Effective Thoughts

Recently, I delivered a client presentation on SQL Server Reporting Services 2008. There were some follow-ups I thought I’d share: Q. After creating and deploying an .RDL file to Report Manager, later, when I want to modify it, can I bring it back into BIDS? A. Yes. Simply create a new, empty Reporting Services project within BIDS and then Add >> Existing, browse out and open the existing .RDL file. You may need to make some minor edits if you were using a shared data source. Q. Compare Report Builder 2.0 with BIDS. A. Reference this page: http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/report-builder.aspx Q. Compare SSRS 2008 for Standard and Enterprise SQL Server editions. A. Reference this document: http://download.microsoft.com/download/2/D/F/2DF66C0C-FFF2-4F2E-B739-BF4581CEE533/SQLServer2008EnterpriseandStandardFeature%20Compare.pdf Additional, informative article: http://sqlserverpedia.com/wiki/SQL_Server_Standard_and_Enterprise Q. Is there a freely av...

Amidst all the .Net 3.5 SP1 and VSTS 2008 SP1 excitement, Team System Web Access (TSWA) got pushed aside. Not to be left behind, the TSWA team announced their SP1 recently. Installing it this morning, I encountered this error: "Another version of this product is already installed. Installation of this version cannot continue. To configure or remove the existing version of this product, use Add/Remove Programs on the Control Panel." I posted to the forums about this and it turns out one must uninstall first and then re-install. Maybe I'm the odd one out but I can't recall ever uninstalling to apply a service pack. Regardless, here are the steps I followed: 1. Note IIS settings/configuration: 2. From Add/Remove Programs, remove Visual Studio Team System Web Access. Keep all your settings: 3. Kick off the TSWA MSI installer. 4. When you encounter the existing site conflict, configure to leverage/use the existing site and application pool: 5. I chose Windows authenticati...

You've likely read this a dozen times already but Microsoft released several developer service packs yesterday: Downloads: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1 Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Express Editions with SP1 Visual Studio 2008 Team Foundation Server Service Pack 1 .NET Framework 3.5 Enhancements Training Kit Details: Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1 and .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 Team Foundation Server 2008 SP1 Preview VS/VSTS/TFS/.NET 3.5 SP1 is shipping! Team Foundation Installation Guide for Visual Studio Team System 2008 TFS Installation and Administration guides updated for VS 2008 SP1

I have a client migrating to TFS 2008 who was leveraging an old version: 2008 Beta 2. We had difficulty getting the RTM software bits so I ended up extending the license for 30-days. ( previous post ) Well, it expired yesterday. Arg. We finally got the RTM bits and I'm upgrading now. My steps: Follow the uninstall steps to the letter. Get rid of all that old stuff! Backup your existing TFS databases. Kick off the TFS 2008 installation and follow instructions Restart Install everything else you need: Build, Proxy, Explorer, etc. Oddly, the installation utility must be re-executed and these services installed individually. Execute the TFS Best Practices Analyzer (BPA) found within the TFS 2008 Power Tools. (Good how to here on BPA from Richard Hundhausen .) Resolve issues discovered with the BPA tool. My experience (pretty darn good): The databases were updated automatically. I received a "Processor type and speed do not meet recommendations." warning but pushed on...th...

A colleague was just hunting for Code Metrics analysis under VS 2008 Pro. No esta aqui. It's only included with VSTS. Here's an excellent VS 2008 product comparison Rob Caron alerted us to from his blog a few weeks back.