SQL Server Access Issues

The "SQL Server does not exist or access denied" message does not indicate the following:

* That the logon process to SQL Server failed.
* That SQL Server does not have the correct permissions to process the query.
* That you cannot use SQL Server authentication because only Windows authentication is permitted.

Potential causes
Server-related causes
If no client computers can connect to the computer that is running SQL Server, there may be a server-side problem.

* SQL Server is not installed on the computer that you specify in the connection string. Verify that SQL Server is actually installed on the computer that you specify in your connection string.
* SQL Server is not started. SQL Server must be running to accept connections.
* SQL Server is not listening on the protocol or port that you are using to connect. The Server Network Utility on the server determines which protocols SQL Server will use and on which TCP/IP ports SQL Server will listen. The Client Network Utility, an MDAC data source name (DSN), or your connection string determines which protocol and port your client uses when it connects. For additional information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
289573 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/289573/ ) PRB: Configuring DSNs with SQL Server net-libraries
328383 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/328383/ ) SQL Server clients may change protocols when the client computers try to connect to an instance of SQL Server
* When SQL Server started, it could not listen on the specified TCP/IP port and is not accepting TCP/IP connections. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
293107 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/293107/ ) PRB: TCP\IP port in use by another application
* The SQL Server name is different from the computer name. For additional information about this issue for SQL Server 2000, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
303774 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/303774/ ) BUG: "Renaming a server" topic in SQL Server Books Online is incomplete
For additional information about this issue for SQL Server 7.0, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
195759 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/195759/ ) Frequently asked questions - SQL Server 7.0 - SQL Setup
For additional information about this issue for SQL Server in a clustered environment, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
307336 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307336/ ) How to change a clustered SQL Server network name
* For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
298822 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/298822/ ) FIX: MSDE connection may fail on a multihomed computer
* For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
306199 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306199/ ) FIX: Dynamic IP addresses cannot connect to SQL Server 2000
* Starting with SQL Server Desktop Engine (also known as MSDE 2000) Service Pack 3 (SP3) or SP3a , only local connectivity is permitted, by default. If you want to permit remote connections to SQL Server Desktop Engine, follow the steps in the following article:
814130 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/814130/ ) How to help secure network connectivity for SQL Server 2000 local databases

Client-related or application-related causes
If some client computers or applications can connect but others cannot, you are probably experiencing a client-side problem.

* The computer name does not exist. Double-check the spelling of the computer to which you are trying to connect.
* You are trying to access a named instance of SQL Server, but you are not specifying the correct instance name. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
265808 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/265808/ ) How to connect to a SQL Server 2000 named instance with the previous version's client tools
* The Windows-level security that you are using to connect is different from what you expect. For example, Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) uses IUSR_computername, not the account with which you log on to Windows or perhaps another account depending on how you configured IIS. Additionally, linked servers use the Windows-level security context of SQL Server Agent in some circumstances. The security context of the account that you are using may not have access to the computer on which SQL Server is installed.
* You are not using the correct protocol. Check your Client Network Utility (CNU) to verify the protocols that you are using (for earlier versions of MDAC, you set a default instead of enabling protocols). Additionally, verify whether there are any defined aliases in the CNU that specify a different protocol or port (or both) than you expect. For more information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
328383 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/328383/ ) SQL Server clients may change protocols when the client computers try to connect to an instance of SQL Server
289573 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/289573/ ) PRB: Configuring DSNs with SQL Server net-libraries
* You removed the Client for Microsoft Networks networking component from the network properties on the client. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
253959 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/253959/ ) Client for Microsoft Networks functions when unbound from network adapter
* If SQL Server is clustered, the network adapters may be incorrectly named or configured. If any network adapters are named with special characters or with mixed case, rename them. Verify that the network adapters on the computer are configured properly.
* You may be experiencing the side effects of an MDAC mismatch. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
307255 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307255/ ) Component Checker: Diagnose problems and reconfigure MDAC installations
* Check the protocol that is specified in the following subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSSQLServer\Client\ConnectTo\DSQUERY
This value typically reflects the settings in the CNU, but sometimes it does not. If the value is DBNETLIB, it uses one of the protocols in the enabled protocols list of the CNU. If a specific protocol is listed, that protocol is used instead.
* You are trying to connect through named pipes, but either the named pipe on which SQL Server is listening has changed from the default, or you are using the incorrect pipe name.

For a default instance, use the following pipe in the Server Network Utility:
\\.\pipe\sql\query
For a named instance, use:
\\.\pipe\MSSQL$instancename\sql\query
* You have specified a DSN that is not of the correct type (file, user, or system). For additional information about the different types of DSNs, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
213772 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/213772/ ) How to use system, user, and file data sources
* For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
290820 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290820/ ) BUG: SQL Desktop Edition: Shared memory fails to connect after you install MDAC 2.6

Back to the top
Network-related or domain-related causes
If you receive this error message only with computers that are in a specific domain, on a certain subnet, or behind a firewall, review the following issues.

* A firewall or router is not configured properly or has been configured to block UDP port 1434. If UDP port 1434 is blocked, you may have to specify the port on which SQL Server is listening in your connection string from the client. For additional information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
287932 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/287932/ ) TCP ports needed for communication to SQL Server through a firewall
318432 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/318432/ ) BUG: Cannot connect to a clustered named instance through a firewall
* The local security policy user rights assignment for your Windows account does not allow access from the network. The "Access this Computer from the Network" policy must be permitted. Additionally, the "Deny access to this computer from the network" right must not be granted.
* There is a domain trust problem, or one of the computers is in a workgroup and therefore has no access to the domain. In some cases, to work around this problem, you can create the same local Windows account on both computers with the same password for each account. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
321247 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/321247/ ) How to configure security for log shipping
* Your name resolution is not working. Check your settings in the name resolution system that you use (such as DNS, WINS, hosts, or lmhosts). For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
169790 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/169790/ ) How to troubleshoot basic TCP/IP problems

How to Restore site using Content DB only

How to restore site using content db only
To restore a site on the same or different machine using the content db backup follow the steps given below:

1.Create a new Web application on the destination server.
2.Go to central admin --> content database . Click on the new web app content db.
3.Remove the content db.
4.Go to SQL server mgmt studio and create a new db with the same name as the content db backup you are having.
5.After creation right click restore. Choose the backup file location. From the options tab choose 'overwrite'.
6.Restore this db backup.
7.Go to central admin --> content database again and select ' add a content db ' to the web application.
8.specify the name of the restored db.
9.Done

iPad Launch

All of the built-in apps on iPad were designed from the ground up to take advantage of the large Multi-Touch screen and advanced capabilities of iPad. And they work in any orientation. So you can do things with these apps that you can’t do on any other device.

for details : http://www.apple.com/ipad/

Microsoft's Biggest Development Launch in Years

Article by: RDN Express Blog

It's a big week for the Developer Division at Microsoft. Yesterday marked the release of Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4. Silverlight 4 final release bits are expected on April 15.

In addition to the new look and feel of the VS2010 code editor, which was rewritten in Windows Presentation Foundation; the IDE offers tooling for Microsoft's latest platforms: Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, SQL Server 2008, SharePoint 2007, Office 2007, Windows Azure and Windows Phone 7. This release also marks the first major upgrade to Visual Studio Team System and Team Foundation Server since Microsoft debuted its ALM system in 2005.

Among the anticipated tooling in Visual Studio 2010 is a designer for Silverlight. The VS2010 add-in for SL4 will be updated when the SL4 bits are released later this week to the Web, according to Microsoft.

Visual Studio 2010 launch events were held in London, Beijing, Bangalore, Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and Las Vegas. According to Microsoft, about 50 partners had their VS2010 tooling ready for the launch. With the new WPF code editor, companies like JetBrains with its ReSharper refactoring tool and others had to do a lot of work to make that happen.

In Scott Guthrie's blog on the VS2010 and .NET 4 release, he makes the point that there are a lot of improvements in the tooling that are designed to make you more productive in your every day development, without learning new concepts or studying tomes of information. Improvements to code and JavaScript IntelliSense, code navigation and visualization, enhancements to multi-targeting of .NET (two versions can run in the same process) and multi-monitor support, among other advances. Check out his VS2010 and .NET 4 blog series—he provides links to about 20 drill-downs on various tooling (halfway down the page)—for a closer look at what's new.

Guthrie explained the side-by-side functionality in an earlier post:

".NET 4.0 has a new version number for both the framework libraries and CLR engine – which means it runs completely independently from .NET 2.0, 3.0 and 3.5. What this means is that you can install .NET 4.0 on a machine that has .NET 2.0/3.0/3.5 installed, and configure some applications to run using .NET 4.0 and others to run using the older .NET versions (the IIS admin tool allows you to configure this for ASP.NET applications). This allows you to use .NET 4.0 for new applications - without having to necessarily test and upgrade all your existing ones."

Visual Studio 2008 introduced multi-targeting; the CLR in .NET 4 has been rewritten while earlier versions were built on .NET 2.0.

If you aren't an MSDN subscriber, you can still check out VS2010 for free with a 90-day trial or download an Express edition. Microsoft is also running a $299 promotion until October to upgrade VS2005/VS2008 Standard edition users to VS2010 Professional edition.

SQL Server 2008 with SharePoint 2007 – Enable Remote SQL Connections

Installing SharePoint 2007 (WSS or MOSS) to use a SQL Server 2008 database is straight forward. Other than differences in the initial SQL Server 2008 setup routine, there are very few differences to a SQL Server 2005 installation.

One of the differences that I found involves enabling remote SQL connections. For SharePoint 2007 to work properly, remote connections should be enabled over Named Pipes and TCP/IP. Remote connections are disabled by default in both SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008.

Enabling Remote Connections in SQL Server 2005

In SQL Server 2005, you enable remote connections by configuring SQL Server using the SQL Server Surface Configuration Tool, as shown below:

1. Open the SQL Server Surface Area Configuration Tool (Start > SQL Server 2005 > Configuration Tools > SQL Server Surface Area Configuration
2. Click the link titled Surface Area Configuration for Services and Connections
3. Select the Database Engine > Remote Connections node in the tree view
4. Turn on the option for Local and remote connections > Using both TCP/IP and named pipes.
5. Click the OK or Apply button (you’ll be warned that these settings will not take effect until the Database Engine is restarted)
6. Restart the Database Engine (SQL Server Service)

Enabling Remote Connections in SQL Server 2008

In SQL Server 2008, the SQL Server Surface Configuration Tool is no longer part of the product. It has been replace with the SQL Server Configuration Manager. I personally find the old version to be more user-friendly, but either way, it gets the job done. To enable remote connections in SQL Server 2008:

1. Open the SQL Server Configuration Manager (Start > SQL Server 2008 > Configuration Tools > SQL Server Configuration Manager
2. Navigate to the SQL Server Network Configuration > Protocols for MSSQLSERVER node in the tree view
3. Enable TCP/IP and Named Pipes (you’ll be warned that these changes will not apply until you the service is shut down)
4. Restart the SQL Server Service

SharePoint 2007 Service Pack 1 Required

Please note that to run SharePoint 2007 on Windows Server 2008 or SQL Server 2008, you must have Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Service Pack 1 and Microsoft Office Servers Service Pack 1 (if you’re running MOSS) installed on your SharePoint WFE server.

Windows Azure Platform Has Arrived

Windows Azure Platform Just Released: Take Your .NET Apps to the Cloud

The Microsoft Windows Azure platform is an Internet-scale cloud services platform hosted in Microsoft data centers. Get the training kits, get the SDK, browse documentation, and start today, sending your applications to the future of computing.

Microsoft Ups The ALM Ante With Its Bet On Teamprise

November 16, 2009
Microsoft Ups The ALM Ante With Its Bet On Teamprise
Expect VS 2010 To Accelerate The Shakeout In The Application Life-Cycle Management Market
by Jeffrey S. Hammond
with Mike Gilpin and Adam Knoll

Microsoft’s Team Foundation Server (TFS) has proven very popular with .NET developers but not so much with Eclipse developers. This presents a problem for Microsoft, because many of its largest customers develop for both .NET and Java and want a consolidated application life-cycle management (ALM) solution that will support development teams regardless of what platform they use. Over the past few years, Microsoft has pointed to a partner’s product — SourceGear’s Teamprise Client Suite — as its recommended solution to the heterogeneity problem. This has proven unsatisfactory to many customers, so after a long internal debate, Microsoft has acquired the Teamprise code base. Microsoft will release an updated version of Teamprise as part of its Visual Studio 2010 release train and will reduce the new solution’s overall per-developer cost. The resulting product combination will prove much more attractive to large enterprises, which will now have the option of a lower-cost ALM solution for all the platforms they use, supported by the full force of Microsoft.

SharePoint Server 2010 Preliminary System Requirements

SharePoint Server 2010 Preliminary System Requirements
By rriley

We’ve heard loud and clear that you want system requirements information as early as possible to assist in your budgeting and planning, so today we’re happy to announce (and confirm) some preliminary system requirements for SharePoint Server 2010:
1. SharePoint Server 2010 will be 64-bit only.
2. SharePoint Server 2010 will require 64-bit Windows Server 2008 or 64-bit Windows Server 2008 R2.
3. SharePoint Server 2010 will require 64-bit SQL Server 2008 or 64-bit SQL Server 2005.
In addition to the requirements listed above we also wanted to share with you some preliminary detail about SharePoint Server 2010 browser compatibility.
To ensure the best possible experience across multiple browsers we’re focusing our SharePoint 2010 engineering efforts on targeting standards based browsers (XHTML 1.0 compliant) including Internet Explorer 7, Internet Explorer 8 and Firefox 3.x. running on Windows Operating Systems. In addition we’re planning on an increased level of compatibility with Firefox 3.x and Safari 3.x on non-Windows Operating Systems. Due to this focus Internet Explorer 6 will not be a supported browser for SharePoint Server 2010.
So, what can you do today to get into the best shape for SharePoint Server 2010?
1. Start by ensuring new hardware is 64-bit. Deploying 64-bit is our current best practice recommendation for SharePoint 2007.
2. Deploy Service Pack 2 and take a good look at the SharePoint 2010 Upgrade Checker that’s shipped as part of the update. The Upgrade Checker will scan your SharePoint Server 2007 deployment for many issues that could affect a future upgrade to SharePoint 2010.
3. Get to know Windows Server 2008 with SharePoint 2007, this post is a great starting point.
4. Consider your desktop browser strategy if you have large population of Internet Explorer 6 users.
5. Continue to follow the Best Practices guidance for SharePoint Server 2007.
6. Keep an eye on this blog for updates and more details in the coming months.
Below are a few common Q&A’s (which we’ll add to as required)

Q: What about Internet Explorer 6 and SharePoint 2010 publishing sites?
A: The Web Content Management features built into SharePoint 2010 will provide a deep level of control over the markup and styling of the reader experience. These features will enable customers to design pages that are compatible with additional browsers for viewing content, including Internet Explorer 6. A standards based browser such as Internet Explorer 7, Internet Explorer 8 or Firefox 3.x will be required to author content.
Q: Is Internet Explorer 6 officially supported by Microsoft?
A: Official Microsoft Product Support for Internet Explorer 6 follows the lifecycle of the Operating System with which it was shipped. In order for customers to receive product support through the Mainstream Support and Extended Support phases, they need to have installed a supported Service Pack. For example, customers who are using Windows XP must transition to Service Pack 3 by July, 2010 and are eligible to receive support for Internet Explorer 6 until April, 2014.
You can find additional information on Microsoft’s Support Lifecycle Policy including specific dates, product information and support offerings here: http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifepolicy.
Q: Why are you only supporting the 64-bit versions of SQL Server 2005 or 2008 for SharePoint Server 2010?
A: This decision was based on our current test data for SharePoint Server 2010 and real world experience from customers running SharePoint Server 2007 with 32-bit SQL Server. SharePoint performance and scalability can benefit significantly from 64-bit SQL Server and the throughput increases are significant enough for us to make the difficult decision to only support SharePoint Server 2010 on 64-bit SQL Server 2005 or 2008. It has been our strong recommendation for some time that SharePoint Server 2007 customers take advantage of 64-bit SQL Server due to the inherent performance and scale benefits it can provide.
Q: Where can I find more information on the advantages of 64-bit hardware and guidance on how to migrate SharePoint from 32-bit to 64-bit.
A: These two TechNet articles are a good starting point;
Advantages of 64-bit hardware and software (Office SharePoint Server 2007)
Migrate an existing server farm to a 64-bit environment (Office SharePoint Server 2007)

Linking External LOB Data to SharePoint Lists

You can connect external data from almost any data sources directly to SharePoint lists (no web parts) simply in the list settings dialog using the SharePoint Business Data List Connector (BDLC) found here:

http://www.layer2.de/en/products/Pages/SharePoint-Business-Data-List-Connector.aspx

All list features are available, e.g. alerts and workflows to start business actions in SharePoint, if external data is changed.

Just download and evaluate for free.

SharePoint 2010 features

Microsoft has released guides which discusses in depth on the new SP2010 features:

Download this guide as a Microsoft Word document (.docx).

Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Evaluation Guide (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=167123)

1) End User Evalution Guide - http://bit.ly/DM5mH
2) Developer Evaluation Guide - http://bit.ly/21ezZ2
3) IT Pro Evaluation Guide - http://bit.ly/1IENu4

Sharepoint 2010 Beta is now available for Download

Sharepoint 2010 Beta is now available for download at

http://sharepoint2010.microsoft.com/try-it/Pages/Trial.aspx

Sharepoint Conference Highlights

Sharepoint Conference held in October, 2009 in LasVegas, this was for the first time when users were able to see Sharepoint 2010 publically, given below is the link for sharepoint conference highlights...

http://www.mssharepointconference.com/pages/news.aspx#26

Sharepoint 2010 for End Users, Developers and IT Professional

Microsoft has released guides which discusses Sharepoint 2010 features:

a) End User Evalution Guide - http://bit.ly/DM5mH
b) Developer Evaluation Guide - http://bit.ly/21ezZ2
c) IT Pro Evaluation Guide - http://bit.ly/1IENu4

Sharepoint 2010 for End Users

End User Evalution Guide
http://bit.ly/DM5mH

All New Office 2010 Developer Training Course

All New Office 2010 Developer Training Course

http://blogs.msdn.com/pstubbs/archive/2009/11/09/sharepoint-2010-developer-training-course-available-now-on-channel-9.aspx


http://channel9.msdn.com/learn/courses/SharePoint2010Developer/



The Office 2010 Workshop is one of the new developer training courses to debut on Channel 9 today. The release of this course consists of 29 videos with presentations and demos on Office 2010 development. That’s around 4.5 hours of content! Shortly after Office 2010 Beta becomes publicly available the training course will be updated with the hands-on-lab and source code for each unit. The training course includes these units:
• Office 2010 Developer Roadmap
• Office UI Customization
• Office Client Workflow
• Security and Deployment
• Business Connectivity Services
• Developing BI Applications
• Open XML
• Office 2010 Services
• InfoPath 2010 and Forms Services

Office 2010 is an evolved developer platform with new services and extensibility. It provides the best productivity experience across PC, phone and browser with platform power to connect to cloud and on-premises services. This course introduces developers to the concepts of Office development and the broad set of tools available for both client and server side development. These include Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4, InfoPath 2010, Access 2010 and SharePoint Designer 2010 to call out a few. With many new features, these tools help developers be more productive by providing greater flexibility in how they approach developing and deploying their solutions – all to deliver real value to information workers and organizations.

Enjoy!

Metro Office 2010 Instructor Led Training – San Jose, CA, Dec. 10-11, 2009
Invite your Metro customers to join us in San Jose, CA for this instructor led training course. Space is limited so be sure to get your partner/customer signed up early! Please contact Bruno Nowak or Donovan Follette for questions about the Productivity Rhythm in the Metro early adopter program.

Check Out the Office 2010 Team Blogs
If you would like to get caught up on the great innovations in Office 2010, here is a collection of links to the team blogs. Excellent reading!
• Office 2010 Engineering
• Word Team Blog
• Excel Team Blog
• InfoPath Team Blog
• Publisher Team Blog
• Access Team Blog
• OneNote
• Visio Team Blog
• Outlook Team Blog
• PowerPoint Team Blog
• Project Team Blog
• Natural Language Team Blog
• Office Global Experience Team Blog
• Open XML
• Office Web Apps Team
• SharePoint Workspace Team Blog

Office Developer Guild (ODG)
For all those that love Office development, get connected on Facebook with the Office Developer Guild. John Durant writes, “To make it easier for us to stay alert about events, up-coming content, etc. and more easily share ideas we now have the “Office Developer Guild”—a group of like-minded professional friends on Facebook.”

So join the ODG!

Most Valueable Professional

I am happy to share this news that Microsoft has announced Most Valueable Professional Award for me for the third consecutive year.

https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/khalil%20ur%20rehman

SharePoint 2010 Sneak Peek is live‏

It’s live: http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/2010/Sneak_Peek/Pages/default.aspx


There’s 10 features in the overview, 6 features for developers and 6 features for IT Pros. Each feature is highlighted in the videos, there are feature descriptions and screenshots.

Visual Studio Team System 2010

Visual Studio Team System 2010 Overview

The marketplace has begun to mature and accept Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) as a proven discipline for creating high quality applications in a reliable fashion. However, existing solutions in the marketplace have not kept pace with the changing needs of technical users and the expanding inclusion of non-technical users as part of the lifecycle. The third generation of Visual Studio Team System – Visual Studio Team System 2010 – will address the needs of these customers with a robust and streamlined solution.

Every customer today faces a similar set of business problems:

• How do we build high quality applications that deliver real business value?
• How do we embrace the Application Lifecycle Management model effectively?
• How can we ensure that all members of the team – both technical and non-technical – are part of the process?
• How can we get the most value from our existing code assets?
• How do we make powerful modeling tools available to everyone in the application lifecycle?

Our ALM tooling specifically addresses these questions and helps customers create high quality applications that deliver value to the business. We are evolving the market beyond the first generation of ALM tooling, by:

• Building quality into the lifecycle
  • Ensuring architectural consistency through the lifecycle
  • Eliminating “No-Repro” bugs
  • Ensuring smooth build handoffs and high quality builds
  • Incorporating performance in the lifecycle
• Driving efficiency into the test effort
  • QA Team aligned with Business Analysts, Architects, and Developers
  • Eliminating tedious tasks
  • Improving setup and deployment of tests
  • Choosing the right tests
• Ensure Complete Testing
  • Focused test planning and progress tracking
  • Transparently see the quality of requirements and level of testing
  • Finding the gaps in testing and fill them
  • Ensuring changes are properly tested

The following sections highlight specific feature of Visual Studio Team System 2010 that address the common business needs.

Modeling that Works with Code

For most businesses only about 20% of the code being written today is for new applications; the majority of work is being done on existing code bases. A typical issue encountered when working on existing code is not having good tools to help the architect or developer understand the system. This can make it challenging to not only understand what needs to be done to make the required changes, but it makes it equally challenging to understand the broader impact of the changes. Often it isn’t until much later that an unexpected bug is discovered as a result of a change. Our modeling tools have tight integration into the actual code of the application. This means that a developer or architect can use models to explore existing code assets. The new Architecture Explorer in Visual Studio Team System gives developers and architects the capability of creating a full architectural picture of existing code; understanding how they fit together; understanding how they “work.” This leads to better information about how to use, re-use, or even whether or not to discard existing code. The Architecture Explorer provides architects and developers a mechanism for visualizing code assets in a number of ways including graphs, stacked diagrams and dependency matrices. The introduction of the Architecture Layer Diagram means that a developer or architect can use models to enforce constraints on code as well. The Architecture Layer Diagram can be coupled to code making it an active diagram that can be used for validation. For example, when an architect designs a system where the presentation layer should not talk to the data layer, you want to be able to enforce that model at check-in. VSTS 2010 can do that. These capabilities delivered in VSTS 2010 are part of the Microsoft’s overall modeling story. Learn more about modeling by watching the Trends in Software Modeling webcast featuring Jeffrey Hammond (Forrester Research), Cameron Skinner (Microsoft, Visual Studio Team System), and Clemens Reijnen (Sogeti).

The new Architecture Explorer enables individuals to create a visual representation of existing code assets. The Architecture Layer Diagram enables validation of code against a visual representation of the architecture.

Eliminating “No-Repro” Bugs

From the design of the application through to the actual writing of the code, one of the most difficult problems has always been that of the bug that can’t be reproduced – the “no-repro” bug. There are a lot of factors that drive these types of bugs and we have worked to create tools to help isolate the issue and enable faster fixes. One way this is solved in Visual Studio Team System 2010 is with the use of a tool that can specify the exact state of the build used by a tester and allow a comparison to the state of the build used by the developer when trying to reproduce the bug. It is often the subtle differences between these two that create the no-repro state, and a new tool within Visual Studio Team System 2010 has been designed to specifically address this. This tool – the Microsoft Test Runner – is a standalone tool that a tester uses to guide them through a series of steps to complete a test case. When the test case is started the Microsoft Test Runner takes a snapshot of the system data, including OS version and Service Pack and other pertinent system data. As the test is being run the tester can use the tool to capture images of the application under test, or even partial or full screen video of the test being run. If an issue is discovered, the tester can create a new bug in Team Foundation Server and attach these artifacts. When attached, the screen capture video is fully indexed with the test steps as bookmarks, making it easier for the developer to see what went wrong on the tester’s machine. All of these artifacts help to eliminate the no-repro scenario, and help build a better bridge between development and test.

The Microsoft Test Runner enables testers to follow a set of defined validation steps and easily create an actionable bug, including system information, screen images and even a fully indexed screen capture video of the steps that were followed.

Identify the Test Impact

As developers make changes to the code, it is critical for them to effectively test their changes, not only to prove the new code functions as expected, but also to ensure there is no unexpected downstream effect. Test impact analysis and test prioritization identify the tests that must be run to validate the code changes. This helps developers quickly check-in code with confidence by running only the necessary tests, and reduces the churn created by unexpected failures. The new Test Impact View window enables a developer to view a list of tests that need to be run as the result of a code change. The developer can toggle between an Impacted Tests view and a Code Changes view. The Impacted Tests view provides a list of tests that need to be run and which code changes are covered by each of the tests. The Code Changes view provides a list of code changes and which tests must be run in order to validate each of them. These two views provide a easy way to discover what tests must be run in order to validate the changes to the code base without having to run all of the tests. This ensures that all changes are tested effectively. content taken by http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/bb725993.aspx

Microsoft ready to Bang Google with Bing

Microsoft ready to Bang Google with Bing
From: Wisdom Talks Wisdom Talks :: Talks about Anything June 01, 2009

Now after Wolfram Alpha, Microsoft has showcased a new search engine, Bing, which will specifically focus on travel, shopping, health and local business results. The Redmond-based giant is marketing the new website as a ‘decision engine’ that pro Read more at Wisdom Talks Wisdom Talks :: Talks about Anything »

Microsoft SharePoint "14" is now Microsoft SharePoint 2010

Microsoft SharePoint "14" is now Microsoft SharePoint 2010
By sptblog on Announcements


You have probably seen the news announcement today where we announced the public beta for the new Microsoft Exchange Server 2010. As part of that announcement, we also talked about some of the names for the "14" wave of products including Microsoft Office 2010 and Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010. I wanted to answer some questions that I think will inevitably pop to the top of your mind:
What happened to the Office piece of the name? We love MOSS. . . .
The first thing you’ll notice is that the MOSS acronym goes away with the new name since Office is no longer in the SharePoint official name. No one should worry that SharePoint doesn’t work great with Office 2010 since we removed Office from the name, just like people didn’t worry whether SharePoint was a great portal product when we removed Portal from the 2007 name.
The primary reason why we took Office out of the name - lots of folks associate the name Office with the Office client. We wanted to take the opportunity to reestablish the Office name and brand to be synonymous with the client suite. I say "Give the people what they Want" so everyone should immediately think of Microsoft Office = Office apps.
Don’t try to acronym Microsoft SharePoint Server to MSS since MSS is already taken by Microsoft Search Server. Just remember, SharePoint is SharePoint is SharePoint.
What about Windows SharePoint Services?
When you read through the announcement, you may be wondering what happened to Windows SharePoint Services. While we didn’t announcement anything new for WSS, and I want to assure you that we’re definitely working on a new v4 version of the product. It’s too early to drill into any of the details but WSS is getting a lot of new features and will be a great release. We’ll talk more about WSS at a later date.
So, what was announced?
Here are my key takeaways from the interview with Chris Capossela:
• Exchange 2010 will lead the way for the 2010 (previously referred by its codename "14") wave of technologies and it will be available in the second half of 2009. You can download a beta today.
• Using Office Web applications, customers will be able to create, edit and collaborate on Office documents through a browser.
• IT professionals will be able to choose to either deploy and manage on-premises or hosted as a service.
• For developers, we are working on Open APIs, deep support for industry standards and developer tool support with Visual Studio 2010.
You can read the entire interview here.
Thomas Rizzo
Sr. Director
SharePoint