November 2005 - Posts
Creating an offline work list in Microsoft Excel from Team Foundation Server is relatively easy. However lately I've had some customers using the VPC of the MSDN Subscriber Downloads complaining about an error. The error message box that pops up says "TF84041: Microsoft Office does not have the language pack installed …".
Well the good news is that it's a known issue with the VPC (and other VPCs), the bad that it's not solved yet in the VPC. Hopefully it will be solved in the next VPC (Visual Studio 2005 RTM + TFS Beta 3 Refresh) that will be released in the next couple of weeks.
There are two possible solutions:
- install the MUI pack in order to get this working in Beta 3. It's caused by an unfortunate Excel bug to do with some of the APIs we use not correctly passing Locale IDs.
- create a '1033' directory under <program files>\microsoft office\office11 (if it doesn't already exist). Copy Excel.exe into the 1033 directory and rename it to xllex.dll.
The steps to create an an Offline Work List goes than as follows:
- Open Microsoft Excel from the Start Menu
- Microsoft Excel, from the Work Items menu, select New List
- In the “Connect to Team Foundation Server” dialog, select VSTSRC1 from the drop-down
- Make sure AdventureWorks is selected in the “Team projects” list and click OK
- Select the Work Items tab
- Select Query
- From the query dropdown, select My Work Items
- Click Run
- Click OK
- Create a new folder on the hard drive: C:\MyFolder
- Save your Excel workbook as C:\MyFolder\MyTasks.xls
- Close Excel
- Close Visual Studio
The integration of Team Foundation Server with Microsoft Project and Microsoft Office applications allows project managers to use the tools they already know and like to immediately start taking advantage of Team Foundation Server features like Work Item Tracking. This completely eliminates the learning curve associated with the adoption of new tools.
The last couple of days I've been closely working with a Microsoft Partner with an ISV/Software Solutions Competency on the migration of their Rational ClearQuest entities to Team Foundation Server. To safely move all the ClearQuest assets we have been using the CQConverter.exe utility. The CQConverter.exe utility (and its .config file) is part of TFS and can be found in the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE folder.
A well-documented walkthrough "Walkthrough: Migrating ClearQuest Work Items to Team Foundation" on how to migrate ClearQuest Work Items to Team Foundation can be found on http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms181248.aspx. Actually after you have prepared the migration the hardest work is done. The major steps are:
- Configure the migration process: edit the configuration files to guide the migration process.
- Analyze your ClearQuest database: run the ClearQuest converter to analyze your current ClearQuest database. The analysis produces a report and a set of files that describes the work items present in ClearQuest.
- Define the migration mapping: edit the XML files generated during the ClearQuest Database analysis to customize the migration process.
- Migrate your ClearQuest database to Team Foundation work item tracking: use the configuration and mapping files generated during the analysis of the database to migrate your data.
- Review the migration report: discover the cause of any errors and warnings encountered during the migration, and review the migration status.
Despite the steps listed above look relatively easy, we struggled with some security issues and a compatibility issue between the CQConverter.exe utility and the ClearQuest client.
When executing CQConverter.exe I received the following error: "TF61016: The user "username" is not a member of 'Service Accounts group' ". However trying to add the user to the Service Accounts Group (through the Team Explorer) the Add button is grayed out; so there's no way to add the user to the Service Accounts Group. This issue is also listed on the "Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server Beta 3 Refresh Known Issues" page. But I don't think the answer is really clarifying. So after some investgation it turns out that it's "by design" that CQConverter.exe must be run from a user account that is part of ‘Service Accounts’ group on TFS. The logical steps are:
- figure out the user account from which the converter will be run.
- open Visual Studio Command Prompt.
- execute the following command: tfssecurity.exe /g+ "service accounts" /server:http://:
Why is this by design?
Well, the converter puts data from CQ into TFS. There may be rules in TFS that may cause that data to change.
E.g. if there is a rule that says CreatedDate should be the current date, or the CreatedBy field should be the user creating the bug.
The converter replays out the user action in TFS to migrate the bug.
E.g. if a bug went through active, resolved, close cycle then converter first opens a new bug in TFS, then resolves it and then closes it. You can see that this would create a problem with all the rules because CreatedDate would be set to the date the converter ran, loosing out the original date, and CreatedBy would be set to the user account running the converter.
So the converter runs in a mode where it bypasses those rules. The APIs exposing that functionality were deemed to be dangerous to be left open for normal users so the decision was made that only service account people would have access to those.
Another issue I faced is: "TF61103: The converter could not find the supported version of the ClearQuest client". The ClearQuest Client used is Rational ClearQuest MultiSite with BuildID 2003.06.13.402.000. Though this version is supported it turned out that it depends on the availability of the registry key HKCU\SOFTWARE\\Rational Software\\ClearQuest. So check if that key is available!
The ClearQuest Standalone client Version 2003.06.XX, where XX is the minor version is supported. In the Microsoft labs they have also done testing on 2003.06.12 versions of ClearQuest.
Versions 2002.05.20 and 2003.05.00 may also work, but have not been tested.
After solving these issues we were able to do a first test and get our ClearQuest entities migrated to Team Foundation Server work items. I'm pretty confident that at release time of TFS this tool will be of much use for migrating to Team Foundation Server!
Now that Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005 are out of the door it's time to get ready for Windows Vista and Office 12. For the latter make sure to check Arpan Shah's blog post "Getting ready for Office 12". Arpan list a few things to keep in mind when getting ready for Office 12.
This document on the Microsoft Download Center has a detailed discussion on SQL Server 2005 common language runtime (CLR) support to increase developer productivity and create a flexible pricing application solution at Microsoft.
Files in this download: DevProdSQL2005TCS.doc and DevProdSQL2005TCSPpt.ppt
Now that I've installed Team Suite (RTM) and Team Foundation Server (Beta 3 Refresh) on my TabletPC, the long awaited VPC with Team Suite RC and Team Foundation Server Beta 3 (finally) found its way to MSDN Subscriber Downloads.
The VPC also includes the well-known AdventureWorks demo: To access the demo files, open the solution (.sln) file located in the C:\AdventureWorksDemo folder. The sample code is intended to demonstrate features of Visual Studio Team System, and therefore may exhibit poor coding conventions, security vulnerabilites, etc. The AdventureWorks application should not, and may not, be used in any form for production applications.
The ISVs I'm currently working with on the adoption of Team System should absolutely consider using this VPC for their learning process. Migration of the sources and SQL Server 2005 data to the RTM & Beta 3 Refresh (another VPC coming in the next few weeks) will be smooth.
For more information on Visual Studio 2005 Team System, please visit:
You might have read on the Scobleizer that from tomorrow on (23 November) the Scobles will be in Europe. And yes, Robert & Maryam also visit Belgium! They will be in Brussels on December 8th.
The great news is that if you want to meet Robert and Maryam (check her blog!) - talk about corporate blogging & its effects, discuss how to deal with blogs, why blogs are hot - or talk about any other geek topic you are invited to join us on December 8th 2005 for the Brussels Geek Dinner. So, if you live in the area, or know other geeks in the area, you might tell them we'll be having this geek dinner! Please find the details below:
What: Brussels Geek Dinner
Date: December 8th 2005
Time: 6:30pm
Where: Serenata, Zaventem (MSN Maps)
Who is welcome?: Everyone! ... but please let me know!
Geeks and friends of geeks are certainly going to be in attendance, so please join us if you have time on your hands. I don't think they have WiFi, but I'd recommend bringing a digital camera ....
If you plan to join us for the geek dinner then please drop me a mail or comment this post.
See you all there!
One of Microsoft's Chief Technology Officers - Ray Ozzie - who formerly ran Groove has (re)started blogging. He promises not to simply plug Microsoft products, but instead "reply and converse with you in a manner that scales."
Subscribe to the feed on http://spaces.msn.com/members/rayozzie/feed.rss!
Earlier this week my friend Damir Tomicic, President of INETA Europe, Member of the INETA Worldwide Council, Microsoft MVP ASP.NET and Microsoft Regional Director, pointed me to the AxCMS.net 2005 Award. Check out the award at http://en.axcms.net/AxCMS_Award_2005.AxCMS. This award represents an opportunity to celebrate the evolution of the AxCMS.net to the driving force behind more than 2000 successfull projects worldwide. Axinom is honoring excellence in web design, creativity, usability and functionality.
The AxCMS.net nominees and winners are selected by Members of AxCMS.net Development Team from the best sites entered through the Call for Entries. Evaluated against four criteria (web design, creativity, usability, functionality), sites undergo a comprehensive process to win the AxCMS.net Award. More info is available at http://en.axcms.net/AxCMS_Award_2005.AxCMS.
Before the weekend - during the Launch 2005 week - eWeek.com announced that Microsoft continue to support the use of agile development methodologies, such as extreme programming and Scrum, to revise its products faster. Read the full article "Microsoft Lauds 'Scrum' Method for Software Projects".
Today eWeek publishes the article "Microsoft Taps Former Rational Heavyweight to Lend Credence to Enterprise Tools Play ". Indeed, Ivar Jacobson, known as one of the fathers of the popular Rational Unified Process (RUP), will lead an effort to deliver a lightweight unified process to the Microsoft Solutions Framework. Jacobson agrees on the fact that RUP is heavyweight and needs some refactoring.
"RUP is one of my babies, and babies grow up, and some of them need correction."
It's great to see that Microsoft is working hard to bake process within the software development environment through Visual Studio Team System. This means that in the near future we'll be able to use a kind of UP based on the Microsoft Solutions Framework integrated with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team System. Or as Jacobson says: "We build a fresh new process architecture based on aspect-oriented ideas, and using the MSF and VSTS is a very good platform to instantiate such a process."
Read the full article "Microsoft Taps Former Rational Heavyweight to Lend Credence to Enterprise Tools Play" at http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1886531,00.asp".
Thanks to the hard work of the Patterns & Practices Team the November CTP of Enterprise Library for the .NET Framework 2.0 is available on GotDotNet: http://practices.gotdotnet.com/projects/entlib.
Things you need to know:
- This build now runs against RTM bits of Visual Studio 2005 and .NET Framework 2.0 (woohoo!)
- While much more complete than the last CTP, there are still a couple of things that aren’t done in this release. Most significantly this includes the Configuration Tool , and the Cryptography Application Block.
- This build has undergone a lot of functional, performance and security testing, but we’ll continue to do more testing after the CTP and you should understand it won’t be as high quality as the final release. It’s definitely good enough quality to start development.
Make sure to check Tom Hollander's blog for more info on EntLib!
Earlier this week Microsoft released on the MSDN Download Center the SQL Server Express Utility, a tool that lets you easily interact with SQL Server.
SSEUtil.exe is a tool that lets you easily interact with SQL Server. Among other things, it allows you to:
- Connect to the main instance or user-instance of SQL Server.
- Create, attach, detach, and list databases on the server.
- Upgrade database files to match the version of the server.
- Execute SQL statements via the console (similar to SQLCMD).
- Retrieve the version of SQL Server running.
- Enable and disable trace flags (for example, to trace SQL statements sent to the server by any client application)
- List the instances of SQL Server on the local machine or on remote machines.
- Checkpoint and shrink a database
- Measure the performance of executing specific queries.
- Create and playback lists of SQL commands for the server to execute.
- Log all input and output.
If you're looking for an overview of SQL Server Express check this MSDN article: SQL Server 2005 Express Edition Overview. Fabrice Romelard provides us with an article covering the installation of SQL Server 2005 Express Edition on the ASP-PHP community site.
Other SQL Server 2005 related donwloads:
- Application Platform (SQL Server, Visual Studio, and BizTalk Server) White Paper: This paper outlines the Microsoft application platform—the confluence of servers, clients, and devices that can help connect people with business-critical information across the enterprise, thus driving overall business success. This paper focuses on Microsoft’s latest investments in business intelligence, integration, and developer productivity with updated releases of Microsoft SQL Server 2005, Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006, and Microsoft Visual Studio 2005, respectively.
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- AdventureWorks OLTP Database Diagram: Download a diagram of the AdventureWorks sample OLTP database. The AdventureWorks sample OLTP database is used in samples for SQL Server 2005 and product documentation for SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2005 Express Edition. The diagram is available in both HTML and Visio 2003 format.
- SQL Server Health and History Tool (SQLH2): This version of SQLH2 supports SQL Server 2005 RTM collection.SQLH2 collects four main types of information:
- Feature Usage – What services/features are installed, running and level of workload on the service.
- Configuration Settings – Machine, OS and SQL configuration settings, SQL instance and database metadata.
- Uptime of the SQL Server service
- Performance Counters (optional) – Used to determine performance trends
The Windows Workflow Foundation is one of the core components of WinFX, the next generation .NET Framework that will be available to all users of Windows running Windows Vista, Windows Server 200X, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. The Windows Workflow Foundation is an engine and a framework - a set of assemblies System.Workflow and not a product - that can be used across many scenarios:
- workflow within line-of-business applications
- user interface page flow
- document-centric workflow
- human workflow
- composite workflow for service-oriented applications
- business rule-driven workflow
- workflow for systems management
Typically developers and ISVs are very interested in this extensible approach to workflow.
One of the many scenarios where this workflow approach will be very valuable is in Office 12. One of the key requests for the next version of Office was the capability to collaborate on documents using workflow. The great news is that Office 12 uses the Windows Workflow Foundation engine that is embedded in SharePoint host for workflow. This means that the workflow is executed on SharePoint. Of course several prebuilt workflows like review, approval and document expiration will ship with Office 12 Also custom workflows will be supported. There's even a wizard interface in FrontPage 12 that you can use for developing workflow for Office.
The excellent news is that for the professional developers using Visual Studio 2005 there is now the Windows® Workflow Foundation Beta 1.2 for Office "12" (Beta 1). It's important to know that for this wokflow beta you have to use the release versions of .NET Framework 2.0 and Visual Studio 2005, as well as Office "12" (Beta 1). The Windows Workflow Foundation Beta 1.2 runtime components are required for Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services "3.0" (Beta 1), Office "12" servers (Beta 1), and "FrontPage 12" (Beta 1) and the Visual Studio 2005 Extensions for Windows Workflow Foundation are required for customers who are designing workflows in Visual Studio 2005 and/or require the Windows Workflow Foundation SDK.
[Via Steve Dodson & the Anti-Malware team blog] Microsoft Windows Defender is the new name of the Microsoft anti-spyware technology. As one might have expected the good news is that it's going to be part of Windows Vista. The Windows Security Center in Vista will even be redesigned to detect if an Anti-Spyware application such as Windows Defender is running and operating normally.
Signature updates for Microsoft Windows Defender will be available through the automatic updates of Windows Update.
More info can be found on the Anti-Malware Engineering Team Blog.
Yesterday I received a couple of questions on how to build an application using Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office together with Microsoft Excel. Just came accross this sample download on MSDN: Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office Sample: Excel Invoice Application.
This sample solution introduces Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Tools for the Microsoft Office System by demonstrating an Excel Invoice solution. The sample code covers the following topics:
- New Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office design time experience
- New Named Range and List Object host controls
- New managed actions pane
- Windows Forms controls embedded in the Excel worksheet
The associated MSDN article - Building an Excel Invoice Application using Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Tools for the Microsoft Office System - discusses the implementation process used to create the solution. C# and Visual Basic code snippets illustrate individual components of this Invoice application.
More info can also be found on the Visual Studio Tools for Office on the Office Developer Center.
Kirk Allen Evans aggregated some frequently asked questions from the MSDN Forums, answered by Ajay Sudan, Product Manager for Visual Studio Team System...
Q: I am an MSDN Universal Subscriber; why can't I see any of the role-based products or Team Suite in the MSDN Subscriber Downloads Center?
A: You have not yet submitted a transition request. You must transition from MSDNU to one of the role-based products or upgrade to the Suite. See http://msdn.microsoft.com/subscriptions for more information.
Q: How long does the transition request take?
A: For a retail subscriber it will take 24-48 hours from transition choice to access the new level/role. For a Volume Licensing admin to assign a role choice and then the user to get download access should be nearly instantaneous.
Q: If I install Team Suite after installing VS Pro, do I need to uninstall VS Pro?
A: No, the two products live side-by-side. There is only one devenv.exe and it will launch the higher SKU. In this case, Suite is launched.
Q: Can I upgrade from Team Suite trial to the full version of Team Suite?
A: Yes, the trial will go into maintenance mode and give you the option to upgrade.
Q: If I use the Team Suite trial, what happens if I then install a role-based product?
A: The Suite trial will continue to launch since it is considered the higher SKU. The trial edition will need to be uninstalled before you can use a role-based product.
Q: I am a Microsoft partner. Can someone please tell me what is going on?
A: Partner program benefits will be communicated through your partner channels. In the meantime, you can see the most recent communication from the partner team here: https://partner.microsoft.com/US/40018086?PS=3. We're hearing your feedback and I will personally relay your comments to the appropriate individuals.
Lately I received a number of questions on the availability of the .NET Framework 2.0 for ISVs. The ISV Guide for Redistributing the .NET Framework and Other Runtime Components which has been published on the MSDN site discusses how managed applications and controls written with Visual Studio that require the .NET Framework (and sometimes other runtime components) can be installed on the computer where the application or control runs. The article describes how ISVs can deploy the necessary runtime components with their applications.
Good to know is also that .NET Framework 2.0 will be made avail