Hosam Kamel : SQL Server 2005

[Vista]Visual Studio .NET 2003 on Windows Vista Issue List

HosamKamel — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 11:54:25 GMT

While browsing Visual Studio Developer Center at MSDN if found this interesting article which identifies the known issues you will face when using Visual Studio 2003 on Windows Vista. While Visual Studio 2003 is not supported on Windows Vista.

Check the full issues list here

Upgrading my development machine to VISTA :)

HosamKamel — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:38:11 GMT

Hello All,

I've finally manage to upgrade my development machine from Windows XP to Windows Vista and of course this was not a normal operation !.

In fact I've spend a lot of time between handling the normal Windows programs to get it run on Vista, and the development software which are only my needs in this live :).

I'll start a blogging series about common problem I've faced and how to fix it , I'll concentrate mainly on the development software

- Visual Studio

- ASP.NET Web sites/ Web application and the integration with IIS 7.0

- SQL server 2000 and 2005.

- Common tips and tricks for developer who works with Vista as a primary operation system.

So , Wait for me ....

Regards,

Hosam Kamel

Version 1.0 RTM of the SQL Server 2005 Driver for PHP is live!

HosamKamel — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 13:25:10 GMT

Version 1.0 of the SQL Server 2005 Driver for PHP is available for download on the MSDN download site.

Via : BrettBlog

SQL Load Test

HosamKamel — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:17:21 GMT

Project Description

This tool takes a SQL Profiler trace file and generates a unit test that replays the same sequence of database calls found in the trace file. The unit test is designed to be used in a Visual Studio Load Test. The code generated is easily modifiable so that data variation can be introduced for the purpose of doing performance testing.
The tool generates code for both Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008. The source code is a Visual Studio 2005 project.
This is a V1 release with some known limitations which are specified in project description.

Why Load Test SQL?

There is a lot of code out there that makes load testing the application very difficult. The most common type is a client application that contains direct database calls. The application however is not structured to allow the business logic to be exercised without the GUI. Another common scenario is a legacy application written in a language such as Visual Basic 6. In cases like these, it can be difficult to load test the application without a GUI test tool, which introduces other disadvantages. GUI test tools are notoriously difficult to use, generally lead to brittle tests and also have limitations in scaling the load injectors sufficiently to exercise the servers.
This tool offers one possible alternative. You start with using the client application to generate a trace of the SQL statements which typically represent a usage scenario. You can then turn the trace into equivalent ADO.NET code program that can be used in a load test.

Tool Description

The tool generates a Visual Studio 2005/2008 Unit Test from a SQL Server Profiler trace. It extracts all the SQL statements and stored procedure calls from the trace and turns them into a single Visual Studio Unit Test, which can then be configured as a Visual Studio Load Test. The tool does not interact with the database itself when it analyzes the trace and generates the test code. It can therefore be used in “offline” scenarios.
The generated code needs to be customized to include a connection string to the database under test. That code also includes hooks to allow the user to customize the parameters that are passed to the SQL statements and stored procedures, so that variability can be introduced into the data to prevent caching from producing artificially high performance figures.
The tool is intended to be used in conjunction with a client program that runs against a database. A trace of the client’s SQL Server activity is captured using the SQL Server Profiler. This represents a test scenario, which is then processed by the tool to produce a Unit Test that replays the scenario.

Installing

Make sure SQL Server 2005 SDK is installed.
Copy the packaged assemblies to a convenient location.
To use the generated code in a load test you need to have one of the following installed:

Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Testers
Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite
Visual Studio Team System 2008 Test Edition
Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Suite

Supported Functionality

SQL Server 2005 only (others not tested).
ADO.NET 2.0 (others not tested).
Most data types.
Named input, output and input-output parameters.
Positional input parameters to stored procedures.
Operation timers generated for each database call.

Limitations

Only supports code that operates against a single database with a single connection.
Prepared statements are not supported.
The tool cannot (yet) configure and capture the trace for you, it requires you to use the SQL Profiler yourself to get a trace. With SQL 2005 it is possible to automate this.
Not (yet) integrated into Visual Studio or the DB Pro edition.
The tool has only been tested in an English environment, it is unlikely to work correctly in other environments, particularly with dates. In a future version this could be resolved by requiring the ExistingConnection event class, which lists language and date format.
The tool does not support the XML data types.
InputOutput parameters that are initialised with a NULL cannot be distinguished from Output-only parameters, so they are treated as Output only.
When the trace passes a NULL to a binary parameter (e.g. image, binary, varbinary) the generated code will generate a runtime error. The generated code needs to be modified to pass SqlBinary.Null. The custom code generation extensibility point can be used to work around this.
Positional parameters passed to SQL statements (as opposed to stored procedure calls) are not supported.

Check project page at CodePlex Here

Free SQL Injection Vulnerability Scanner By HP

HosamKamel — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:35:49 GMT

Scrawlr is a free software for scanning SQL injection vulnerabilities on your web applications.

It is developed by HP Web Security Research Group in coordination with Microsoft Security Response Center.

Scrawlr crawls a website while simultaneously analyzing the parameters of each individual web page for SQL Injection vulnerabilities.

After the scanning process, if it can find, it even shows your database table names as a proof of the possible SQL injection vulnerabilities.

via :webresourcesDepot

Understanding the error message: “Login failed for user ''. The user is not associated with a trusted SQL Server connection.”

HosamKamel — Sat, 03 May 2008 09:35:21 GMT

a wonderful explanation about the error message: “Login failed for user ''. The user is not associated with a trusted SQL Server connection.”

read it here SQL Protocols

Dropping a User's Default Database in SQL Server 2005

HosamKamel — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 10:51:01 GMT

A good tip by David Douglass about what happened if your drop the default user's database and how to fix the generated error below .

Dropping a User's Default Database in SQL Server 2005