Cloud computing in action presentation

Hi All,

Last week i presented "Cloud Computing in Action" presentation in Reston,VA. In this presentaion i talked about Azure cloud computing platform, and i covered the following topics:

- Windows Azure
- Windows Azure Storage.
- SQL Azure / SSMS / Storage Explorer
- AppFabric / Development Fabric
- Develop & Deploy Application on Azure using VS 2010 RC.
- Showcase for a full LOB ASP.NET application hosted on Azure.
- Q & A.

I like also to share my presnetation with all of you to make use of it.

http://cid-4bc94054914a6469.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Blog%20Code/Cloud%20In%20Action.pptx?ccr=5803

Thanks to Dan Kasun to provide me good presentation and materials for Azure.

Hope it helps.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Silverlight Application using SMF

Hi Folks,

Today i started to read about IIS smooth streaming feature available in IIS 7, and i am impressed with this feature, the feature simply provide you with the platform to provide HD videos in the application without writing a lot of code.

I started to read abou the feature on this link, Then i started to download the framework which is available in CodePlex: smf.codeplex.com

It's pretty easy and innovative to have HD streaming in your application using this silverlight media framework.


**The full sample application is attached to be used as walkthrough.
http://cid-4bc94054914a6469.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Blog%20Code/SMF.Sample1.zip

Hope this helps and enjoy Silverlight.


Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Cloud Computing Thoughts with Azure

Hi All,

Today i attended the Government Cloud Computing event at Washignton DC sponsored By Microsoft which held on Ronald Regan Conference center. I had cool conversation with the DPE team and Azure Technical guys in the event with some few business contacts in the Federal government Reps.

The event started with the Cloud computing vision on the furture and the challenges the face Microsoft and ISVs to engage the government to be open and approve the cloud computing solutions.

Then, Microsoft showed some show cases / Demos for implementing Windows Azure,Dallas and AppFabric with Blobs on the cloud.

Then we had a great panel that includes some of technology experts and innovators from the government and other private sector.

I really like the innovation in NASA and the CIO who was so open to the new technologies and how it helps NASA's mission and the scientific research that it has and how it helps them to reduce the operational cost for their IT services.

The event had 3 Tracks : Business Track, IT Track and Developer Track.

I will give my insights in the Developer track as bullet points:

- You can start developing Azure cloud computing with ZERO Dollar investment.
- Use VS 2008 with Azure training Kit to start developing cloud apps.
- ALL MSDN subscribers have a promotion from MS to have 750 hrs for 8 months FREE.
- Cloud Storage Studio is a free tool to manage your Azure Storage data.
- blogs.msdn.com/publicsector to get all public sector news.
- Accessing Cloud data using RESTful services using Odata protocol, www.odata.org
- myazurestorage.com is another tool to manage azure storage.
- SQL Azure migration wizard is an open source project in codeplex to migrate your DB to Azure compliant.
- MS Synch. Framework power pack for SQL Azure - Nov CTP to synch between different SQL Azure Databases and on premise DBs.
- Microsoft has a program called : Open government data initiative OGDI to expose data to the citizens using Azure technologies.
- OGDI provides toolkits with different programming languages to help developers to consume these data using Azure Platform.

These are my notes, hope it helps :)

Update: My page on the cloud : http://metrostarsystems.cloudapp.net/

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

SharePoint Saturday Arabia - 27 March 2010

Dear All,

I'm really glad to announce that Registration is now open for participation in Live Online SharePoint Saturday Arabia. By registering for this event, you are confirming you would like to view the live presentations, presented from 7:00am to 4:00pm (GMT+0), on March 27, 2010.

http://www.sharepointsaturday.org/arabia

In order to hear the presenters, you will need headphones or computer speakers. There will be no conference call dial-in phone numbers.

The live blogging platform will allow for real time questions to be passed to the presenters. There will be two sessions running simultaneously so that we can present to a diversified audience in both Arabic and English languages.

As you register, we would very much appreciate it if you would spread the word to your SharePoint colleagues. I have attached here the event poster, please feel free to use it.

Thank you for joining us. With your participation, we hope to make this an exceptional event.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
الأعضاء الكرام تحية طيبة و بعد,
يسعدنا و يشرفنا أن نعلن أن باب التسجيل و المشاركة في Live Online SharePoint Saturday Arabia قد تم فتحه, بالتسجيل في هذا المؤتمر الافتراضي يمكنك مشاهدة المحاضرات و الشروحات أون لاين, المحاضرات ستعرض في تاريخ 27 مارس 2010 من الساعة 7:00 صباحاٌ حتى الساعة 4:00 مساءاٌ بتوقيت جرينتش.
هذا المؤتمر الافتراضي يعتبر الأول من نوعه حيث أنه ُيقدم شرح واف باللغة العربية و الانجليزية لشيربوينت 2007 و شيربوينت 2010 . لمشاهدة هذا المؤتمر لن تضطر للذهاب لأي مكان أو حتى دفع أي مبالغ مالية حيث أنه حدث مجاني و أون لاين, كل ما تحتاجه هو جهاز الكمبيوترو الدخول على شبكة الأنترنت.
نظام التدوين الحي يتيح لك طرح الأستفسارات والأسئلة على المتحدث في التو و اللحظة , و سيكون هناك محاضرتين في نفس الوقت حتى نتمكن من عرض المحاضرة على العديد من الجمهور باللغة العربية و الأنجليزية.
نشكرك جزيل الشكر للتسجيل, و الرجاء أن تبلغ أي شخص مهتم بتكنولوجيا الشيربوينت عن هذا الحدث, لقد أرفقنا الملصق الإعلاني للحدث, أستعمله كيفما تشاء.
نشكرك جزيل الشكر للأنضمام ألينا, و نتمنى أن يكون الحدث ممتاز و ممتع.
مع الشكر و الأحترام



Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Microsoft Application Architecture Guide 2.0

Hi All,

Microsoft recently released the Application Architecture Guide version 2.0, This is a good resource to architect and design your solutions by applying Microsoft best practices in software design.

MSDN Url:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd673617.aspx

Hope it helps.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Linq in Sharepoint 2010 Presentation

Hi All,

During attending MS MVP global summit from 16-19 Feb 2010, I present a MVP2MVP side session on Firday 4:40 pm, it was a great experience presenting to fellow MVPs.

I'd like to share my presentation with all to make use of it.

Note: All materials is applied on SharePoint 2010 Beta 2.

Presentation link:

http://cid-4bc94054914a6469.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Blog%20Code/ThePowerOfLINWInSharePoint2010.pptx


Hope thish helps.


Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Error when using SPMetal in SharePoint 2010 with VS 2010 Beta 2

Hi,

If you tried to create proxy classes using SPMetal command line tool in SharePoint 2010 using VS 2010 or the command line using this command:

SPMetal /web:http://MyServer:PORT:1000/TestSite /code:TestSite.cs

Error:
"The Web application at http://MYSITE could not be found. Verify that you have typed the URL correctly. If the URL should be serving existing content, the system administrator may need to add a new request URL mapping to the intended application."

The solution for this problem after i spent almost 1 hour to figure out what is the problem,the problem is that your site doesn't get the username and password from the SPMetal tool, and you have to provide it in the command itself.


SPMetal /web:http://MyServer:PORT:1000/TestSite /code:TestSite.cs /username:DOMAIN\mostafa /password:testpassword123


Hope this helps.


Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Error when enable publishing feature in SharePoint 2007

Hi,

I was trying to enable publishing feature in sharepoint 2007, and i was getting this error:

“Exception occurred. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80020009 (DISP_E_EXCEPTION)) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Library.SPRequestInternalClass.GetMetadataForUrl(String bstrUrl, Int32 METADATAFLAGS, Guid& pgListId, Int32& plItemId, Int32& plType, Object& pvarFileOrFolder)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Library.SPRequest.GetMetadataForUrl(String bstrUrl, Int32 METADATAFLAGS, Guid& pgListId, Int32& plItemId, Int32& plType, Object& pvarFileOrFolder)“

The solution for this problem open stsadm tool and enable the following features:

stsadm -o activatefeature -filename publishing\feature.xml -url http://MyPortal -force

stsadm -o activatefeature -filename publishingresources\feature.xml -url http://MyPortal -force

stsadm -o activatefeature -filename publishingSite\feature.xml -url http://MyPortal -force

stsadm -o activatefeature -filename publishingweb\feature.xml -url http://MyPortal -force

stsadm -o activatefeature -filename publishinglayouts\feature.xml -url http://MyPortal -force

stsadm -o activatefeature -filename navigation\feature.xml -url http://MyPortal -force

Hope this helps :)

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Consume WCF and XML Web services using HTTPServices in Flex

Hi All,

I'd like to share with you this problem we faced in one of our projects, I was building a WCF/XML Web services Layer to be consumed by Mobile and Non-Microsoft Technologies such as FLEX / ColdFusion.

One of our team members was saying that when he was trying to consume our web services he wasn't able to get the results from our services layer.

I started to search why this happened only when when you try to get the data from a Flex Application, The solution is : the Flex only support HTTPServices and this means that the client only able to interact with the webservices either using HTTP GET or POST. and since web.config default configuration is : HTTP GET/POST is disabled by default and you will not be able to post parameters in the query string, here is the request from Flex:

http://www.MostafaElzogbhi.innovate/WSLayer/Service1.asmx/GetTestData?Id=10


What you need to do update the web.config by adding HTTP GET/POST protocols.

<system.web>

<webServices>
<protocols>
<add name="HttpGet"/>
<add name="HttpPost"/>
</protocols>
</webServices>
<system.web>

Hope this helps .Net and Flex developers all together.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

SharePoint Tip: Creating Custom web services in Sharepoint 2007

Hi,

If you want to build your own custom Web services that will be hosted in a sharepoint instance, here is the complete walkthrough that you need to folow:

MSDN Article: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms464040.aspx

The tip is on step 12: if you didn't specify the assemblyname.classname you will not be able to successfully deploy your webservice.

Step 12 has to be :

WebService Language="C#" Class="MyServiceAssembly.Service, MyServiceAssembly, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=8f2dca3c0f2d0131"

That's is and hope it helps.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

How to shrink SharePoint_Config DB

Hi all,

I had one of my SharePoint Configuration database for one of my sharepoint sites reached 122 GB since i had a problem on having any operation from the FE server to the DB server.

My installation for the DB server is SQL 2008, the problem is the transaction log is too large and to minimize or shirnk the size, here is the steps:

1) Take a full backup from your database - Important.
2) Change the DB recovery model to Simple ( Right click on the SharePoint_Config and click on properties -> Options - > Recovery model : change it to simple.

3) Open a new query in the management studio and write this shrink command:

DBCC SHRINKFILE('Sharepoint_Config_Log',1)

4) Check the HD free space, your free space on the HD has been updated.

5) Don't forget to return back the recovery model to full for any future backups.

Check the transaction log file (ldf file of the sharepoint_config) it has been shrinked to the minimum size.

In my case the transaction log has been shrinked from 122GB to 2MB.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

How to fix : "Directory ‘C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\80\_catalogs\masterpage’ does not exist. Failed to start monitoring file changes."

Hi all,

Today i ran through a problem when i tried to create a javascript function in my web part that call a server function in the code behind, to enable this, you have to enable pagemethods in your script manager object in the master page.

ajax:ScriptManager ID="ScriptManager1" runat="server" EnablePageMethods="true"

adding this attribute EnablePageMethods causes the whole site stop working and you will get this yellow error page with the following error:
"
Directory ‘C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\80\_catalogs\masterpage’ does not exist. Failed to start monitoring file changes.

"

The fix for this problem, is a bug and a known issue, just install this hotfix KB957661 on your sharepoint front server.

Hotfix download link :
http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/KB957661/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=2293

Hope this helps :)


Regards,
Mostafa arafa

SharePoint Saturday Event - EMEA - 23 Jan

Hi,
This is just a quick update to tell you I will be posting the speaker/session schedule for Live Online SharePoint Saturday EMEA on January 23rd later this week. We are going to have at least two channels running at once, possibly three.
We've got over 350 people registered, 6 Microsoft MVPs speaking, and 21 presentations! I would appreciate it if you would share/forward this post to three colleagues telling them about this free, live online event.
I'd love to see the registrations go over 1000.

Event Home: http://www.sharepointsaturday.org/emea/default.aspx
List of Speakers: http://www.sharepointsaturday.org/emea/Pages/speakers.aspx
List of Sessions: http://www.sharepointsaturday.org/emea/Pages/meetings.aspx
Registration: http://20100123-spsemea.eventbrite.com/

This looks like it's going to turn out to be one of the largest live online events we've ever seen for SharePoint.

Thank you for your participation in spreading the word.

Download my presentation :

http://cid-4bc94054914a6469.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Blog%20Code/SPSatrday%5E_SP2010%5E_SharePointDevelopmentTipcsTricks%20-%20Copy.pptx

Get Started with MS Surface - Part 1

Hi folks,

In This post i will mention some of my thoughts and findings in the MS Surface, It is amazing experience, this is the first post of its series, i will keep posting my posts about MS Surface.

Let me know asnwer the most FAQ for most IT guys:

1) What is MS Surface : Multi-touch table
Read more : http://www.microsoft.com/surface/

2) Which Development Tools can i use to develop my applications ? VS 2008 , Suface SDK 1.0 SP1

3) Do i need to have MS Surface to develop my applications ? You can develop on your development as workstation using Surface Simulator that will be installed if you installed Surface SDK.

4) What kind of application we can develop for MS Surface ? Surface application is basically WPF ( Windows Presentation Foundation) .Net applications.


I hope this helps, let me know what do you think about this ?


Regards,
Mostafa arafa

SharePoint Saturday - EMEA Event

Hi All,

Good News !!! First SharePoint Saturday @ EMEA will be held on 23 Jan 2010, If you are a sharepoint fan/developer/architect or Administrator, I encourage you to attend SharePoint Saturday online event, here is the link for the registration:

http://20100123-spsemea.eventbrite.com/

Speakers List:
http://www.sharepointsaturday.org/emea/Pages/speakers.aspx


I'm going to be a speaker on this event, meet you there.

My Session Info:

Session Topic : SharePoint 2010 Development Tips & Tricks
This session will cover the new development model for SharePoint 2010 and the new architecture design for the sharepoint foundation and the client object model.
The session will cover also other tips and tricks when developing sharepoint solutions and the best practices to following when developing sharepoint custom components and more....

Meet you there. Thanks.

How to build your DB on MS SQL Azure

Hi Folks,

I would like to share with you some tips for how to move your on-premise DB to MS SQL Azure on the cloud.

First, To be able to connect to SQL Azure Prepare your environment with the following:

1) Install MS SQL 2008 R2 on your machine - Nov CTP, having any other version of SQL 2008 will not give you the full functionality like working with object browser in SQL Server 2008 R2.

Tips :

a) Before installing SQL 2008 R2, please check your exisiting environment by using SQL Server upgrade advisor (it is a part of SQL 2008 R2).

b) Using your credientials in SQL Azure, you will be able to connect using SQL 2008 R2 with no issues and you will be able to navigate through your objects in the DB.

1) How to move your on premise Database to SQL Azure on the cloud:

1) Script your DB from your server.
2) There is some changes you have to do it on the script before executing it on the SQL Azure DB.

Tip: 1) Remove any reference to the file group such as : ON [PRIMARY] on your script.

Then when you remove the reference, you will be able to execute the script using SQL Management Studio and when you refresh the server you will be able to see your new created objects.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa @ Azure Cloud......

Cannot open a closed file error in asp.net ajax / SharePoint Site

Hi Folks,

I was developing a webpart in sharepoint ( consider it as a asp.net usercontrol for ASP.Net Developers) and in the webpart i was uploading a document using AsyncFileUpload control in AJAX Toolkit.

And it was working fine, but for some files i was getting this error : "Cannot open a closed file" and i was thinking that the problem from the file or it is a code behind issue.

I figure out the problem was because of the file size threshold in the web.config, the default web.config is:

<httpruntime maxrequestlength="51200" />

I added this attribute:

<httpruntime maxrequestlength="51200" requestLengthDiskThreshold="4096" />


The resolution for the problem is: Set the length disk threshold to 4M ( or any other number in KB as per your application business rule) because by default the value is 80K.

Hope this helps.

Happy SharePointing.... or .Netting :)

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

SharePoint Error : Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {BDEADEE2-C265-11D0-BCED-00A0C90AB50F} failed

Hi,

If you are trying to open your sharepoint 2007 site one day and you got this error message with yellow asp.net page:

"Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {BDEADEE2-C265-11D0-BCED-00A0C90AB50F} failed due to the following error: 800703fa."

The fix for this problem is to do iisreset for your IIS webserver and this will resolve the error.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Installing SharePoint 2010 on Windows 7 Tip

If you are planning to install sharepoint 2010 on Windows 7, here is an excellent article in MSDN, just follow the steps and you will end up successfully installing SharePoint 2010 beta on windows 7.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee554869(office.14).aspx

My Tip is: even if you follow the steps, and run the SharePoint Configuration wizard, the wizard might be failed , what you have to do is just to re-run it and it is going to work. the problem for that when you run in low of memory and the exception is saying failed provisioning central administration website.


Thanks.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Installing SharePoint 2010

Hi Folks,

I'd like to share with all of you how to install SharePoint 2010 on your current platform and to remove any dilemma or milestones you might face or heard from others.

First Question : How can i install SharePoint 2010 on my 32 bit machine ?
Now, you can use either VM Ware Workstation (requires License) or Virtual Box (Free).
Till Today, MS Virtual PC doesn't support to build your 64 bit machine on a your host 32 bit machine.

Now, you don't have any problem to build a VM using either of these software.

I used Virtual Box, and this is my first experience with it, easy and you can use your experience with VPC with it.

[Updated 6/12/09]: VMWare Server is also free, you can try it and its performance is better than Virtual Box.

Once you build and start your VM, here is the steps you have to do:
1- Mount your Windows 2008 R2 64 bit to your VM software.
2- After installing Windows, Install all the updates before start installing the SharePoint 2010.

3- I Prefer to install Office 2010 before installing SharePoint 2010 since you are going to use it with SharePoint.

4- Run Your SharePoint installer and click on install your software prerequisities, this step will go with no errors as mentioned on other posts.

5- The installer will prompt you to run SharePoint Products and configuration wizard, At the end, you will get a failure message : "Failed to create sample data".
FYI: SharePoint is working without installing the hotfix, To download the hotfix:

http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2009/11/19/installation-notice-for-the-sharepoint-server-public-beta-on-microsoft-windows-server-2008-r2-and-microsoft-windows-7.aspx

After installing the hotfix, restart the machine and run the SharePoint configuration wizard again to fix un-provisioned services-WCF.

** Some Other Error cases - Differ from one installation to another:

a) If you got this error :"failed to register sharepoint services", open stsadm tool and type this command:

stsadm -o spsearch -action stop

Then re-run the configuration wizard.

b) If you get this error message :"failed to register sharepoint services- search service" - step 5 in the configuration wizard.

Open the command prompt and type : regedit and navigate to the following key and delete it:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web ServerExtensions\14.0\WSS\Services\Microsoft.SharePoint. Search.Administration.SPSearchService

6- Done, Start exploring your sharepoint 2010 instance.

Hope this helps.

Mostafa Arafa
Twitter : @mostafaelzoghbi

The security validation for this page is invalid. Click Back in your Web browser, refresh the page, and try your operation again.

Hi,

"The security validation for this page is invalid. Click Back in your Web browser, refresh the page, and try your operation again." This error message in sharepoint 2007 you will get it because of different actions you may perform on the site level:

-If you are trying to check out a document in Document library.
-If you are trying to add some columns in a custom list in sharepoint.
-If you are trying to call update() method in the object mode.
-And other actions....

The reason behind this error is when you enable anonymous access to a site with other authentication method such as basic authentication.

The solution or workaround for this problem is to open the central admin, then :
- Select application management.
- Under SharePoint Web Application Management, select Web Application general settings.
- Select your web application first.
- Under web page security validation turn it off.
- Reset your IIS.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

My Interview in Microsoft Feed Website

I'd like to share with all my blog readers this article, it is my interview with Microsoft Feed website team.

Read it, I think it will inspire you to do more in your career and to the community.

http://microsoftfeed.com/2009/meet-mostafa-elzoghbi-visual-c-mvp-from-egypt/


Regards,
Mostafa arafa

SharePoint 2010 BETA is available now to download

Hi Folks,

SharePoint 2010 BETA is now available to download for Public, download link :

http://www.microsoft.com/2010/en/

SharePoint 2010 resources:

Devs: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/ee513147.aspx

IT Professionals: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/ee518660.aspx

Read more :

http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2009/11/18/sharepoint-2010-public-beta-is-now-available-for-download.aspx


Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Bulk delete in a SharePoint custom list

Hi All,

I went through an issue to bulk delete a custom list items in a sharepoint site, I found a good tool to delete all items / selected items in a custom list in sharepoint.

You can download from codeplex:

http://customlistitemsdel.codeplex.com/

Hope this helps.


Regards,
Mostafa arafa

createwsp.bat exited with code 4 error

Hi All,

If you got this error while building a sharepoint solution file, this happens when the CabLib.dll which is used to build WSP SharePoint Solution files in VS.Net is a 32 bit running on a 64 bit machine.

The issue behind this is that your server is a x64 bit server, and you have to change this CabLib.dll with a 64 bit version.

You can download the updated dll from codplex:

http://www.codeplex.com/wspbuilder/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=16820

Hope this helps.


Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Performance Point Server 2007 SP3 is available

Hi All,

If you are building KPIs and performance point reports using Performance Point server 2007 with SharePoint 2007. A new Service pack is available to download with all important aggregated hotfixes.

Download link and important hotfixes information:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/975249/en-us

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Error when trying to open XAML options in VS 2008

Hi All,

After installing Silverlight 3.0 tools with VS 2008 SP1 i was not able to open XAML options in VS 2008 IDE.

I was submitted a ticket in MS Connect website, and the fix is:
1) Close all VS 2008 instances.
2) Open VS 2008 Command prompt
3) Type : devenv /resetskippkgs

This is the fix for the problem by resetting all IDE packages.

Ticket url:

https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=496402

Hope it helps.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Session management in WCF service - client & server

Hi Folks,

I got the following email from one of my blog readers, here is his email:
"
Hi.. Marafacs,
I have a problem about WCF chat based on client-server. How to make a deal between server and client? So server can send message, show active client list, kick user.
Thanks for response.
"

To do this, you have first to configure your WCF to accept only client calls with sessions, and this is can be achieved by configuring the WCF with Service Throttling and configuring MaxConcurrentCalls,MaxConcurrentInstances and MaxConcurrentSessions.

Read this section to know how to configure this - page 331:
http://books.google.com/books?id=-AUyj6S7etwC&pg=PA331&dq=how+to+get+active+sessions+in+WCF&ei=tsTdStrhKITUNc_B9IEP#v=onepage&q=&f=false

To know, how the client can generate sessions and unique identifiers to the server, check below KB article, this is related to instance context sharing:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa354514.aspx

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

MS Training website.... for solution providers

Hi Folks,

Interesting site By Microsoft, it provides training for solution providers, what you have to do is to write your topic, then you will find your material.

I was looking for silverlight 3, here is the link:
http://www.msdev.com/Directory/SeriesDescription.aspx?CourseId=122

This is the site url, keep it in your records...

http://www.msdev.com/

Hope it helps.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

TechEd Middle East - March 2010

Hi All,

Big chance for all professionals in the middle east, TechEd Middle east in Dubai at 1 March 2010, TechEd is one of the most premier events for Microsoft in technology and networking.

"Microsoft’s premier technical education and networking conference is coming to the Middle East.
Connect one-on-one with Microsoft insiders and IT peers, get your toughest questions answered and hear expert advice - right from the source, right in your region."

http://www.TechEd.ae/


-- RSVP on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=162414912532&ref=nf

See you there....

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

'AntiXssLibrary' or one of its dependencies. There is not enough space on the disk. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070070)

Hi Folks,

If you got the error message from MS CRM 4.0 which is running on a VM on your test or production Hyper-V manager server, After i checked the the error message on the server, the error message which was :

"'AntiXssLibrary' or one of its dependencies. There is not enough space on the disk. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070070)"

Just trun off your VM, Then expand desk space allocated for the VM will fix the issue.

Hope this tip helps.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Access denied when try to sign your project in VS 2008

Hi Folks,

If you are facing a problem that you can't sign your project using VS 2008, this is not because there is a problem in VS 2008 but this is because the User Access control (UAC) feature in Vista. The User Access Control enabled in your system, you have to disable it to enable signing to your assembly in VS 2008.

OR

If you can't publish your project using ClickOnce deployment in VS 2008 and your are getting an error message : "publish aborted, can't create a default certificate"

The cause for above 2 errors messages are because of the UAC is enabled.

To do/fix this:
1) Open Run windows in Vista: Accessories -> Run.
2) Type MSCONFIG command.
3) select tools tab, select Disable UAC and click on Luanch button.
4) Reboot your system (Important).

Once you reboot your system, open your project and you will be able to sign your assembly.

Hope it helps.


Regards,
Mostafa arafa

My first SQL azure Application on the Cloud !!!

Hi Folks,

Few months ago, i worked with Azure Services, and since i'm interested to develop applications over the cloud which extensively use SQL Server as a backend, i used BLOBS to store my data... actually it wasn't that easy to use, but the product was still in beta in that time.

Recently, I have some time to develop and start using SQL Azure services, A big start by allowing us to create the Database over the website, then all other operations ( CRUD ) for the Database design and object model can be done using ADO.Net classes.

C# Code for connecting and creating a table over the cloud:

SqlConnectionStringBuilder connString2Builder;
connString2Builder = new SqlConnectionStringBuilder();
connString2Builder.DataSource = "MyServer.ctp.database.windows.net"; // check your profile to know server name.
connString2Builder.InitialCatalog = "YourDB"; // you can create your own their.
connString2Builder.Encrypt = true;
connString2Builder.TrustServerCertificate = true;
connString2Builder.UserID = "myUserName";
connString2Builder.Password = "myPassword";

// Connect to the sample database and perform various operations
using (SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(connString2Builder.ToString()))
{
using (SqlCommand command = conn.CreateCommand())
{
conn.Open();

// Create a table
command.CommandText = "CREATE TABLE MostafaTable(Col1 int primary key, Col2 varchar(20))";
command.ExecuteNonQuery();

// Insert sample records
command.CommandText = "INSERT INTO MostafaTable(col1, col2) values (1, 'string 1'), (2, 'string 2'), (3, 'string 3')";
int rowsAdded = command.ExecuteNonQuery();

// Query the table and print the results
command.CommandText = "SELECT * FROM MostafaTable";

using (SqlDataReader reader = command.ExecuteReader())
{
// Loop over the results
while (reader.Read())
{
Console.WriteLine("Col1: {0}, Col2: {1}",
reader["Col1"].ToString().Trim(),
reader["Col2"].ToString().Trim());
}
}
}
}

-- To read more about SQL Azure services:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee336279.aspx

-- SQL Azure Forums:
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/ssdsgetstarted/threads/


Hope it helps.


Regards,
Mostafa arafa

SortedSet <T> new collection type in .Net 4.0 beta 1

Hi folks,

This post based on my readings in .Net 4.0 beta 1, one of the new enhancements in .Net 4.0 is SortedSet<T> collection type, which implements red-black sorting algorithm with complexity O(log n) for the entire list.

Red-Black tree is an efficient sorting algorithm and using this collection will help alot from performance of sorting large sets in the run time.

C# code:

var mySet=new SortedSet <int>() {3,2,7,23,12,879,345,122,98};
foreach(int x in mySet)
{
Console.WriteLine(x);
}

// output: sorted list.


To read more about .Net 4.0 enhancements, kindly check below links:

http://blogs.msdn.com/bclteam/archive/2009/05/22/what-s-new-in-the-bcl-in-net-4-beta-1-justin-van-patten.aspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/dd819232.aspx

Hope this helps.


Regards,
Mostafa arafa

CRM 4.0 Integration with your business applications/products

Hi Folks,

MS Dynamics - CRM 4.0 is one of the recognized products for mid-size, large customers for customers' relationship management products in the market.

If you have a CRM 4.0 in your company, you might want to integrate CRM Data with other business applications. The way to do this is to use MS Biztalk server which comes now with a CRM 4.0 Adapter.

This means that you can make use of CRM schema and Data using Biztalk 2006/2009 in your business applications or other products using this new released CRM adapter in Biztalk.

To download and start integrating with CRM 4.0, this is the download link and some useful documents to wotk with Biztalk CRM Adapter.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=ABD3BB9E-A59A-4EB6-8DE8-FB25B77926D7&displaylang=en

Hope this helps.



Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Code for the power of Windows 7

Hi All,

Do you want to develop for the power of windows 7 ? Do you want to earn money for the submission you will do ? Competition is full of challenge and prizes.... deadline for registration is end of 10th october, Register now :

https://www.code7contest.com/

Start today with Windows 7 development.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

"an item with the same key has already been added" on CRM 4.0

Hi Folks,

If you are experiencing this error on your CRM 4.0 instance, this means that your CRM 4.0 needs a hotfix to fix this problem.

The hotfix KB article:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/949256

The error # : 951849

Hope it helps.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Add external sites to Sharepoint Search

Hi Folks,

One of the most imoportant features in sharepoint 2007 is the enterprise search. Enabling search for extenral sites are extermely needed in any organization specially if the organization has other sites hosted on other platforms other than sharepoint sites.

To implement this, First make sure that crawling services configuration are set properly on your sharepoint "SharedServices" assigned to your site that you are working on.

From Central Administration:
- Select SharedServices.
- Select crawl rules.
- click on new crawl rule.
- set the url of your site, select include all items in this path.

Then click ok, wait till the next crawl service will run or run it manually, then you will get search results.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Exception when implement function overloading in WCF

Hi Folks,

If you tried to develop a simple WCF function, and you tried to write in your WCF 2 overloading functions in WCF, you will not be able to deploy your serivce and the clients will get an exceptions.

The solution: give Aliases to the overloaded functions in the WCF service.

Code :


public interface IMyWCFSvc
{
[OperationContract(Name="GetCustomerById")]
string GetCustomerInfo( int CustId);

[OperationContract(Name="GetCustomerByEmail")]
string GetCustomerInfo( string CustomerEmail);
}

The proxy when you reference to your serivce, will create 2 methods with the Alias names and not with the actual overloaded name in C# code.

Hope this helps.


Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Service unavailable after changing the identity for a sharepoint site

Hi Folks,

If you try to change the identity for the applicaiton pool that the sharepoint site is running under, You can do this from the iis manager open identity tab and change the account for the application pool.

After you change this, you will get "Service Unavailable" error message when you try to open your sharepoint site, to fix this:

1) Make sure that you type the password for the service account which the application pool will run under correctly.

2) Make sure that the Service account is part of the following groups: IIS_WPG and STS_WPG .

3) Reset your IIS.......MOST IMPORTANT STEP.

then, you can navigate to your website.

Hope this tip helps.

KB Article:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/823552


Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Asp.Net MVC 2 has been shipped ....Developer comments

Hi All,

Asp.Net MVC 2.0 has been shipped, some features have been improved and other new ones, From the first reading for the new things and the improved features, here is the features that i like:

1) You can write Lambda Expression in the View.......Very Cool feature in your code will be like this ; c is a customer model

HTML.LabelFor(c=> c.CustomerAddress)

2) Areas: MVC 2.0 project support new concept which is Areas, you can divide your solution as Areas. Suppose you are building MVC 2.0 website, and this website contains Home,Forums and Support. each module in this website will be an area in your project with all related files.

3) Strong typed in the view : in the view you can use the intellisense to explore the model fields..........very important and most annoying thing while developing projects in MVC 1.0.

Read more about the product version:

http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2009/07/31/asp-net-mvc-v2-preview-1-released.aspx

Hope my comments help.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Error when trying to connect to or download PerformancePoint designer

Hi all,

I was getting an error message when i'm trying to connect to Performance point server, and the error message wasn't descriptive at all, this is the error message :

" ERROR SUMMARY Below is a summary of the errors, details of these errors are listed later in the log. * Activation of http://ServerName/DesignerInstall/ resulted in exception. Following failure messages were detected: + Access is denied. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070005 (E_ACCESSDENIED))
COMPONENT STORE TRANSACTION FAILURE SUMMARY No transaction error was detected.
"
If you don't have performance point server on your machine and you are not able to download it below shows how can you do this.

To do this, get the download from your server, this is the path:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server\3.0\Monitoring\DesignerInstall

Take 3.0 folder, and install the designer on your desktop.

After installation, you will have another problem, you can't connect to your server because you didn't install it from the browser, to fix this do the following:














Replace localhost:4000 with your server name and click ok.

Then you can click on Refresh to get all the contenct on your designer.

Hope it helps.


Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Learn how to build interactive WCM portal in sharepoint

Hi folks,

Excellent video by Technology Director of Razorfish, he shows how can you build interactive content management portal in sharepoint using jQuery,Ajax,Silverlight and flash ?

The video also shows how to enable RIA features/Web 2.0 in your sharepoint enterprise portal using flash and silverlight and social networking.

The video is full of best practices and initiative ideas.....

Enjoy watching this video:

http://videos.visitmix.com/MIX09/C19F


-- Mostafa Elzoghbi

Send Email activity is not working problem

Hi all,

I went through a problem in Sending Email using Email activity in SharePoint, it doesn't work when you try to send email to specific email format using sharepoint designer 2007.

To read more about the problem and the workaround that i developed, check below url :

https://connect.microsoft.com/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=474381&SiteID=470&wa=wsignin1.0

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

How to control which Silverlight version does your application run on ?

Hi Folks,

I have been asked from one of my colleagues that he developed a Silverlight 2.0 and he doesn't want to upgrade his application to Silverlight 3.0.

To control which Silverlight version your application will run on: simply open the page which contains the Silverlight object (default.htm or default.aspx) and check the Silverlight object, you will find the following:

- minRuntimeVersion: used to control the version of the Silverlight that your application will run on at minimum.

For example: if you built your application on version 2.0, the client will not be prompted to install version 3.0 when visiting your website if he has version 2.0 and this attribute is set to use version 3.0.

autoUpgrade: when it is true, the application will be upgraded to the newest Silverlight version automatically. If it is false, noting will happen.

Some use cases for different situation:

- - Before shipping your application make sure that make autoUpgrade to false, unless you developed some features which requires the client to upgrade his Silverlight version to the newest one.

- - Set the value of minRuntimeVersion to the version you test your application on, and make sure this is the minimum version you want to make your application is running with no issues.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Get to know SharePoint 2010

Hi all,

Interested to know more about next version of sharpeoint, here is the site that gives you good information about the new features of Sharepoint 2010 features...check it out.

http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/2010/Sneak_Peek/

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

MVP 2009 Award - 4th Year

Hi All,

Today i have been awarded as a C# MVP for the forth time, I got an email from Microsoft saying:

"
Dear Moustafa El-Zoughby,
Congratulations! We are pleased to present you with the 2009 Microsoft® MVP Award! This award is given to exceptional technical community leaders who actively share their high quality, real world expertise with others. We appreciate your outstanding contributions in Visual C# technical communities during the past year."

Thanks a lot all for your continous support.

Wait me for new challenges this year and so on.



Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Get started with jQuery library from its own creators !!!

Hi Folks,

As you know, MS announced that jQuery is a built-in library in VS 2008 SP1 for ASP.NET Developers.

I recommend for all developers, to see the series of jQuery Library videos from its own creator : John Resig and his team, this series of videos help you to understand the jQuery library features,jQuery UI and other important notes for advanced developers.

I enjoyed watching these series, and i suggest all of you to understand and start using jQuery library in your .NET Projects and solutions.

After you finish this series, i like to share with you these posts for integrating ASP.NET with jQuery library:

1) ASP.NET with jQuery: Scott hanselman:
http://www.hanselman.com/blog/jQuerytoshipwithASPNETMVCandVisualStudio.aspx
2) ASP.NET with jQuery:
http://dotnetslackers.com/articles/ajax/Using-jQuery-with-ASP-NET.aspx

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

C# Visual Developer Center website

Hi all,

I'd like to share with you this website: C# Developer Center, This is a good site it contains all C# language enhancements, C# MVP Blogs, C# highlights, C# Community blogs and more.

This website you can subscribe for RSS and check it frequently.

** link:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vcsharp/default.aspx

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

How to develop out-of-browser applications ?

Hi Geeks,

A question needs an answer for most of web developers these days : Can we develop a web application and this application can run out of the browser ? The answer is YES, You can do that.

But How ? Use Silvelight 3.0 Beta.

One of the interesting features in Silverlight 3.0 is that you can detch your application from the web browser and this browser can work as a desktop application.

Silverlight 3.0 Beta have other interesting features such as: checking network availability,storing data offline and much more.


If you have no experience with silverlight 2.0 or earlier, this is the site you want to get started with :

http://silverlight.net/getstarted/silverlight3/default.aspx

This site is a good reference for all Silverlight 3.0 Features and samples.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Sharepoint designer custom workflow activities

Hi all,

Good project in CodePlex for samples of custom activities which can be used in Sharepoint designer when creating your workflow.

Email, InfoPath, Security & user info custom activites are available to use.


Link to the project:
http://www.codeplex.com/SPDActivities


Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Microsoft Translator - Bing

Hi all,

New microsoft translator powered by Bing, you can use it now :

http://www.microsofttranslator.com/Default.aspx

You can use tbot messenger contact or ESL (English as a second language) tools.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

How to return IEnumerable from XML web services

Hi ,

This post gives you an idea how to return IEnumerable object in your XML web services, the tip for this post is how to convert this IEnumerable object to something that can be serialized in your xml web serivces.

If you are using LINQ in your xml web serivces, below is an example for the signature of your xml web service:

[WebMethod]
public IEnumerable ListUser()
{
return logic.ListUser();
}

If you run this xml web service, you will get this error :

"Cannot serialize interface System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable"

To solve this problem, simply convert the IEnumerable Object to Array using ToArray() extension method.

[WebMethod]
public TwitterUser[] ListUser()
{
return logic.ListUser().ToArray();
}

This will fix this problem and return the result as XML in your xml web service.


Hope this helps.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Cloud Computing Presentation - Azure

Hi All,

Today, I have given a session about "Cloud Computing Platform" using Azure Services platform provided by Microsoft, it was an interesting session since it was targeted to Computer science students - Master's Students. the session was so interesting and the audience was so proactive regarding their questions and their thoughts about the future of Cloud computing.

In this session, I covered the main concepts behind Cloud computing environment, and the new trends for the Software evolution with cloud computing environments.

-- Since i was using Azure platform as an example of cloud computing environment, i have covered the main services in Azure services platform:
1) Windows Azure services.
2) SQL services Services.
3) .Net services.

I gave couple of demos for windows Azure serivces and Azure sql services.

You can get my presentation from below link:

http://cid-4bc94054914a6469.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Blog%20Code/Azure%20Services%20Platform%20Overview.pptx?ccr=8594


Hope this helps.


Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Visual Studio 2010 Beta 1 is available for public

Hi All .Net Developer,

Impressed news for all .Net Developers, VS 2010 Beta 1 is now available for download for all users ( Wednesday 20 May) , VS 2010 was available for MSDN subscribers earlier, VS 2010 is packaged with new features and new enhancments for what we are doing in VS 2008.

New Features in VS 2010 :

1) Enhanced User Experience.

2) Support for Parallel Programming.

3) More Features and support for ALM ( Application Life cycle Management).

4) Inspiring Developer Delight ( more support for office tools, understanding existing code).

5) New features for Web Development ( One Click Deployment, Full support for Silverlight).

6) Cloud Development.

7) More DB support for DB2 and Oracle DBs.

A lot of interesting features if you would like to read more, visit below link:

http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us/products/2010/default.mspx

Download it and start developing with VS 2010.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

How to open office files in FBA SharePoint Sites

Hi All,

New Hotfix for Office Client applications has been released to fully integrate uploaded documents in Forms based authentication (FBA) sharepoint sites using office client applications.

Before this hotfix, we couldn't open sharepoint office files using client office applications in FBA SharePoint sites because the client can't authenticate the user in FBA SharePoint Sites.

Now with this hotfix, the client will be prompted with a page to enter the username and password, then the request will be sent to the sharepoint site to authenticate the user and reply with a response contains the  requested document.

Other than this hotfix you have to go on the FBA SharePoint settings sites and set enable client integration check box.

Read More :

http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2009/05/13/update-on-sharepoint-forms-based-authentication-fba-and-office-client.aspx

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Simple Counter Web Application using Asp.Net MVC 1.0

Hi,

I have created a simple MVC Asp.Net Web Application, This Application contains a page with 2 buttons to increment or decrement a counter value (2 actions on the same view).

This sample is demonstrating how to understand the MVC pattern in Asp.net and how to pass data between the viewer (You page) and the actions in the controller class in your model.

Download Link   - C# Project , VS 2008 :

http://cid-4bc94054914a6469.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Blog%20Code/MvcCounterApp1.zip?ccr=377

Hope this help.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

First Look for Asp.Net MVC 1.0 Project structure

Hi All,

This post is for new developers who are interested to know the project structure for ASP.Net MVC  project in VS 2008.

If you don't have MVC project in your VS 2008, download it from this link :

http://www.asp.net/mvc/

Once you create MVC project you will find a new project structure different than the usual website or web application structure that we used to work with.

First look for your ASP.Net MVC project shows that you have 6 top level directories:

1) App_Data: Contains your data source files DBs or XML files to read/write.

2) Content: any css files or images.

3) Controllers: contains all controller classes.

4) Models:  contains business model classes or entity framework edm files as business models.

5) Scripts: Contains js files on your project.

6) Views: UI template files.

Bold Directories : MVC specific implementations (New Directories).

Understanding the purpose of each directory is very important since it is part of your understanding of MVC design pattern implementation in ASP.Net.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

SharePoint Service Pack 2 is available

Hi all,

SharePoint 2007 and WSS 3.0 SP2 is available to download, to know the installation steps and enhancements and improvements for this new release, read more on below link:

http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2009/04/28/announcing-service-pack-2-for-office-sharepoint-server-2007-and-windows-sharepoint-services-3-0.aspx

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

WCF REST Starter kit is available

Hi all,

A WCF REST starter kit is available to download, this kit contains a set of .Net framework classes which help to build WCF REST-Style Services.

Download link:

http://www.asp.net/downloads/starter-kits/wcf-rest/

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Asp.Net 4.0 AJAX Deep dive with jQuery webcast

Hi Folks,

New webcast on 22 April @ 20:00-21:30 Kuwai/Riyadh Time.

AJAX 4.0 deep dive with jQuery samples and new components.

 

Session outline:

 

• jQuery and the VS 2010
• Using ASP.NET AJAX 4.0 Client Templates
• Using the DataView control
• Conditional attributes

 

 

Speakers:

 

Ahmed Shokr (SafatES – Developers Team Leader)

Amr El Garhy (Microsoft Gulf – Developer Evangelist)

 

-+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-

Amr El Garhy has invited you to attend an online meeting.

Make sure the Office Live Meeting client is installed before the meeting:

Meeting Url: 

Join the meeting

Subject: ASP.NET AJAX 4.0 deep dive with jQuery samples and new components.
When: 22/Apr/2009 20:00-21:30 (GMT+03:00) Kuwait, Riyadh.
Where: Live Meeting 

See you all there. 

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

SharePoint Best practices

Hi folks,

Excellent resource for SharePoint Guidance contains the best practices for Architecture designs,development,test,deploy,internet and intranet applications.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd203468.aspx

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Important Announcement: SharePoint 2007 SP2

Hi Folks,

SharePoint Product manager announced that a new service pack 2 will be available for sharepoint 2007 and WSS 3.0, and this service pack will be available to be download on 28th April 09.

This service pack has a lot of improvements for new IE 8.0 and firefox 2.0 & 3.0.

It's good to plan for this installation on your existing solutions :).

http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2009/04/15/service-pack-2-for-microsoft-office-sharepoint-server-2007-and-windows-sharepoint-services-3-0-due-to-ship-april-28th.aspx

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Silverlight development in sharepoint 2007

Hi All,

Excellent resource for developing Silverlight 2.0 in sharepoint 2007, the book covers a lot of important aspects for sharepoint development using silverlight 2.0.

http://www.amazon.com/Professional-Microsoft-SharePoint-Development-Silverlight/dp/0470434007


Regards,
Mostafa arafa

SharePoint Designer 2007 is Free

Hi Folks,

Now Microsoft has released SharePoint 2007 for Free from MS site.

As you know, sharepoint designer was a licensed product before this announcement from Microsoft.

Download url :

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=baa3ad86-bfc1-4bd4-9812-d9e710d44f42



Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Extension Methods in C#

Hi all,

I have submitted a new article in C# Corner website "Extension methods in C#" since i see this is one of most important C# 3.0  language enhancements.

read more about it :

http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/UploadFile/dsdaf/ExtensionMethodsInCSharp03172009150013PM/ExtensionMethodsInCSharp.aspx?ArticleID=9415100d-dff3-4522-b5ab-804475fa9217

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

ASP.Net web development server stop working in VS 2008

Hi folks,

One of my friends told me that he had a problem in the last couple of days, when he is trying to run asp.net web application; he was getting this error message is showing in his browser:

"Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage"

He uninstalled and installed VS 08 since he taught that this will fix the problem.

If you are facing this problem, simply do the following to fix it :

1) open the following file: "c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts"

2) Add the following entry in this file:

127.0.0.1        local host

Save the file and then try to run your asp.net application the development server will work perfect :).

Hope this helps.

Reference:

http://blogs.msdn.com/webdevtools/archive/2009/03/13/asp-net-web-development-server-stops-working.aspx

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Difference between clear and remove in web.config

Hi all,

I had a discussion with one of my friends about the difference between clear and remove keys in web.config, and I would like to share it with you.
Remove in web.config is to remove a specific key from the web.config, for example:
Note: <> have been replaced by {} because it is not allowed to be posted in http request.

{appSettings}
{add key="MyName" value="Mostafa1"/}
{add key="MyName" value="Mostafa2"/}
{add key="MyName1" value="Mostafa3"/}
{remove key="MyName1"/}
{/appSettings}
Remove is removing the key MyName1.
Clear is used to remove all key mentioned above it, for example:
{appSettings}
{add key="MyName" value="Mostafa1"/}
{add key="MyName" value="Mostafa2"/}
{add key="MyName1" value="Mostafa3"/}
{clear/}
{/appSettings}
I don’t recommend to use clear key in the web.config because it will cause a disaster in your application.
Hope this tip helps.

Free ASP.Net MVC tutorial

Hi folks,

New ebook for ASP.Net MVC is now available for free to download and start practicing ASP.Net MVC framework:

"There has been a lot of excitement in the community about the new ASP.NET MVC framework that is about to ship (literally any day now – announcement coming soon). As with anything new, people are also asking for more tutorials/samples/documentation that cover how to get started and build applications with it." -- ScottGu

download link :
http://aspnetmvcbook.s3.amazonaws.com/aspnetmvc-nerdinner_v1.pdf

Read more from Scott Gu's Blog:
http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2009/03/10/free-asp-net-mvc-ebook-tutorial.aspx?CommentPosted=true#commentmessage

Happy .Netting.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Export office system files to PDF

Hi all,

Office System 2007 save as PDF add-in now is available without 3rd party tools/add-ins.

Download link:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=4D951911-3E7E-4AE6-B059-A2E79ED87041&displaylang=en

This add-in work with all office 2007 applications such as: Word,Excel,PowerPoint,Access,Visio,InfoPath and OneNote.


Regards,
Mostafa arafa

24 Hour Virtual Event - TechEd 2009 Developers !!!

Hi folks,

Do you have a problem of different time zones for online trainings and workshops ? If Yes, here is a good news from microsoft :

Defy all challenges of different time zones, Now you can attend Virtual Tech Ed Event for Developers on 1st April 2009 after your registration. No matter which time zone you belongs to.

Event contains 5 tracks:
1) Windows Development.
2) Windows Mobile Development.
3) Office & Sharepoint development.
4) Developer tools , Languages and tools.
5) Web Development & User Experience.

Read more on below link:

https://www.msfttechdays.com/public/home.aspx

Happy .Netting !!!

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Content Deployment Best practices in SharePoint

Hi all,

Excellent post for content deployment in sharepoint best practices by Stefan Gobner - Escalation Engineer for SharePoint.

Article link:

http://blogs.technet.com/stefan_gossner/pages/content-deployment-best-practices.aspx

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Integrate SharePoint Data to non Microsoft Portal Products

Hi all,

Great News !!! Recently MS SharePoint product team has released Web Services Remote Portlets (WSRP) toolkit, This toolkit provides developers to expose easily sharepoint data to non microsoft portal products such as : AquaLogic Portal, IBM WebSphere Portal, SAP NetWeaver Enterprise Portal...etc.

Now if you have any portal in your organization and you want to expose sharepoint data in two different ways and MS also released the source code for both of them under MS Public License.

**Download Link :
http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/WSRPToolkit/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=1943

**Announcement - Sharepoint Product Team:
http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2008/12/05/announcing-the-wsrp-toolkit-for-sharepoint.aspx

**Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STP5ArdFlMEhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwetm92V89Q

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Export GridView to pdf

Hi all,

I got a question from one of the DotNet Boom Community on how to export GridView to pdf,read more on below post forum:
http://www.dotnetboom.net/portal/Support/Forums/tabid/63/forumid/5/threadid/97/scope/posts/Default.aspx


Regards,
Mostafa arafa

ASP.Net MVC RC1 is available now

Hi all,

Long time waiting for this new baby,ASP.Net MVC (Model View Controller) RC1 is available now to download,and the final release will be there soon,this is a big SHIFT for all web developers.

New Architecture design for our web application will be implemented using this new pattern,i suggest if you didn't know enough information about Model View Controller Pattern,see below link :

http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/UploadFile/napanchal/MVCDesign12052005035152AM/MVCDesign.aspx

once you understand the purpose and the use of it for your enterprise project,here you can see the new features for RC1:

http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2009/01/27/asp-net-mvc-1-0-release-candidate-now-available.aspx

Happy times with .Net

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Update Lists in SharePoint using web services

Hi,

I got the following email from a developer,it says as follows:
"
Hello Moustafa. I don't want to bother you, but I've been searching for examples of MOSS 2007 Web Services development, and I have not found anything. I have this situation. There is a document library with some items on it. I need to edit some properties of a document (on that doc libr) from an Office application, using the MOSS web services. I need to change the Title and the Category of that document, but I don't know how to do that. Could you help me please, with an example that could guide to me how to do that? ( If you have some interesting links or something about MOSS 2007 development (using web services or api) I'm going to thank you so much ). Regards ...
------------------------------------------------ Ing. José Mauricio Molina Pérez

"

He wants to update Document Library which is a list using sharepoint web services, and he has a windows application which will invoke this web serivce to update document information,Here you go :

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms440289.aspx

If you want a useful site for sharepoint developers :
http://www.microsoft.com/click/SharePointDeveloper/


Hope this helps.


Regards,
Mostafa arafa

New Edition of Patterns and Best Practices Application Architecture Guide

Hi Folks,

New Edition V2.0 has been released from patterns and best practices application architecture Team,This Guide is very important for Architect & senior Designer and Developer who are building and design Complex Enterprsie Projects and Application using .Net Technology.

The book is showing the following:
1) Different patterns for design your applications (Web,Mobile,RIA).
2) Layering and Tiers in .Net.
3) SharePoint LOB Applications.
4) How to build Services using different technologies in .Net.
5) Deployment scenarios in .net.

Download link:
http://www.codeplex.com/AppArchGuide/


I recomment every one to read it to follow the best practices and avoid common pitfalls in your design.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

3 Tier Architecture Using VS.Net 2008

Hi All,

I had delivered a session on How to build "3 Tier Architecture Applications Using .Net" and i have uploaded my presentation and my demo project on the following link:

1) Presentation:
http://cid-4bc94054914a6469.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Blog%20Code/3LayerArchitectureUsingdotNet011209.pptx

2) Demo Solution contains 3 Layer Asp.Net website and 3 Tier Asp.net Web Application:
http://cid-4bc94054914a6469.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Blog%20Code/EAADemos.zip

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Cookies in Asp.net - An Important Tip

Hi folks,

In this post i want to show how to create a cookie in asp.net page which contains a counter ,This counter will be increased every time you visit the page.

The tip which i want to highlight here-(I got this question from one of my firends),That when you try to update the cookie value in asp.net you have to update the expiry date of the httpcookie object,otherwise the asp.net will store the default value which is : 1/1/0001,which let your code to create a cookie every time instead of update the counter value in the cookie file.

The code to do this on page_load event in C# :


if (Request.Cookies["counter"] != null)
{
HttpCookie coo=Request.Cookies["counter"];
int x = int.Parse(coo.Value);
x += 1;
coo.Value = x.ToString();
coo.Expires = DateTime.Now.AddDays(7);// if you omit this line,the cookie will be created each time.

Response.Cookies.Add(coo);
Response.Write(coo.Value);
}
else
{
HttpCookie coo = new HttpCookie("counter", "0");
coo.Expires = DateTime.Now.AddDays(7);
Response.Cookies.Add(coo);
Response.Write(coo.Value);
}



The code for this post is uploaded here:
http://cid-4bc94054914a6469.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Blog%20Code/CookiePageTest.aspx.cs


Hope this helps.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) in Visual Studio 2008

Hi All,

A wonderful series of webcasts for managing application lifecycle in VS 2008, this series contains 4 webcasts each cover one role in SDLC activities.

If you are familiar with VS team system 2005, this series covers a little bit new features which shipped with VS 2008.

If you are not familiar with VS2005 or VS 2008 Team suite capabilities, then these webcasts are really a MUST good start to you.

The best is to watch all of them, but if you are playing a specific role in the application lifecycle, you can jump to the specific role which you play in your company as I will describe below.

Web cast 1: covers Business analyst and project manager roles
Including: Tasks, Different Reports, Code churn Report, bugs report, Qos(Quality of Service) document and Requirements, Persona, MSF and CMMI methodologies.
http://www.microsoft.com/events/series/detail/webcastdetails.aspx?seriesid=127&webcastid=5404

Webcast 2: covers Architect role
Including: Application designer, system designer, logical data center designer & Top-Down Design
http://www.microsoft.com/events/series/detail/webcastdetails.aspx?seriesid=127&webcastid=5405

Webcast 3: covers Developer role
Including: code analysis, code analysis configuration and code matrix.
http://www.microsoft.com/events/series/detail/webcastdetails.aspx?seriesid=127&webcastid=5406

Webcast 4: covers Tester role
Including: Load, Unit, Manual, Web, Generic and Orders tests in VS 2008http://www.microsoft.com/events/series/detail/webcastdetails.aspx?seriesid=127&webcastid=5407


Happy New Year for all and Happy New Hijri Year for all muslims.

See you all next year since this is the last post for this year 2008 :)




Regards,
Mostafa arafa

super & base keywords in Java and C#

Hi folks,

Nowadays i'm doing some programming in java,and since all of you know each of these languages are close to each other, I was implementing a class diagram i have done it on class designer in VS 2008.

I had the following inheritance case : a parent class called Publication and a dervied class called Book from publication.

I want in this post to highlight the difference to call the parent class from the derived class in java vs. C#,this is very useful for C# developers if they are reading any java code or vice versa.

If you try to implement the following: the derived class constructor is calling the parent class constructor the code in java and C# will be as follows:

// Java Code :

public class Publication
{
public Publication(String title)
{
this.title=title;
}
}
public class Book extends Publication
{
public Book(String title,String ISBN)
{
//super means the constructor of book will pass title to the publication constructor (Parent).
super(title);
this.ISBN=ISBN;
}
}


// C# Code :

public class Book
{
public Book(string title, string issueNo) : base(title)
{ // base means the title parameter will be passed to the parent class constructor.
this.issueNo = issueNo;
}
}

base and super keywords in c# and java are doing the same functionality by calling the parent class constructor in this case.

base and super used to refer to the parent class in general.


Hope this tip be useful.



Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Get Started with SharePoint Development...

Hi All,

For .Net Experienced developers a good resource to start SharePoint Development,here is the link :

http://www.microsoft.com/click/SharePointDeveloper/

Also, ebook for free "Getting Started with Sharepoint" ,Download link:

http://windowsitpro.com/eBooks/index.cfm?ebid=eeac7d33-c9bb-4059-a0ad-480799e93512&fuseaction=ebook


Regards,
Mostafa arafa

New useful tool to prepare your web server or development machine

Hi All,

We used when we want to install any software for our web servers or any of our development machine is to read alot of KBs article how to install .Net Framewort 3.5,SQL 2005 express edition...etc. and it was a long process you have to have your DVDs or download it from your partnet account website,then start your software installtion process.

Microsoft has released a new wonderful tool,to prepare all required software for installations on your machine,it shows you all available SW based on your machine OS and architecture (32 or 64bit ) and make it available on a list.

The new tool called "Web platform installer",and you can download it from the following link:
http://www.microsoft.com/web/channel/products/WebPlatformInstaller.aspx

This tool should be used by .net web developers who prepare their web server or system admins.

The tool has alot of sensitive tools and updates,the person who use it should be aware about the tools and the conflict that might happen.

I have used it and it's pretty easy and fast :).



Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Write arabic even if you don't have arabic keyboard !!

Hi All,

I had a problem few days ago,I was working on a laptop with English Only characters and i can't write arabic character because i can't memorize the location of arabic keys.

One of my friends sent me a very good site which you can write your word in english and it will be converted to Arabic word representation,then you can (copy) take this word and search on Live.come with it for example.

I want to get this word written in arabic : Shahr,write it on this site it will be converted to : شهر



Wonderful site url :
http://www.yamli.com/editor/ar/




Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Test the performance of you web pages

Hi All,

For all web developers to measure the performance of your web pages,now MS has released new tool to visualize analyze the performance of your roundtrip in your webpages called VRTA.

download link :

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=119F3477-DCED-41E3-A0E7-D8B5CAE893A3&displaylang=en


This is not a substitute for the tests that you can do it with VS team system testing tools such as : load test.

hope this helps.


Regards,
Mostafa arafa

What's behind XBAP web pages ?

Hi Folks,

If you visit one of the sites and you find an interactive website pages with xbap extensions ( such as : home.xbap) those files are .net pages with WPF browser template project available in .Net 3.5.

Don't think its a silverlight pages or any other technology has been used,it's pure WPF browser project in .net 3.5,and all created pages take xbap extension,those files have the power of .net framework in your browser,it's tested on IE and FireFox,I have test it also on the last version of Firefox 3.0.4,it works fine.

If you would like to see a sample of simple interactive page using WPF browser application,here it is :

http://www.hanselman.com/clickonce/takethree/WpfBrowserApplication1.xbap

If you are familiar with ClickOnce Deployment in Windows Applications in .Net,it's the same but on your browser :).

It's really a great step in the web development by using the full power of .Net functionality and deployment mechanism on your favorite web browser.


If you want the sample code for the posted sample,it is here :

http://www.hanselman.com/blog/FirefoxWPFAndXBAP.aspx

Happy .Netting...



Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Different Languages Interface for VS 2008

Hi All,

MS has released a new tool since that all developers all over the globe can see the translation of VS Interface in different languages other than english Interface (CLIP).

This is one announcement,the other one which is interesting,that i have participated in this product 1 year ago and i'm very happy to see it in place and all MVPs efforts are presented in one of the most favourable products for all .Net developers.

One Question will come which language did I support in the VS Dictionary : Sure It's Arabic Translations for VS.


Tool download link :

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=4E5258D2-52F4-46B8-8B74-DA2DBEC7C2F7&displaylang=en


Happy time with VS IDE.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

jQuery ? New easy life for web developers

Hi All,

For all web developers,new library which ease your life to write javascript code and it is also integrated with VS.Net IDE. if you have your asp.net application or Ajax enables asp.net application you can now download an integrate jQuery with your existing web application or website.

jQuery gives you a great advantage of manipulating your html elements by providing an API selector with the intellisense in VS.Net.

Read more and the download link of jQuery Library :
http://jquery.com/

How to integrate jQuery in your asp.net application:
http://www.hanselman.com/blog/jQuerytoshipwithASPNETMVCandVisualStudio.aspx

Scott Gu announcing the jQuery integration with VS.Net :
http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2008/09/28/jquery-and-microsoft.aspx

Happy .Net programming :)







Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Download SharePoint 2007 VPC Now

Hi All,

If you are looking to work or evaluate SharePoint 2007 for training or development purposes,here's the full download for SharePoint 2007 VPC Files:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=67f93dcb-ada8-4db5-a47b-df17e14b2c74&DisplayLang=en

Thanks Microsoft :)

If you are one of who like to create their VPC manually, here's a great post for this :

http://www.pptspaces.com/sharepointreporterblog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=28


Regards,
Mostafa arafa

PDC 2008 Videos

Hi All,

Best link to view a categorized videos of PDC 2008 Event :

http://channel9.msdn.com/pdc2008/

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Integrate your SQL Reporting Services Reports in MOSS 2007

Hi Folks,

Out of the box add-on for MOSS 2007 which you can deploy your Sql Reporting Services Reports in MOSS 2007 Sites,Download the Add-on now and you can add Report Viewer webpart and integrate your created reports inside SharePoint Sites ,Download Link :

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=1e53f882-0c16-4847-b331-132274ae8c84&displaylang=en

Note: This build working only with SQL 2005 SP2

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Add-on on Visual studio 2008 for Silverlight 2

Hi All,

Start developing Silverlight 2 application in VS2008 SP1,download the add-on link below :


http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c22d6a7b-546f-4407-8ef6-d60c8ee221ed&displaylang=en


Happy .Netting.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

WOW... Get Started with SQL 2008

Hi Folks,


New Site has been published for New MS Product SQL 2008, if you are developer,IT Professional or want to know about the product for fun,Get started with this site :

http://www.microsoft.com/sql/experience/html/Default.aspx?loc=en



Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Next MS Event @ Gulf - Register Now !

Hi All,

"IT Evolution 08" Event is the new MS Event will be around on November 2008 at all Gulf Cities, Register Now and Book your seat in any city in Gulf.

Registration site :

http://www.microsoft.com/middleeast/gulf/ITEvolution/IT_Times/default.htm



Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Silverlight 2.0 SDK is now available

Hi Folks,

Silverlight SDK is a very useful resource for developers to get started with Silverlight Development.


Silverlight 2.0 SDK is now available for download,get it from here :

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=8d933343-038f-499c-986c-c3c7e87a60b3&displaylang=en

Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Download SQL Server 2008 NOW

Hi All,

Now you can download MS SQL 2008 for 180 Days Evaluations period ,try it :

http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/trial-software.aspx

Site contains other very useful demos and virtual labs :

http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/demos.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/virtual-labs.aspx

enjoy :)



Regards,
Mostafa arafa

New Book : How To Program C#

Hi All,

New Book has been released "Visual C# 2008 How To Program " Book,This book is an excellent book for beginners and students to get to know all technologies out of the box shipped with VS .Net 2008 including asp.net 3.5,LINQ,WCF,PF,WF and more.

You Can purchase this book from Amazon.com and InformIT.com Sites.



















Regards,
Mostafa arafa

How to Synch SharePoint Documents Offline on Vista

Hi All,

Very good tool to Synch your sharepoint documents offline on Vista OS,read below post :

http://grounding.co.za/blogs/neil/archive/2008/08/02/using-synctoy-to-synchronize-offline-sharepoint-documents-on-vista.aspx


Regards,
Mostafa arafa

For SharePoint Developers: MOSS SDK 1.4 & WSS SDK 1.4

Hi Folks,

New SDK for MOSS & WSS 3.0 has been released,check it out:

http://blogs.msdn.com/randalli/archive/2008/08/28/just-published-wss-and-moss-sdk-1-4-download-and-online-msdn-library-8-29-2008.aspx



Regards,
Mostafa arafa

VS 2008 SP1 is now available

Hi All,

SP1 for VS 2008 is now available for download :

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=FBEE1648-7106-44A7-9649-6D9F6D58056E&displaylang=en

Also,SP1 for .Net Framework 3.5 is now availbale for download :

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=AB99342F-5D1A-413D-8319-81DA479AB0D7&displaylang=en



Regards,
Mostafa arafa