Trivial talk

Could not access the Search administration database. A generic error occurred while trying to access the database to obtain the schema version info.

noreply@blogger.com (Suresh M) — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 09:02:00 +0000

While installing SP2010 on Windows7 for development, you might face this error "Could not access the Search administration database"

Exception: System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0xC0041236): Could not access the Search administration database. A generic error occurred while trying to access the database to obtain the schema version info.

Resolution:

Check your SQL Server Client10.0 configuration settings, by going to Start Menu -> SQL Server 2008 R2 -> Configuration Tools -> SQL Server Configuration Manager.

And check whether Share Memory option is enabled under "Client Protocols". It should be enabled.

Run again the SharePoint 2010 Products Configuration Wizard

Happy Programming!!!!

.Net - const Vs readonly

noreply@blogger.com (Suresh M) — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 13:29:00 +0000

In programming, some time we used "const", some time "readonly" constants. Why? Always we should be very cautious when using "const". why?

Here we are, while programming we should always trade off between performance vs flexibility. "const" is faster than "readonly". But "readonly" has more flexibility than "const". There are two types of constants
1) Compile time constants
2) Run time constants

Compile time constants
Compile time constants are replaced with exact value when it compiled. what is it mean? Well. When we declare a variable

public const int iUserCount = 500;

and when we do some operation like

for (int iCount = 0; iCount < iUserCount; iCount++)

Then x will actually get replaced in the compile time and if you see in the IL using assembler it will be
for (int iCount = 0; iCount < 500 ; iCount++)

Run Time constants
When we use "readonly", it will not put the actual value instead of reference. Thats why it is slower than Compile time constants. But there is an advantage.

1) With Const we can only declare primitive types and string. But with readonly we can declare all the types.
2) Runtime will be resolved at the runtime

Why we need very cautious about "const".

We should be very cautious about "const" when maintenance come into picture. The reason is, assume you have an assembly "A" where you have declared the
public const int iUserCount = 500;

And in the Assembly "B" you are using the iUserCount in

for (int iCount = 0; iCount < iUserCount; iCount++).

When compiling both, Assembly "B" will have the statement as

for (int iCount = 0; iCount < 500; iCount++)

Later when you modify the iCount value as 1500 in assembly "A",
then you have to recompile the assembly "B" also.
until unless it will have the same
for (int iCount = 0; iCount < 500 ; iCount++)
and produce wrong result. So maintenance become nightmare.
So prefer readonly then const.

Happy programming!!!

Map Network folder (UNC path) from Windows service

noreply@blogger.com (Suresh M) — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 13:50:00 +0000

This post explains how to map the network folder path(UNC Path) from windows services. The UNC path may be in same machine or same network domain or different domain.

Introduction

This article explains how to map the network folder path(UNC Path) from windows services. The UNC path may be in same machine or same network domain or different domain.

Background

As per my knowledge there is no Managed API to attach and detach UNC network path which is in same or another domain to the local system. Also there is a limitation to access the attached drive from Windows service. This is why i have written this code snippets. Actually i have planned to write a functions for most of the MPR.dll functions. But due to time constraint i have implemented only two API's. I will update this article with new functions, when i get time. Also i am expecting your valuable comments regarding the way i implemented the code and the way i used design patterns. Forgive me, if i said anything wronly :)

Using the code

Before get into the code, i will give some information about windows service.

A Windows service is an application that starts when Windows is booted and runs in the background as long as Windows is running. Windows services by default are run as a virtual user: "LocalSystem" that has administrative rights on the system. The working directory will be the Windows system directory (typically C:\WINNT) and the default temp directory will typically be C:\WINNT\TEMP. Since this is not a real user, this presents some challenges if user-specific data needs to be stored by the application, as there is no home directory for this user. LocalSystem also has no access to network file shares and similar resources; if a service needs to access files on the network, it generally needs to be configured to run as a domain user with access to those files.

So if your windows service needs to access files from shared drive which is in another domain, then you need map the drive using the built-in user credentials through program. This code snippets will be used to map drive. The NetworkHelperStruct.cs partial class contains all the unmanaged flags and extern declaration of unmanaged api which is in mpr.dll and NetworkHelper.cs file contains the implemented code for those api. The WNetAddConnection function will map the drive and WNetCancelConnection will disconnect the drive. The properties.xml is used to configure the networkpath, localdrive, username and password. The below section is excerpt from config xml. you can add more section based on your functionalities.

Sample code to use networkhelper:

NetworkHelper networkhelper;
        networkhelper = NetworkHelper.GetInstance ();
        bool result;
        result = networkhelper.MapDrive ("M:", true);
        result = networkhelper.MapDrive ("N:", true);
        result = networkhelper.MapDrive ("X:", true);
        result = networkhelper.WNetCancelConnection("X:",false);
        //result = networkhelper.WNetAddConnection ("K:", remote, "meenakshisundaram", "", false);
        //result = networkhelper.WNetCancelConnection("K:",false);

You can get the source code from my article where i have posted in codeproject

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/system/Map_Network_folder_UNC_.aspx

Happy coding.

Deploying sharepoint solution - IIS Restart issue

noreply@blogger.com (Suresh M) — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 11:21:00 +0000

IIS Restart Issue "Access denied"

Quite often the developer will face a below issue while deploying the (WSP) solution in VS2010 running on Windows 2008. Especially if you have not logged in as administrator.

'Recycle IIS Application Pool': 0x80070005Access denied"

The root cause of the issue is

You don't have IIS restart privilege on window2008
Even if you have it, you have not added your login account in to SharePoint sitecollection administrator.

To solve the issue

To see whether you have privilege or not, you can open a command prompt and type "IISReset".

If you able to restart, then it will restart successfully otherwise it will deny it. The reason is, Though you are in administrators group, windows 2008 will not run on the administrator privilege. Every time when you do an operation like IIS restart or Installation, it will prompt for UAC (User Account Control). You should accept the dialog box and elevate the privilege to run the operation.

Or you can right click the application whatever you want to run and click the menu option "Run as Administrator" which will solve the issue.
If you want to avoid UAC and directly run through you admin account then, go to Control panel -> Manage account -> Hide UAC

Second if you have all the privilege and still you are getting error in VS2010 as "'Recycle IIS Application Pool': 0x80070005Access denied", then you have to add your account in to site collection admin.
1) You can do this by going to sharepoint administration page.
2) Navigate to the site collection administration option
3) Add your name into site collection administrator as a second owner. SharePoint will allow a second owner for site colleciton

After adding it , now you can deploy the solution through VS 2010.

Happy coding.

Hiding webpart in SharePoint webpart gallery

noreply@blogger.com (Suresh M) — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 14:57:00 +0000

How to hide webpart in Sharepoint Webpart gallery

To hide the webpart in webpart gallery programmatically, you have to write a feature class which drives from SPFeatureReceiver. This Feature receiver class will be called during feature activation/deactivation.

Steps
----
1) Get the instace of SPweb
2) Get the list from parent as "Web Part Gallery"
3) Find webpart ID
4) Delete from List
5) Update the list

Sample code snippet

public void OnActivated(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties)
{
SPWeb web = (SPWeb)properties.Feature.Parent;
SPList list = web.Lists["Web Part Gallery"];
int itemID = 0;
bool flag = false;
foreach (SPListItem item in list.Items)
{
if (item.Name.ToLower() == "test.webpart")
{
itemID = item.ID;
flag = true;
break;
}
}

if (flag)
{
list.Items.DeleteItemById(itemID);
list.Update();
}
}

Enjoy programming

Tools for .Net Developers

noreply@blogger.com (Suresh M) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 02:54:00 +0000

In this post, i am going to show two tools for .Net developers

1) Ants profilder

2) MZ tools

Ants profiler for .Net applications
I have used this application for my Asp.net application and suggesting to all .net developers. Good tool to view the performance bottlenecks. During the performance profiling, Profiler records the frequency and time it takes with graph for each line of code to be executed, as you are using your application. Detailed results will then reveal the slowest lines of code and methods, allowing you to quickly identify performance bottlenecks and optimize your .NET application accordingly.
Type of application. It supports
1) Asp.net web application. you can use in both asp_net.exe and w3wp.exe. I am meaning both in IIS5 & IIS 6

2) .Net desktop application

3) .Net windows service

4) Com+ server application

Tips for Asp.net developers
Incase if you are using IIS6, some times you cannot debug with IIS hosting environment. If you surrounded with that problem, just change the IIS working to asp_net.exe mode and restart www services.

How to change

1) Open Internet Information services Manager

2) Right click on "Web sites" folder

3) GO to Service tab.

4) Check the option button "Run www service in IIS5.0 isolation mode"

5) Restart www services
After changing to isolation mode, go to Ants profiler click on the "start the profiler" link. It will open the wizard. Read the instruction and proceed further.

Installation Tips:
While installing the applicaiton, check VS-Addins option in installation wizard. You will get visual studio add-in. From IDE itself you can profile the application.
* You can't debug the application while profiling. Please read more on help file
It is not a freeware. But you can install 14 day trail version and can profile the applications.

download link

http://www.red-gate.com/products/ants_profiler/index.htm

MZ tools for Visual Studio
And one more tiny tool for .Net developers is MZ tools. This tool will help you to find dead code in your application & unused variables. After installing you will get the Add-on into your IDE. From there you can find all the options and utilities
By using this tool you generate,
1) XML documention

2) Html documention

3) code summary details

This tool will help developers to maintain the code neatly.
* This is not a freeware, but you can get trail version.

download link
http://www.mztools.com/index.aspx

Vista on XP operating system

noreply@blogger.com (Suresh M) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 12:06:00 +0000

This is very cool software which will give you the vista look and feel on windows XP operating system. Its free application. You can install without any license. Download the software from below link

http://www.crystalxp.net/galerie/en.id.130.htm

File size is 28 mb.

Before installing just read the below precaution steps

Don't install another application like a BricoPack (ShellPack, XPize ...) with the Vista Inspirat 2 BricoPack ! It could damage your operating system or could make it impossible to return to Windows XP's default appearance.
Don't install a Microsoft Service Pack (SP1 or SP2) over a BricoPack. You must uninstall the BricoPack first and then install the Service Pack. After that, if you want to, you can of course reinstall the BricoPack.
Don't install a BricoPack on a "light" or "gold" version of Windows XP. These are already modified. The installation of a BricoPack will make your system unstable.
If you wish to unistall the BricoPack, go to "Start Menu >> BricoPack >> Vista Inspirat 2 >> Vista Inspirat 2 Config" then click on "remove". It's the only way to obtain a clean uninstallation of the pack. The "System restauration" doesn't uninstall the BricoPack perfectly.

Enjoy the new look and feel :)

Microsoft's BI Suite and SoftArtisans's OfficeWriter

noreply@blogger.com (Suresh M) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 01:01:00 +0000

Microsoft has delivered full BI Suite from end to end. End to end means like loading the data, Analysing &Reporting and Performance scorecards. Basically Micorsoft BI falls under the following work load.

Data Warehouse
Analysis and Reporting
Performance Management

Data Warehouse
Data warehouse is a storgae which facilitates data for Analysis and Reporting. In broader scope, data warehouse means, To Extract data from sources, Transform the data, and To load the into database, simply "ETL". Microsoft has a full fidelity ETL tools with MS SQL Server 2005 called SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) which is the replacement of existing Data transformation services(DTS) in sql server 2000. By using the SSIS object model we can program it and load the data in to database base.

Analysis and Reporting
Microsoft ship the SSAS and SSRS services with SQL Server 2005. The developers can leverage the services by using the object model of SSAS and SSRS. Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services offers a comprehensive, server-based solution that includes traditional managed reports, interactive reports, and embedded reports.

Performance Management
Performance measurement is the process of assessing progress toward achieving predetermined goals. Performance management is building on that process, adding the relevant communication and action on the progress achieved against these predetermined goals.

RDL( Report definition language)
The xml based language to define the report in SQL Server Reporting Services. The RDL will contain report format, data source and report parameters.

SoftArtisan's OfficeWriter
SoftArtisan's OfficeWriter is third party tool to build the report by using SSRS. It is like Front face of SSRS. The Business Users can define the report template in Excel or Word without developer help. This software leverages the RDL and storing the Word and Excel file template as a 64 bit serialized stream in RDL.
You can view more details about SoftArtisan's OfficeWriter in the below Link which has been published in Microsoft's SQL Server Developer center.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa964136.aspx#sqlsrsandow_topic1