Archives
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Save as PDF / XPS in Office 2007
I installed the RTM of Vista and Office 2007 in my laptop last weekend, it's so smooth and perfect!I used Beta 2 version of Office 2007 for work and training in the past, and we can easily find the option of "Save as PDF".However, this option is no longer available by default. What we have to do is to go and download a 'add-on' from: http://r.office.microsoft.com/r/rlidMSAddinPDFXPS (free of charge).
Colt -
Installation of Office 2007 RTM
I (finally) have a break and able to install the latest Office 2007 bit last night, so far so good...
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Office 2007 Client Programmability and VSTO SE (Beta)
- Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office Second Edition Beta (VSTO 2005 SE) is out
- Office 2007 Programmability
- Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office Second Edition Beta (VSTO 2005 SE) is out
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Microsoft HK TechEd 2006 Event Materials
The event materials (including my session) were published and available at TechEd Web site.
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MVP Renewed
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References of TechEd 2006 Presentations
I'm preparing the Web307 session (ASP.NET: Best Practices in Creating Scalable, Data-Driven Web Sites) for the Microsoft Hong Kong TechEd 2006 now, this session is all about building a high performance and scalable web site in ASP.NET, 12 "Tips and Tricks" will be demo-ed and I think the following bookmarks are useful for the audience:
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2007 Office System Beta 2 Technical Refresh is Available
Check it out: 2007 Microsoft Office system Beta 2 Technical Refresh
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How to get the free gift - SQL 2005 Server USB Mouse with 64MB flash memory?
Firstly, thanks for the participation of our members, as most of you may notice that our SQL Server user group had a great archivement this year - cooperate with Microsoft Hong Kong office and get a BIG discount (HK$699 and the original price is HK$1,399!) for our members. :o)
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MVP of the Month (Oct 2006)
haha.. there's a new (marketing) corner on the local MS MSDN site since last Sept, and each MVP will be highlighted each month.
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Create/View 2007 Office Doc from Previous Version of Office
Below are the latest file formats of 2007 Office System:
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Migration to MOSS 2007
Finished the first day training of Office 2007 and Sharepoint 2007 last week, the feeling is good and the audiences are impressed about the products. (maybe... due to 90% of students are new to O12 and I'm more familiar in O12 and VSTO Dev).
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More MSDN Newsgroups Added To Hong Kong SAR Region
Since my last post about the MSDN newsgroup at my region, there're few more newsgroups added last week.
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Spanned Monitors
Compared with my desktop (screen) this morning... It's a big jump for me - at least, the displays are consolidated (spanned). :o)
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PC Conslidation
I don't know why my desk is so messy and I can never make it clean & tidy!
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Display Different Time Zones in Desktop
In my day job, I have to work with various teammates across New York, San Francisco, Hong Kong and China all the times, and the difference of time zone is just beautiful. We can work like 24x7 without break. However, the time difference always give confusion to us (or only me? PST, EST or Hong Kong Time?)
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First Try of Writely
I like to create or edit doc online and the whole idea of mobile Office. I just register in the Writely site and I'm happy with it.
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REPLACE() and UPDATETEXT() in TSQL
Just received a quick question about using REPLACE() and UDPATEXT() functions to "Find & Replace" certain "string" in a Text/NText Column of SQL Server, and these articles are very helpful:
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Newest addition to my bookshelf
How can I carry this book to / from home... :S
Colt Kwong
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Microsoft HK ISV Community Day 2006 Office 2007 Session
The local MS ISV Community Day 2006 was successfully completed on 13 Jun 2006, and I'd just uploaded my presentation slides to the web and feel free to grab it or contact me for any query.
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Latest IE7 Beta 3
The latest IE7 Beta 3 is thinner and faster than Beta 2 in my opinion... Not bad. :o)
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Online Office System
Apart from Writely and Spreadsheet from Google family, Marcus told me that he's trying another online spreadsheet system (EditGrid) at a MVP gathering event last night. :o)
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HKSqlUG look like HKUmac?
I met a member during the last SQL UG wine tasting gathering, and he gave me a little surprise:
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SQL Server 2005 Everywhere Edition
A new member to the SQL Server 2005 family:
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Download Video From Video Sites
With a special request from a friend of mine yesterday, I found a very easy-to-use extension in FireFox about capturing video from video sites like YouTube, GoogleVideo...etc etc.
VideoDownloader.net [by Javi Moya]
Then a FLV file will be obtained, and you can use a FLV player as shown on Javi's blog or convert to other format if you like (Be sure to check out the useful Help page on Javi's blog).
Colt Kwong -
Msdn Doc Cross Over Wiki
An interesting MSDN Wiki library (beta) released... [source]
Colt Kwong -
Chinese Input Language Failure in Windows XP
I faced problem of Chinese input in my Windows XP few weeks ago but I haven't get any possible solution. I even posted to a local IT Pro community without any hints. I haven't solve this problem for few weeks because it's not critical and doesn't affect my day work in fact...
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FindControl Failed For The Error Provider Control
I have a User Control containing a Error Provider, and I need to find and parse it out of my Action Pane control. So, I get a reference to the parent control and then loop all children recursively (pretty common approach, right?) Once I find the Error Provider, I can cast and further work on it ideally.
However, I can't find this control from the control tree (surprise me) because I'm able to see the parent control (ContainerControl) of the Error Provider is the User Control itself...
What I finally did is to create a Get property on the User Control and expose the Error Provider.
Colt Kwong -
SQL Server Samples (No More Northwind, AdventureWorks Now)
SQL 2000:
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2007 Office System Beta 2 and Locale Issue
I install the latest 2007 Office System Beta 2 build in my dev machine this morning, the first dialog box make me confused immediately:
I select English and process installation, but the title and language are displayed (as Spanish I guess) in all of the remaining steps.. so I aborted and start step 1 installation again. This time, I select the first item in the ListBox (Pay attention to the title in the diagram above) and process the installation.
After installation, another locale problem found because I can not run my VSTO application! An error message come out:
(Exception from HRESULT: 0x80028018 (TYPE_E_INVDATAREAD))
I searched up and down and found this "unbelievable" fix: http://blogs.msdn.com/eric_carter/archive/2005/06/15/429515.aspx
[Copy the Excel.EXE (Application file) and rename it as XLLEX.DLL (Application Extension) file then it work? What's the secret and logic?]
Ok, this fix the problem, but I found the linkage of VSTO runtime and CLR runtime were lost. (Another error message come out:
The CLR runtime could not be loaded... blah blah). Therefore, I have to manually re-register the VSTO load up runtime, done. My VSTO app run again.
I heard lots of good feedback about 2007 Office System Beta 2 build, so I want to give it a try once I received the DVD. However, the experience of installatio make me so worry now... I can fix all problems apparently, but this blog mentioned that I may face other "unexpected" and "unknown" problem in different locale and CultureInfo environment for my VSTO solution... How can I make sure everything is alright because I'm pretty sure there're lots of combination and locale for my VSTO clients and information workers in my company. :(
Colt Kwong -
Remote Desktop Connection Trick
Normally, my PC at work is always on and I connect to it via VPN even I'm at home. However, I can't use remote desktop client to control my PC at home recently.
After authenticate with the VPN server successfully, a "black" screen come out if I try to connect to my work PC and then an error message will appear:
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Fatal Error (Error Code: 5)
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The session will be disconnected. Your computer may be low on memory.
After closing some applications, try to reconnect the session.
I have no idea what's happened and I try to close as many program/services as I can before I leave work. I also report this problem to a technical service IT Pro colleague and he asked me to wait for some more time as bandwidth maybe the cause of problem... well, I wait until the error message come out and... guess what? I found this trick tonight and it helps me a lot! (without solving the root of problem though)
Colt Kwong
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Standard Browser
I haven't try the latest Beta 2 release of IE 7 yet, but is it mean that I can't access to the partner site? (I tried Firefox and IE 7 5335.5 build but both failed).
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SQL Server 2005 SP1 Released
Downloading now... (252Mb)
Colt Kwong -
Wow - Visual Studio Express Series Products
It's a big and good news about VS Express products for all Microsoft dev, I believe lots of freelancers or dev have the excuse to (re)write their app on Framework 2.0 from now on. :)
(Be sure to check out the FAQ before writing or deploying your app to your client)
Colt Kwong -
Wine Tasting and Mingling Fuse for IT Pro/Dev
What's the relationship between wine tasting and IT Pro/Dev? I believe it's the most hippy community event locally. ;o)
No matter you're a IT hippy or
Colt Kwongworkaholicalcoholic, it's time to take a break. Drop everything and get away from it with your jo-san friends on 26th Apr 2006!
The first offline gathering for jo-san.it/net community will be scheduled on 26th Apr, and you can taste the wine and mingle with various Microsoft Security Day speakers casually on that evening.
Fill in the six textboxes and then you are able to taste the best wine, meet the community buddies and also win a FREE professional level support incident!
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Latest Hong Kong MVPs addition
As what I mentioned about HK MVP last week, congrats to 2 new local MVPs join our family after the Jan batch:
- Billy Chau - An IT Pro and frequent poster in jo-san.it community.
- Wilson Ng - An imagine cup 2005 winner and energetic youngster.
Colt Kwong
- Billy Chau - An IT Pro and frequent poster in jo-san.it community.
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Visual Studio and MSDN Campaign
I found this ad campaign from Scott's blog, and I think these videos are the best marketing and "educational" stuff that I ever saw from Microsoft. (Check it out, it's really d@xn funny!)
The local DPE team and I produced a localized MSDN TV like video in the past, and I know Peter want to make another one all the time and Nam produce C9 like interview for us in the local IT Pro community periodically. I really want to see that all of us can work together and make something like the VS ad campaign, I can work for free, and I'm sure at least I can have a good laugh when I "working" in the production cycle. :o)
Colt Kwong -
Moody Live Messenger Beta
I found that Live Messenger is quite smart and moody.. well, depends on me in fact. I was completely exhausted last month and all of my contacts lost when I back home. And today, I really feel lots of pressure and all of my friends disappear again (maybe they don't like me) but an interesting message from Live Messegner:
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Hong Kong MVP List
I just had an online chat session with Cally and my fellow MVP buddies during lunch today, and I'm little surpised at the number of attendee for this meeting in fact. Anyway, I'm looking forward to the announcement from my MVP lead about the addition of the new local MVP stars 2 days later. :o)
Who're they? Stay tune...
Colt Kwong
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Coding for the future : Visual Studio Future Versions
I'm now downloading the Visual Studio Tools for Office "V3" CTP, the features look interesting:
The highlights of this CTP include:
- Support for the new Office Open XML file formats in Microsoft Office 2007
- Support for the new UI ("ribbon") extensibility model in Microsoft Office 2007
- Add-In projects for Microsoft Access 2007, Microsoft Excel 2007, Microsoft SharePoint Designer 2007, Microsoft InfoPath 2007, Microsoft Outlook 2007, Microsoft PowerPoint 2007, Microsoft Project 2007, Microsoft Publisher 2007, Microsoft Visio 2007, and Microsoft Word 2007
- Support for the new application-level customizable taskpane
Colt Kwong
- Support for the new Office Open XML file formats in Microsoft Office 2007
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Addition of "Quick Links" Features
Just noticed that a new feature of "Quick Links" is available on the local Microsoft web site:
That's exactly like the "product category listing" as in Amazon, nice! :o)
(Importantly, no more I.E.-only feature by the local MS site)
Colt Kwong -
Office 2007 B1 TR is still no good
Although the latest O2007 build is released few days ago, I can finally download a copy this morning (after clicking numerious "resume" button for the intermittent access and download problem of the Beta site).
Recalling my previous headache of development in Office 2007, I'm still looking for any resolution in tackling these problems, which are most likely the bugs and compatibility difficulties of Office 2007 itself.
For instance, I have various custom controls placed on the ActionPane, but these controls doesn't work as what they supposed to do: The ComboBox won't fire the SelectedIndexChange event; you can click on the DataGridViewComboBox column but it doesn't allow selection of item from the ListBox. Blah.
More importantly, the crashing of VB editor by O12 stop my other development as well. (We have to admit that 95% of "smart" document / XLS nowadays are still built by AddIn/XLA but not VSTO), so the simple VBE is very important.
Colt Kwong
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*Blink* New Hong Kong SAR Microsoft MSDN Regional Director *Blink*
Since Andy joined the local Microsoft office recently, and he resigned from the regional director program as well. Therefore, a vacancy is available and now, another Andy was appointed as the new regional director. :) Congrats.
Colt Kwong
P.S. Don't know what's regional director and how to apply for this role? Ask your local developer evangelist for more details please... -
Hong Kong .NET User Group March 2006 Monthly Gathering
A pretty warm and technical monthly gathering tonight... The topic is obvious "Vista Build 5308" :o)
Colt Kwong -
FaceId in Office System
Apart from the custom image resources lilke what I blogged some times ago, this is a very useful bookmark showing all available FaceId.
Colt Kwong -
Windows Live Messenger is Upgrading or Enhancing?
I don't know why I can't be a normal user and enjoy the incremental enhancement of Live Messenger, but I face various problems from time to time. (Is it good or not?)
Anyway, I upgraded my Live Messenger to Build 566 recently, and I found that more and more people disappear from my contact list. I know the trick about re-adding people to my list, but of course, it doesn't work for me... so my circle of (trust) friend is diminishing as long as Live Messenger upgrading... :o}
Colt Kwong
Update: I just found a disappeared friend in "another" group on my IM list.... lucky or not? :P -
CS 2.0 RTM and CS Gallery Upload Mgr
Finished the upgrade of a couple of personal and community sites to CS 2.0 RTM few days ago, I firstly try the CS Gallery Upload Manager and add few galleries / albums this morning, what I feel about this tool is "thumb up". Easy to install and easy, simple and direct. That's it, no more complicate FTP addon nor incompatability in shared hosting environment. Just launch the tool, login and drag & drop. Done. :) 
* Although this tool claims it works for CS v1.1, but I used it it with my CS 2.0 RTM site without any problem at all!
Colt Kwong
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ASP.NET Web Matrix doesn't work after installation of VWD or .NET Fx 2.0
Seems our fellow Web Matrix users face various designer and compilation issues after the installation of VWD and .NET Framework 2.0, so it's good to recall a technique that how we can target the .NET Framework version in Web Matrix.
Colt Kwong -
(Un)Reg VBE6.DLL or restore the default VBA Editor
As per my previous frustration about the installation of Office 2007 Beta, I'm pretty sure now that the Office 2007 crash my Excel and VB editor, because I was able to edit VBA code in editor without problem as in Office 2003 Professional, but I can't do the same after installation of Office 2007. I now even un-install Office 2007 and re-install Office 2003 (I repeated the installation of Office 2003 Pro several times) but the exception is still here and I can't edit any VBA code in Excel even I run "/safe" or "/regserver" command.
Moreover, I found one funny but contradict phenomenon about the "Detect and Repair" function in Excel (2000 or above):
Hey Mr. Excel, I start the "Detect & Repair" function from the "Help" menu in Excel, but you need me to turn off Excel before scanning of error? Then you should live outside of Excel as an independent doctor/menu.
Anyway, I'm appreciate if any of you know how I can (un)reg the VBE6.DLL or restore my original VBA Editor?
Colt Kwong -
Msn 8 Seriously Corrupted
Today is not my day... See what I see at home after 12 hours of work..
So tire and... sigh...
Colt Kwong
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MSDN2 result is so plain
I searched something on MSDN2 site and found 1 strange behaviour:
The result page is pretty plain... without frame or style, like this:
However, if I remove the "d=robot" from the URL then it become:
Why the "d=robot" query is there by default? -
Localized MSDN Discussion Forums
Just received the MSDN Flash newsletter and noticed that 2 new localized MSDN forums are available now:
English:
Traditional Chinese:
Simplified Chinese:
Colt Kwong -
Programability in Excel 2007 Beta 1 is Poor
I'm quite disappointed about the programability of Excel 12 from a developer point of view, but I gave it a try again and installed the latest Office System 2007 Beta 1 today.
The security control of ActiveX and Marco are pretty strong (In short, it disable everything and we have to adjust the settings in the new "Trust Center" panel):
HOWEVER, I can't even launch the VBA editor by pressing Alt+F11 nor View Code button:
Is it a feature come with Excel 12 by default so that no one can view or execute the VBA?
Colt Kwong
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Known Bug of VSTO in Office 12 Pre-beta Environment
Just encounter a known bug of Office 12 alpha edition with my VSTO 2.0 solution... <hmm.... finger crossed/>
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Advertisement Cost on MSN / Hotmail?
Just find this PDF file listing all advertisement rates if you want to put our products on MSN chat window...etc (well, I don't like the tab / spam / flashing GIF / whatoever and rarely click on it honestly)
The popularity of MSN is undoubtedly high in Hong Kong currently, so $20K per compaign... well, reasonable. :o)
Colt Kwong -
Community Server 2.0 RTM Postponed
Waiting for the RTM release of Community Server (postpone from 17th to 20th now), I'm glad to see the release of RC1 in the meantime (should I wait until RTM? I like the new features & bug fixes of RC1 and want to try it out ASAP though).
Colt Kwong -
Can I trust Visual Source Safe 2005?
Whenever I open my solution and projects in VS2005, lots of error messages come out and one of it is asking me to "analyze the Vss Db" in Vss Administration console, I did and my Vss Db is healthy:
I'm really frustrated about this message because it's not useful at all. BTW, I made 10 changes in my codes and change the "Start Up project" in Solution Explorer. However, the previous start up project still set as default when I open the solution next time. Also, only 4-5 changes were checked in to the Vss tree. The most horrible thing is the number of checked-in changes are variable. I even don't know how many changes that Vss do REALLY store and I have to double check and amend the same change again and again!
I searched the forum and noticed someone face similar problem but no resolution, and I found nothing on the support site about this topic as well. Anyone face this problem or know how to solve it?
(The solution for me right now is that I remind myself DON'T click "Save All" button and NEVER close VS2005 as these 2 actions will make my VS2005 "hang" and "lost" few of my changes.. WTH)
Colt Kwong -
Microsoft Excel History
This version features product activation technology (i.e., copy protection). Please consider the ramifications of this before deciding whether to upgrade.
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Error page of MSN Space is discouraging
I know that MSN Space recently update a little bit (especially the comment/feedback section), but is the following page really be the default OnError Page of MSN Space?
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Community Server 2.0 Beta 3 is out
Read the blog of ScottGu and know that CS 2.0 Beta 3 is out this morning, so I just use half of my lunch break to try it out in one of my live CS 2.0 Beta 2 sites. Oh yeah, I have to do the same for a few more times this weekend.
Colt Kwong -
View xx as HTML in Gmail
Just found this "new" feature from Gmail this morning:
# View as HTML
I like this feature! Compared with displaying an word/xls/pdf... icon next to the document name when viewing an email, create a HTML view of the document make more sense, especially for those large attachment. The tables and images are lost when viewing a PDF file in my example this morning, but well, it's so far so good and acceptable. (Hmmm... how can they do that... the technology behind and performance are pretty good!)
Now you can view Microsoft Office, OpenOffice or .pdf attachments as web pages by clicking the "View as HTML" link instead of downloading. For when you want to see it faster, you're on a mobile device, or you don't want to install software just to view a document. Learn more
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Am I having too many tasks / chats at the same time?
Colt Kwong -
Windows Live Messenger Beta Unavailability
I can't sign in to my Windows Live Messenger after lunch, but... which one I should trust?
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Visual Basic Developer Network Hong Kong Launched
Just helped Andy to prepare a new special interest community called Visual Basic Developer Network (VBDN) recently, and he'd announced it in his blog finally tonight! See the core idea behind this community and the difference from Hong Kong .NET User Group? Check it out!
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MS Server Championships 2006 Hong Kong
Wow, MS Server Championships 2006 just announced... What? What's the third category? (Student, IT Pro and ... Server Superman)
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Welcome our new & returning Hong Kong MVPs!
Glad to receive an email from Ami this morning about the new & returning Hong Kong MVPs for 2006.
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Database owner changed during migration
Fixing the TSQL upgrade script error for my personal web site yesterday, I remember a pretty useful TSQL script about Bulk Owner Change written by Steve long times ago.
