TFS Branch History - New feature in Rosario

I haven't told you about CodePlex project I have started more than a year ago.

It called:

TFS Follow Branch History Add-in for VS

The goal of this project is to fulfill the missing feature of full branch history of items in TFS explorer GUI.

Why do I tell you about it?
Because it's going to become obsolete when Rosario comes:

 

Microsoft has released History Improvements Feature Specification document.

This feature actually complete all the missing functionality in TS 2005.

 

There are some more Feature Specification docs available currently:

Add to Source Control

Improved Label Dialog

if you have comments or questions on those docs, the TFS team want you to send them in Technology Area - Team Foundation Server Forum.

Hope it will help you get ready to Rosario.

Dept Payment (Build Failure Email Alert)

Almost a year ago I told you about the Build Failure Alert system which I have build:
Team Build - Failure Email Alert - Make it Actually work for you

I have promise some code samples.

So here it is:

Build Failure Email - Code Sample

what MIGHT be in .NET 2.0 SP1

UPDATE: The missing article was published!!! read my comment

I still wait Microsoft to release a document with list of fixes and changes in SP1.
but Microsoft hasn't answered yet... So we should do the job instead.

Here is a list of Hotfix knowledge base (KB) articles which contain (by Google search) the sentence:

"we recommend that you wait for the next .NET Framework 2.0 service pack that contains this hotfix"

This is by no means a guarantee that those hotfixes were actually fixed in SP1, it's only my best effort to predict what may entered into the service pack.

Actually, this is a list of all (I hope) the hotfixes microsoft publish for .NET 2.0.
I wish Microsoft at least had made an aggregation page like this.

Hope it will help someone out there.

 

UPDATE: The missing article was published!!! read my comment

 

915088
FIX: The .NET Framework 2.0 Thread.IsThreadPoolThread property always returns a value of false, and the SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services log file grows uncontrollably

919804
The Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 client closes a persistent connection to a Web server when you try to access a forbidden resource from the Web server that returns an HTTP 403 status code

921217
FIX: A deadlock may occur when you use COM interop cross-context interface marshaling in the .NET Framework 2.0

936707
FIX: A .NET Framework 2.0 managed application that has an Authenticode signature takes longer than usual to start

921968
FIX: The .NET Framework 2.0 does not serialize the AttributeGroup schema elements in the correct namespace

913047
FIX: A .NET Framework 2.0-based application may crash when you use HTTPS to download managed code from a source server computer

937780
FIX: Error message when you use a smart card CSP together with the "RSACryptoServiceProvider.SignData" method in the .NET Framework 2.0

924895
FIX: An application that is based on the .NET Framework 2.0 may crash unexpectedly

919514
FIX: When you use the MSIL Assembler in the .NET Framework 2.0 to generate a PE file from the MSIL code, the PE file may close unexpectedly, and you may receive an access violation error message

934839
FIX: You may receive an exception when you browse a .NET Framework 2.0 ASP.NET Web application

941386
FIX: Error message when you run an ASP.NET 2.0 Web application that is built on the .NET Framework 2.0 after you install the MS07-040 security update: "Type 'System.Web.HttpHeaderCollection' is not marked as serializable"

942086
FIX: Error message when you run an ASP.NET 2.0 Web application that is built on the .NET Framework 2.0: "The constructor to deserialize an object of type '<custom object>' was not found"

912884
FIX: Out of memory exceptions may occur when you run an application that is built by using the .NET Framework 2.0 in a high-load environment

928870
FIX: An exception is not handled correctly when you use a try-catch block to handle an exception from multi-threads in the .NET Framework 2.0

917882
FIX: A synchronized method that has security callouts may not save a return value after control returns to the calling function in an application that is built by using the 64-bit version of the .NET Framework 2.0

925076
FIX: Error message when you use the System.Xml.Serialization.XmlRootAttribute.Namespace property for an anonymous Web Service type in the .NET Framework 2.0

942027
FIX: You may notice that the memory load is very high when you run an application that is built on the .NET Framework 2.0

929425
FIX: A memory leak may occur when you call a C DLL from a C# class that includes strings in the .NET Framework 2.0

922935
FIX: Message when you try to start a ClickOnce program in the .NET Framework 2.0: "Do you want to install this application?"

924289
FIX: The application process may unexpectedly stop when you run a managed application that is based on the .NET Framework 2.0, or the server may shut down when you run managed code in SQL Server 2005

927579
FIX: The System.Net.Security.SslStream class always calls the InitializeSecurityContext function by using only one input buffer in the .NET Framework 2.0

938276
FIX: The # Induced GC performance counter value increases quickly and CPU usage becomes high when you run an ASP.NET 2.0 Web application that is built on the .NET Framework 2.0

932602
FIX: You may experience a decrease in the performance of a .NET Framework 2.0-based application when you call the System.Web.UI.MobileControls.Style.GetValue method many times

934334
FIX: A memory leak occurs when a managed application uses a platform invoke call to call an unmanaged function in the .NET Framework 2.0

928563
FIX: The System.Net.HttpWebRequest class may not maintain a persistent connection to a proxy in the .NET Framework 2.0

921118
FIX: Error message when you try to compile a large intermediate language file by using the Ilasm.exe tool in the .NET Framework 2.0: "Duplicate global label '_MF_LIT_530223'"

913297
FIX: Error message when you try to run a Web application that was built by using the .NET Framework 2.0: "Overwhelming changes have occurred"

942084
FIX: Error message if you use the "CspParameters" class to programmatically set a password in an application that is built on the .NET Framework 2.0: "Incorrect PIN"

926595
FIX: Server garbage collector threads may enter an endless loop condition in the .NET Framework 2.0

923562
Error message when you use the System.Data.OleDb namespace in the .NET Framework 2.0 to retrieve data from the OLE DB Provider for SQL Server: "ICommandText interface is not supported by the 'SQLOLEDB' provider"

917447
FIX: An access violation may occur when a .NET Framework 2.0-based application calls the IWebProxy.GetProxy method

917952
FIX: Error message when you try to install a ClickOnce application that you created in the .NET Framework 2.0 onto a client computer that is configured to use a proxy server: "Proxy authentication required"

913382
FIX: Windows Error Reporting crashes when the Sos.dll file is loaded in memory in the .NET Framework 2.0

913766
FIX: A DateTime column that does not contain any data is incorrectly represented by a DateTime.MinValue field when a .NET Framework 2.0 DataSet object is deserialized on a client computer

928569
FIX: The first CLR thread pool worker thread is never initialized for COM+ in an ASP.NET Web application that is configured to run under the .NET Framework 2.0

918166
FIX: You may receive an error message when you try to generate a Web reference for a Web service by using the Wsdl.exe tool in the .NET Framework 2.0

933905
FIX: Multiple cookies may be merged under one Set-Cookie header in the HTTP response when a .NET Framework 2.0 application calls the "HttpListenerResponse.SetCookie" method

942708
FIX: You may receive a "SerializationException" exception when you use a class that implements the "INotifyPropertyChanged" interface in an application that is built on the .NET Framework 2.0

913753
FIX: You only receive notification for the first e-mail message when you send multiple e-mail messages by using the System.Net.Mail namespace in a .NET Framework 2.0-based application

917507
FIX: JIT compilation may take much longer when you run a .NET Framework 2.0 application on a 64-bit computer

943598
FIX: Error message when you try to run an ASP.NET 2.0 Web application if you do not associate the My_Computer_Zone code group with the "full trust" permission set: "Server Application Unavailable"

922674
FIX: The OracleDataReader.GetChars method may return the incorrect data in the .NET Framework 2.0

923781
FIX: You may encounter a System.NullReferenceException exception when you call a COM interface method in the .NET Framework 2.0

939731
FIX: A memory leak may occur when you create and then delete Windows form control objects in an application that is built on the .NET Framework 2.0

915980
FIX: You may receive a "security exception" error message on a Windows 2000-based or Windows Server 2003-based computer that is running an ASP.NET 2.0-based application

917493
FIX: Internet Explorer may freeze when you click a link to start a .NET Framework 2.0 client application in Internet Explorer and another file download is already in progress

944100
FIX: You cannot manipulate the data table that is used a transaction in a .NET Framework 2.0-based Web project when you run a long-running stored procedure or an SQL script in the project

937320
FIX: Error message when you call the "System.Xml.Xsl.XslTransform.Transform" method two times in a .NET Framework 2.0-based application: "Circular reference in the definition of variable <variable name>"

939783
FIX: The value of the ImeMode property automatically changes to the Off value in the .NET Framework 2.0

934593
FIX: Random values may be written to the float parameters of some functions in a custom application that you create by using the .NET Framework 2.0

915430
FIX: Not all paths that are specified in the DEVPATH environment variable will be considered by the .NET binding infrastructure (fusion) in the .NET Framework 2.0

916209
FIX: Parentheses may be added around every letter when you type a line of code in the Visual Basic 2005 Code Editor on a computer that is running the .NET Framework 2.0

937460
FIX: You cannot use the TAB key to change the focus in a .NET Framework 2.0-based Windows Forms application that dynamically changes binding sources

940104
FIX: Error message when you use an application that is built on the .NET Framework 2.0 to run a query: "Object reference not set to an instance of an object"

923325
FIX: When you use the Native Image Generator (Ngen.exe) in the .NET Framework 2.0, the size of the stack frames increases significantly

939670
FIX: Error message when a client application that is built on the .NET Framework 2.0 sends a request to a server that is running Windows Communication Foundation: "HTTP/1.1 500 Internal Server Error"

936464
FIX: A client cannot determine whether a chunked HTTP response is completed when the connection is closed before the response is completely sent to the client

936757
FIX: A deadlock may occur when two threads call a fusion API to access the same assembly in the .NET Framework 2.0

941078
FIX: The performance of the drawing operation decreases in a Windows Forms application that was built on the .NET Framework 2.0

918181
FIX: You receive a ThreadAbortException exception in an ASP.NET Web application that is based in the .NET Framework 2.0 when the Async page directive property is set to true

940900
FIX: You receive the NullReferenceException exception when you call the String.IsNullOrEmpty function in an application that is built on the .NET Framework 2.0

932536
FIX: Error message when you record a Web test in Visual Studio 2005 Team System Test Edition: "Request Failed: Index and length must refer to a location within the string"

917833
FIX: JScript .NET script code that is running in a child scope cannot access variables that are declared in the parent scope in the .NET Framework 2.0

939525
FIX: Error message in a .NET remoting application when you use IPv6 addresses: "A socket operation was attempted to an unreachable host"

917752
FIX: The OdbcConnection object does not report an error when you specify a transaction isolation level that is not supported by the data source in the .NET Framework 2.0

940932
FIX: The System.Data.Index.CompareRecords method generates a System.NullReferenceException exception when you try to use code to modify a record in a data table in a .NET Framework 2.0-based application

913616
FIX: Error message when you try to send e-mail by using the System.Net.Mail.SmtpClient class in a Visual Studio 2005-based application

922271
FIX: You may receive multiple error messages and experience a significant delay when you use the MSBuild.exe tool and the .NET Framework 2.0 to build a Visual C# or Visual C++ solution

935287
FIX: A multipart/mixed MIME part is added unnecessarily when you use the System.Net.Mail namespace to send an e-mail message in the .NET Framework 2.0

943175
FIX: The XmlSerializer class generates an unexpected result when you use the XmlSerializer class to serialize the numeration attribute in the .NET Framework 2.0

922531
FIX: Error message when you check in files in Visual Studio 2005 Team System: "Attempted to read or write protected memory"

Where is the "List of bugs" document for .NET 2.0 SP1 ???

I just don't understand.

Why can't I find the obvious needed document of what was changed in the newly released .Net 2.0 Service Pack 1?

If you look at the download page of .NET 1.1 SP1 you'll see in the "Related Resources" section a link to SP1 Knowledge Base Article.

so why on earth is the same doc missing from the download page of .NET 2.0 SP1 ?

My guess? It is not ready yet.

 

I went to our R&D Manager and ask him whether we would be able to install SP1 in our next release. So he asked me: "what is in this service pack?". And I answered:

"Gee boss, I wish I know..."

 

You there over Microsoft!

you won't be able to say RTM (I prefer the polite version), that is if you don't actually supply the manual...

 

P.S.

I will be glad to update this blog with a link and an apology if this doc exists in the time of writing and it is just me who just can't find it.
(it happens to men all the time: It is Proven: Men See Six Time Worse Than Women)

UPDATE: The missing article was published!!! read my comment

.Net 2.0 SP1 - not supported on Vista ???

I have download Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Service Pack 1 (x86).

As you can see, it says it support Windows Vista.

But when I try to install it on my Vista Ultimate (32 bit) - I get:

So what is going on here?

Update

I have decided to try to install .net 3.5 (as it contains the .net 2.0 SP1)
And guess what:

So the stand alone of 2.0 SP1 fails, but as part of 3.5 - it works... strange.

Another update

I have submitted a comment on Doug Stewart's blog regarding this problem, and he was nice enough to give a meaningful answer:

Because .NET 2.0 is a built in component of the operating system in Windows Vista rather than something you install separately, any updates use a completely different installer mechanism.

See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/934307 for more details.

Such updates come as MSU files.

At this time we have not released a 2.0 SP1 MSU.

The .NET 3.5 install does, however, include the update to raise 2.0 on Vista to the SP1 level so that 3.5 can install and function correctly.

So now I just wish Microsoft will update their download page about supporting Vista...

Visual Studio 2008 is here!

as for Neil Kidd blog - VS 2008 is already here.

I'm in my way to download it.

Hope to see Rosario too as fast as they can...

Live Search Webmaster Center - Verification Error

I read MSDN Blogs.

And so I found out this new service "Live Search Webmaster Center".
So I wanted to play with it on my current Blog Site.

This service required you to prove you are the owner of the site (make sense).
In fact "Google Analytics" do the same.

I have choose to validate using the Meta Tag.
But I got:

Verification error
We weren't able to authenticate the website

When I look at the Source (view source) I see that BlogSpot played a little with my Meta tag:

the inverted commas were replaced by single apostrophe, and the order of attributes ("name" and "content") was replaced too.

from:

<meta name="msvalidate.01" content="here comes the unique code" />

to:

<meta content='here comes the unique code' name='msvalidate.01'/>

 

I don't think such minor changes should have break the validation.

Now, the other validation way is to put an XML file in the website's root.
But I don't think it is possible here in BlogSpot.

Help is needed...

Same IIS settings? Not any more!

Are you using "Web Application Project" in Visual Studio 2005?
(yes, the same VS project type which was added as an add-in and later as a part of the Service Pack 1)

If you do, you probably know this screen shot:

Now, if you work with Source Control system you had a problem setting the project to use IIS Web Server. why? because those settings were kept in the .proj file which was saved in the Source Control System.

What the problem with that? it means all team members should have the same Virtual Directory or Websites.

Not any more.

Microsoft published an hotfix (kb 942844) which lets you move this information from the .proj file to the .user file

As you probably know, the .user file is not checked in to the source control, so each user will have its own setting.

You'll need to manually change the .proj file to set SaveServerSettingsInUserFile property (which the hotfix adds) to true (see the kb for exact syntax).

Be sure that all group's developers install it before changing this - as I guess they'll get into problems if they get the updated .proj file without the hotfix installed.

The big question is - When

This week Microsoft announced that "Visual Studio 2008" will be released by the end of this month (November 2007).

And now begins the real question: When will Visual Studio code name "Rosario" will be released...

Why do I take it as the real question?

Because also VS 2008 does give you a lot of new Development & Testing options and upgrade the Build Integration ability  - its really doesn't step you forward regarding Application Life cycle Management.

What do I miss the most:

1. Built in Hierarchy between work items.
2. Word Integration for Requirements Management
3. Real Integration with Project Server (with the Hierarchy from the first bullet)

You can, of course, develop those abilities yourself, or use open source & third parties tools.

in fact Steve Lange discussed some of those options in his extremely clear article series about Requirements Management in TFS.

And for Hierarchy - you can use Loïc Baumann's Work Item Creator application, or Custom Work Item Hierarchy on CodePlex.

So why is the Rosario's Release date so critical? because it influence directly on the decision whether to implement / buy third parties tools or to wait...

Do you know something about the scheduled release? if you do (and of course allowed to tell) please post back.

Registered with Technorati

So I found an interesting Blog Search Engine called Technorati.
I will give it a try

What do you think about it?