Colt Kwong Blog

Saving changes is not permitted in SQL 2008 Management Studio

Colt — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 10:30:00 GMT

I worked with SQL 2008 in a recent project, but I got the following message whenever I try to make change to a table structure in SQL management studio:

Saving changes is not permitted. The changes you have made require the following tables to be dropped and re-created. You have either made changes to a table that can't be re-created or enabled the option Prevent saving changes that require the table to be re-created.

I used to write ALTER statement (e.g. ALTER Table.. .ALTER Column...) so I don't really know what is the error message mean. Today, I search it during my Xmas holiday and know that there's a option in Tools | Options | Designer | Prevent saving change that require table re-creation.

Uncheck it and then I can modify table structure in GUI now. :)

Regards,
Colt

2009 Microsoft MVP Award

Colt — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 11:26:00 GMT

I'm so delighted to see an email with subject "Congratulations Microsoft MVP" in my mailbox this morning!

It's so warm and I'm happy to see this kind of email every year, especially I was so nervous and hand sweating in the last few weeks as I received an email from my MVP lead telling me that the MVP selection is very strict this year, and I have prepared lots of statistic figures and re-submit my application twice. (maybe it's because of the economic turmoil?) Anyway, it's my honor to receive this award in 2009.

MSDN Web Application Toolkits

Colt — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 02:40:00 GMT

Just go through the Bing Search Toolkit, it's straightforward and simple.

All toolkits can be found at: http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/Project/ProjectDirectory.aspx?TagName=WebAppToolkits

Green IT and Client Computing Webcast by INETA APAC

Colt — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 03:21:00 GMT

A new webcast session is scheduled this Sat and details are:

Topic: __ Green IT and Client Computing __

Presenter: Benjamin Cassell

Session abstract:

By 2010, 75% of organizations will use full life cycle energy and CO2 footprint as mandatory PC hardware buying criteria (Gartner Group 2008). Thin clients are the obvious choice, but require significant change. An easier way to make the transition is to buy energy efficient computers or computers containing less pollutants. Pollutants in our waterways and carbon emissions are the two separate areas that need to be addressed. Some products claiming to be green may compromise one of these concerns for the other. In this session you will learn about the client computing technologies, their power consumption and ways to make your client computing environment more environmentally friendly.

Presenter Bio:

After finishing school, Benjamin enrolled in a Diploma in Photojournalism and after 2 years and some other study in Computing and Literature he completed this qualification and had a couple of travel articles published. For the next year he fell into Scuba Dive Instructing and then went back to Computers. Ten years on Benjamin is still a IT specialist in software with a degree in Technology majoring in Information Systems. However having worked for several different types of organisations of different sizes it taught Benjamin what he really wanted out of his career – having always been quite independent and concerned for the environment and people's health, the emergence of 'Green IT' was the break he needed to start his own business, Green Earth IT.

Date: 12th Sept 2009 (Saturday) 5-6 PM (Sydney time) [Time in your location?]

How to Join:

https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=976JZR&role=attend&pw=Qhz7%3AttqcOr

or

Attendee URL https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join
Meeting ID 976JZR
Attendee Entry Code Qhz7:ttqc

Regards,
Colt

Name variable meaningfully all the times

Colt — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 05:32:00 GMT

I'm rushing for a SharePoint POC before my vacation next week, and what I have to do is a standard scenario by creating a grid listing items from a custom list, then users click on the first column and redirected to an edit form. I wanted to complete this task as soon as possible but turn out I spend more time than usual.

No item exists at http://SERVER/SITE/mypage.aspx?ID=1. It may have been deleted or renamed by another user.

OK, I admit that I don't want to work this weekend, and I google that there's a well explained article on the support site and importantly -> Always name your variable or method a meaningful name not only (in addition to readibility and supportability reasons. :)

Four handy utilities in my day job

Colt — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 15:53:00 GMT

Just want to highlight four very useful utilites that I use everyday and one important advantage is that all of the tools are very small, handy and able to store and run in my thumb drive.

FastStone Capture - Capture screen shot and video easily (good for documentation and webcast)
ZoomIt - Zoom in / out and highlight anything on screen (good for presentation and meeting)
BgInfo - Display computer information on background (good for demo and development in virtual machine)
VNC Viewer - Remote control computer, even behind firewall (good for remote assistance and support)

Regards,
Colt

Best Practices Webcast by INETA APAC

Colt — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:33:00 GMT

INETA APAC had conducted two webcasts in the last two months, the topics are:

Presenting at large events such as TechEd (by Greg Low)
Sustainability and Green IT Overview (by Alan Dayeh)

The first webcast is all about presentation skill and common tips & tricks when delivering a large event/conference. It have lots of great tips by an experienced TechEd presenter - Greg. The second one cover the overview of the hottest topic - Green IT and Alan share some information about corporate responsbility and sustainability issues. Both are very informative and relevant to our daily operation and life. You can download and view the recorded sessions at the links above, and may I suggest you to bookmark this link so as to keep track of our series of Best Practice webcasts organized by INETA APAC?

Best Practice Webcast series

FYI, INETA APAC will have a series of Best Practice webcast scheduled and the next topic will be: Green IT and Client Computing (Wednesday 19th August or Friday 21st August, 5-6pm Sydney time tentatively).

BTW, you can subscribe to our INETA APAC blog or join our group on Facebook and stay connected:

Regards,
Colt

PowerShell Script with ASP.NET and Console Application

Colt — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:04:00 GMT

I have two projects that need to incorporate Windows PowerShell, Exchange Management Shell and ActiveRoles Management Shell for AD (by Quest) in a ASP.NET and a Console Application recently, so I started to look for information about PowerShell scripting with .NET and below are two important articles in my opinion:

HOWTO: Using PowerShell in ASP.NET (.NET Framework 2.0)
Using Exchange Management Shell Commands With Managed Code

The first article explains the most challenging issues in hosting PowerShell scripting with ASP.NET - Security context and permission and describe three common optioins. The second article describes the logic and tips in writing PowerShell in .NET managed code application.

I wrote a small class to execute the PowerShell script, by passing in various script text on the fly. Below is a small code snippet:

private const string PS_SNAP_IN_MICROSOFT = "Microsoft.Exchange.Management.PowerShell.Admin";
private const string PS_SNAP_IN_QUEST = "Quest.ActiveRoles.AdManagement";

            RunspaceConfiguration rsConfig = RunspaceConfiguration.Create();
            PSSnapInException snapInException = null;
            rsConfig.AddPSSnapIn(PS_SNAP_IN_MICROSOFT, out snapInException); // Add Exchange Mgmt SnapIn
            rsConfig.AddPSSnapIn(PS_SNAP_IN_QUEST, out snapInException); // Add Quest Mgmt SnapIn

            Runspace myRunspace = RunspaceFactory.CreateRunspace(rsConfig);
            myRunspace.Open();

            Pipeline pipeLine = myRunspace.CreatePipeline();
            pipeLine.Commands.AddScript(scriptText); // Pass in the script text on the fly
            pipeLine.Commands.Add("Out-String");

Collection<PSObject> cmdResults = pipeLine.Invoke();

myRunspace.Close();

After preparing these PowerShell scripting in .NET app, I'd suggest to stick with PowerShell because it's handy and flexible. I'd prefer it over DirectoryServices or CDOEXM commands. :) Read the useful articles mentioned above in sequence then you are ready to start coding!

Regards,
Colt

Data Refresh Failed in Excel Services

Colt — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:50:00 GMT

I prepared a SharePoint Report Center portal by using SharePoint 2007 recently, but I was unable to refresh the Excel workbook on my portal and got an error message:

Unable to retrieve external data for the following connections:

Connection_Name

The data sources may be unreachable, may not be responding, or may have denied you access. Verify that data refresh is enabled for the trusted file location and that the workbook data authentication is correctly set.

I'm sure my data connection and document library are trusted and I can view the workbook without problem. Here is my detailed situation:

Enable Excel services and workbook refresh functionality
Upload an Excel workbook to a document library
Add a Excel services webpart and point to the newly uploaded workbook
Excel workbook render correctly
BUT, an error occur if I click "Refresh" button on the top menu

Thanks to my friend Qifeng, he told me that it's related to security restriction and execute three commands. Finally it works:

stsadm -o set-ecssecurity -accessmodel delegation -ssp sspname
stsadm -o execadmsvcjobs
iisreset

ASP.NET MVP Award and MVC

Colt — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:08:00 GMT

I still don't have a chance to blog about my personal achievement recently - I got my MVP status renewed on Oct 1! Yes, it's a great news for myself and I enjoyed it so much since 2001.

BTW, I'm very happy to meet few friends this week, including Greg Low and Phil Haack. Greg is a SQL expert and I knew him for years in the space of INETA and online community personally. Phil is obviously a star and I really enjoy his presentation about introducing MVC at local TechEd today (even the session is around level 100-200 though)

(Phil, if you're reading this post, please don't code in front of the audience but simply insert code from snippet next time ;) just kidding)

Activate SharePoint Publishing Infrastructure Feature Failed

Colt — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 03:42:00 GMT

In a recent deployment of a SharePoint site, I have to add a Content Query Web Part (CQWP) so what I need to do is to activate the SharePoint Publishing feature. However, I cannot do it because of an "access denied" error that I got whenever I activate the SharePoint Publishing Infrastructure feature at the top-level site.

This kind of issu is not new for me, and I quickly change the AppPool account after a little googling. However, I got another error of "value does not fall within the expected range" despite I made such tweak and execute the STSADM command manually. So finally, I have to re-create the site by using the administrative AppPool, restore the contents and templates and then change the AppPool account to a more restrictive one according to the best practice.. <sigh>

Microsoft HK Technial Support Forum Announced

Colt — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:40:00 GMT

After several months of "silent" evaulation and discussion among local MVPs and few members, Microsoft HK office today announce the technical support forum and put an icon next to Bill :)

From the previous meeting with Microsoft DPE team and my fellow MVPs, this forum will only be announced in TechEd Hong Kong but now it seems the team is eager to show the latest homepage to Bill. Personally, I'm tire of seeing the bug of the old forum application and looking forward for the upgrade to V3.0, just like the US TechNet Forum. (mouthwatering...)

VS 2008 and ASP.NET 3.5 SP1

Colt — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 10:28:00 GMT

With the release of the SP1, I refresh my local Web developer tool this weekend. :)

Also, please check out the VS 2008 preparation tool and install the MVC Preview 4 explicitly.

SharePoint Error: Some or all identity references could not be translated

Colt — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 09:11:00 GMT

I create numerous SharePoint sites with the same port number in my virtual machine frequently during envisioning / POC phrase, and I face an error when I try to re-create the same Web app in SharePoint today: Some or all identity references could not be translated. The result from google is not so helpful but I finally figure out that the problem is caused by an old app pool in IIS after reading this post - I need to clean up the content db, virtual directory and app pool properly next time.

Misleading Error Message about Trial Period Expiration in MOSS

Colt — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 10:21:00 GMT

A very misleading error message that I came across last week..

Trial period of my MOSS has expired? No way.. check out the permission and security settings first.