Deploying a Windows Service with a Visual Studio "Setup and Deployment" project

Installing Windows Services using the “Setup and Deployment” template and creating a “Setup” project is significantly superior to using the “Installutil” command-line utility, but the steps involved in setting up a windows service to install using one of these projects can be a little involved.

Here is the most concise description available on-line:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/zt39148a.aspx#4803

Please note that the section that I always get hung up on is adding the service to the "custom actions" section of the setup and deployment project:

To add a custom action to the setup project

1. In Solution Explorer, right-click the setup project, point to View, and then click Custom Actions.

   The Custom Actions editor appears.

2. In the Custom Actions editor, right-click the Custom Actions node and click Add Custom Action.

   The Select Item in Project dialog box appears.

3. Double-click the Application Folder in the list to open it, select Primary Output from MyNewService (Active), and click OK.

   The primary output is added to all four nodes of the custom actions — Install, Commit, Rollback, and Uninstall.

4. In Solution Explorer, right-click the MyServiceSetup project and click Build.

This step is not obvious at all, which is why I consistently miss it (and why, from Googling around, it looks like many other people miss it too).

Renaming executable application name in Visual Studio 2008

Before I forget again ... to change the name of an application executable in VS2008 (be it a forms application or console application), don't try changing the assembly configuration file: it won't work.

You need to select the project, choose "Properties", and then change the assembly name under the "Application" tab.

Great SPROC for generating INSERT statements from table rows in Transact SQL

As I move between my development lab at home and the devlab at work I often need to update tables of test data or code tables between the two sites. Because both sites have the same databases and tables, I don't feel like moving the entire database, just the contents of certain tables.

This is a sproc from http://vyaskn.tripod.com/code/generate_inserts_2005.txt which is extremely useful for this sort of thing. You specify the table and it generates a series of INSERT statements for each of the data rows in the table. You can save the whole thing out into a text file or edit it down as needed to insert specific rows of interest.

======

SET NOCOUNT ON
GO
PRINT 'Using Master database'
USE master
GO
PRINT 'Checking for the existence of this procedure'
IF (SELECT OBJECT_ID('sp_generate_inserts','P')) IS NOT NULL --means, the procedure already exists
BEGIN
PRINT 'Procedure already exists. So, dropping it'
DROP PROC sp_generate_inserts
END
GO
CREATE PROC sp_generate_inserts
(
@table_name varchar(776), -- The table/view for which the INSERT statements will be generated using the existing data
@target_table varchar(776) = NULL, -- Use this parameter to specify a different table name into which the data will be inserted
@include_column_list bit = 1, -- Use this parameter to include/ommit column list in the generated INSERT statement
@from varchar(800) = NULL, -- Use this parameter to filter the rows based on a filter condition (using WHERE)
@include_timestamp bit = 0, -- Specify 1 for this parameter, if you want to include the TIMESTAMP/ROWVERSION column's data in the INSERT statement
@debug_mode bit = 0, -- If @debug_mode is set to 1, the SQL statements constructed by this procedure will be printed for later examination
@owner varchar(64) = NULL, -- Use this parameter if you are not the owner of the table
@ommit_images bit = 0, -- Use this parameter to generate INSERT statements by omitting the 'image' columns
@ommit_identity bit = 0, -- Use this parameter to ommit the identity columns
@top int = NULL, -- Use this parameter to generate INSERT statements only for the TOP n rows
@cols_to_include varchar(8000) = NULL, -- List of columns to be included in the INSERT statement
@cols_to_exclude varchar(8000) = NULL, -- List of columns to be excluded from the INSERT statement
@disable_constraints bit = 0, -- When 1, disables foreign key constraints and enables them after the INSERT statements
@ommit_computed_cols bit = 0 -- When 1, computed columns will not be included in the INSERT statement

)
AS
BEGIN
/***********************************************************************************************************
Procedure: sp_generate_inserts (Build 22)
(Copyright © 2002 Narayana Vyas Kondreddi. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: To generate INSERT statements from existing data.
These INSERTS can be executed to regenerate the data at some other location.
This procedure is also useful to create a database setup, where in you can
script your data along with your table definitions.
Written by: Narayana Vyas Kondreddi
http://vyaskn.tripod.com
Acknowledgements:
Divya Kalra -- For beta testing
Mark Charsley -- For reporting a problem with scripting uniqueidentifier columns with NULL values
Artur Zeygman -- For helping me simplify a bit of code for handling non-dbo owned tables
Joris Laperre -- For reporting a regression bug in handling text/ntext columns
Tested on: SQL Server 7.0 and SQL Server 2000 and SQL Server 2005
Date created: January 17th 2001 21:52 GMT
Date modified: May 1st 2002 19:50 GMT
Email: vyaskn@hotmail.com
NOTE: This procedure may not work with tables with too many columns.
Results can be unpredictable with huge text columns or SQL Server 2000's sql_variant data types
Whenever possible, Use @include_column_list parameter to ommit column list in the INSERT statement, for better results
IMPORTANT: This procedure is not tested with internation data (Extended characters or Unicode). If needed
you might want to convert the datatypes of character variables in this procedure to their respective unicode counterparts
like nchar and nvarchar
ALSO NOTE THAT THIS PROCEDURE IS NOT UPDATED TO WORK WITH NEW DATA TYPES INTRODUCED IN SQL SERVER 2005 / YUKON

Example 1: To generate INSERT statements for table 'titles':

EXEC sp_generate_inserts 'titles'
Example 2: To ommit the column list in the INSERT statement: (Column list is included by default)
IMPORTANT: If you have too many columns, you are advised to ommit column list, as shown below,
to avoid erroneous results

EXEC sp_generate_inserts 'titles', @include_column_list = 0
Example 3: To generate INSERT statements for 'titlesCopy' table from 'titles' table:
EXEC sp_generate_inserts 'titles', 'titlesCopy'
Example 4: To generate INSERT statements for 'titles' table for only those titles
which contain the word 'Computer' in them:
NOTE: Do not complicate the FROM or WHERE clause here. It's assumed that you are good with T-SQL if you are using this parameter
EXEC sp_generate_inserts 'titles', @from = "from titles where title like '%Computer%'"
Example 5: To specify that you want to include TIMESTAMP column's data as well in the INSERT statement:
(By default TIMESTAMP column's data is not scripted)
EXEC sp_generate_inserts 'titles', @include_timestamp = 1
Example 6: To print the debug information:

EXEC sp_generate_inserts 'titles', @debug_mode = 1
Example 7: If you are not the owner of the table, use @owner parameter to specify the owner name
To use this option, you must have SELECT permissions on that table
EXEC sp_generate_inserts Nickstable, @owner = 'Nick'
Example 8: To generate INSERT statements for the rest of the columns excluding images
When using this otion, DO NOT set @include_column_list parameter to 0.
EXEC sp_generate_inserts imgtable, @ommit_images = 1
Example 9: To generate INSERT statements excluding (ommiting) IDENTITY columns:
(By default IDENTITY columns are included in the INSERT statement)
EXEC sp_generate_inserts mytable, @ommit_identity = 1
Example 10: To generate INSERT statements for the TOP 10 rows in the table:

EXEC sp_generate_inserts mytable, @top = 10
Example 11: To generate INSERT statements with only those columns you want:

EXEC sp_generate_inserts titles, @cols_to_include = "'title','title_id','au_id'"
Example 12: To generate INSERT statements by omitting certain columns:

EXEC sp_generate_inserts titles, @cols_to_exclude = "'title','title_id','au_id'"
Example 13: To avoid checking the foreign key constraints while loading data with INSERT statements:

EXEC sp_generate_inserts titles, @disable_constraints = 1
Example 14: To exclude computed columns from the INSERT statement:
EXEC sp_generate_inserts MyTable, @ommit_computed_cols = 1
***********************************************************************************************************/
SET NOCOUNT ON
--Making sure user only uses either @cols_to_include or @cols_to_exclude
IF ((@cols_to_include IS NOT NULL) AND (@cols_to_exclude IS NOT NULL))
BEGIN
RAISERROR('Use either @cols_to_include or @cols_to_exclude. Do not use both the parameters at once',16,1)
RETURN -1 --Failure. Reason: Both @cols_to_include and @cols_to_exclude parameters are specified
END
--Making sure the @cols_to_include and @cols_to_exclude parameters are receiving values in proper format
IF ((@cols_to_include IS NOT NULL) AND (PATINDEX('''%''',@cols_to_include) = 0))
BEGIN
RAISERROR('Invalid use of @cols_to_include property',16,1)
PRINT 'Specify column names surrounded by single quotes and separated by commas'
PRINT 'Eg: EXEC sp_generate_inserts titles, @cols_to_include = "''title_id'',''title''"'
RETURN -1 --Failure. Reason: Invalid use of @cols_to_include property
END
IF ((@cols_to_exclude IS NOT NULL) AND (PATINDEX('''%''',@cols_to_exclude) = 0))
BEGIN
RAISERROR('Invalid use of @cols_to_exclude property',16,1)
PRINT 'Specify column names surrounded by single quotes and separated by commas'
PRINT 'Eg: EXEC sp_generate_inserts titles, @cols_to_exclude = "''title_id'',''title''"'
RETURN -1 --Failure. Reason: Invalid use of @cols_to_exclude property
END
--Checking to see if the database name is specified along wih the table name
--Your database context should be local to the table for which you want to generate INSERT statements
--specifying the database name is not allowed
IF (PARSENAME(@table_name,3)) IS NOT NULL
BEGIN
RAISERROR('Do not specify the database name. Be in the required database and just specify the table name.',16,1)
RETURN -1 --Failure. Reason: Database name is specified along with the table name, which is not allowed
END
--Checking for the existence of 'user table' or 'view'
--This procedure is not written to work on system tables
--To script the data in system tables, just create a view on the system tables and script the view instead
IF @owner IS NULL
BEGIN
IF ((OBJECT_ID(@table_name,'U') IS NULL) AND (OBJECT_ID(@table_name,'V') IS NULL))
BEGIN
RAISERROR('User table or view not found.',16,1)
PRINT 'You may see this error, if you are not the owner of this table or view. In that case use @owner parameter to specify the owner name.'
PRINT 'Make sure you have SELECT permission on that table or view.'
RETURN -1 --Failure. Reason: There is no user table or view with this name
END
END
ELSE
BEGIN
IF NOT EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES WHERE TABLE_NAME = @table_name AND (TABLE_TYPE = 'BASE TABLE' OR TABLE_TYPE = 'VIEW') AND TABLE_SCHEMA = @owner)
BEGIN
RAISERROR('User table or view not found.',16,1)
PRINT 'You may see this error, if you are not the owner of this table. In that case use @owner parameter to specify the owner name.'
PRINT 'Make sure you have SELECT permission on that table or view.'
RETURN -1 --Failure. Reason: There is no user table or view with this name
END
END
--Variable declarations
DECLARE @Column_ID int,
@Column_List varchar(8000),
@Column_Name varchar(128),
@Start_Insert varchar(786),
@Data_Type varchar(128),
@Actual_Values varchar(8000), --This is the string that will be finally executed to generate INSERT statements
@IDN varchar(128) --Will contain the IDENTITY column's name in the table
--Variable Initialization
SET @IDN = ''
SET @Column_ID = 0
SET @Column_Name = ''
SET @Column_List = ''
SET @Actual_Values = ''
IF @owner IS NULL
BEGIN
SET @Start_Insert = 'INSERT INTO ' + '[' + RTRIM(COALESCE(@target_table,@table_name)) + ']'
END
ELSE
BEGIN
SET @Start_Insert = 'INSERT ' + '[' + LTRIM(RTRIM(@owner)) + '].' + '[' + RTRIM(COALESCE(@target_table,@table_name)) + ']'
END
--To get the first column's ID
SELECT @Column_ID = MIN(ORDINAL_POSITION)
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS (NOLOCK)
WHERE TABLE_NAME = @table_name AND
(@owner IS NULL OR TABLE_SCHEMA = @owner)
--Loop through all the columns of the table, to get the column names and their data types
WHILE @Column_ID IS NOT NULL
BEGIN
SELECT @Column_Name = QUOTENAME(COLUMN_NAME),
@Data_Type = DATA_TYPE
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS (NOLOCK)
WHERE ORDINAL_POSITION = @Column_ID AND
TABLE_NAME = @table_name AND
(@owner IS NULL OR TABLE_SCHEMA = @owner)
IF @cols_to_include IS NOT NULL --Selecting only user specified columns
BEGIN
IF CHARINDEX( '''' + SUBSTRING(@Column_Name,2,LEN(@Column_Name)-2) + '''',@cols_to_include) = 0
BEGIN
GOTO SKIP_LOOP
END
END
IF @cols_to_exclude IS NOT NULL --Selecting only user specified columns
BEGIN
IF CHARINDEX( '''' + SUBSTRING(@Column_Name,2,LEN(@Column_Name)-2) + '''',@cols_to_exclude) <> 0
BEGIN
GOTO SKIP_LOOP
END
END
--Making sure to output SET IDENTITY_INSERT ON/OFF in case the table has an IDENTITY column
IF (SELECT COLUMNPROPERTY( OBJECT_ID(QUOTENAME(COALESCE(@owner,USER_NAME())) + '.' + @table_name),SUBSTRING(@Column_Name,2,LEN(@Column_Name) - 2),'IsIdentity')) = 1
BEGIN
IF @ommit_identity = 0 --Determing whether to include or exclude the IDENTITY column
SET @IDN = @Column_Name
ELSE
GOTO SKIP_LOOP
END

--Making sure whether to output computed columns or not
IF @ommit_computed_cols = 1
BEGIN
IF (SELECT COLUMNPROPERTY( OBJECT_ID(QUOTENAME(COALESCE(@owner,USER_NAME())) + '.' + @table_name),SUBSTRING(@Column_Name,2,LEN(@Column_Name) - 2),'IsComputed')) = 1
BEGIN
GOTO SKIP_LOOP
END
END

--Tables with columns of IMAGE data type are not supported for obvious reasons
IF(@Data_Type in ('image'))
BEGIN
IF (@ommit_images = 0)
BEGIN
RAISERROR('Tables with image columns are not supported.',16,1)
PRINT 'Use @ommit_images = 1 parameter to generate INSERTs for the rest of the columns.'
PRINT 'DO NOT ommit Column List in the INSERT statements. If you ommit column list using @include_column_list=0, the generated INSERTs will fail.'
RETURN -1 --Failure. Reason: There is a column with image data type
END
ELSE
BEGIN
GOTO SKIP_LOOP
END
END
--Determining the data type of the column and depending on the data type, the VALUES part of
--the INSERT statement is generated. Care is taken to handle columns with NULL values. Also
--making sure, not to lose any data from flot, real, money, smallmomey, datetime columns
SET @Actual_Values = @Actual_Values +
CASE
WHEN @Data_Type IN ('char','varchar','nchar','nvarchar')
THEN
'COALESCE('''''''' + REPLACE(RTRIM(' + @Column_Name + '),'''''''','''''''''''')+'''''''',''NULL'')'
WHEN @Data_Type IN ('datetime','smalldatetime')
THEN
'COALESCE('''''''' + RTRIM(CONVERT(char,' + @Column_Name + ',109))+'''''''',''NULL'')'
WHEN @Data_Type IN ('uniqueidentifier')
THEN
'COALESCE('''''''' + REPLACE(CONVERT(char(255),RTRIM(' + @Column_Name + ')),'''''''','''''''''''')+'''''''',''NULL'')'
WHEN @Data_Type IN ('text','ntext')
THEN
'COALESCE('''''''' + REPLACE(CONVERT(char(8000),' + @Column_Name + '),'''''''','''''''''''')+'''''''',''NULL'')'
WHEN @Data_Type IN ('binary','varbinary')
THEN
'COALESCE(RTRIM(CONVERT(char,' + 'CONVERT(int,' + @Column_Name + '))),''NULL'')'
WHEN @Data_Type IN ('timestamp','rowversion')
THEN
CASE
WHEN @include_timestamp = 0
THEN
'''DEFAULT'''
ELSE
'COALESCE(RTRIM(CONVERT(char,' + 'CONVERT(int,' + @Column_Name + '))),''NULL'')'
END
WHEN @Data_Type IN ('float','real','money','smallmoney')
THEN
'COALESCE(LTRIM(RTRIM(' + 'CONVERT(char, ' + @Column_Name + ',2)' + ')),''NULL'')'
ELSE
'COALESCE(LTRIM(RTRIM(' + 'CONVERT(char, ' + @Column_Name + ')' + ')),''NULL'')'
END + '+' + ''',''' + ' + '

--Generating the column list for the INSERT statement
SET @Column_List = @Column_List + @Column_Name + ','
SKIP_LOOP: --The label used in GOTO
SELECT @Column_ID = MIN(ORDINAL_POSITION)
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS (NOLOCK)
WHERE TABLE_NAME = @table_name AND
ORDINAL_POSITION > @Column_ID AND
(@owner IS NULL OR TABLE_SCHEMA = @owner)
--Loop ends here!
END
--To get rid of the extra characters that got concatenated during the last run through the loop
SET @Column_List = LEFT(@Column_List,len(@Column_List) - 1)
SET @Actual_Values = LEFT(@Actual_Values,len(@Actual_Values) - 6)
IF LTRIM(@Column_List) = ''
BEGIN
RAISERROR('No columns to select. There should at least be one column to generate the output',16,1)
RETURN -1 --Failure. Reason: Looks like all the columns are ommitted using the @cols_to_exclude parameter
END
--Forming the final string that will be executed, to output the INSERT statements
IF (@include_column_list <> 0)
BEGIN
SET @Actual_Values =
'SELECT ' +
CASE WHEN @top IS NULL OR @top < include_column_list =" 0)" actual_values =" 'SELECT" debug_mode ="1"> '')
BEGIN
PRINT 'SET IDENTITY_INSERT ' + QUOTENAME(COALESCE(@owner,USER_NAME())) + '.' + QUOTENAME(@table_name) + ' ON'
PRINT 'GO'
PRINT ''
END
IF @disable_constraints = 1 AND (OBJECT_ID(QUOTENAME(COALESCE(@owner,USER_NAME())) + '.' + @table_name, 'U') IS NOT NULL)
BEGIN
IF @owner IS NULL
BEGIN
SELECT 'ALTER TABLE ' + QUOTENAME(COALESCE(@target_table, @table_name)) + ' NOCHECK CONSTRAINT ALL' AS '--Code to disable constraints temporarily'
END
ELSE
BEGIN
SELECT 'ALTER TABLE ' + QUOTENAME(@owner) + '.' + QUOTENAME(COALESCE(@target_table, @table_name)) + ' NOCHECK CONSTRAINT ALL' AS '--Code to disable constraints temporarily'
END
PRINT 'GO'
END
PRINT ''
PRINT 'PRINT ''Inserting values into ' + '[' + RTRIM(COALESCE(@target_table,@table_name)) + ']' + ''''
--All the hard work pays off here!!! You'll get your INSERT statements, when the next line executes!
EXEC (@Actual_Values)
PRINT 'PRINT ''Done'''
PRINT ''
IF @disable_constraints = 1 AND (OBJECT_ID(QUOTENAME(COALESCE(@owner,USER_NAME())) + '.' + @table_name, 'U') IS NOT NULL)
BEGIN
IF @owner IS NULL
BEGIN
SELECT 'ALTER TABLE ' + QUOTENAME(COALESCE(@target_table, @table_name)) + ' CHECK CONSTRAINT ALL' AS '--Code to enable the previously disabled constraints'
END
ELSE
BEGIN
SELECT 'ALTER TABLE ' + QUOTENAME(@owner) + '.' + QUOTENAME(COALESCE(@target_table, @table_name)) + ' CHECK CONSTRAINT ALL' AS '--Code to enable the previously disabled constraints'
END
PRINT 'GO'
END
PRINT ''
IF (@IDN <> '')
BEGIN
PRINT 'SET IDENTITY_INSERT ' + QUOTENAME(COALESCE(@owner,USER_NAME())) + '.' + QUOTENAME(@table_name) + ' OFF'
PRINT 'GO'
END
PRINT 'SET NOCOUNT OFF'
SET NOCOUNT OFF
RETURN 0 --Success. We are done!
END
GO
PRINT 'Created the procedure'
GO
--Mark procedure as system object
EXEC sys.sp_MS_marksystemobject sp_generate_inserts
GO
PRINT 'Granting EXECUTE permission on sp_generate_inserts to all users'
GRANT EXEC ON sp_generate_inserts TO public
SET NOCOUNT OFF
GO
PRINT 'Done'

Debugging Exchange PowerShell scripts in PowerShell 2

I'm fixing a number of PowerShell v1.0 scripts to get them to work underPowerShell v2.0 and found the basic script editor/debugger that comes with PSv2, "ISE."

It's a lightweight version of PowerGUI (which I never spent enough time with) that has pretty decent debugger features.

All of the scripts I'm upgrading make calls to the Exchange Admin extensions and I got stymied getting the debugger to load the Exchange 2007 Admin extensions. I kept looking for an "options" feature or some other way to set up a reference to the extensions through menu item choices on ISE but couldn't find anything appropriate.

A quick question to our Exchange admin showed how to get around it: one of the windows in the debugger is a PowerShell script prompt. Just put this in that window:

Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.Exchange.Management.PowerShell.Admin

Very simple. This'll load the extensions and you can then get back to debugging.

Using literal curly braces in "string.Format()" command

I'm developing some code to push PowerShell commands to the PowerShell runtime inside some C# .Net code and wanted to be able to use the string.Format() function to format PowerShell statements. Curly brackets are reserved both by the C# string.Format() function and PowerShell -- for their placeholder functions in C#, for use in iterative functions in PowerShell.

After trying the obvious answer and failing (using "\{" in the formatting string like in a Unix regex expression, e.g. "get-mailbox -identity {0} | %\{$_.name\}"), I tried the trick used by Transact-SQL -- doubling up on the reserved character to mark it as a literal (e.g., "get-mailbox -identity {0} | %{{$_.name}}" -- the first occurrence is a legal placeholder, the second is a literal).

That works.

A Simple Way to Test a Fax Machine

Generally when I've had to test a fax machine connection I've had to call a friend up in an office somewhere and we send test faxes back and forth to make sure my fax machine is working in both directions.

Recently I've found this harder since fewer people I know are using fax machines and often the problem comes up on weekends and late at night when it's hard to reach a friend.

HP offers a test faxback service for this purpose that can be used at any time all by yourself:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00259105&lc=en&cc=us&product=2512008&rule=4965&dlc=

It lets you fax the service and get a response in a few minutes.

Terminal server client / delete key irritation

I've noticed when using a terminal server client session that sometimes the "Delete" key stops working correctly -- pressing it sends a "CTRL-ALT-DEL" to the server, bringing up the "Lock Workstation / Logout / Change Password" dialog box.

You forget how much you use that key when coding until you can't use it, and having it not work and being forced to use the backspace key can be a real drag.

The solution: Press "CTRL-ALT-END". The DEL key will start working again.

Regex Match/Group syntax in .NET

I'm used to doing this in UNIX and there it's a lot easier. But I live in a .NET world.

For handling matching with REGEX you need to use the "Groups" construct of the "Match" object in .NET. An example says it all -- say I'm looking at a string followed (optionally) by an integer:

private Regex regex1 = new Regex (
"([a-zA-Z]+)([0-9]*)",
RegexOptions.IgnoreCase
| RegexOptions.CultureInvariant
| RegexOptions.IgnorePatternWhitespace
| RegexOptions.Compiled
);

This was used for creating a unique name in an Active Directory database -- a name was suggested and, if there's a collision, it takes the name and tacks a number to the end (e.g., "SSMITH" collides; suggest "SSMITH1"). It then checks that one against the Active Directory and if it sense a collision again it breaks it apart and increments the trailing number ... lather, rinse, repeat until a unique name is found. Here's a chunk that indicates the use of REGEX groups in .NET:

// Break current name down into text and integer increment components
Match mc1 = regex1.Match(ProposedSAMAccountName);
ProposedSAMAccountNameText = mc1.Groups[0].Value.ToString();
if (mc1.Groups[2].Length > 0) ProposedSAMAccountIncrement =
Convert.ToInt32(mc1.Groups[2].Value)++;

The first member of the "Groups" collection is the entire matching expression, the second is the first matching group, the third is the second matching group, etc.

This'll be the third time I've wasted an hour re-figuring out something so intuitive in PERL and UNIX. This syntax in .NET just seems awkward, I don't think I'll ever speak it without an accent.

I'll just add this to this cheatsheet because I'm sure this'll come up again.

Simple build versioning in VS2008

Visual Studio 2008 provides a simple build versioning system already built in.

You only need to edit the "AssemblyInfo.cs" file (in the "properties" section of a project) of a project/assembly and reset the entry:

[assembly: AssemblyVersion("1.0.0.0")]

to

[assembly: AssemblyVersion("1.0.*")]

It even describes how to do it in the comment section of the file.

Then you can reference the build version with calls to the assembly object thru reflection like this:

System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetName().Version.ToString()

It'll automatically update the build number after each new build. The updated numbers represent some sort of increment from some date in the past (1/1/2000? See the MSDN article for more details). For our purposes we just needed an incrementing number to show the latest version, so this works fine as a quick fix.

Path to current website directory in ASP.NET

I'm working on a standard name/address web app for permitting users to update their personal information.

The client wants to provide forced-choice options for certain fields in the active directory user object. He gave me some Excel files that I changed to XML files which the dropdown controls on the web form access. For example, he wants people to choose their "Department" field from a fixed list. Simple enough.

To improve the look/feel of the app I needed to have the webpage code to actually read that XML file to do a lookahead and pre-load a dropdown list position, but it was difficult to tell the codebehind code where exactly to look.

The solution was to preface the name of the XML file that I needed to read with the value "Request.PhysicalApplicationPath" -- that points it directly into the directory on the web server.

"An Exchange 2007 Server on which an address list service is active cannot be found" error

Another note to myself ...

This error means that the "Microsoft Exchange System Attendant" service on the Exchange 2007 server has stopped. Restart it and that should solve that particular problem.

Setup project always fails on build in VS2008

When setting up a setup project for a .NET 2.0 windows service in Visual Studio 2008 I ran into a novel problem this morning -- the setup project itself would always fail to build but wouldn't leave any error messages behind.

A Google search turned up a recent complaint about this in StackOverflow (http://stackoverflow.com/questions/847893/visual-studio-setup-and-deployment-build-fails-with-no-errors) but it wasn't exactly on target.

It provided enough clues to give me a workaround -- it seems to be related to the LINQ to SQL add-ins when making the setup project. The temporary answer was to create a new setup project, explicitly making it a .NET 2.0 project, and then try the build.

This made it work fine.

It'd be interesting to try and find a good solution for the problem but this works for now.

Getting JQuery Intellisense working in Visual Studio 2008

People have been using JQuery in Visual Studio successfully for over a year and there are a lot of links on how to set it up, but I thought I'd write myself a few notes on how to do it since I'm finding myself doing it on various machines (work desktop, home desktop, netbook, etc.) over time and need a quick cheat sheet.

1) Get the latest version of jquery from JQuery at http://docs.jquery.com/Downloading_jQuery. As of this writing it's version 1.4.1. Download the "jquery-1.4.1.js" file (the uncompressed version) and the related Visual Studio documentation file, "jquery-1.4.1-vsdoc.js."

2) Make sure you've got SP1 installed on Visual Studio 2008. You can check to see if it's installed by going to the "Help" tab and then the properties menu to check if the service pack has been installed:



















If it isn't installed, you can get it here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=27673c47-b3b5-4c67-bd99-84e525b5ce61&displaylang=en

Note on installing the service pack: Be prepared to give it like 40+ minutes to run, plus have your Visual Studio 2008 release DVD around (or have the install files available somewhere on the hard disk) since it'll be asking for it during the upgrade.

3) Download the hotfix from Microsoft to support Jquery Intellisense:
http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/KB958502/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=1736

4) Test it out with a small JQuery project. Create an ASP.NET web project, then add a "scripts" folder to the project and copy both the JQuery files downloaded earlier ("jquery-1.4.1.js" and "jquery-1.4.1-vsdoc.js") into it; add a "script" section to the ASP.NET markup of the page and add a reference to the JQuery file (see illustration) and type "$" to see if Intellisense is up and working -- :
















5) Typing a period after the dollar sign ("$.") should produce more JQuery Intellisense documentation and indicates that Intellisense and JQuery are now working together fine: