No process is associated with this object.

This Error, "No process is associated with this object."

you forgot to set the .File property.  Nothing to execute!

RadUpload, ASP.net AJAX Upload -- Telerik Controls Are Obsolete and Low Quality!

ASP.Net AJAX: Upload is rapidly becoming obsolete.

I have stopped recommending this product to clients and for our own internal projects.

Unless there are plans (real serious plans) to add Web Farm and Load Balancing support to ASP.Net AJAX: Upload by enabling a database or shared file system location for buffering and progress management, I will be abandoning ASP.Net AJAX: Upload.

I have spoken to a number of other users who are in the same boat.  The long-term problem we face is what to do with our Telerik subscriptions after we have stopped using the primary components. 

Replacing things like drop-downs with Open Source and paying for a one-component (but high quality) Upload widget seems like a better option.

Thoughts?  Does Telerik have enough resources to produce high quality individual control feature sets?  Or is the goal many pretty components with so-so features?

LINQ to SQL In Action Story

http://www.sqlmag.com/Article/ArticleID/101721/sql_server_101721.html

Good Stuff from SQL Server Magazine, LINQ to SQL in Action: Joining and Grouping

Cory Trese
ph#:     937-609-9644
e-m:    cory.trese@gmail.com
www:  http://www.corytrese.com/

---

California Wedding Photography
http://www.corytrese.com/wedding.html

jQuery Goodness -- 137 Amazing jQuery Examples and Downloads

No, this is not an update on my quest to write 137 sweet jQuery plugins (although I have made it to 3, up from 2!)

http://www.noupe.com/jquery/50-amazing-jquery-examples-part1.html

http://www.noupe.com/ajax/37-more-shocking-jquery-plugins.html

http://www.developersnippets.com/2009/01/15/bookmark-50-stunning-jquery-applications/

Sweetness jQuery demos.  Go MVC!

---

California Wedding Photography
http://www.corytrese.com/wedding.html

Subversion, WebDAV, Windows and Microsoft Office

Let me start by saying that I love Subversion and find Tortoise-SVN and SVN.exe very, very easy to use and if you read this entire article, I can help you make it really easy for your business users to love Subversion as much as your developers.

I have used CVS on Windows entirely in the CLI for years and have never felt the overpowering need to have a more graphical client.

However the interface that you offer your users has an incredible impact on there love, or lack of love, for a particular tool.

Subversion, with a programmer-friendly CLI and excellent Windows Explorer (and Visual Studio via Anhk 2.0!) integration usually makes a big splash with developers and engineers.  Easy, simple and it just works right.

The question, "How do my users interface with Subversion and is it effective for them?" does have an easy answer for developers writing source code. 

The advantage is that these users have is that they are comfortable with SVN because they are comfortable with revision control systems in general.  They have used SVN, CVS, PVCS, ClearCase, Vault or BitKeeper at some point in their careers and they are comfortable with concepts like "Commits" and "Working Copies."  Sure, some of the SVN-specific features (interactive merges, properties and versionable renames) may take some getting used.  Their really are not that many core (from the client) differences between the actual functionality provided by these different systems.

However these same features, familiar advantages for developers, are foreign and frustrating for many "normal" business users.  They are familiar with Groove, UNC fileshares and Windows Explorer's basic features.  They will be baffled by working copies, SVN adds, commits, updates and history logs.  Documents won't get checked in.  Files will not be added.  Bad things will happen when people do updates and get conflicts.  Your wonderful Subversion server will be a problem, not a solution.  Revolt is just around the corner.  What can we do?

And then, the solution appears, bright and clear -- WebDAV!  WebDAV is great, right?  WebDAV uses the HTTP protocol so no firewall trouble.  It supported by Apache2 hosting on both UNIX and Windows.  Wikipedia even says that Windows XP and Windows 2000 have a built in WebDAV client!  Sounds like it will be really easy, no?

Here are the problems:

• Windows WebDAV Client Does Not Work for Non-IIS Hosts
• Windows WebDAV Client not supported on 64bit machines
• WebDAV Client does not fully support HTTPS
• Windows WebDAV Clients Are Incompatable with most applications
• Microsoft Office Mostly Works -- Word Opens Everything Read-Only
  
• Notepad.exe and Paint.exe don't

So the WebDAV solution looks less perfect, but still very promising.  Using the following Apache2 configuration, we can enable NT DOMAIN backed authentication, WebDAV and require users to authenticate on both read and write operations.

<Location /svn/office>
      DAV svn
1)    SVNPath D:/Subversion/office_repo
2)    SVNAutoversioning on
3)    ModMimeUsePathInfo on
      AuthType SSPI
      SSPIAuth On
      SSPIAuthoritative On
      SSPIDomain MY_DOMAIN
4)    Require valid-user
</Location>

1. SVNPath ties this Apache2 location to a SVN Repository you created on the server.
2. SVNAutoversioning configures this repository to support WebDAV clients who create new versions with MKCOL
3. ModMimeUsePathInfo configures this repository to automatically guess at MIME type based on the extension.  This setting greatly improves Subversion's ability to recognize binary files on the server
4. This require valid-user ensures that all WebDAV writes come with a valid NT DOMAIN (or if not using SSPI other) authenticated token

Apache2 is configured.  WebDAV is working great from your UNIX clients.  Everything seems good and now all we have to do is find a Windows WebDAV Client that works with Subversion without creating too much trouble for our SVN repository and users of other SVN clients.  For example, if we get a lock-happy WebDAV client then we won't have happy Tortoise SVN users.

So lets round up the Usual Suspects from the WebDAV mafia and see how they perform.

• Data Freeway
• SolutionBox NetDrive
• Novell NetDrive
• AnyClient WebDAV
• RedDrive WebDAV Client
  

We don't have any extra money (who does) so price is going to be a major factor on selecting our WebDAV client.

Data Freeway
This application seems very nice.  Currently supports SSH (SSH1 and SSH2), WebDAV, common FTP and secure SFTP protocols.  From using it and reading the site, I can tell that it was not designed with a Subversion user in mind, but it does work and seems to work very well.  Microsoft Office documents open without trouble but when saving them in Windows XP on 32bit machines, I get a SEGFAULT every single time.  Everything was great with this until I ran into that defect it was a show stopper.  I put in a request with the maintainer of the application but could not wait.

SolutionBox NetDrive
This application is a clone (with defects fixed and a new theme) of Novell's NetDrive product.  This product works very well with WebDAV Subversion repositories and allows Microsoft Office AND non WebDAV compatible applications to work.  Free for home use -- too bad it is so expensive for a corporate customer.

Novell NetDrive
This application is an old UNIX interop platform component that Novell sold as part of the Netware stack.  It is no longer supported or distributed by Novell but you can use it if you download it from somewhere else.  There are open issues with it and there are constant questions and misinformation (from Novell and others) about the legality of using it.

AnyClient WebDAV
This application is billed "Free No-Install FTP, FTPS, SFTP and WebDAV Client" and it is all of those things.  It works like an FTP client and does not really give you the WebDAV-mounted-as-a-UNC-share magic that the other tools give you.  However, I owe AnyClient WebDAV a great deal of credit for finding it's more-function, highly stable predecessor RedDrive.

RedDrive WebDAV Client
This is our solution.  Discontinued, undocumented but my god it really works.  I mean, it really really works.
http://www.jscape.com/reddrive/

• Supports WebDAV
• Supports Integrated Authentication
• Sends authentication tokens with MKCOL (Security Requirement)
• No Licensing Cost, No Commercial Use Restrictions 
• Mounts WebDAV over HTTPS into "My Computer"
• All Windows Applications Work (everything we've tested)
  

Cory Trese
ph#:     937-609-9644
e-m:    cory.trese@gmail.com
www:  http://www.corytrese.com/

---

California Wedding Photography
http://www.corytrese.com/wedding.html

Subversion (SVN) WebDAV and Microsoft Windows XP

Subversion, a wonderful open-source revision control technology can revolutionize the way your organization stores files.

Developers, especially those who have used CVS or SourceSafe before tend to pick up and love Subversion.

Things that recommend Subversion for Windows-based Developers

• Command Line Interface (svn.exe) that works like CVS
• Windows Explorer Integrated Shell Extension, Tortoise SVN
• Visual Studio 2008 Integration, Ankh SVN
• Support In Other Tools -- Nant, MSBuild, CruiseControl.Net, CodeDemon
• Hosted in Apache or Standalone Server
• Read-Only HTTP Interface (with Apache)

BizTalk Server 2006 R2 and BizTalk Server 2009

I have spent time week and last working on doing bottom-up evaluations of BizTalk Server 2006 R2 and BizTalk Server 2009.

BizTalk Server 2006 R2

• Easily Installs on XP without a VPC
• Installation Procedures on 2003 Server are same as R1
• Compiles, Deploys & Runs "SMW BizTalk" and "Order Master" without new errors
• Provides some minor bug fixes in the UI
• Minor Changes in Admin and Config Tools
• Existing XML formats work for binding
• MSBuild (SDC) Extensions Function Perfectly for R2
• Faster
• WCF Adapters Integrated
• BAM Interceptors Allow WCF and WF services OUTSIDE of BizTalk to participate in BAM
• New Enterprise SSO Services (4.0)

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb743854.aspx

BizTalk Server 2009 BETA

• Installs and Runs in 2003 Advanced Server VPC
• Allows for an In-place upgrade WITH deployed applications (SMW BizTalk)
• Deployed Applications are upgraded
• The production version will (they say) have cluster-upgrade-without-stoppage support
• Integrates with Visual Studio 2008 SP1
• Supports Source Control Features in Visual Studio (SVN/Ankh)
• Some improved UI in development (faster, less bugs)
• Administrator Tools are Improved by not radically different
• Build System does not work right (yet)
• Probably due to missing MSBuild / SDC Support for VS 2008 as the BTS compiler
• Compiles, Deploys & Runs "SMW BizTalk" and "Order Master" without new errors

Cory Trese
ph#:     937-609-9644
e-m:    cory.trese@gmail.com
www:  http://www.corytrese.com/

---

California Wedding Photography
http://www.corytrese.com/wedding.html

BizTalk Server 2006 BTSTask An invalid value for property "DestinationFolder".

I was fighting with a BizTalk Server 2006 error with bindings imports. 

 These binding files were being generated by an XML preprocessing system and then loaded into BizTalk 2006 Server using BTSTask.exe

This error is mentioned in a Microsoft BizTalk KB / Hot Fix, http://support.microsoft.com/kb/923733, but that only applies (and only installs) if you have installed a LOB Adapter pack, but we did not have the LOB Adapter pack on this server. 

The error is the exact same, however.  The exception we got during binding import (both in the UI and in the CLI) is:

===================================

 

Failed to update binding information. (mscorlib)

 

===================================

 

Could not validate configuration of Primary Transport of Send Port 'portname' with SSO server.
An invalid value for property "DestinationFolder". (Microsoft.BizTalk.ExplorerOM)

 

------------------------------
For help, click: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=47400&ProdName=Microsoft+BizTalk+Server+2006&ProdVer=3.5.1602.0&EvtSrc=Microsoft.BizTalk.ExplorerOM.Resources&EvtID=IDS_ERR_TRANSPORTINFO_INVALID_TRANSPORT_DATA

 

===================================

 

An invalid value for property "DestinationFolder".

 

------------------------------
Program Location:

 

   at Microsoft.BizTalk.ExplorerOM.IPersistPropertyBag.Load(IPropertyBag propertyBag, Int32 errorLog)
   at Microsoft.BizTalk.ExplorerOM.Helper.ValidateTransportProps(String transportTypeData, String transportAddress, String publicAddress, IProtocolType transportType, Boolean IsTransmit)
   at Microsoft.BizTalk.ExplorerOM.TransportInfo.Microsoft.BizTalk.ExplorerOM.IBaseObject.ValidateObjectData()

The solution for us was to make changes to the content of our bindings file by removing all whilespace and line breaks from the contents of the <Address /> and <PhysicalAddress /> elements.  These line breaks were being added to some bindings files by our XML preprocessor and could not, for some reason, be imported to BizTalk.

The "with SSO Server" junk is actually some type of mask for the real error, which I found out by disassembly BizTalk assemblies and checking out some of the error handling around a bit of unmanaged code that was getting invoked.

--
Cory Trese
e-m:    cory.trese@gmail.com
www:  http://www.corytrese.com/
---
California Wedding Photography
http://www.corytrese.com/wedding.html

WCF, .Net 4.0 and Dublin + A Big Kickin the Teeth for BizTalk users

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2009.01.net40.aspx

WCF And WF Services In The .NET Framework 4.0 And "Dublin"

And I quote...

What about BizTalk Server?

 

Another common question is how "Dublin" relates to BizTalk Server. In a lot of ways, BizTalk Server inspired many of the features you see in "Dublin" today. Although both technologies provide similar management capabilities, there's a big difference between the two in terms of their focus. "Dublin" adds hosting and management extensions to Windows Server designed specifically for WCF and WF applications, whereas BizTalk Server is focused on application integration with non-Microsoft systems using a variety of different message formats, transports, and mapping techniques.

The primary focus of BizTalk Server has always been and will continue to be integration with non-Microsoft systems (line-of-business applications, legacy systems, RFID devices, and business-to-business protocols). BizTalk Server will remain focused on these core strengths in the years ahead. In general, you'll want to continue using BizTalk Server when you're focused primarily on these types of enterprise application integration (EAI) scenarios.

However, since many WCF and WF apps don't need these kinds of integration capabilities, BizTalk Server can often feel like overkill. This is precisely where "Dublin" fits into the picture—as a simpler alternative that provides similar management capabilities. In the end, "Dublin" will be more cost-effective for these scenarios than BizTalk Server since the "Dublin" extensions will ship as a core part of Windows Server and won't require you to buy integration adapters you don't need. It's likely that a future version of BizTalk Server will build upon the "Dublin" extensions in order to leverage the core management investments being made to Windows Server.

A special thanks to Eileen Rumwell, Mark Berman, Dino Chiesa, Mark Fussell, Ford McKinstry, Marjan Kalantar, Cliff Simpkins, Kent Brown, Kris Horrocks, and Kenny Wolf for their helpful assistance with this article.

SQL Server 2005 Database Diagrams After RESTORE Operation

Sql 2005 Database diagram support objects cannot be installed because this database does not have a valid owner

Problem

After a RESTORE of a database with SQL Server 2005 database diagram creation & access is often disabled, with the following error message.

Database diagram support objects cannot be installed because this database does not have a valid owner. To continue, first use the Files page of the Database Properties dialog box or the ALTER AUTHORIZATION statement to set the database owner to a valid login, then add the database diagram support objects.

Solution

1. Right Click on your database, choose properties
 2. Goto the Options Page
3. In the Dropdown at right labeled "Compatibility Level" choose "SQL Server 2005(90)"
 4. Goto the Files Page
5. Enter "sa" in the owner textbox.
6. Hit OK

Blogs!

Steve is a cool guy and very, very smart.  Read his blog!

http://blogger.forgottenskies.com/

It will make you ... wonder what a "Forgotten Skies" is but you will forget once you see all the software engineering goodness.

Microsoft MVC Beta Upgrade

I was having a lot of problems with

Html.ActionLink("LinkText", "Action", "Controller")

after I upgraded from Microsoft MVC Preview 5 to Microsoft MVC Beta 1.

The error message I got was

Compiler Error Message: CS1928: 'System.Web.Mvc.HtmlHelper' does not contain a definition for 'ActionLink' and the best extension method overload 'System.Web.Mvc.Ajax.AjaxExtensions.ActionLink(System.Web.Mvc.AjaxHelper, string, string, System.Web.Mvc.Ajax.AjaxOptions)' has some invalid arguments

This partially related discussion brought to my attention changes between Preview 5 and Beta.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/211493/asp-net-mvc-beta-1-where-is-html-renderpartial

I had to add this to my web config instead of what I started with from Preview 5.

            <namespaces>
                <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc"/>
                <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc.Ajax"/>
                <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc.Html"/>
                <add namespace="System.Web.Routing"/>
                <add namespace="System.Linq"/>
                <add namespace="System.Collections.Generic"/>
            </namespaces>

CodeDemon -- Open Source Code Reviews -- Collaborative & Web Based

I have a new CodePlex project!

It is called CodeDemon and is open source.

CodeDemonis a collaborative, web-based code review system that enables online reviews of changes made in Subversion or other revision control. Integration with other SCM and Issue Trackers planned.

Using CodeDemon for your reviews eliminates paper work, ensures that defects, comments and decisions are recorded in an audit-friendly database, and provides a high performance (AJAX) workspace for actually performing code inspections.