BUG in VS 2003 with MSSCCI 1.2 Provider in TFS

Dear All,

I'd like to share with you a problem on VS 2003 ONLY and not in VS 2005.

The bug as follows; if you install MSSCCI 1.2 Provider for TFS in VS 2003,you can't switch to VSS as a source control.

This problem will affect you because you can't open any project binded to VSS as a source control;it takes TFS as a default source control even if you change it from the TOOL-> Source Control Menu in VS 2003.

NOTE : This problem ONLY exist in VS 2003 and i tried in VS 2005 and its working fine.

I submitted this to VS Product Team as a bug;for now;to solve the problem;you have these options :

1) Either to change in the registry of your machine (I DONT RECOMMEND THAT).
2) Use Third party tools "SCP Selector" , here is the download url :
http://weblog.kilic.net/tools/SCPSelector/

Hope this is useful :)


Regards,
Moustafa arafa

MIC Openings in Kuwait

Dear All,

This is an article for Vimal Sethi - DPE Group Manager in MS Gulf,talking about MS efforts during last year which yield to the opening of MIC in Kuwait,and the competitive advantgaes for kuwait in the gulf market which push MS to open MIC in kuwait.

Enjoy with the article,the article was publsihed in Al-watan newspaper on 28th april 07. url : http://www.alwatan.com.kw



Regards,
Moustafa arafa

Download Team Explorer for VS 2003

Hi Folks,

If you have VS 2003 and you want to integrate with Team Foundation Server (TFS),simply download "Visual Studio Team Foundation Server MSSCCI Provider.msi" provider if you have one of those development environment :

Instructions
Download and run Visual Studio Team Foundation Server MSSCCI Provider.msi on a computer with one of the following products:

Visual Studio .NET 2003
Visual C++ 6 SP6
Visual Visual Basic 6 SP6
Visual FoxPro 9 SP1
Microsoft Access 2003 SP2
SQL Server Management Studio
Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect 6.1
Sybase PowerBuilder 10.5
Toad for SQL Server 2.0

after you install this,don't expect to see the Team Expolorer window in VS 2003,but you will be capable to do the source control features available in TFS Sorce Control ,you can add the project to TFS,you can you any feature available in Source Control in TFS as well.

To Configure The TFS in VS 2003, open Tools->Options -> under Source Control ->SCC Provider.

you will notice also in the File Menu under source control you will see TFS Provider is added as a Source Control.

If you have any feedback,post it on this forum :
http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=478&SiteID=1

or send feedback by email to :
TFMSSCCI (at) Microsoft.com

Download Link :

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=87E1FFBD-A484-4C3A-8776-D560AB1E6198&displaylang=en


Regards,
Moustafa arafa

All About Team System

Hi Folks,

This post is all about the Visual Studio Team System,i want to inform all of you if you dont know that the new release of Team system "Rosario" will have alot of tools and fetures which make the developers more happy with the integrated tools available out of the box.

I want also to share with you a learning guide to Team System :
"Learning Guide : Get Started with Team System" :

http://searchvb.techtarget.com/generic/0,295582,sid8_gci1140199,00.html


if you like to learn such product from a book a recommend this book for you :

"Working with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team System"
it's direct to the point and full of practical experience.




Regards,
Moustafa arafa

Ten Cool Features of Orcas

Hi folks,

as mentioned on my earlier post,Beta 1 is availbe for Orcas and for who don't know about the features available in orcas,read the following article to tell you in brief what's the new in Orcas which will be released by the end of this year :)

Part 1 :
http://searchvb.techtarget.com/infoCenter/originalContent/0,294292,sid8_gci1249446_iid2657,00.html?track=NL-150&ad=585950&asrc=EM_USC_1298947&uid=1096037

Part 2 :
http://searchvb.techtarget.com/infoCenter/originalContent/0,294292,sid8_gci1249657_iid2657,00.html?track=NL-150&ad=585950&asrc=EM_USC_1298948&uid=1096037

Enjoy with Orcas :)

Regards,
Moustafa arafa

Orcas Beta 1 Now is available

Good morning Folks,

Now Orcas Beta 1 is available to download,ISO images and VPC is availble.

Visual Studio Code Name “Orcas” Beta 1

Visual Studio code name "Orcas" is the next generation development tool for Windows Vista, the 2007 Office system, and the Web. Beta 1 consists of multiple releases including, Visual Studio Professional Edition, Visual Studio Team Suite and Visual Studio Team Foundation Server, which are available as installation media ISO images you can use to install the products. Alternatively, you can download VPC images with the software pre-installed. In addition, you can download prerelease versions of Visual Basic Express, Visual C++ Express, Visual C# Express, and Visual Web Developer.

Download it now :

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-au/teamsystem/aa700831.aspx

Regards,
Moustafa arafa

Arabic Problem when Export Data to Excel

Hi Folks,

I faced a problem when you are trying to export arabic data binded in a datagrid or gridview in asp.net 1.x or 2.0 in VS.Net.

The problem is the arabic data is exported as a un-recognized letters "@@@???#######",since my system is arabic enabled and i can write arabic in my machine.

I checked my code for export to excel,the data is being streamed in a right format but when its appearing in excel it shows as un-recognized letters.

NOTE : YOU HAVE TO CHECK THAT YOUR OFFICE IS SUPPORTING ARABIC BY Open :
START MENU-> OFFICE->OFFICE TOOLS-> LANGUAGE SETTINGS.

The problem exists in office 2003 or even in office 2007.

If you want to see export data to excel in C#,refer to my earlier post :
http://moustafa-arafa.blogspot.com/2007/04/export-more-than-1-grid-in-excel-file.html

The problem wasn't in to put the character set of the response to UTF-8 or Windows-1256,the problem was when Response.End() is called it throw an exception because the thread has been aborted,simply what you have to do is just replace Response.End()
line by below line :

HttpContext.Current.ApplicationInstance.CompleteRequest();

/* FULL CODE TO EXPORT TO SUPPORT ARABIC *************//////

Response.Clear();
Response.Buffer= true;
Response.ContentType = "application/vnd.ms-excel";
Response.Charset = "";//You can set UTF-8 or windows-1256 but this will not solve
this.EnableViewState = false;
StringWriter oStringWriter = new StringWriter();
HtmlTextWriter oHtmlTextWriter = new HtmlTextWriter(oStringWriter);

MyDGrid.RenderControl(oHtmlTextWriter);

Response.Write(oStringWriter.ToString());

Response.Flush();
HttpContext.Current.ApplicationInstance.CompleteRequest();

/********************************END OF THE CODE ****************************/


Enjoy .Netting :)



Regards,
Moustafa arafa

C# Free sample chapters

Hi Folks,

below link is a redirecting to a free sample chapters from C# 2005 step by step book, download them and read it and enjoy with C#


http://www.microsoft.com/learning/vs2005/digdeep/default.mspx#SAMPLES



Regards,
Moustafa arafa

Lotus Domino to Active Directory

Hi Folks,

New tool has been released to migrate from Lotus Domino to Active Directory ,Exchange Server 2007 and WSS 3.0

have a look on this tool :

Microsoft Transporter Suite for Lotus Domino
http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=6604764

Microsoft Transporter Suite for Lotus Domino is used for interoperability and migration from Lotus Domino to Active Directory, Exchange Server 2007, and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.


Regards,
Moustafa arafa

Migrate from Oracle to MS SQL

Hi Folks,

Microsoft has released a new tool to migrate from Oracle to MS SQL,this is a cool tool ,download it now and use it :)

"SQL Server Migration Assistant for Oracle V3.0 "
http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=6604763

This download is a complete suite of tools that cuts the effort, cost, and risk of migrating from Oracle to SQL Server.

Enjoy with SQL-ING :)

Regards,
Moustafa arafa

System.Data.OracleClient Requires Oracle Client version 8.1.7 or greater

Hi Geeks,

If you developed .Net Applications with Oracle Backend,you may face this problem if you installed Oracle Client Version 9.1.x or greater,when you try to connect to Oracle DB you will get this error :
"System.Data.OracleClient Requires Oracle Client version 8.1.7 or greater"

simply it is not a code problem,it is a securtiy issue,to fix it simply do the following :

1- Go to the Oracle Client folder.
2- Right Click on the folder.
3- On security Tab, Add "Aithenticated Users" and give this account Read & Execute permission.

4- Apply these security for all folders,Subfolders and Files (IMPORTANT).

5- DON't Forget to REBOOT your Machine,if you forgot to do this you will still face the same problem unless you restart your machine.

Happy .Netting with Oracle.



Regards,
Moustafa arafa

Format Your Code by manoli

Hi all,

one of the good practices is to format your code while your development,its good for all development staff to put their guidelines and standards on their code policy.

i found a good tool to format all your code C#,VB.Net and even T-SQL...

it's a cool tool,try it now :

http://www.manoli.net/csharpformat/


Regards,
Moustafa arafa

Migrate your portal from Non DNN to DNN 4.x version

Hi Folks,

I tried to migrate a non dotnet nuke portal to dotnet nuke portal version 4.x,the first problem you will face is that you want to migrate your existing users to the new portal ? this post will show you how to do it in easy steps :

1) Export your users into an excel file.
2) create a script to that call 2 stored procedures in DotNet Nuke DB :
aspnet_Membership_CreateUser
dnn_AddUser (in some versions its called Add_User)

You can create a script for all users exported in excel file using new feature in Office 2007 called Field Merge,simply open new word file and u will find it under mailing ribbon.

you want to know how to create a field merge in word 2007,simply i will invite you to watch my friend's webcast to how to create/use field merge in word 07.

http://dotnetking.com/HowTo.aspx - > WOW....... it's free.


After creating this script in word file,execute the script in any query analyzer on the remote or production server,and u will see all your users has been migrated successfully.

Enjoy ! with Field merge :) thanks Microsoft for this great feature.


Regards,
Moustafa arafa

Export more than 1 Grid in Excel File

Hi Folks,

This Post is to tell you how to export more than 1 grid in 1 excel file.
this is a tricky post since we all know that its easy to export any complex data controls in asp.net 1.x or asp.net 2.0 to excel,but we will show how to export more than 1 complex data control into 1 excel file.

Here's the code in C# :

DataGrid1.DataSource=ds.Tables[0];
DataGrid1.DataBind();

DataGrid2.DataSource=ds.Tables[1];
DataGrid2.DataBind();

//export to excel
Response.Clear();
Response.Buffer= true;
Response.ContentType = "application/vnd.ms-excel";
Response.Charset = "";
this.EnableViewState = false;

System.IO.StringWriter oStringWriter = new System.IO.StringWriter();

System.Web.UI.HtmlTextWriter oHtmlTextWriter = new System.Web.UI.HtmlTextWriter(oStringWriter);

System.Web.UI.HtmlTextWriter oHtmlTextWriter2 = new System.Web.UI.HtmlTextWriter(oStringWriter);

oHtmlTextWriter.RenderBeginTag(HtmlTextWriterTag.Br);
DataGrid1.RenderControl(oHtmlTextWriter);
oHtmlTextWriter.RenderEndTag();

oHtmlTextWriter2.RenderBeginTag(HtmlTextWriterTag.Br);
DataGrid2.RenderControl(oHtmlTextWriter2);

Response.Write(oStringWriter.ToString());
Response.Flush();
Response.End();

/***************************************************************/

in the previous code i have 2 datagrids and i export both of them in excel file using htmlTextWriter object ,and one string writer for both of them.


Regards,
Moustafa arafa

Paint.Net

Hi Folks,

Paint.NET is image and photo manipulation software designed to be used on computers that run Windows. It supports layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools. It started development as an undergraduate college senior design project mentored by Microsoft, and is currently being maintained by some of the alumni that originally worked on it.
Originally intended as a free replacement for the MS Paint software that comes with Windows, it has grown into a powerful yet simple tool for photo and image editing.

The programming language used to create Paint.NET is C#, with a small amount of C++ for installation and shell-integration related functionality.

download it now :

http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/PaintNET/1096481993/1



Regards,
Moustafa arafa

TOP N doesn't exist in Oracle ??????

Hi Folks,

I have shocked when i tried to integrate with Oracle DB in one of my projects,and i found that TOP keyword doesnt exist in oracle,and you have to change it and the workaround also depends on backend DB version !!!.

if you used to write this query in sql 2000 db:

select top 5 * from Customers where customerId=110

if you want to do the same with Oracle DB (8i or later),write it like this :

select * from Customers where customerId=110 and rownum<6

rownum<6,do the same of Top 5 and return TOP 5 records

if you have Oracle DB earlier than 8i you have to write the following :

SELECT *
FROM Customers a
WHERE 5 >= (SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT Revenue)
FROM Customers b
WHERE b.Revenue>= a.Revenue)



This is Today Tip,Enjoy .Netting :)



Regards,
Moustafa arafa