Hosam Kamel : Visual Studio 2008

Introduction to Spec Explorer (another tool from MSDN DevLabs)

HosamKamel — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:28:23 GMT

Spec Explorer 2010 is a tool that extends Visual Studio for modeling software behavior, analyzing that behavior by graphical visualization, model checking; and generating standalone test code from models. Behavior is modeled in two ways: by writing rule machines in C# (with dynamic data-defined state spaces) and by defining scenarios as action patterns in a regular-expression style. One of Spec Explorer’s major features is the ability to compose models written in these two styles. This technique enables users to slice out test cases from large state machines by defining relevant scenarios, thus tackling the notorious state-space explosion problem pervasive in model-based testing. Spec Explorer also supports combinatorial interaction testing with a rich set of features.

Watch the Channel 9 video, Spec Explorer: Model-Based Testing Made Practicable

Visual Studio Immediate Window

HosamKamel — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 06:56:04 GMT

The Immediate window is used at design time to debug and evaluate expressions, execute statements, print variable values, and so forth. It allows you to enter expressions to be evaluated or executed by the development language during debugging.

Immediate window is one of basics windows that i can’t live without when using Visual Studio for debugging my application, Its even do more functionality in terms of expression evaluation, you can check more details here Immediate Window.

I’m suddenly discovered that I'm missing this window in my Visual Studio 2008 and I don’t know why! I’ve searched the View and Debug menus but no luck to find it.

Vitaly Gorn has posted a workaround about how to enable this window again, Missing Immediate Window in VS2008 Thanks a lot Vitaly!

[Resolved] Could not load file or assembly 'XXXXX' or one of its dependencies. An attempt was made to load a program with an incorrect format.

HosamKamel — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 13:04:03 GMT

I have recently switched my development environment from 32-bit to 64-bit by installing Windows Server 2008 64-bit and modify it to be used as workstation as described here http://www.win2008workstation.com/ and I'm really amazed with it’s performance.

I have faced the problem mentioned in the post title when I'm trying to run a web application included in one of our development solutions.

I have checked the project which has the DBHelper as it’s output and I’ve discovered that the project configured to target x86 platform and as I'm working with 64-bit it will have such ‘incorrect format’ error.

How to fix it:

Simply follow the steps below :

open project properties window.
select Build tab
Change it to ‘Any CPU’
Save your changes.
Compile your project and run :)

Workaround for missing "Edit WCF Configuration" menu option in Visual Studio

HosamKamel — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 14:50:38 GMT

Alex Thissen has posted a workaround for missing "Edit WCF Configuration" menu option in Visual Studio while working with WCF project in Visual Studio 2008

Check it out http://www.alexthissen.nl/blogs/main/archive/2008/08/28/workaround-for-missing-quot-edit-wcf-configuration-quot-menu-option.aspx

Workaround for a slow closing of Web projects

HosamKamel — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 17:12:37 GMT

A few users reported that with Web projects located on a remote machine closing project or solution may hang Visual Studio and Visual Web Developer Express for several minutes. We found that the issue may be caused by VS logging component that collects information on product usage. This is an opt-in feature activated in Help | Customer Feedback Options... The feature may cause logger to walk through folders on a remote server calculating project complexity. The feature does NOT send your project to Microsoft, it just collects some statistics on the project. If you are experiencing slow project close, try switching off participation in the feedback program in Help | Customer Feedback Options... dialog. If it does not help, try disabling component in registry by changing

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\VisualStudio\9.0\Packages\{2DC9DAA9-7F2D-11d2-9BFC-00C04F9901D1}

to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\VisualStudio\9.0\Packages\Disabled-{2DC9DAA9-7F2D-11d2-9BFC-00C04F9901D1}

Thanks

Source: Visual Web Developer Team Blog

Download: Visual Studio 2008 Project Template for TFS Utilities

HosamKamel — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 11:41:46 GMT

If you develop small utilities for Team Foundation Server a lot you might want to save some time and use a project template (see bottom for file attachment) that already comes equipped with the correct references to the Team Foundation Object Model (Microsoft.TeamFoundation.*.dlls) as well as the most important using statements and a few lines of code to get started.

Download and installation steps can be found here http://msmvps.com/blogs/vstsblog/archive/2009/01/14/download-visual-studio-2008-project-template-for-tfs-utilities.aspx

Secure File Download Area using IIS 6.0 and IIS 7.0

HosamKamel — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 10:54:03 GMT

For IIS 6.0:

ASP.NET Forms authentication will only secure content that is processed by
the aspnet_isapi.dll (mainly .aspx files). If you need to replace other static file types (such as text files, video files, etc...), you can do that by mapping them to the aspnet_isapi.dll.

OR using

Peter Simple File Handler for ASP.NET 2.0 http://blogs.msdn.com/petel/archive/2005/12/01/499189.aspx

For IIS 7.0 (Integrated Pipeline mode):

The default configuration for all managed modules shipped with IIS 7.0, including the Forms Authentication and URL Authorization modules, uses a precondition so that these modules only apply to content that an (ASP.NET) handler manages. This is done for backwards compatibility reasons. (as mentioned in For IIS 6.0 section)

By removing the precondition, we make the desired managed module execute for all requests to the application, regardless of content. This is necessary in order to protect our static files, and any other application content with Forms-based authentication.

To do this, open the application's web.config file located in the %systemdrive%\inetpub\wwwroot directory, and paste the following lines immediately below the first <configuration> element:

   1:  <system.webServer>

   2:  <modules>

   3:      <remove name="FormsAuthenticationModule" />

   4:     <add name="FormsAuthenticationModule"

   5:  type="System.Web.Security.FormsAuthenticationModule" />

   6:      <remove name="UrlAuthorization" />

   7:      <add name="UrlAuthorization"

   8:  type="System.Web.Security.UrlAuthorizationModule" />

   9:      <remove name="DefaultAuthentication" />

  10:      <add name="DefaultAuthentication"

  11:  type="System.Web.Security.DefaultAuthenticationModule" />

  12:  </modules>

  13:  </system.webServer>

This configuration re-adds the module elements without the precondition, enabling them to execute for all requests to the application.

Check this article for more explanation http://learn.iis.net/page.aspx/244/how-to-take-advantage-of-the-iis7-integrated-pipeline/

Hope it helps.

[Resolved] Can't reference server control in code-behind/IntelliSense

HosamKamel — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 11:42:38 GMT

.Question:

I've got the following control on my aspx page:

<asp:DropDownList ID="favList" runat="server" AutoPostBack="true">

<asp:ListItem Value="" Text="--" />

</asp:DropDownList>

I have three other drop down lists on the page that are working fine. However this one doesn't seem to come up under intellisense when I'm in my code-behind. If I type "favList." ....I get nothing. But I can still programmatically reference the control using

Dim favoritesDropDown As DropDownList = 
DirectCast(FindControl("favList"), DropDownList)

I only recently added the control to the page, which has been in existence for some time now...could that have anything to do with it?

Solution:

Try the following steps :

Switch the page View to design mode this may refresh the designer file and reflect the control in IntelliSense.
Make sure that the control is not a child of another control.

Hope it helps :)

Source : Can't reference server control in code-behind/intellisense?

* Captions Language Interface Pack for Microsoft Visual Studio 2008

HosamKamel — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:10:15 GMT

"

Now you can read the captions in Visual Studio in following languages:

Arabic, Czech, Hebrew, Hindi, Malayalam, Oriya, Polish, Tamil and Turkish.

The Microsoft Captions Language Interface Pack (CLIP) is a simple language translation solution that uses tooltip captions to display translations for English user interface terms.
CLIP is designed for those Visual Studio users who are not very fluent in English. CLIP can help those users learn and use Visual Studio 2008 by providing translation for the most common user interface elements of the Visual Studio Integrated Development Environment (IDE). CLIP is the result of the close collaboration between Microsoft and local academic communities.
To use, simply move your mouse around the screen and halt briefly over any text you want translated. Users can also add their own translations and copy and paste any translation results.

Download CLIP for VS 2008

"

Via : http://dotnetwithme.blogspot.com/2008/11/captions-language-interface-pack-for.html

[Vista Problem] ASP.NET web site not loaded in Visual Studio Under Windows Vista

HosamKamel — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 16:53:51 GMT

You may get the below error while trying to load ASP.NET web site/Web application while using Visual Studio under Windows Vista.

To resolve this error and get the project loaded follow the following steps :

1- close the current running instance of Visual Studio

2- Run the Visual Studio again but in Administration Mode , to do so :

- From Start menu select Visual Studio , right click and select Run as Administrator option.

3- You should now see that the title bar has been changed to show that you are running in administration mode. [Project Name] - Microsoft Visual Studio (Administration)

Congratulations ! You will now be able to load the web site .

BTW : If we you don't have a web site configured on IIS 7.0 you will be prompt to create one , just click yes

Good luck :)

Visual Studio Team System Web Access 2008 SP1 Power Tool

HosamKamel — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 18:34:20 GMT

Team System Web Access (formerly known as TeamPlain) is a Web interface to Visual Studio 2008 Team Foundation Server.

Team System Web Access is a free download that will be incorporated into a future release of Visual Studio Team System. You may install it with licensed installations of Team Foundation Server. You must be a licensed user of Team Foundation Server to use Team System Web Access.
New With Service Pack 1

Work item only view for users without a client access license. [Previously known as Work Item Web Access (WIWA) feature]
Run a single instance with multiple languages.
Create work items with initial values by using a URL.
Share ad-hoc work item queries by using a URL.
Find and view Shelvesets.
Improved work item search syntax.

Features in Team System Web Access

Direct links to work items, query results, diffs, changesets and more.
Display custom controls on work item forms.
View queued or completed builds, queue or stop builds.
Add new work items or edit existing ones.
Work with any type of work item, including custom ones.
Add new work item queries or edit existing ones.
View, download, upload, check-in and check-out documents on SharePoint team portal.
View reports, export as PDF or Excel.
Browse items in version control, download source files, view changesets, diffs, history, and annotated views.
Search for keywords in work items.

Speeding Up FireFox When Using the ASP.NET Development Server from Localhost

HosamKamel — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:41:10 GMT

A nice article by Scott how to speed up FireFox when using ASP.NET Development server.

read it here.

New .NET 3.5 Webcasts are Coming... Mark Your Calendars!

HosamKamel — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 23:16:51 GMT

A list of Webcasts which explain .NET 3.5 feature in details ... Mark you calendars

Live Webcasts

MSDN Webcast: ADO.NET Data Services Overview (Part 1 of 2) (Level 100)

Tuesday, June 17, 2008 11:00 A.M.–12:00 P.M. Pacific Time

MSDN Webcast: Beyond the Endpoints with Windows Communication Foundation with Juval Lowy (Level 100)

Wednesday, June 18, 2008 10:00 A.M.–11:30 A.M. Pacific Time

MSDN Webcast: geekSpeak: Workflow Services in .NET 3.5 with Jon Flanders (Level 200)

Wednesday, June 18, 2008 12:00 P.M.–1:00 P.M. Pacific Time

MSDN Webcast: Calling Services from Silverlight 2.0 with Jon Flanders (Level 300)

Monday, June 23, 2008 9:00 A.M.–10:00 A.M. Pacific Time

MSDN Webcast: ADO.NET Data Services Overview (Part 2 of 2) (Level 100)

Tuesday, June 24, 2008 11:00 A.M.–12:00 P.M. Pacific Time

MSDN Webcast: Windows Communication Foundation and Windows Workflow Foundation Integration in Depth with Jesus Rodriguez (Level 400)

Wednesday, June 25, 2008 10:00 A.M.–11:00 A.M. Pacific Time

MSDN Webcast: Windows Workflow Communication in Depth with Matt Milner (Level 400)

Thursday, June 26, 2008 9:00 A.M.–10:00 A.M. Pacific Time

Via : Ravings of a Developer TS

Enterprise Library 4.0 March 2008 CTP released

HosamKamel — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:48:11 GMT

"

We are pleased to announce the release of the EntLib 4.0 March 2008 CTP and invite your feedback.

This release has been adapted to work with WMI version 2.0 and version 3.5 of the .NET Framework.

Enterprise Library 4.0 has the Allow Partially-Trusted Caller attribute (APTCA) on all assemblies. This means that you can call the methods of Enterprise Library and the application blocks from an application running in a partial trust environment. You can do this with the signed assemblies provided with Enterprise Library. There is no longer any requirement, as there was in version 3.x, to recompile the source code then either use the unsigned binaries or strong-name them yourself.

The Caching Application Block has been refactored to allow developers to replace the CacheManager class with other implementations, including the ones offered by the distributed cache solution providers. This does not affect the API of the application block.

There are also additions in functionality to the Logging Application Block, the Validation Application Block, the Exception Handling Application Block. For details see the change log on the release page.

Note: This community preview does not include the integration with Unity or the integrated Visual Studio 2008 config tool. These features are plannned for the final release.

EntLib4.0 March 2008 CTP download site

"

via : Grigori Melnik

Requirements Management with Visual Studio Team System White Paper

HosamKamel — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 19:13:37 GMT

This white paper outlines how to use Visual Studio Team System for successful requirements management using Visual Studio Team System 2005 or Visual Studio Team System 2008. In addition, you can use this paper to learn about some of the challenges that Microsoft intends to address in the next release: Visual Studio Team System code name “Rosario.”