Dev blog

Repeat header rows on each page fixed

2010-11-01T00:36:00.000+02:00

You checked "Repeat header rows on each page" in Tablix Properties dialog box and it does not work as intended.
Here you can find explanation how to overcome this issue.

List, Table and Matrix controls are templates of the same underlying Tablix Data Region control that was introduced in SSRS 2008:

Table template provides ability for displaying detailed or grouped data.
List template provides ability to display detailed data. It also enable developers to customize layout that could look differently from the table's one. It could also use nested lists.
Matrix template provides ability for displaying grouped data with summary information. Columns and Rows in matrix template could be considered as SSAS dimensions. But Matrix restricts them to two dimensions per Matrix only.

That's why we see Tablix properties dialog box each time when requesting properties dialog box on List, Table or Matrix controls.

In order to make row header repeatable on each page follow steps below:

When in designer enter Advanced Mode

After entering advanced mode you are now able to see and adjust static row's properties.

The property you need to adjust is RepeatOnNewPage. Set it and static row (table header) will be repeated on every page.

Now row header will appear on every page.

"Header should remain visible while scrolling" behavior is controlled by row header static row's FixedData property

You can also adjust group row header visibility settings which appears in the Row Groups section under corresponding group using KeepWithGroup property.

But wait a minute. What do those properties on the Tablix properties dialog control do?! Repeat row headers and repeat column header options on the tablix dialog only works if there is a row header area or column header area in your report. You can identify a row header area and column header areas by the double dashed lines that separate these areas from the body of the Tablix. Thus making them usable only when Matrix template is used.

PS: I read about manually updating report's underlying XML structure when you want to get the same functionality but I would not advise you to do it until you are aware of what you are doing.

Regards,
Oleh.

Beta exam results

2010-07-01T11:16:00.000+03:00

Finally I have received last email with my beta exam results. This time I passed 70-513 TS: Windows Communication Foundation Development with Microsoft .NET Framework 4

In total I have succeeded with 4 out of 5 betas. Failed with PRO: Web development.

Basically results show my every day involvement with corresponding technologies. More windows than web, communication and back end development.

Have not tried TS: Accessing Data with Microsoft .NET Framework 4 due to inconsistency of my schedule with exam availability dates and time. Will plan to take it this fall.

My complete public transcript can be viewed here. Transcript ID - 740601, Access Code - SuperOleh.

Regards,
Oleh

MCPD Windows Developer 4

2010-06-30T17:46:00.000+03:00

Next email stating that I have passed 70-518 Pro: Designing and Developing Windows Applications Using Microsoft .NET Framework 4 which I took in beta back in April.

Though I failed with 70-519 Pro: Designing and Developing Web Applications Using Microsoft .NET Framework 4.

Still one more email to receive.

Regards,

Oleh

MCTS .NET Framework 4, Web Applications

2010-06-30T10:42:00.001+03:00

Another email stating that I have passed 70-515 TS: Web Applications Development with Microsoft .NET Framework 4 which I took in beta back in April.

Regards,
Oleh

MCTS .NET Framework 4, Windows Applications

2010-06-24T15:23:00.000+03:00

Just received an email that I have passed 70-511 TS: Windows Applications Development with Microsoft .NET Framework 4 which I took in beta back in April.

SQL Server 2008 R2 RTM

2010-04-28T23:27:00.000+03:00

SQL Server 2008 R2 RTM'd today.

Browse FAQs, whitepapers, e-clinics and more here.

Visual Studio 2010 and .Net Framework 4.0 RTM!

2010-04-12T23:53:00.000+03:00

As it was announced earlier today Visual Studio 2010 and .Net Framework 4.0 are publicly available with Silverlight 4.0 available later this week.

MCTS: SQL Server 2008

2010-01-07T10:16:00.000+02:00

New certification passed. This time I have successfully passed TS: Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Implementation and Maintenance exam.

Currently my MCTS certification stack looks like:

Regards,
Oleh

Fiddler deep dive

2009-11-23T01:00:00.000+02:00

Microsoft PDC09

First PDC09 session I have watched is Become a Web Debugging Virtuoso with Fiddler where Eric Lawrence who is Fiddler's author unveils its origin, shows different use case scenarios, how it can be used for tuning performance, manipulating traffic, how it can be extended and finally announced availability of FiddlerCore library that encapsulates basic Fiddler functionalily (HTTP proxy) and can be utilized by applications directly.

I'm using it for quite a while but only after observing this session I understood that I was using no more than 40% of Fiddler's functionality.
Must see session for every web developer!

Useful links:

Regards,
Oleh

Restart WPF application that is ClickOnce deployed

2009-11-15T23:53:00.002+02:00

What do I have:

Tiny WPF application deployed via ClickOnce that is up and running all the time and like start menu it contains shortcuts to applications that will be used by users + work related statistics. Application is deployed to remote IIS and is available offline.

What do I need:

When new version is deployed application must upload latest version and restart itself. Kind of self updating application. For that it is checking every x minutes for a new deployment.

Problem:

Unfortunately there is no appropriate method in Application class for restarting WPF application like there is one in Windows Forms. Referencing Windows.Forms just because of that does not sound like a proper solution. If Restart method was pulled out from WPF then there should be a reason for that.
Starting a new process with application deployment path and shutting down current does not sound like a good idea as a new browser window will be opened. I don’t want users to be confused by any new windows that will appear without ‘any reason’.
Starting a new process like Process.Start(Assembly.GetEntryAssembly().Location); is good for just restarting but in case of ClickOnce deployed application it will start the same version but not new one.
Another point to make application self updating is that since it’s up and running all the time it needs to utilize latest critical updates that maybe time critical.

Solution:

What I thought of was to create a simple “restarter” app that will:

Be started after new version is downloaded.
Close all running applications by closing all processes by app name.
Contain a transparent borderless main window with a web browser control on it that will navigate to app deployment uri. It will ensure that no new browser windows will appear, no ClickOnce “Update Available” dialog will appear and latest version will start.
When navigated (new app started) it will close itself.
Encapsulate all restart logic + infrastructure (invisible web browser control).

Main Application will contains a timer that will check for new version, update current deployment if new one is available, start ”restarter” and finally shutdown itself.

Main code blocks:

Main app:

///

/// New version check routine.

/// If new version is avaialble start restarte

///

private void CheckForNewVersion()

{

ApplicationDeployment deployment = ApplicationDeployment.CurrentDeployment;

// check for new version

if( deployment.CheckForUpdate() )

{

// start restarter process

Process.Start( "Restarter.exe" );

}

Restarter is pretty simple:

XAML:

<Window x:Class="Restarter.RestartWindow"

xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"

xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"

mc:Ignorable="d" xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"

Title="Restarter" xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"

d:DesignHeight="500" d:DesignWidth="500" SizeToContent="WidthAndHeight" Width="1" Height="1"

Loaded="Window_Loaded" WindowStyle="None" ShowInTaskbar="False" Opacity="0" Top="-10" Left="-10">

<Grid>

Grid>

Window>

Code behind file has only two event handlers:

private void Window_Loaded( object sender, RoutedEventArgs e )

{

// shutdown all running applications

foreach( Process process in Process.GetProcessesByName( "WPF.Restart" ) )

{

process.Kill();

}

// open online application uri -> it will update app to latest version

ctrlBrowser.Source = new Uri( "" /* Insert your deployment uri*/ );

}

private void ctrlBrowser_Navigated( object sender, NavigationEventArgs e )

{

Application.Current.Shutdown();

}

You can download solution (.Net Framework 4 Beta 2) here or get it from file widget lower on the right panel.

Hope this helps someone.
Regards,
Oleh

.Net Framework 4 Client Profile

2009-11-14T00:25:00.000+02:00

WHAT IS IT:

It is a subset of .net assemblies that ‘most’ of the .net applications will require which is designed to decrease installation package size, installation time and thus overall deployment experience.

Full .net framework package should be used only by pure server applications like ASP.NET apps, WCF services, by developers who will be compiling applications (msbuild is not included in Client Profile), and by applications that are using features that are not included into Client Profile. Mainly it’s aiming development machines and web/application servers.

CHANGES COMPARING TO 3.5:

Deployment changes:

Installation package is currently ~30Mb and should be less by RTM.
Unlike .Net Framework 3.5 Client Profile it is targeting any OS version.
It might be redistributed via Windows Update in future. (it would be interesting to see statistics like this for example in Google Analytics but unfortunately only IE is sending installed CLR versions in user-agent string)
Speech assemblies are included in client profile starting from .Net Framework Beta 2. Cool! I’m using it J

FURTHER READING:

Deep dive into .Net Framework 4 Client profile:

Regards,

Oleh

WebResource.axd empty or corrupted when Httpresponse.Filter is modified

2009-11-12T11:11:00.000+02:00

I had a problem with WebResource.axd file that was send to client either empty or corrupted. It was a major problem as I was missing auto generated code for client callbacks.
My problem was in an old piece of code modifying HttpResponse.Filter that was updating every page body before transmission to client.

Here you can find workaround for the problem.

Hope this helps someone.
Regards,
Oleh

Application.Restart in WPF

2009-11-07T21:09:00.001+02:00

WPF does not provide Application.Restart() functionality like Windows.Forms does.

What is the best way to restart WPF application?

Process.Start(Assembly.GetEntryAssembly().Location);

Application.Current.Shutdown();

Regards,

Oleh

Create wait gif with ajaxload

2009-11-05T01:50:00.001+02:00

Ajaxload.info - nice and simple web page to create free animated 'progress pending' gifs:

A lot of types.
Adjustable forecolor.
Adjustable background color.

Regards,

Oleh

VS 2010 Beta 2 series

2009-10-22T09:26:00.000+03:00

Must read series of in depth looks into new stuff in VS 2010 beta 2 by John Robbins:

Regards,
Oleh

VS 2010 Beta 2

2009-10-20T15:46:00.002+03:00

VS 2010 and .NET Framework 4.0 Beta 2 have been released. It's available to download for MSDN Subscribers immediately. Others should be able to download it starting from Wednesday, October 21 as it was announced.

Official product launch: March 22, 2010
Product line consists of 4 options:

VS Express: Web, C#, VB, C++
VS Professional with MSDN
VS Premium with MSDN
VS Ultimate with MSDN

Beta 2 has side by side support with VS 2008
Beta 2 has Go-Live license

Read official announcement here. Another one by Scott Guthrie

Regards,

Oleh

MCTS: WPF

2009-10-10T19:29:00.000+03:00

One more certification passed. This time I have successfully passed

TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, Windows Presentation Foundation Application Development exam.

Regards,

Oleh

LINQ to SQL updates in .Net 4.0

2009-09-10T15:32:00.000+03:00

What LINQtoSQL changes will be shipped with .Net 4.0?
List of changes could be found below (originally posted by Damien):

Performance:

Query plans are reused more often by specifically defining text parameter lengths (when connecting to SQL 2005 or later)
Identity cache lookups for primary key with single result now includes query.Where(predicate).Single/SingleOrDefault/First/FirstOrDefault
Reduced query execution overhead when DataLoadOptions specified (cache lookup considers DataLoadOptions value equivalency)

Usability:

ITable interface for additional mocking possibilities
Contains with enums automatically casts to int or string depending on column type
Associations can now specify non-primary-key columns on the other end of the association for updates
Support list initialization syntax for queries
LinqDataSource now supports inherited entities
LinqDataSource support for ASP.NET query extenders added

Query stability:

Contains now detects self-referencing IQueryable and doesn’t cause a stack overflow
Skip(0) no longer prevents eager loading
GetCommand operates within SQL Compact transactions
Exposing Link on a property/field is detected and reported correctly
Compiled queries now correctly detect a change in mapping source and throw
String.StartsWith, EndsWith and Contains now correctly handles ~ in the search string (regular & compiled queries)
Now detects multiple active result sets (MARS) better
Associations are properly created between entities when using eager loading with Table-Valued Functions (TVFs)
Queries that contain sub-queries with scalar projections now work better

Update stability:

SubmitChanges no longer silently consumes transaction rollback exceptions
SubmitChanges deals with timestamps in a change conflict scenario properly
IsDbGenerated now honors renamed properties that don’t match underlying column name
Server-generated columns and SQL replication/triggers now work instead of throwing SQL exception
Improved binding support with the MVC model binder

General stability:

Binary types equate correctly after deserialization
EntitySet.ListChanged fired when adding items to an unloaded entity set
Dispose our connections upon context disposal (ones passed in are untouched)

Database control:

DeleteDatabase no longer fails with case-sensitive database servers

SQL Metal:

Foreign key property setter now checks all affected associations not just the first
Improved error handling when primary key type not supported
Now skips stored procedures containing table-valued parameters instead of aborting process
Can now be used against connections that use AttachDbFilename syntax
No longer crashes when unexpected data types are encountered

LINQ to SQL class designer:

Now handles a single anonymously named column in SQL result set
Improved error message for associations to nullable unique columns
No longer fails when using clauses are added to the partial user class
VarChar(1) now correctly maps to string and not char
Decimal precision and scale are now emitted correctly in the DbType attributes for stored procedures & computed columns
Foreign key changes will be picked up when bringing tables back into the designer without a restart
Can edit the return value type of unidentified stored procedure types
Stored procedure generated classes do not localize the word “Result” in the class name
Opening a DBML file no longer causes it to be checked out of source control
Changing a FK for a table and re-dragging it to the designer surface will show new FK’s

Code generation (SQL Metal + LINQ to SQL class designer):

Stored procedures using original values now compiles when the entity and context namespaces differ
Virtual internal now generates correct syntax
Mapping attributes are now fully qualified to prevent conflicts with user types
KnownTypeAttributes are now emitted for DataContractSerializer with inheritance
Delay-loaded foreign keys now have the correct, compilable, code generated
Using stored procedures with concurrency no longer gets confused if entities in different namespace to context
ForeignKeyReferenceAlreadyHasValueException is now thrown if any association is loaded not just the first

Potentially breaking changes:
We worked very hard to avoid breaking changes but of course any potential bug fix is a breaking change if your application was depending on the wrong behavior. The ones I specifically want to call out are:

Skip(0) is no longer a no-op:
The special-casing of 0 for Skip to be a no-op was causing some subtle issues such as eager loading to fail and we took the decision to stop special casing this. This means if you had syntax that was invalid for a Skip greater than 0 it will now also be invalid for skip with a 0. This makes more sense and means your app would break on the first page now instead of subtlety breaking on the second page. Fail fast :)

ForeignKeyReferenceAlreadyHasValue exception:
If you are getting this exception where you weren’t previously it means you have an underlying foreign key with multiple associations based on it and you are trying to change the underlying foreign key even though we have associations loaded.Best thing to do here is to set the associations themselves and if you can’t do that make sure they aren’t loaded when you want to set the foreign key to avoid inconsistencies.

Regards,

Oleh

Identity value management

2009-09-10T00:06:00.007+03:00

Identity column is a column that uniquely identifies every row. It differs from a primary key in that its values are managed by the server and ( unless you specify it explicitly ) can't be modified. In many cases it is used as a primary key.

Identity value management:

Create Identity:

CREATE TABLE [dbo].[Person]( [PersonID] [int] IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL, [Name] [nvarchar](128) NOT NULL)

Insert Identity values:
You do not have to specify identity value when inserting new record: INSERT INTO Person(Name) values('Oleh'). It will be filled for you using current identity and increment values.
In case you specify one: INSERT INTO Person(PersonID,Name) values(2,'Oleh') you will get an error: Msg 544, Level 16, State 1, Line 2
Cannot insert explicit value for identity column in table 'Person' when IDENTITY_INSERT is set to OFF.
Instead you need to use next snippet:
SET IDENTITY_INSERT Person ON
INSERT INTO Person(PersonID, Name) VALUES(1,'Oleh')
SET IDENTITY_INSERT Person OFF

When you insert identity value explicitly and it's a primary key column then you will get an error:
Msg 2627, Level 14, State 1, Line 2
Violation of PRIMARY KEY constraint 'PK_Person'. Cannot insert duplicate key in object 'dbo.Person'.
The statement has been terminated.

Get current identity value:

DBCC CHECKIDENT(TableName, NORESEED) - returns current identity value
SCOPE_IDENTITY() - returns the last identity value inserted within the same scope(stored procedure, trigger, function or batch)
@@IDENTITY - returns the last identity value inserted across all scopes
IDENT_CURRENT(TableName) - returns the last identity value for the specified table regardless of the scope.

Update identity value:

DBCC CHECKIDENT(TableName, RESEED, NewSeed) - resets the identity value with provided seed
DBCC CHECKIDENT(TableName) - resets the identity value only if it is required

Get Seed/Increment:

IDENT_INCR(TableName) - returns original increment value that was specified when identity was created.
IDENT_SEED(TableName) - returns original seed value that was specified when identity was created.

SELECT TABLE_SCHEMA, TABLE_NAME
, IDENT_SEED(TABLE_SCHEMA + '.' + TABLE_NAME) AS IDENT_SEED
, IDENT_INCR(TABLE_SCHEMA + '.' + TABLE_NAME) AS IDENT_INCR
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES
WHERE IDENT_SEED(TABLE_SCHEMA + '.' + TABLE_NAME) IS NOT NULL

Finding gaps in identity column:

Here you can find the original post about how you can find gaps in identity column.

Regards,
Oleh

Transaction Log Shipping Copy job update

2009-09-05T15:55:00.000+03:00

I need to configure TransactionLogShipping of a database between two database servers. Primary database is on production server that is SQL Server 2008 Standard installed on Windows Server 2003 x32 (used as web server as well). Secondary database is on SQL Server 2008 Developer installed on Windows Server 2008 x64 (I’ll use it as development database with almost up-to-date data for developing and testing heavy statistics reports). And both servers are in DIFFERENT networks.

OK. Let’s configure it!

I would not describe all the steps in detail that are required for TransactionLogShipping (you can find overview here) just step that I had problems with. My problem was copying transaction log over network. Different networks remember. Everything I googled was about having both database servers in the same network and creating user account with the exactly same name on both machines and full access rights for folders used for creating and restoring backups. Creating user accounts on both with full access rights especially on primary server that is a web server as well did not sound like a good idea for me. I tried to reuse something that I have and that is configured, tested and working 24/7 without opening potential security flaw.

I have an FTP server on primary server. And I know that LogShippingCopy job could be adjusted to reuse SSIS package for example that will take care of copying transaction log files from primary database server. Sounds like an idea!

Backup job requires network path for the folder where it will put log backup. It’s compulsory parameter for it. I have created a shared folder with FTP server folder and provided the path to BackupJob configuration dialog.

RestoreJob on secondary server is configured as in every other case.

Copy Job

Final configurations looks like:

FtpCopy package: That was the biggest problem for me.

I have created simple SSIS package with single FtpTask.

I tried it on my development machine locally (Vista x32, BIDS 2008) and it is working ok. Deployed to secondary database server started copy job manually – nothing is copied !? OK. A have BIDS installed on secondary server (since it’s a development one). Opened the same package from there and I’m getting "0xC001602A at FtpCopy, Connection manager "FTP Connection Manager": An error occurred in the requested FTP operation. Detailed error description: The operation timed out" every time. !?!? OK. I’m trying to reuse Scripting Task to copy files over Ftp in order to get detailed exception or at least step through code and see the flow. Wrote the code in C# and placed a breakpoint. I’m pressing F5 hoping that I’m seconds away from the detailed error description thus the solution. But the Output window writes: “Warning: 0x7 at Script Task: Cannot debug script tasks when running under the 64 bit version of the Integration Services runtime.” LLL

OK. Let’s check FTP logs from the Ftp server. When running either FtpTask or ScriptTask from my development machine (Vista x32) I see log entry code 226 which means “Transfer Complete” but when running the same FtpTask or ScriptTask from secondary server (WS 2008 x64) log entry is 426 Connection closed; transfer aborted. Error: 64.

Let’s google, maybe it’s specific x64 runtime problem. I have founds this MS forum entry that confirmed my suspicions. It’s related to running package on x64 runtime.

My last idea was to reuse ExecuteProcessTask and will start bat file with ftp commands for copying files over ftp.

Now everything is OK. Ftp log entries have 226 code and I see transaction log files in destination folder!

Tried complete TransactionLogShipping sequence – works like a charm! J But almost full working day was spent in order to make it working.

You can see the flow diagram below:

PS:

Average transaction log file is 2.5MB.
If you have existing transaction log backup jobs either stop them or re-point them to save transaction log to the same folder as log shipping backup job does as Log Sequence Number(LSN) must me continuous in oder for log shipping restore to be successful.

I hope this post will help someone.

Regards,

Oleh

Report Parameter Default Values

2009-08-27T14:00:00.000+03:00

While developing SSRS reports I almost always define default report parameters in case I need to fix some issue with layout or data itself. It saves some time as I don't have to fill report parameters each time I want to preview report with new changes applied.
But after report is deployed to production report server and users start using it default parameters are not that handy there. Especially with heavy statistics reports (that takes more than several seconds to process request) when report engine starts processing request at once using default parameters. Almost in all cases default parameters does not match user's. Nobody wants to wait extra before submitting desired input parameters especially when "extra" is several minutes long.

So don't forget to empty default parameters prior to deploying report or if deployed empty them and redeploy.

PS: And don't forget to update report subscriptions as well in case you have some.

Regards,
Oleh

Alternating background colors for odd and even tablix rows

2009-08-23T17:00:00.000+03:00

In this blog post I will describe how you can add alternating background colors to SSRS tablix odd and even rows.

What do you need to know is that expression evaluation rules in RS 2008 have changed as a result of the new on-demand processing model. As a result, state in class-level instance variables is discarded as you page through the report which makes maintaining state trickier between page requests. However, RS 2008 introduces report variables that guarantee one-time evaluation semantics.

How we can reuse it to accomplish our goal:

Create a function that will update _evenRow flag state each time it's called.

Open report properties box -> Code tab -> Add next code:

Public _evenRow As Boolean

Public Function EvenRow() As Boolean

_evenRow = Not _evenRow

return _evenRow

End Function

Create a variable within Row group and set the expression to call EvenRow function. Since it will be evaluated one time per each row it's what we need.

Set row background color depending on variable state.

=iif(Variables!EvenRow.Value, "LightGrey", "Transparent")

and finally the outcome

Regards,
Oleh

What's new in WCF 4.0, WF 4.0

2009-08-16T13:44:00.000+03:00

A Developer’s Introduction to Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) .NET 4 Beta 1 describing upcoming WCF 4.0 changes has been published on MSDN. The basic idea is to simplify developer experience and provide more integration with WF 4.0. Introduction to WF 4.0 changes could be found here.

Enjoy!
Regards,
Oleh

Sysinternals Suite updated

2009-08-15T23:23:00.000+03:00

Sysinternals Suite has been refreshed with latest releases and new utilities.

"The Sysinternals Troubleshooting Utilities have been rolled up into a single Suite of tools. This file contains the individual troubleshooting tools and help files. It does not contain non-troubleshooting tools like the BSOD Screen Saver or NotMyFault."

Latest version could be downloaded here.

Enjoy!

Oleh

SQL Server 2008 R2 August CTP

2009-08-12T23:54:00.003+03:00

Microsoft released SQL Server 2008 R2 August CTP:

Regards,

Oleh

Dev blog

Repeat header rows on each page fixed

Beta exam results

MCPD Windows Developer 4

MCTS .NET Framework 4, Web Applications

MCTS .NET Framework 4, Windows Applications

SQL Server 2008 R2 RTM

Visual Studio 2010 and .Net Framework 4.0 RTM!

MCTS: SQL Server 2008

Fiddler deep dive

Restart WPF application that is ClickOnce deployed

.Net Framework 4 Client Profile

WebResource.axd empty or corrupted when Httpresponse.Filter is modified

Application.Restart in WPF

Create wait gif with ajaxload

VS 2010 Beta 2 series

VS 2010 Beta 2

MCTS: WPF

TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, Windows Presentation Foundation Application Development exam.

LINQ to SQL updates in .Net 4.0

Identity value management

Transaction Log Shipping Copy job update

Report Parameter Default Values

Alternating background colors for odd and even tablix rows

What's new in WCF 4.0, WF 4.0

Sysinternals Suite updated

SQL Server 2008 R2 August CTP

New / changed columns in SQL Server 2008 R2 DMVs.