Tim's space

SQL User Group in Milton Keynes

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 22:14:13 GMT

For anyone in the Milton Keynes area, Simon Sabin is holding his first user group in this region on Thursday (26 Aug 2008).

More details are here:

http://sqlserverfaq.com/events/128/Milton-Keynes-SQL-2008-for-Developers-CTEs-and-Recursion.aspx

SQL 2008 beta exams now available (70-450/70-452)

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 12:32:28 GMT

The Beta SQL 2008 MCTS exams are now available. You can take them for free by registering through Prometric/Vue and entering the following promotional codes:

71-452: Designing a Business Intelligence Infrastructure Using Microsoft SQL Server 2008 - Promotional Code: 3568C

71-450: PRO: Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Designing, Optimizing, and Maintaining a Database Administrative Solution - Promotional Code: 239F4

More details on Dan English's blog here: http://denglishbi.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!CD3E77E793DF6178!501.entry

VBUG Silverlight Event at Bracknell

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:45:15 GMT

Yesterdays VBUG meeting in Bracknell was very well received and we had some great feedback. Tim Hustler and Simon Sturgees gave a presentation on Silverlight and Visual Studio 2008.

The demand for this event was quite amazing. We were fully subscribed and unfortunately had to turn down attendees. Tim and Simon were the winners of Microsoft's 'Be all you can be' challenge and their presentation focused on recreating the winning web site which is shown below.

Creative Jar's winning site

Simon began by describing how the controls were put together in Expression. This included an explanation on how the coloration, curves, shadows, gradients and fonts were designed. During the second part of the demo, Tim described how the controls were built including the logic behind the page and the track controls on the page. For me, it was very interesting seeing a designer at work and seeing the interaction between designer and developer.

The source code for this event can be downloaded from the Creative Jar site below:

http://silverlight.creative-jar.com/mix/SourceCode/MixLive.zip

Well done to Tim and Simon for a great presentation and thanks also to Conchango and Michelle Flynn for supporting this meeting.

Discount Code for Microsoft's UK Remix08 Conference

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:38:29 GMT

For those wishing to attend the Microsoft UK ReMix08 conference in Brighton, 'The Register' have provided a discount code giving £50 off the £349 entrance price.

Simply enter the discount code XBs40dt when purchasing (case sensitive). More details can be found here:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/06/remix08/

VBUG Event at Bracknell with Andrew Hallmark

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:04:58 GMT

Yesterday evening, Andrew Hallmark gave a great session on CSLA.Net and code generation. The title of the talk was named 'How to spend more time at the pub and other places'

The slides for the session can be found here:

http://www.vbug.com/uploaded/documents/PastEvents/RegionalMeetings/080714AndrewHallmark/CSLANETandCodeGeneration.zip

CSLA is a business object framework created by Rockford Lhotka. During the first part of the session, Andrew described the main functionality offered by CLSA. CSLA provides CRUD functionality but also offers cancelled edits across parent/child objects (also known as n-level undo). Validation and business rules are associated with business objects making it very easy to add and create multiple UI's.

A big advantage of CSLA is that it provides a good framework for good practices. In the example given by Andrew, his company supports around 120 applications. Since everything is based upon the same underlying CSLA architecture, this standardisation provides excellent maintainability.

By combining code generation and CSLA, a highly productive development environment can be achieved. The highlight of the presentation was a demonstration of how a music database application could be developed using codesmith and CSLA in less than 10 minutes!

An interesting development pointed out by Andrew is CSLA factory - a CSLA based tool that allows you to graphically draw a model and to have the code created for you.

The overall feedback for this event was excellent and I'm sure that all attendees are grateful for learning some great techniques for being more productive.

Discount for new members of the British Computer Society

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 22:35:08 GMT

Tonight, I met up with the committee members from my local BCS. For those wishing to join the Berkshire branch, they're offering 10% off the first year’s membership. This makes it £82.80 instead of £92.

For those interested, you need to join using the following URL.

http://www.bcs.org/branchoffer/325

Learn how to spend more time at the pub!

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:33:43 GMT

Our VBUG DoEvents newsletter was published this week and includes 8 meetings that have been organised around the country this month.

On Tuesday 15th July, I'll be holding an event in Bracknell where we'll learn how to spend more time at the pub with Andrew Hallmark!

Specifically, this event focuses on the time saving techniques of code generation and Rockford Lhotka's CSLA.

To find out more, visit the following page on the VBUG site here.

Powerbuilder and Robotics at VBUG Maidenhead

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 22:22:27 GMT

Yesterday evening, we held a very interesting VBUG user group meeting at Maidenhead. This was made possible through the support of Sybase so many thanks to Steven Dunn for providing us with the venue and refreshments.

During the first part of the meeting, Dave from Sybase gave us a demonstration of what to expect in PowerBuilder 12 and also a glimpse of the next release of DataWindow. The key technical features of these products include support for WPF and tight integration into the Visual Studio IDE. For those who have never used DataWindow, Steve made the point that the major benefit of the product is productivity. As an illustration, Dave mentioned the 'code shoot-out' contest during the VBUG conference last year where he created a CO2 monitoring application in just 6 hours. For anyone wishing to purchase DataWindow, Steve has kindly offered a discount for VBUG members.

In the second part of the evening, Peter Eagling gave an excellent session on robotics. In the past, Peter has taken part in the BBC program Robot Wars and holds the world record on the robot that does the furthest long jump.

The session began with a discussion of what a robot is and included discussions about Asimovs and Tildens robotic laws. The picture below shows Peter's latest creation. This eight footed robot has a microprocessor on each foot. Plastic gearing is used which works very well at absorbing any knocks. The 'rules' for each foot are persisted in a SQL Server database.

Pictures of Peter's Robots

Overall, the talk gave a very good insight into the world of robotics and illustrated the multi-disciplined nature of the field. You must have an aptitude for mechanical engineering as well as software skills to create a good robot.

The topic of Microsoft Robotics Studio was briefly covered but hopefully, Peter will come back at some point in the future to talk more about the programming aspcts of this subject.

NxtGen Fest08

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 10:48:08 GMT

Here's the latest news from NxtGen's Dave McMahon regarding their Fest08 conference. I'd recommend going if you get the chance!

FEST08 the annual NxtGenUG one-day event takes place ar Microsoft Reading on Thursday 12th June. As ever it's going to be an action packed day with great content from the likes of Mike Taulty ,Oliver Sturm , Dave Sussman and other top speakers. No doubt there will be bundles of 'swag' and prizes and Pizza somewhere down the line - there always is when the nxtGenUG Boyz are around. There seems to be a few more of them this year with the Cambridge and Southampton crews joining in the mix.

So go to http://www.nxtgenug.net/fest08/ for details and to register your place. It's free to all NxtGenUG members and a mere £49.99 to non-members - bargain! Oh and also if you're around the night before there is a G(r)eek dinner to toast Daniel Moth on his way to the states. http://www.nxtgenug.net/ViewEvent.aspx?EventID=140 is the link to signup to.

Developer Evening on June 12th - Hillside Hotel, Woking

Mon, 19 May 2008 16:49:31 GMT

For those living near Guildford or Woking, VBUG regulars Alex Mackey and Simon Pease have organised an informal get together on 12th June 2008.

Further details can be found here:

http://www.devevening.co.uk/

2008 Launch Event in Bracknell

Wed, 14 May 2008 22:40:19 GMT

Yesterday evening, our 2008 launch event took place at our regular venue in Bracknell. This attracted a full house with over 30 attendees.

Thanks to Clare Burgess at Microsoft, all attendees received a pack of free software including a fully licensed version of Visual Studio 2008. It also included a 12 month license for Windows 2008 Server and a voucher for SQL Server 2008 when released.

During the first part of the evening, I gave talk on the new features in Windows 2008. This included a brief overview of Roles, Features, Server Manager, Terminal Services and IIS7. Next up was Steve Wilmot who gave a session covering many snippets on VS2008 and he did a very good job covering pretty much every new feature in the .Net 3.5 framework!

After a short break for drinks and refreshments, our final speaker Ian Pettman gave a talk on the 'Agonies and Esctasies' of LINQ. This included some very useful demonstrations on calling stored procedures form Linq. A much fuller explanation can be found on his site here:

http://www.ava.co.uk/blog/2008/5/14/developers'-meeting-in-bracknell.aspx

The slides for the evening can be downloaded from the VBUG website here.

I would like to thank Steve and Ian once again for sharing their knowledge with the VBUG community. When it's not your full time job, it's hard work putting together a session but it's definitly well appreciated by everyone who attends.

Cranking the XAML and the WPF handle

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 20:05:19 GMT

At yesterday's VBUG user group meeting in Bracknell, Richard Griffin gave a great talk on WPF/XAML including demonstrations on several interesting projects that he's worked on.

Here are links to some of the topics that were mentioned in his session:

Using the IDataErrorInfo interface:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.componentmodel.idataerrorinfo.aspx

Dr WPF - A helpful WPF resource:
http://www.drwpf.com/blog/

KAXAMK - A lightweight XAML editor:
http://www.kaxaml.com/

WPF Profiler:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa969767.aspx

Richard is actively involved in the Silverlight usergroup and his next meeting is likely to take place next month in London.

Microsoft's DesignIT Contest

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 21:16:10 GMT

Well done to VBUG co-ordinator Jyoti Majithia for being chosen as one the 5 finalists in the Microsoft DesignIT competition!

This is a charitable competition and the winner receives a £15k budget to help implement a technical solution.

Jyoti is working on a project for 'Fauna and Flora International' to help save species and habitats from destruction. It works by making conservation information accessible through the web and mobile devices.

If you think that this is a good idea, you can vote for it here:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/competition/cc487593.aspx

Voting ends on Friday 11th April 2008.

WPF / XAML Event in Bracknell - Wednesday 9th April 2008

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 22:23:24 GMT

The next event that I'm organising will take place next Wednesday. Richard Griffin and Felix Corke will give a presentation on WPF/XAML which will include some real life 'war stories'. This should be a very interesting event so for more details or to register, visit the link below.

http://www.vbug.com/events/default.aspx?region=Reading

VBUG Spring Conference in Birmingham - Thursday 24th April 2008

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 22:12:08 GMT

On Tuesday 24th April, the VBUG Spring Conference takes place in Birmingham.

The technical content includes WPF, Silverlight, and MOSS and will be delivered by an excellent line up of speakers.

Both Andy Westgarth and myself will be there so come by and say hello if you decide to attend!

There are still places left so for further details or to book a place, visit:

http://www.vbug.com/Conference/Conference-April-2008.aspx

NxtGen Fest08 on Thursday 12th June 2008

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 23:15:04 GMT

Dave McMahon (one of the most hardworking IT community leaders) is currently organising the Fest08 conference in Reading. Here's the blurb and more details can be found here: http://www.nxtgenug.net/Fest08

"NxtGenUG don't do conferences, they just have a good time and FEST08 which takes place at TVP Reading, promises to be in the normal vein of NxtGenUG events. Great sessions, Pizza and Swag. The theme this year is "Data Today, Data Tomorrow" and there are new sessions from Oliver Sturm on F#, Dave Sussman on ASP.NET Dynamic Data Controls and Ridgian's BI expert Dave Morrow on SQL Server Analysis Services. There will be the keynote from Rich and Dave and a brand new gameshow called "Who's Session Is It Anyway?
As before its free to all NxtGenUG members and £49.99 to non-members. FEST07 was a memorable event last year, FEST08 will be equally memorable. You'll learn some great stuff about Data related technologies, meet some great people, have some fun and leave with a bag load of Swag! Don't miss it!"

Report Designer Preview in SQL 2008 Nov CTP

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 21:54:30 GMT

SQL Server 2008 includes many enhancements in the reporting space and the latest CTP contains an updated preview of the 'Microsoft Report Designer'. The purpose of this is to provide an easy to use report authoring tool which is suitable for an end user. It is not intended as a replacement for Business Intelligence Development Studio or Visual Studio.

Over the past few days, I've been testing some of the features in this new designer. It is .Net based and installed into C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Reporting Services\ReportDesigner by default. The contents of this folder can be copied onto a workstation and the current version can be run stand alone. The designer has an Office 2007 user interface and looks attractive. Since this is still a preview, anything could change.

The File > Open option allows you to open an RDL file. You can either save changes back into the RDL file or select an option to publish your work onto a report server.

On the left hand pane is a 'data view' that includes a number of Built in Fields, Report Parameters and DataSources. Compared to BIDS, it's nice to have these elements and the report surface always visible rather than being separated out over different tabs. When creating a new data connection, several connection types are available including 'Report Builder Model'. Dragging items around the design surface feels very similar to designing a Windows form in Visual Studio - lines appear to help you align controls and tool tips are shown that display how close you are to the neighbouring control in pixels.

The Report Designer Surface with Office 2007 look and feel

One of the Data Dialogs in Report Designer

In summary, I find Report Designer pleasant to use and think that it makes a great addition to the reporting capabilities in SQL Server 2008.

MIX07 UK Videos

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 23:57:48 GMT

From Clare Burgess at Microsoft, pretty much most of the Mix07 videos throughout the 2 days at MIX can be downloaded from the following page:

http://www.microsoft.com/uk/mix07/agenda.aspx

Uninstalling SQL Server 2008 November CTP

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 23:55:40 GMT

The November CTP of SQL 2008 has recently been released but unfortunately, my initial attempts at installing it have not been too successful.

After the main database engine failed to install, I was left with an installation that could not be uninstalled through Add/Remove programs. My second attempt resulted in an installation that prevented me from logging on using Windows/SQL authentication and I could not even login from the dedicated admin connection.

Over the past few days, I've learned a few things about SQL Setup and here are some notes on performing a manual uninstall. It's very possible that these suggestions will not work or may even cause further damage - I suggest them only as a last resort before hacking the registry.

When SQL Server setup is executed, several 'bootstrap' files are copied into C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Setup Bootstrap. These files are required to uninstall SQL and if you've deleted them, you'll need to replace them. One possibility is to run setup on a different machine and to copy the files back over.

In the bootstrap folder, you'll find a copy of ARPWrapper.exe. The link to uninstall SQL from Add/Remove programs makes a call to ARPWrapper and removal will fail if the reference to this has been lost. Therefore, a possible suggestion is to open a command prompt, go to C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Setup Bootstrap (or wherever you've installed SQL) and type in the following command:

ARPWrapper.exe /Remove

If this fails, the documented approach from the readme file is to uninstall each component one by one. Again, open a command prompt, go to the bootstrap folder and run the following commands:

To remove the SQL Engine:
Setup100.exe /Action=uninstall /SQLInstanceID=<Instance ID for the Database Engine>/Features=SQL

To remove Analysis Services:
Setup100.exe /Action=uninstall /ASInstanceID=<Instance ID for Analysis Services>/Features=AS

To remove Reporting Services:
Setup100.exe /Action=uninstall /RSInstanceID=<Instance ID for Reporting Services>/Features=RS

If SQL Server 2008 was installed as the default instance, the Instance ID will be MSSQLSERVER. Make sure that Setup100 exists on a local drive. If it is run from a mapped a network drive, it is likely to fail with a security exception.

A third option for un-installation is to call the msiexec utility with the /x parameter. In the registry, the SQL 2008 components can be found beneath HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall in a folder identified by a GUID. At a command prompt, type in the following command substituting the GUID that appears in the registry:

msiexec /x {GUID}

On a more positive note, I finally installed the CTP on a fresh VPC. This time round, the install routine was slick and seamlessly included the installation of the .Net Framework v2. Cosmetically, the Setup screen looks different and includes an 'Installation Centre'. Within the install wizard, the items appear along the left hand pane and notice how the validation errors appear in a dropdown across the top.

The SQL Server 2008 Installation Centre

Part of the SQL Server Install Wizard with validation errors highlighted

The November CTP is great once it's installed. For anyone experiencing installation problems, I strongly recommend downloading the VHD instead or flattening your VPC before spending too much time on fixing the problem like I did.

Community Events in Reading and Beyond

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 23:38:51 GMT

Here are some details of upcoming developer events:

On Tuesday 4th December, there is an MSDN event on SQL 2008 at Thames Valley Park, Reading. You can register here on the Microsoft site.

The next VBUG event that I am organising has been tentatively set for Wednesday 15th January 2008. The topic is SharePoint and more details will follow soon on the VBUG website.

Following on from last weeks community day, the MSDN team are organising some events at various Starbuck cafes around the country. Details have not been confirmed but there may be a talk in Oxford on 13th December, 5pm. I suspect that more details will follow on the MSDN website.

At DDD6 last Saturday, Colin announced the details of Scottish DD. It will take place at Glasgow Caledonian University on Saturday 10th May 2008 and the call for speakers is now open. SQLBits2 was also announced for Saturday 1st March 2008 and takes place in Birmingham. The benefit of this is a larger capacity, holding up to 450 attendees.

On Saturday 3rd May 2008, Mick Lohan is holding a DDD style event in Galway, Ireland. Mick's been telling me all about this for the past 2 months so keep an eye on http://gamtug.spaces.live.com This event could be great excuse for visiting Irland and attending a great event!

On March 19th, the Visual Studio 2008 consumer launch event will take place in Birmingham. Beforehand, there'll be press launch event and Partner launch events in London. The theme of the event is "Heroes happen here" and more details can be found on the Microsoft site.

Finally, I caught up with Chris Dalby from the LiveMeeting user group last week. It was great to finally meet him and he is organising a 'mashup' party in London on the 17th December. More details can be found on his blog.