Greg's Cool [Insert Clever Name] of the Day

SQL Server Database Project SqlBuildTask failing after installing SSMS 2012 SP1? Here's how to fix it (Update your SSDT)

2013-05-22T17:00:00.001-07:00

Michael Mairegger's Blog - Error 04018: The “SqlBuildTask” task failed unexpectedly

I intend to use a SQL Server Database Project in my Visual Studio Solution to manage the database. This is a very nice feature and you should try it. Nevertheless, after upgrading the SQL Server Management Studio 2012 to SP1 I was not able to build the SQL Server Database Project anymore. I always got the following error message:

Error 2 04018: The “SqlBuildTask” task failed unexpectedly. System.MissingMethodException: Method not found: ‘Void Microsoft.Data.Tools.Schema.SchemaModel.DataSchemaModel.Serialize(System.IO.TextWriter, System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable`1<System.Type>)’. ...

After a few attempts, I found the solution. I just downloaded and installed the new version of SQL Server Data Tools and the exception has disappeared.

..."

Microsoft SQL Server Data Tools

Download SQL Server Data Tools - December 2012

The SSDT - December 2012 update contains several improvements::

Database Unit Testing

Integration of SSDT Power Tools

Updated Data-Tier Application Framework

Bug fixes to customer-reported issues

This release is available for both Visual Studio 2012 and Visual Studio 2010:

Download SSDT for Visual Studio 2012

..."

SQL Server Data Tools - December 2012 update (Visual Studio 2012)

If you already have the Professional, Ultimate, or Premium Edition of Visual Studio 2012 and didn't opt out of installing SQL Server Data Tools during setup, then your machine has an existing installation of SSDT. Installing the SSDT - December 2012 update will replace these SSDT bits with a newer version.

If you do not have Visual Studio 2012 Professional Edition or above, SSDT will install the Visual Studio 2012 Integrated Shell and install SSDT - December 2012 on top of it. The Integrated Shell will only contain SSDT, and does not include VS programming languages and the features that support their respective project systems. The database functionality of Express SKUs of Visual Studio 2012 will also be updated when SSDT - December 2012 is installed.

Supported Operating Systems

Windows 7 SP1 (x86 and x64)

Windows 8 (x86 and x64)

Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 (x64)

Windows Server 2012 (x64)

Download and Install SQL Server Data Tools

Download SQL Server Data Tools for Visual Studio 2012

..."

I just ran into this and Michael's post saved me hours of "what the heck" and hair pulling, so I wanted to highlight it and give him a huge shout-out. Also I wanted to cache it here because I know I'm going to need this again...

Your plate will never be full with all the great Geek Champ Windows 8 Templates...

2013-05-22T16:45:00.001-07:00

Geek Champ - Design Templates

Here's an example of one...

Windows 8 App Design Template: News

Project Description

News template is an emulation of a News app with placeholders for News category, article and video data.

Download package includes the following:

Source (C# and JS)

Package

Snapshots

Documentation

Enough cool templates to get you going? Maybe?

Windows Store Project Templates 101

Go long and thanks for the 1's, 2's and 3's... Lotus 1-2-3 (and SmartSuite, Organizer) is to be no more...

2013-05-22T07:35:00.001-07:00

IBM - Software withdrawal and discontinuance of support: Lotus SmartSuite , Lotus Organizer and Lotus 123

Effective on the dates listed below, IBM® will withdraw from marketing, part numbers from the following product release(s) licensed under the IBM International Program License Agreement:

Effective on the dates listed below, IBM will withdraw support from the following product release(s) licensed under the IBM International Program License Agreement. Customers will no longer be able to receive support for these offerings after September 30, 2014. No service extensions will be offered.

ZDNet - Goodbye, Lotus 1-2-3

The first killer app was VisiCalc. This early spreadsheet turned the Apple II from a hobbyist toy to a business computer. VisiCalc came with room for improvement, though. In addition, a new architecture and operating system, the Intel-based IBM PC and MS-DOS, also needed a spreadsheet to be taken seriously. That spreadsheet, released in early 1983, would be Lotus 1-2-3, and it would change the world. It became the PC's killer app, and the world would never be the same.

On May 14, IBM quietly announced the end of the road for 1-2-3, along with Lotus Organizer and the Lotus SmartSuite office suite. Lotus 1-2-3's day is done.

...

My first thought was, "Wow, you could still buy 1-2-3?" My second was, "Damn, I'm getting old...". Third, with my ESI/EDD hat one, was, "Oh crap, what about the billions of 1-2-3 files and such files out there. Got to grab a copy of this software and stash it..."

Still this is an end of an era. So long 1-2-3 and thanks for all the cells...

(via OSNews - Goodbye, Lotus 1-2-3)

Many events, lots of devices, one you and your new Channel 9 Events App

2013-05-21T16:29:00.001-07:00

Channel 9 - Stay Connected with the Ch9 Events App

No matter what device you're bringing to TechEd this year, be sure to bring the Ch9 Events app with you!

Browse all the content of the conference, follow your schedule, and stay connected throughout the event.

Download Ch9 Events for Windows 8 | Windows Phone | iOS | Android

After creating your account in the app, link it to your Channel 9 account to enable synchronization of your personalized schedule.

Windows 8 Ch9 Events

View session, speakers, venue information (including maps) and more from Build, TechEd and other Microsoft events. Plan your session attendance with or without network access (once you’ve downloaded the session catalog, it is available offline!) and your schedule is kept in sync with the same schedule available online on Channel 9.

Features

Build your agenda for various Microsoft Channel 9 Events such as TechEd and Build

Submit session feedback electronically

Get the latest event news

View the conference floor plans

Windows Phone 8 Ch9 Events

iTunes Ch9 Events

Google Play Ch9 Events

This also will support //build as soon as the sessions are announced. :)

Extended WPF Toolkit gets all v2.0 and now includes AvalonDock too!

2013-05-21T13:41:00.001-07:00

Extended WPF Toolkit - Extended WPF Toolkit - 2.0.0

What's new in the 2.0.0 Community Edition?
Improvements and bug fixes

Another 67 improvements were made for v2.0.0 Community Edition, including some new controls, almost as many as last releases' record-breaking 70. See the complete list of improvements in v2.0.0.

New! Live Explorer app available online as a Click Once app. Try it now!

Today only, get the Plus Edition and save 25% with coupon LAUNCH20 at shop

...

v2.0.0 Community Edition improvements and bug fixes

67 new improvements
Notable new features

Our flexible docking window control, AvalonDock, is now part of the toolkit. Provides a system that allows developers to create customizable layouts using a dock system similar to what is found in many popular integrated development environments (IDEs). Aero, Metro, and VS2010 themes are provided for the control, in addition to the Office 2007 themes.

WindowContainer has been added. This container can contain more than one ChildWindow at the same time.

ChildWindow has several new properties that allow the window chrome to be styled. It also derives from the newly added WindowControl, which has various advantages over the old version.

The MessageBox class also has several new properties that allow its chrome to be styled; furthermore, it can now be displayed in XBAP application when displayed in a WindowContainer. It also now derives from WindowControl.

A Windows 8 theme is now supported by all of the controls in the toolkit.

New 'Live Explorer' application with source code demonstrates all the features. See an online version here.

Minor features and Issues resolved

...

..."

There are some awesome controls in this toolkit. What kinds of controls? Here's the list...

Extended WPF Toolkit™ Community Edition (Doc's)

Controls

AutoSelectTextBox

BusyIndicator

ButtonSpinner

Calculator

CalculatorUpDown

CheckComboBox

CheckListBox

ChildWindow

CollectionEditor

CollectionControlDialog

ColorCanvas

ColorPicker

DataGrid

DateTimePicker

DateTimeUpDown

DropDownButton

Magnifier

MaskedTextBox

MessageBox

MultiLineTextEditor

NumericUpDown - OBSOLETE! Use the NumericUpDown-derived controls (see next)

NumericUpDown-derived controls (for decimal, double, byte, integer, long, short, and single types)

Panel controls (SwitchPanel control provides an animated, switchable environment for children and panels)

PrimitiveTypeCollectionEditor

PropertyGrid

RichTextBox

RichTextBoxFormatBar

SplitButton

TimelinePanel

TimePicker

WatermarkTextBox

Wizard

Zoombox

And the price? Free! :)

Cool Kid Training from Pluralsight, that's free too! Because coding kids are cool kids, right?

2013-05-21T13:21:00.001-07:00

Pluralsight - Kids Portal

Your kids use technology everyday. Yet schools don't teach them how to program or code. With Pluralsight, now every kid can learn the basics of programming languages and building apps. And best of all, it's absolutely free.

..."

Something to keep the kids busy this summer! THAT should have been the title of this post... lol

Visual Studio ALM Ranger Solutions Catalog - All ALM, all awesome...

2013-05-16T15:09:00.001-07:00

Willy's Reflections - Visual Studio ALM Ranger Solutions Catalog

The following Visual Studio ALM Rangers solutions have been developed for the ALM community:

While I usually keep ALM Ranger stuff for RadioTFS this was just too awesome a resource to not share here too. Seeing all this on one page really shows the level of cool that are the ALM Rangers and their work... I mean, like, wow...

Just the SSMS Mama, just the SSMS... (Getting just SQL Server 2012 SQL Server Management Studio)

2013-05-16T15:03:00.001-07:00

STRATE SQL - Get Just The Tools: SSMS Download

Ever jump on a machine to connect to a SQL Server and find out… whoops! No tools. For some reason, the client machine doesn’t have SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) installed. Now I’m not talking about not having the SSMS installed on the server, but on the local workstation that you need to connect to the server with.

No tools has happened to me many times and, in fact, happened to me this past week. In the past, this would mean running around trying to get find the client’s SQL Server installation media. Maybe downloading a 4+ GB ISO of the entire SQL Server installation from TechNet. Or, hopefully, making sure the client had USB ports open on their machines and that I had my installation media backup drive with me. A lot of things that were more work than one would like.

With the release of SQL Server 2012 Service Pack 1, there is a new option on the table. Instead of downloading everything, you can download just the management tools through the Microsoft® SQL Server® 2012 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Express download page....

Microsoft® SQL Server® 2012 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Express

This came in real handy today. Came in and got a question about how to get just the SSMS for 2012. Got to love the inter-tubes!

BTW, don't let the "Express" through you. As far as I can tell, it's the full thing...

"The database is slow!" Here's a SQL Server Performance Crib Sheet [well almost book] that might help you...

2013-05-15T07:30:00.001-07:00

simple-talk - SQL Server Performance-The Crib Sheet

Contents

Introduction

Overview

Measuring Performance

Perfmon

Perfmon Counter Set

Using perfmon

Evaluating perfmon data

Server health

Memory

Memory Grants Pending

Lock Requests/Sec

Deadlock/Sec

Extended Events

Dynamic Management Objects

Third Party Tools

Tuning Performance

Server Performance

Database Performance

Indexing

Files and FileGroups

Normalization

Data Types

Other Issues

T-SQL Performance

Client Access

Testing Performance

Suggested Reading

...

How much performance is enough? Where do you start tuning? When do you stop tuning? Each application being developed will answer these questions in a different way. The important thing is not to establish a single mechanism for answering them. Your goal is to establish best practices and guidelines that will lead to the answers in the right way for the application under consideration.

First, and most important, the SQL Server system itself needs to be configured correctly. It also needs to be running on a correctly configured Windows server. This is the foundation on which the databases will be built. These same requirements do not exist when dealing with an Azure SQL Database. After the server is configured, you need to design and build the database to perform optimally. That's assuming you're building a new database. If you're trying to tune an inherited database, then you'll want to know what a good database looks like. Appropriately designing the database is even more important in Azure. Once the server and database are out of the way, you need to be concerned with the code running against it. This means the views, triggers, functions and, on local copies of SQL Server, the CLR code. It doesn't stop there because you need to be sure that the development staff is accessing the database correctly either in their general use of the database and it's code, or in their own use of ADO or whatever other client they might be using to access the system

In order to address all these concerns you need to understand how to measure and test performance. Once you've measured the performance and found it wanting, you'll need to know what to do about it. After addressing structural changes to the database or changes to the server or refactoring the T-SQL code, you'll need to have a mechanism in place to test the results in order to be sure your work is accurate

After all this, you should have a correctly functioning system that performs and scales well.

...

..."

Should be enough to get you stared at least in looking into your DB performance "issues".

A little heritage of the BSOD

2013-05-15T07:25:00.001-07:00

Quora - Blue Screen of Death: Who designed the original Windows Blue Screen of Death?

John Vert, ex-Windows NT kernel guyex-Windows NT kernel guy

Back in 1991 I wrote the original code for Windows NT 3.1 that put the video screen back into text mode and the routines to put text on it (and a truly gnarly bit of code it was!). I used the white on blue colors for two reasons.

The MIPS workstations we were using for the MIPS port had firmware that presented a boot option screen in white on blue, so it made sense that the bugcheck screen would match.

I (and many others) were using SlickEdit as our text editor and at the time its default color scheme was also white on blue.

I believe Mark Lucovsky wrote the original code that dumped a bunch of text to the screen. This was a bugcode and a stack dump, resulting in a bunch of useless hex numbers which product support would occasionally dutifully transcribe from the customers and include in the bug report.

...

Thought this was an interesting bit of trivia... I love how we dev's make decisions sometimes. "What color?" "Oh heck, I don't know, but we're looking at SlickEdit all day, so lets make it look like that" "Works for me..."

(via Looking For The Spike... - Who wrote the original BSOD (and why white-on-blue)?)

"Hello dotPeek plugin" Creating a dotPeek plugin is New Project, NuGet easy...

2013-05-15T07:18:00.001-07:00

JetBrains - Creating plugins for dotPeek

In a previous post, we’ve seen that dotPeek supports creating and loading plugins. The NuGet plugin for dotPeek is a good example to demonstrate how to get started creating plugins for dotPeek. Sources for this plugin are available on GitHub. But let’s create a plugin of our own!

Before we start: dotPeek does not have a formal SDK yet. However it shares a lot of commonalities with ReSharper. In fact: dotPeek is built on the same platform as ReSharper reusing the project model, PSI, navigation and so on. Which is good news: we can use the ReSharper SDK (see the downloads page) to create plugins for dotPeek. Another option is to start from a class library project and work with a small NuGet package I’ve created to help you get started.

Creating a new plugin

To create a plugin for dotPeek, we can make use of the instructions provided with the ReSharper SDK. This involves a lot of project modifications so we’ll take the easy way out: we can create a dotPeek plugin by installing a NuGet package.

In Visual Studio, we can start out with a new Class Library project, making use of .NET 3.5 or up. Next, we can install the JetBrains.DotPeek.PluginDevelopment NuGet package into the project. This NuGet package will convert the class library we have into a dotPeek plugin by adding assembly references and several attributes. Note that the NuGet package will target the latest version of dotPeek that is installed on your system (which also means we have to have a copy of dotPeek installed).

That’s everything we have to do: by running our project, dotPeek will launch with our fresh plugin loaded:

..."

I love products that let me extend them. Will I? Rarely, but it's the fact that I can is what draws me in...

Okay, Okra! Windows Store Templates that make MVVM apps, and pages, easier and quicker

2013-05-13T18:23:00.001-07:00

Andy On WPF, Windows 8 and Beyond - Windows Store MVVM Templates for Visual Studio

If you have ever tried to create a Windows Store application using the MVVM pattern then you will probably have found that the Visual Studio project and item templates are a bit cumbersome. I often find myself adding a new page to my projects using one of the default templates, only to need to rewrite it to follow the MVVM pattern before I can even start adding application specific logic. What if there was a way to take advantage of the selection of project and page templates provided by Visual Studio, but have them produce fully MVVM compliant code?

Well today I’d like to announce the release of a free extension for Visual Studio 2012 (including the Express editions for Windows 8) that provides just that. It is based upon the open source Okra App Framework, and provides almost all of the Visual Studio Windows Store templates in an MVVM friendly manner.

...

What Templates are Provided?

There are two types of template included, project templates and item templates. The project templates are designed to get you started with a new application and provide exactly the same behaviour as the default Visual Studio templates (but written following the MVVM pattern).

Okra Basic App - A single-page Okra App Framework project with no predefined controls or layout.

Okra Grid App - A three-page Okra App Framework project that navigates among grouped items arranged in a grid. Dedicated pages display group and item details.

Okra Split App - A two-page Okra App Framework project that navigates among grouped items. The first page allows group selection while the second displays an item list alongside details for the selected item.

Also included are a number of item templates that allow you to add new pages to any existing Okra App Framework based application, whether created using the project templates or not.

Basic Page (MVVM)

Split Page (MVVM)

Items Page (MVVM)

Item Detail Page (MVVM)

Grouped Items Page (MVVM)

Group Detail Page (MVVM)

Search Contract (MVVM)

Share Target Contract (MVVM)

Settings Pane (MVVM)

...

Summary

As I have discussed the new “Windows Store MVVM Templates for the Okra App Framework” make it quick and easy to implement pages following the MVVM pattern for use in Windows Store applications. The behaviour of all the templates has been designed to be identical to the default Visual Studio templates, with the added benefit of clean separation of code, unit testability and design-time data

Thanks for the heads up on this Andy (and nice work!). I think you're right, that my readers might find this useful. And heck, if they don't I DO! :)

Related Past Post XRef:
The first step in gestating a Metro app... Cocoon

GBoD [Geo-distributed Bunch of Data centers] or "Using Dark Fiber to Replace Diesel Generators"

2013-05-13T18:15:00.001-07:00

Microsoft Research - Using Dark Fiber to Replace Diesel Generators

Cloud providers and other data center operators use geo-distributed data centers. But these data centers largely continue to employ the same designs as were appropriate for single data centers. These designs are wasteful because they do not take full advantage of geo-redundancy. Geo-redundancy can reduce other redundancy at multiple intermediate layers in individual data centers and decrease costs. We discuss options for changing infrastructure design to realize such savings. Our proposal opens up an exciting and novel area of investigation into the design of software that can effectively leverage such platforms.

...

We claim that geo-redundancy at the data center level can reduce or obviate other redundancy within individual data centers; much like app-layer replication via distributed file systems has obviated the need for highly reliable RAID arrays, allowing individual storage servers to use JBOD in data centers. We denote a group of reduced availability data centers that collectively deliver high availability as a Geo-distributed Bunch of Data centers (GBoD). We quantify the reduction in individual data center availability that becomes possible when a geo-distributed collection of data centers acts in concert using fault tolerance mechanisms. We discuss how an individual data center’s infrastructural design can be changed to reduce its availability, such as through eliminating diesel generators, and quantify corresponding cost savings. We call attention to new research questions in configuring geo-redundant data centers to optimally manage excess compute capacity, networking costs, and correlation among their failures.

GBoD moves complexity from the underlying hardware to software layers....

This title caught my eye today and I thought it some interesting research. Useful in my day-today grind? No, but interesting non-the-less

More on Mission Control (Coding4Fun Style) "A Flexible API for Remote Device Control"

2013-05-13T18:05:00.001-07:00

Channel 9 Coding4Fun - MissionControl - A Flexible API for Remote Device Control

In a race to optimize everything, developers often go to extremes to build software that performs routine tasks. MissionControl is a system that allows users to program a control center that stores interfaces with attached hardware sensors, allowing the users to control any other devices that can be activated via the underlying protocol. For demo purposes, the MissionControl build at this point is compatible with the Phidgets IR hybrid sensor.

The system has two core components:

A server application, which is a Win32 console application that handles incoming queries and returns data to the connected clients. This application runs on the desktop machine with the connected sensor.

The Windows Phone application that sends requests to the target server and can trigger a variety of pre-programmed commands.

The Basics

Hardware and Communication Infrastructure

One of the most important parts of the project is the signal capture and replication hardware. For the purposes of this project, I decided to use a dual-mode Phidgets IR sensor. It supports both IR code capture and subsequent replication. From a user’s perspective, this device also eliminates a substantial code-learning overhead as well as the potential error rate. Instead of searching for a device-specific hexadecimal sequence that later has to be transformed in a working IR code, the user simply has to point his remote control at the sensor and press the button that he wants accessible from a mobile device. Given that the capturing software is running on the target machine, once the sensor detects that a code can be repeated within an acceptable precision range, it will be automatically captured and stored, with all required transformations worked out in the backend using the free Phidgets SDK.

...

The book, errr, I mean, article, from Clint and Den is done and now out...

Because every IDE needs a fart-app, right? Farticus, the VS Fart Extension...

2013-05-13T17:54:00.001-07:00

Visual Studio Gallery - Farticus

Let everyone know when your builds fail by playing fart sounds. You can select which fart to play from the many different styles. You'll find the right fart for any situation. Farticus is great for presentations, team environments and when you're coding all alone.

Farticus is open source on GitHub and pull (my finger) requests are accepted.

Using Farticus

Farticus adds 2 important features to Visual Studio:

1. Play Random Fart

From the Standard toolbar in Visual Studio, you can easily play a random fart by clicking the Farticus buttton.

...

2. Play Fart when builds fail

No one likes it when builds fail. Farticus makes failed builds more fun by playing one of the wonderful farts. You can disable the builds failed auto-fart in the Tools -> Options dialog.

...

"Sounds like a case of the..."

Anyway, this is so wrong, it's, well still wrong. But what dev-boy doesn't like a good IDE integrated fart app!

The fact that they released the source too, well that's just [air]fresh[ener]

The NSA Untangles the Web - 651 Pages of NSA Web Searching'ness...

2013-05-11T13:43:00.001-07:00

The Verge - NSA reveals its internet search tricks in the recently declassified 'Untangling the Web'

The National Security Agency has declassified a version of an in-house training manual used to teach NSA members how to best utilize the internet for research purposes. Untangling the Web: An Introduction to Internet Research was written by Robyn Winder and Charlie Speight and published by the NSA's Center for Digital Content back in 2007. It's been declassified and made available now following a Freedom of Information Act requested lodged by MuckRock back in April.

The document weighs in at over 600 pages, and tends to be geared towards an audience that may not necessarily be familiar with or see the value of the internet in research (then again, it's important to remember that the book was published six years ago). While chapters like "Search Fundamentals" and "Why Do I Need Help?" paint a basic picture, it also dives a bit deeper with sections like "Google Hacking," which focuses on "using publicly available search engines to access publicly available information that almost certainly was not intended for public distribution." Confidential company data, secret government information, and financial data are all listed as the types of data such searches could uncover.

..."

While a few years old, still some real interesting reading... One thing to note, this is a scanned document. So you'll need to let Acrobat OCR it before you can search it, etc.

Who needs an App Store when we now have a DevStore! Buy (and Sell) VS Extensions right from within VS

2013-05-11T13:25:00.001-07:00

Visual Studio Gallery - DevStore (2012)

NOTE: This is the version for VS 2012. If you are looking for a VS 2010 compatible version, here it is.

An App Store for Visual Studio!

With access to free and paid extensions. Easily browse and purchase extensions online with a few clicks, just from within the Extension Manager:

As you can note above, there is also a Roaming tab, where you can have control of your previous downloads and purchases, from both, the Visual Studio Gallery and the DevStore. We use this a lot to easily sync between home and work laptops and setting up VPCs...

And of course we do also have a nice web where you can access the DevStore: www.devstore.com

Are you a developer or shop offering extensions for Visual Studio? Please visit www.devstore.com and register as a Developer to start selling your extensions today!

DevStore

DevStore helps you supercharge your Visual Studio by providing access to free and paid extensions. You can now buy extensions without leaving Visual Studio. And publish and sell your own extensions too.

Yes, it's App Store time for Visual Studio!

I love the roaming concept. While I like free, free isn't free and sometimes it's even better to pitch in a few pennies to help support a given project. The DevStore looks like just that. And currently there doesn't look like "store" ISV prices for stuff, instead "App Store" like prices. $1.99, $2.99, etc. Now if only there as a RSS feed so I could easily see new stuff as its added to the DevStore...Still it's in beta, so there's still hope :)

Mission Control to Major...C4F - Coding4Fun Mission Control project

2013-05-11T13:15:00.001-07:00

CodePlex - Coding4Fun Mission Control

Coding4Fun Mission Control is a flexible framework that allows developers to easily create an API to control a variety of devices through an extensible network communication platform. For end-users, a companion Windows Phone application is available, that communicates with the controller server through a well-defined set of short-codes.

With a simple command-based interaction mechanism, it is possible to establish an "always-on" communications channel and invoke commands on the attached device from any location with an active network connection.

The sample solution includes a server (Win32 console application) and a Windows Phone 8 application that interact through an open TCP channel to control a USB-based Phidget IR dual-mode sensor.

Den Delimarsky and the C4F team are doing it again (and again I'm probably posting this a little early as I just happened to catch it in the CodePlex RSS stream... ;)

And Data for All... President Obama signs Executive Order to make government-held data more accessible (in machine readable form by default)

2013-05-09T15:08:00.001-07:00

The White House Blog - Landmark Steps to Liberate Open Data

Today, as he heads to Austin, Texas, for a Middle Class Jobs and Opportunity Tour, President Obama signed an Executive Order directing historic steps to make government-held data more accessible to the public and to entrepreneurs and others as fuel for innovation and economic growth. The Executive Order declares that information is a valuable resource and strategic asset for the Nation. We couldn’t agree more.

Under the terms of the Executive Order and a new Open Data Policy released today by the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Office of Management and Budget, all newly generated government data will be required to be made available in open, machine-readable formats, greatly enhancing their accessibility and usefulness, while ensuring privacy and security.

...

More information:

Read the Executive Order (EO) on open data

Read the new Open Data Policy

Watch a 2-minute video about the new EO and Policy

Learn more about the Administration’s open data efforts

Follow the conversation on Twitter using #opendata

Visit a new Project Open Data website

We're making a lot more data open to the public [Received Email]

Hi, all --

Earlier today, President Obama signed an Executive Order directing his administration to take historic steps to make government-held data more accessible to the public and to entrepreneurs and others as fuel for innovation and economic growth.

Here's what you need to know:

The Executive Order declares that information is a valuable resource and strategic asset for the nation.

Newly generated government data will be required to be made available in open, machine-readable format by default -- enhancing their accessibility and usefulness, and ensuring privacy and security.

These executive actions will allow entrepreneurs and companies to take advantage of this information -- fueling economic growth in communities across the Nation.

Data, data, data! I love me some data!

Now, to turn it into information, knowledge and maybe even wisdom, that's the hard part.

C#'ing Objective C with Xamarin's new Objective Sharpie

2013-05-08T17:09:00.001-07:00

Xamarin Blog - Introducing Objective Sharpie

I am pleased to announce a new tool from Xamarin: Objective Sharpie, a very powerful binding definition generator for third party Objective C libraries to help provide APIs matching the .NET idioms and ensure delightful APIs.

Objective Sharpie takes much of the manual work of translating Objective C APIs into binding definitions that are consumed by Xamarin’s binding tools. Download your third party library, point Objective Sharpie to its header files, and off you go.

It does this using Clang and the SDKs installed in Xcode to extract all the API metadata needed to produce a binding: selector names, argument and return types, enums, and so on.

...

While I'm not an iOS/Xcode/Apple guy, I just loved this name... :)

More Metro... Syncfusion Metro Studio 2 released. 2500 icons, still free [reg-ware]

2013-05-08T12:27:00.001-07:00

Syncfusion - Metro Studio 2

Largest collection of Metro- style icons

Syncfusion Metro Studio is a collection of over 2500 Metro-style icon templates that can be easily customized to create thousands of unique Metro icons.

...

FAQ

Where can these icons be used?

Metro is a design language so it can be applied to any platform or technology. At Syncfusion we have used these icons in everything from PowerPoint presentations to applications written in all .NET platforms including WPF, Silverlight, Windows Phone, Windows Forms, ASP.NET, ASP.NET MVC, and WinRT.

Can these icons be used in commercial applications?

Yes, the icons are available royalty-free and can be used in commercial applications. Icons can also be used in open source projects and hosted on sites including but not limited to CodePlex, GitHub, BitBucket etc.

...

2,500 free('ish) icons is officially cool in my book. Downloaded and installed. Make sure you click through to Bruno's post on this as he provides many more screenshots of the app in action...

[Found via El Bruno - [#METRO] Metro Studio 2.0 of the friends of SyncFusion]

Visualizing TFS Source History now with more source

2013-05-08T12:19:00.001-07:00

CodePlex - TFS Source Control History Visualization

TFS source control history visualization (Visual Studio 2012 extension), dynamic & interactive.

Looks like a fascinating creation of a new galaxies in space.
Available on Visual Studio Gallery: http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/6a8e7330-8395-4915-935f-941dc3bde29c

How to use:

Install this extension.

Open TFS "Source Control Explorer" window.

Select source control folder (or file) and click Right button.

Select in pop-up menu item "Visualize History (using Gource)".

Enjoy the history visualization :)

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Now not only is the Gource source still available (http://code.google.com/p/gource/), but the extension's source itself is now available too (and we get a version bump to v1.3 too)...

Go can be more than just a GO (in the T-SQL world at least) - GO [#]

2013-05-08T07:46:00.001-07:00

CodeProject - GO Statement can also be used to excute batch of T-SQL statement multiple times

Till recently, I was under the impression that GO statement’s sole purpose is to convey to the SQL Server the end of a batch of T-SQL Statements. But recently while searching for some SQL feature details, I landed on to the MSDN page for the GO statement. And to my surprise, I observed that GO statement also has an integer optional parameter, this parameter value signals SQL Server to execute the batch of T-SQL Statement prior to the GO statement to be executed for the specified number of times.

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I always forget about this feature of the T-SQL GO statement...

Prep'ing your Pets, National Animal Disaster Preparedness Day is May 8th

2013-05-08T07:42:00.001-07:00

LAFD News & Information - May 8th is 'National Animal Disaster Preparedness Day'

With May 8, 2013 recognized as National Animal Disaster Preparedness Day, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Deputy Administrator Richard Serino joins the Los Angeles Fire Department in reminding you to plan for disasters with pets, horses and livestock in mind:

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There are three simple steps you can take today!

Ensure your pet is wearing a collar with your current contact information. Because you may be mobile in a crisis, be sure to include your cell phone number on your pet's identification tag.

Create a basic disaster kit with enough dry food and water for each animal to last at least five days. Medications and medical records stored in a waterproof container will prove helpful, as will garbage bags to collect pet waste.

Have sturdy leashes, harnesses and carriers you can use to transport animals safely in an emergency.

For more information on preparing pets for disaster, visit:
ready.gov/caring-animals

You're all working on your personal and family disaster and emergency preparedness, right? A little each month, building your supplies, making your house safe, etc? Well don't forget those who can't prepare, your pets! What would you do about your pets if you had to leave your house NOW for an extended period, and where you were uncertain your house was going to be there when you got back? Or maybe just that you couldn't buy supplies for them for a 7-14+ day period?

No need to worry, just think and prepare, it's MUCH less stressful if you do it now than in that last moment...

Just think P4YP ("PAP"), Prep For Your Pooch... (because they can't)

Sometimes you just need a donut [chart]... Free ModernUI Charts for WPF, Windows Store Apps (and SilverLight too)

2013-05-06T17:17:00.001-07:00

SharePoint Software Quality, .NET and ModernUI apps - Free ModernUI Charts for WPF, Windows Store Apps und Silverlight published

Some days ago I have published a free library with chart controls which can be used in client applications. The library can be used in WPF desktop applications, in Windows Store apps and in Silverlight applications.

Download the binaries, source code and some test applications: http://modernuicharts.codeplex.com/

Or directly try them in the Silverlight application: http://www.spalmblogger.de/charts/

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Modern UI (Metro) Charts for Windows 8, WPF, Silverlight

This project provides a small library to display charts in Modern UI Style (formerly known as Metro) in WPF, Silverlight and Windows 8 applications. You can check the charts with the Silverlight test application here: http://www.tetracon.de/charts

Available Charts

ColumnChart (ClusteredColumnChart, StackedColumnChart, StackedColumnChart100Percent)

PieChart (PieChart and Dognut)

BarChart (ClusteredBarChart, StackedBarChart, StackedBarChart100Percent)

Doughnut Chart

Radial Gauge Chart

News

2013-05-05: Release of BETA version with several bug fixes and new charts (Doughnut, Radial Gauge, improved test applications and many more)

2013-05-04: Availability of Silverlight test application via http://www.tetracon.de/charts

Screenshots

Default Layout

I love that the source for these are available. Also that they are cross XAML platform...