VPN appliance to use the targeted domains IP as the DNS
3. Join the domain form the computer properties the usual way except, instead of using the pre-2000 domain name ie "Network", you need to use the fully qualified name ie "MyNetwork.com"

Now if newly joined PC is on a different subnet than you Domain Controller you will need to do this in order to access internal servers/PCs via a remote connection by name:

Go to <root system Dir>\System32\Drivers\etc\    Look for the file name "hosts". In that file you will need to map your Servers/PCs name and IP address.

Keep in mind if you join your PC to a domain while at the domain site and not thru VPN, then take it offsite, you will not need to do these steps. This is only for joining a PC connected via VPN that has never been joined before.

Ed K.

Don't you just hate it when your programming partner works on a segment of code that
you depend on and he goes and makes a typo and checks it in, then it takes you 2
days to figure out the problem. This ones for you Ed B.

Well, we finally got the domian name we wanted, after waiting till some squater forgot to renew it :). So, our blog is up and we will be posting day to day stuff...sometimes it will be code, daily thoughts, ramblings and even crap that we want to be able to google later on.

Ed K