Critical Data - A Safety Net

I felt like mentioning this cause maybe some Folks aren't realizing it.

People might hear about Clouds Services & off-premise data storage; to most average users/consumers would mean little, if anything.

Some people have more than 1 drive or partition in their machine & may or may not know why or what to do w/ it, in terms of data storage & or backing up files.

Some people have external drives & maybe have auto functions doing sensible things @ regular intervals.

Notice I said some people...

Almost all people have data, files, documents, photos, images, that are important to them.

Well, here's a safety net that may not occur to everyone though, it is available to everyone... this one is a bit new on the scene, needs no hardware and doesn't care if your gear does fail, blows up or suffers any catastrophic event... your data will, still, exist. Plus, bonus, it is FREE and offers, if I recall correctly, 250Gigs of storage.

SkyDrive. Save or copy stuff to SkyDrive. Heck, I have Data drives in my PC and an External drive and I, still, put certain, high-priority material in SkyDrive.

Just thought maybe deserved a mention/reminder.

Cheers,
Drew

Drew MS Partner / MS Beta Tester / Pres. Computer Issues Pres. Computer Issues www.drewsci.com

Reply:

Well, here's a safety net that may not occur to everyone though, it is available to everyone... this one is a bit new on the scene, needs no hardware and doesn't care if your gear does fail, blows up or suffers any catastrophic event... your data will, still, exist. Plus, bonus, it is FREE and offers, if I recall correctly, 250Gigs of storage.

Hi Drew

Just to clarify a couple of points.

Skydrive Paid storage options (annual price)
Free storage = 7 GB
Add 20 GB = $10
Add 50 GB = $25
Add 100 GB = $50

When you compare the other major Cloud Storage offerings, Skydrive is still more economical, and has the best options for storing, sharing, and retrieving files.

Compare SkyDrive - Microsoft SkyDrive:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/skydrive/compare

Regards

------------------------------------
Reply:

Yes, this precise info just came to my attention. Thanks for your input; much appreciated!

It is, also, 25G for free IF one signed up for SkyDrive prior to April 2012, BTW.

For example, I have 25GB for this reason.

Cheers,
Drew

Drew MS Partner / MS Beta Tester / Pres. Computer Issues Pres. Computer Issues www.drewsci.com

Edited by Drew1903 Thursday, February 7, 2013 8:05 AM

------------------------------------

Erro para executar pacote com o SQL Server Agente

Boa tarde.

Estou com um problema para executar meu pacote através do SQL Server Agent o erro que esta me atrapalhando é este:

Message
Executed as user: HRTTEFSUP002\SYSTEM. Microsoft (R) SQL Server Execute Package Utility Version 9.00.5000.00 for 64-bit Copyright (C) Microsoft Corp 1984-2005. All rights reserved. Started: 11:25:08 Error: 2013-01-18 11:25:09.69 Code: 0x00000002 Source: ST - Renomear e Mover arquivos Description: The script threw an exception: The system detected a possible attempt to compromise security. Please ensure that you can contact the server that authenticated you. End Error DTExec: The package execution returned DTSER_FAILURE (1). Started: 11:25:08 Finished: 11:25:09 Elapsed: 1.545 seconds. The package execution failed. The step failed.

Alguém pode me ajudar?

André Barbosa Sousa

Reply:

This is an English language forum. Thanks.

Kalman Toth SQL 2008 GRAND SLAM
Paperback: Pass SQL Exam 70-461 & Job Interview: Programming SQL Server 2012

------------------------------------

Setting the NULL value into table field by OLEDB API

I use VC++ and SQL Server CE 4.0. My task is to add a new row in the table setting NULL into one of the fields. I've read MSDN http://msdn.microsoft.com/ru-ru/library/windows/desktop/ms718116(v=vs.85).aspx:

if Value = N, Length = N, Status = Y, "Can be used to set the value of a column or parameter to NULL or to specify that the provider is to use the default value for an input or input/output parameter in a procedure."

Thus in the DBBINDING struct for the corresponding column a dwPart field should be the DBPART_STATUS and the status is DBSTATUS_S_ISNULL. But it doesn't work. If dwPart is DBPART_VALUE | DBPART_STATUS it will be work.
Why is it done? I think it's incorrect behavior.

Reply:

Hi Sasha,

Thank you for your question.

I am trying to involve someone more familiar with this topic for a further look at this issue. Sometime delay might be expected from the job transferring. Your patience is greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your understanding and support.

Allen Li
TechNet Community Support

------------------------------------
Reply:

Hi, Sasha,

Could you please check KB 260310: How To Insert NULL Data with OLE DB SDK Interfaces. In that KB article, it provide sample code which use dwPART field for DBPART_STATUS only, and the NULL value can be inserted. The sample code is for generic SQL Server backend database. but I believe it should also work (may slightly change the code) for the SQL CE backend database.

By the way, for OLEDB stuff, you'd better ask questions in Data Access forum. You will get more response there for OLEDB related questions.

------------------------------------
Reply:

Hi, RonggangYu

Thank you for your answer.

I took an example from the article and checked it on my machine with SQL Server CE 4.0. As I described above it does not work. The problem is solved if dwPart set in DBPART_VALUE | DBPART_STATUS.

You can try to reproduce it at your side. The test database (with source) here: http://type.name/sqlsce/db_test.zip
The code which I tested below:

// http://support.microsoft.com/kb/260310/EN-US    #define UNICODE  #define _UNICODE  #define DBINITCONSTANTS  #define INITGUID    #include <windows.h>  #include <stdio.h>    //#include <oledb.h>  //#include <oledberr.h>    // I use absolute path only for demonstrate purpose  #include <c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server Compact Edition\v4.0\Include\sqlce_err.h>  #include <c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server Compact Edition\v4.0\Include\sqlce_oledb.h>  #include <c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server Compact Edition\v4.0\Include\sqlce_sync.h>    #include <stddef.h>    #define STATUS(hr) if(FAILED((HRESULT)hr)) { printf("Error Occurred."); return hr; }      int main()  {  	CLSID clsid;    	ICommandText * pICommandText;  	ICommand * pICommand;  	IDBCreateSession * pIDBCreateSession;  	IDBCreateCommand * pIDBCreateCommand;  	IDBInitialize * pIDBInitialize;  	IRowset * pIRowset;  	IDBProperties * pIDBProperties;  	IAccessor * pIAccessorParam;  	HACCESSOR hAccessorParam;    	//Change your update SQL here.  	LPCTSTR wSQLString = OLESTR( "Insert Into TestTable (colNull) Values (?)" );    	const ULONG nProps = 1;  	DBPROP InitProperties[ nProps ];  	DBPROPSET rgInitPropSet;    	const ULONG nParams = 1;  	DBPARAMS Params[ nParams ];  	DBBINDSTATUS * pDBBindStatus = NULL;    	HROW rghRows;  	HROW * prghRows = & rghRows;  	LONG cRowsAffected;  	DBBINDSTATUS * pRowStatus = NULL;    	struct myData   	{  		//char data[11];  		DWORD status;  	};      	InitProperties[ 0 ].dwPropertyID = DBPROP_INIT_DATASOURCE; //DBPROP_INIT_PROVIDERSTRING;  	InitProperties[ 0 ].vValue.vt = VT_BSTR;     // Change the connection string in the following with your username and password.  	// Change your connection string here.  	InitProperties[ 0 ].vValue.bstrVal = SysAllocString( OLESTR( "db_test.sdf" ) );  	  	InitProperties[ 0 ].dwOptions = DBPROPOPTIONS_REQUIRED;  	InitProperties[ 0 ].colid = DB_NULLID;  	InitProperties[ 0 ].dwStatus = DBPROPSTATUS_OK;      	rgInitPropSet.guidPropertySet = DBPROPSET_DBINIT;  	rgInitPropSet.cProperties = nProps;  	rgInitPropSet.rgProperties = InitProperties;    	STATUS( CoInitialize( NULL ) );  	STATUS( CLSIDFromProgID( PROGID_SQLSERVERCE, & clsid ) );  	STATUS( CoCreateInstance( clsid,    NULL,   CLSCTX_INPROC_SERVER,   IID_IDBInitialize,   ( void ** ) & pIDBInitialize ) );    	// Set initialization properties.  	STATUS( pIDBInitialize->QueryInterface(IID_IDBProperties,   ( void ** ) & pIDBProperties ) );  	STATUS( pIDBProperties->SetProperties( 1, & rgInitPropSet ) );    	SysFreeString( InitProperties[ 0 ].vValue.bstrVal );  	pIDBProperties->Release();    	STATUS( pIDBInitialize->Initialize() );	     STATUS( pIDBInitialize->QueryInterface( IID_IDBCreateSession,  		( void ** ) & pIDBCreateSession ) );    	STATUS( pIDBCreateSession->CreateSession(NULL,   IID_IDBCreateCommand,   ( IUnknown ** ) & pIDBCreateCommand ) );     	STATUS( pIDBCreateCommand->CreateCommand( NULL,   IID_ICommand,   ( IUnknown ** ) & pICommand ) );    	pIDBCreateCommand->Release();    	STATUS( pICommand->QueryInterface( IID_ICommandText,   		( void ** ) & pICommandText ) );    	STATUS( pICommandText->SetCommandText( DBGUID_DBSQL, wSQLString ) );    	STATUS( pICommandText->QueryInterface( IID_IAccessor, ( void ** ) & pIAccessorParam ) );    	  	myData rgData[1];			  	DBBINDING rgBind;  	rgBind.iOrdinal	= 1;  	rgBind.obValue	= 0;  	rgBind.obLength = 0;  	rgBind.obStatus = offsetof( myData, status );  	rgBind.pTypeInfo = NULL;  	rgBind.pObject = NULL;  	rgBind.pBindExt = NULL;  	// NB! Just uncomment this flag and it'll be work  	rgBind.dwPart	= DBPART_STATUS /*| DBPART_VALUE*/;  	rgBind.dwMemOwner = DBMEMOWNER_CLIENTOWNED;  	rgBind.eParamIO = DBPARAMIO_INPUT;  	rgBind.cbMaxLen = 0;  	rgBind.dwFlags = 0;    	// Because we are not passing any value for the parameter, this setting is ignored.  	// We can also pass a valid value for the parameter and set the status to DBSTATUS_S_ISNULL.   	// This will also work. In this case rgBind.dwPart should be set to DBPART_STATUS | DBPART_VALUE   	// and uncheck the data part of myData structure.    	rgBind.wType = DBTYPE_WSTR;   	  	rgBind.bPrecision = 0;  	rgBind.bScale = 0;  	rgData[0].status = DBSTATUS_S_ISNULL;  	    	STATUS( pIAccessorParam->CreateAccessor( DBACCESSOR_PARAMETERDATA,    nParams,   &rgBind,   sizeof( myData ),   & hAccessorParam,   pRowStatus ) );  	  	Params[ 0 ].pData = rgData;  	Params[ 0 ].cParamSets = 1;  	Params[ 0 ].hAccessor = hAccessorParam;    	STATUS( pICommandText->Execute(NULL,   IID_IRowset,   Params,    &cRowsAffected,   ( IUnknown ** ) & pIRowset ) );    	pIAccessorParam->ReleaseAccessor( hAccessorParam, NULL );  	pIAccessorParam->Release();  	if (pIRowset != NULL)  	{  		pIRowset->Release();  	}  	pICommandText->Release();  	pICommand->Release();  	pIDBCreateSession->Release();  	pIDBInitialize->Release();  	CoUninitialize();    	return 0;  }

Also, I asked for question here because I decided that this issue relates only to OLEDB provider's implementation in the SQL Server CE.

With best regards,
Sasha Sitnikov

------------------------------------
Reply:

Hi Sasha,

Thank you very much providing the source code. Yes, I can repro the problem on my side. However, to further check the problem, we have to debug into sqlceoledb40.dll to see why it throw error in below CreateAccessor function call.

hr = pIAccessorParam->CreateAccessor( DBACCESSOR_PARAMETERDATA,
                                              nParams,
                                              &rgBind,
                                              sizeof( myData ),
                                              & hAccessorParam,
                                              pRowStatus );

I do not have source code access to the sqlceoledb40.dll so I would suggest you post the same message with repro to connect.microsoft.com/SQLServer, then choose category "SQL Server Compact Edition", and submit your issue. Once the issue is submitted, it will be reviewed and triaged by the SQL CE product team.

thanks,

ronggang

------------------------------------
Reply:

Hi, Ronggang,

Thank you for suggestion. I posted this issue to https://connect.microsoft.com/SQLServer/feedback/details/776974/setting-the-null-value-into-table-field-by-oledb-api

With best regards,
Sasha Sitnikov

------------------------------------

Bug related to file icons and WMP/media features

It's something I noticed on various Windows 7 PCs and also when W7 is installed in Virtualbox.

In short:

When you set something like 'VLC Portable' as the default program for opening .avi files, the icon on .avi files will not change to the VLC icon as it should. It will still look as if WMP is the default program.

(For files which are not recognized by WMP, like .mkv, it will work as it should.)

This can be "fixed" by disabling WMP/media functionality in 'Programs and Features' -> 'Turn Windows features on or off'. But it's not always possible or desirable, so it's not a proper solution.

Reply:

Hi,

Have you tried other programs not using VLC Portable as default program to check the result?

If other player could show the icons correctly, you can try to reinstall the VLC or contact their support.

In addition, if you want send feedback, you can submit your issue via Windows 7 Feedback.

More information about default program:

Change which programs Windows uses by default

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Change-which-programs-Windows-uses-by-default

Hope this helps.

Vincent Wang
TechNet Community Support

------------------------------------
Reply:

Yes, I have tried with another portable program and I got the same result.

Note: this happens with the portable VLC, which isn't really installed in the typical sense.

To reproduce:

1. Have WMP enabled and set as the default program for media files (this is the default state when you install Windows 7) .

2. Get VLC Portable, extract it by running the installer.

3. Right click on an .avi file (or .mp4, .wmv or anything that opens with WMP by default) and choose "Open with...", select VLCPortable.exe and set it to "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file".

4. Result: the icon on those file types will not change (not even after restarting), but it should.

I assume this will reach Microsoft developers in charge of this stuff. If not, let me know and I'll post it somewhere else.

------------------------------------
Reply:

Does VLC register itself as a media player application, so you can set it as the default media player in Control Panel - Programs - Default programs - Set your default programs? Doing that might change the .avi file icon.

Tim De Baets
http://www.bm-productions.tk

------------------------------------
Reply:

Does VLC register itself as a media player application...?

No, it doesn't. One of the aspects of portable programs is that they don't mess with the registry.

However, Windows will still assign the portable program's icon to the associated files. (Or rather: it should, but in this specific case it doesn't.)

------------------------------------
Reply:

I'm pretty sure that's the problem here. The .avi file icons stay the same because WMP still is the default media player. If you want the icons to change, simply install the non-portable version of VLC and register that as the default media player.

Of course, you could also try changing the icons manually with the FileTypesMan tool.

Tim De Baets
http://www.bm-productions.tk

------------------------------------
Reply:

I appreciate your concern, but I'm not actually looking for workarounds. I just want to report what looks like inconsistent and unexpected behavior.

------------------------------------
Reply:

I don't see this as unexpected behavior. The unchanging file icons can be easily explained by the fact that WMP is still the default media player. You either install the portable version of VLC, or you install the non-portable version and have VLC's icons, but you can't have both.

I also don't see why you would want to associate a file type with a portable program in the first place. Assuming the portable program is on a removable drive, opening the files isn't going to work when the drive isn't present or has changed drive letter.

Tim De Baets
http://www.bm-productions.tk

------------------------------------

Experience monitoring SharePoint 2010 with SCOM 2012 SP1 APM Capabilities

Looking for anyone who has experience they can share on the monitoring capabilities of APM and SharePoint 2010.

My Server WP7 app

Hi,

Is it just me not being able to upload photos? Or this version lacks this functionality?

The "My Home Server" variant of this app added the option "My Home server" in the list of the targets when sharing photos.

So I expected the new app will add it's option, but it didn't happen :(

thanks

Lubomir

Changed type Sean Zhu - Tuesday, July 31, 2012 2:32 AM

Reply:

Unfortunately, I'm afraid this function is not available in this app.

------------------------------------
Reply:

Upload photo will be back working in the next update of the app.

Cheers,

Clinton

This post is "AS IS" and confers no rights.

------------------------------------
Reply:

Upload photo will be back working in the next update of the app.

Cheers,

Clinton

This post is "AS IS" and confers no rights.

Any idea when?

------------------------------------
Reply:

I can't give an exact date yet since we're still actively working on it, but you can expect to see an update of the Windows phone app shortly after our RC release. We'll be sure to keep the community posted!

Cheers,

Clinton

This post is "AS IS" and confers no rights.

------------------------------------
Reply:

Well, I am currently using the last version and I am able to upload the photos using the Share context command.

Do you plan to add also the option to Auto Upload the photos through the app? Currently there is possibility just to configure it for SkyDrive or Cloudy Box apps.

thanks

Lubomir

Edited by Lubomir Hozak Saturday, January 19, 2013 12:01 PM

------------------------------------
Reply:

I would open a bug on Connect for any feature requests.

Robert Pearman SBS MVP | www.titlerequired.com | www.itauthority.co.uk

------------------------------------

Dynamic SQL PROs & CONs

Dynamic SQL enables database metadata use in programming. Metadata in INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES system view is used in the following dynamic SQL application:

http://www.sqlusa.com/bestpractices2008/rebuild-all-indexes/ .

Dynamic SQL enables the custom construction of SQL statements which is commonly done in apps:

DECLARE @Predicate nvarchar(max) = 'AND Color is not null'  DECLARE @SQL nvarchar(max) =    'SELECT * FROM AdventureWorks2008.Production.Product WHERE 1 = 1'  SET @SQL += @Predicate  PRINT @SQL  EXEC sp_executeSQL @SQL

Dynamic SQL can be based on database content as well, like in dynamic PIVOT queries:

http://www.sqlusa.com/bestpractices2005/dynamicpivot/

An important PRO: generally dynamic SQL performance is favorable.

My biggest CON is that #temptable created in the child process (in dynamic SQL execution) is not visible to the parent process. Communications between parent & child is a bit cumbersome.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2934634/ad-hoc-queries-vs-stored-procedures-vs-dynamic-sql

A second pros & cons article:

http://www.dba-sql-server.com/sql_server_tips/t_super_sql_460_dynamic_sql.htm

[FIM2010R2-TROUBLESHOOTING-SSPR] Error 3000 and Error 3004 - You are not authorized to register for password reset:

[FIM2010R2-TROUBLESHOOTING-SSPR] Error 3000 and Error 3004 - You are not authorized to register for password reset: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/15372.fim-troubleshooting-sspr-error-3000-and-error-3004-you-are-not-authorized-to-register-for-password-reset.aspx

Tim Macaulay Security Identity Support Team Support Escalation Engineer

[FIM2010R2-TROUBLESHOOTING-SSPR] Error 3000:

[FIM2010R2-TROUBLESHOOTING-SSPR] Error 3000:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/15429.fim2010r2-troubleshooting-sspr-error-3000.aspx

Tim Macaulay Security Identity Support Team Support Escalation Engineer

[FIM2010R2-TROUBLESHOOTING-SSPR] Error 3000 with 0x80131047

[FIM2010R2-TROUBLESHOOTING-SSPR] Error 3000 with 0x80131047

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/15428.fim-2010-r2-sspr-error-3000-with-0x80131047.aspx

Tim Macaulay Security Identity Support Team Support Escalation Engineer

New funny advertising idea - but where to take it?

I have such a funny ad idea -

On a popular golf course there is a pretty hip middle aged man driving the hottest MS golf cart. And a young man that is really trying to hard to be a part of the game - is trying to catch up the the man in the hot golf cart. The young one (the apple kid) is driving a train wreck. I mean a real running off the rails tearing up the greens train wreck and it's just digging in and going nowhere fast. The Man just shakes his head after he's been hollered at from the apple kid. And then the view pans out as the apple train wreck kids is just left in the MS Man's and evereyone els's (unique colors for each in the MS Mans group) dust. Saying something like - the kid just never gets it.

The commercial would go world wide viral.

Dennis

Moved by Santosh Bhandarkar Friday, January 18, 2013 9:43 PM OffTopic post

Oracle Publication Truncated Commands in sp_browsereplcmds

I have set up an Oracle transactional publication on a single table as a test. Snapshot works ok so i assume we have good data mapping. However the replication is failing on update. When i try to view the failing command, using sp_browsereplcmds, it is truncated. .

sp_MSupd_BULLPERSON" (62,'Mr','FRANK','Q','SPENCER',12345,NULL,'678910','M','1939-09-13 00:00:00','M',NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,'2013-01-18 14:10:36',NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,' --missing parameters here.

This makes it impossible to test the sp_MSupd_Table command and isolate any problem field which is causing the update to fail. If i look directly into the MSrepl_commands table the command is encoded. Looking in the sp_browsereplcmds script i see sp_printstatement @query which i assume translates the coded command - is this truncating the command ?

The error shown in the replication monitor does not reveal which field i need to look at

I created a smaller publication so that the entire update with all parameters is visible. this works fine. For the same update it gives no error. Consequently i don't know it there is an errant data mapping in the larger publication or even if the larger publication is sending a truncated command!

Any help appreciated.

Reply:

Can you run profiler to see if it sees the entire command. By default SQL Server will only display IIRC 255 characters in text and grid mode. You can bump it up to 8192 characters in text.

looking for a book on SQL Server 2008 Administration? http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Server-2008-Management-Administration/dp/067233044X looking for a book on SQL Server 2008 Full-Text Search? http://www.amazon.com/Pro-Full-Text-Search-Server-2008/dp/1430215941

------------------------------------

Tagging Posts

I wish we could Tag posts. Or filter a forum.

EG. The Help Technologies forum was shut down with no warning to moderators
(was DevDocs http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/devdocs)

This important area covered MS Help creation & VS Doc Integration
And is now lost in a general area called VisualStudioGeneral -- http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/visualstudiogeneral

One way to segregate Help Technology from all the other posts would be to
allow moderators to tag the posts

Even better would be to introduce a new category dropdown so we can tag and filter when posting or later.
Moderators could request new tags/categories. Otherwise you have to scan every post title to find help technology posts
eg.
Help: HTML Help (.chm)
Help: MS Help 2.x (.hxs -- vs 2002/2003/2005/2008 help)
Help: Help Viewer 1.x (vs 2010 help)
Help: Help Viewer 2.x (vs 2012 help)

Filtering would help a lot.
Killing off key forums helps MS but not sure it's helping our the help technology community.
Most big organizations have people who specialize MS help technologies. I'm annoyed they/we have no where obvious to post now.

== Ideally I'd like a separate "User Assistance" group that covered all MS Help Technologies
== Please let me know if you agree or disagree.

PS. After talking to a trusted friend inside MS: As MS continue to reduce the MS Help Team it's now even more important than ever to have a special area where we can focus our attentions on MS Help Technology issues. As a Help MVP I'm very grateful for the passionate people within MS who still care about MS help software tech and supporting the many users of the technology (even though they have now been moved to other departments).

Rob Chandler Help MVP www.helpware.net | mshcmigrate.helpmvp.com | hv2.helpmvp.com

Changed type Rob Chandler [Help MVP] Thursday, January 17, 2013 4:02 AM
Edited by Rob Chandler [Help MVP] Thursday, January 17, 2013 4:40 AM Added a PS

Reply:

Hi,

I was already writing a lot but then decided to delete and start all over. The technical point is interesting but we should still be aware what situation we are in:

- The cleanup of the msdn forums was a great thing in my eyes.
- The new General Questions forum is great. Exactly that was missing.
- There IS an active community regarding Developer Documentation and MS Help System. (Inclunding "MVP Help" and such things.)

The solution for the whole "problem" is quite simple and does not need much work:
A simple reactivation of the devdoc forum. Including a clean ownership! (Either we could take ownership if that is allowed or maybe someone of the help team could do that?) This is almost no effort and after a few months or so they can check the situation again. They can always close the forum again if they want to.

Changes on the forum software are nice ideas but are only workarounds. We could also decide to get a yahoo group or our own forum somewhere and use that - with a simple sticky on the forum which tells the people to look there. But all that are only workarounds and in my eyes they all bring additional problems.

And regarding the emails that we wrote and received: As far as I understood the mails, there was no final decision or did I miss anything?

With kind regards,

Konrad

------------------------------------
Reply:

I want to write some points about the tagging....

How could it be done:

Tags per Forum
===========

In this szenario, each Forum can have a number of Tags to choose from. The big advantage is, that the number of tags to choose from could be small. But I do not still see why this is really required. The core pattern with forums is, that you create subforums and such stuff to seperate content. You do not create Tags or so to divide the content. (And at least not because the help content is not seen between all the non help content. And such a tag will not help with posts inside wrong forums so there is a post inside the .Net base class library forum regarding the help viewer!)

Global Tags
========

Global Tags are quite nice. That way you can tag something anywhere. I like this idea but the number of possible tags is simply to high. But if you could choose what tags you are interested in, then it could help. So I could choose to see all Help Tags and when I come across any thread that has to do with the help system I could tag it quickly. That way others could find it and they must not care about the forum where it is in.

That is an idea that I really like. That could give a real benefit for people like the help system team because they could subscribe to the tags in the hope that we tag posts for them.

Individual Tags / Public Tags
====================

I got a complete seperate picture in my head. It could be compared to Facebook and google+ and such systems. We could create some kind of groups. We was talking about tagging to I simply called it Tags now.
Public Tags - these can be viewed and joined by everyone. So there could be a Help System Tag / Group
Individual Tags - these can be created by everyone and I could invite people.

The core system is, that it can be used by a small community - either open or closed. So We could be inside a "Help System Group" that can tag any article. Members of the group can see which articles are tagged. But the big benefit is, that I can also create my own group either public or private. So I could create a Massive Multiplayer Online Games Group. Whenever I find an interesting thread on that topic, I tag it. Others interested in that could do the same and people can look for such groups / tags online so they could find me. But also a private group makes sense so the development team I am working in could create such a tag and then we can tag threads that I found usefull for our work and people can find it quickly.

So at the end it is no longer a forums solution. It is a community solution. maybe Windows Live / Skype / Whatever from Microsoft could build something like that.

So the core of my idea is a group of members and people can publish stuff in there like links to threads but maybe also to webpages / blogs / ....

Which leads to another quite nice solution which is not simply dealing with filtering one forum.

That was just my 2 cent regarding that idea.

With kind regards,

Konrad

------------------------------------
Reply:

Yes I thought about an alternative forum. But then thought.. this is active MS technology and MS should be supporting it properly in their forums... somewhere.

Rob Chandler Help MVP www.helpware.net | mshcmigrate.helpmvp.com | hv2.helpmvp.com

------------------------------------
Reply:

My time is precious. I don't want to scan for Help related posts in a general bucket.
Maybe one day there will be a cool tagging/filtering system to make sub groups.

But for now... yes you are correct of course... Best solution is to reinstate "DevDocs".

I'm the only Help MVP in the group so the only link with the help team (although if you know there public email address or Connect it is easy for anyone to contact them -- if you know the contact details).

Rob Chandler Help MVP www.helpware.net | mshcmigrate.helpmvp.com | hv2.helpmvp.com

------------------------------------
Reply:

The history of Microsoft Help Technology has already a long way behind. And it was (and is) an up and down.

1990 – WinHelp
1996 – HTML Help
2001 - MS Help 2 (dropped on 2001-12-28 as application help)
2006 # Developer Documentation and Help System Forum
2010 – Help Viewer 1
2012 – Help Viewer 2 / Windows 8 help

Rob Chandler mentioned the history some weeks ago and of course we put it on the MSHelpWiki site at:
http://www.mshelpwiki.com/wiki/tiki-index.php?page=HistoryOfHelp

We've had newsgroups for help technology on a microsoft newsserver for years (now without traffic at Google Groups) at:
(1) https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/microsoft.public.helpauthoring
(2) https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/microsoft.public.vstudio.helpauthoring

As of 2006, all questions for Visual Studio (2) were posted to Developer Documentation and Help System Forum. Help Authoring more and more goes down. OK - Help Authoring isn't Microsoft only and there is a "help industry".

Like Rob posted, I'd like having a separate "MS Help Technologies Forum" that covered also old but running MS Help Technologies. We need a place for the users of active Microsoft Help Technology.

My preference would be to reopen with a new name or a new forum "MS Help Technologies Forum".

Just my 2 cent for Help ...

Ulrich Kulle - Microsoft Help MVP - (2007-2009) - http://www.help-info.de

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sccm 2007 patching

Hi,

Can some one tell me how to find if a particular update in a patch bundle has failed in SCCM 2007. I've deployed the patches for this month and I see an error and I need to know what update is causing the failure.

Murali Krishna V.S

Moved by Matthew Hudson [MVP]MVP Friday, January 18, 2013 9:31 PM

Reply:

There are a variety of reports that you can use - just look for the ones with the category that begins with "Software Updates"

Nick Moseley | http://t3chn1ck.wordpress.com

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Lost Win Multipoint Server keys

We have a client who has misplaced the license keys for a new Windows Multipoint Server install.

Any idea on how we can retrieve the keys to complete the install? We still have the Barcodes that came with them, if that can help. Advice will be appreciated.

How to migration local group with offlline USMT

failed to migration local group with offline USMT mode, I have add config.xml file as suggested by http://technet.microsoft.com/fr-fr/library/ee126219(v=ws.10).aspx

I found the group was not captured in scanstate.log. anyone advise would be very much appreciated.

Jason

Reply:

sorry, its x86 Windows XP to x64 Windows 7 via USMT4.0 (there is computer name changed during the migration).

Jason

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How to create empty nodes in source schema in biztalk?

Hi All,

I have map in which source schema is SQL based, and Destination schema is EDI file.

Something is changed in our Upstream system due to which if data is not present empty nodes are not getting created in xml.

which is causing failures in biztalk as mandatory element missing.

Since empty tag is also not coming in xml input record, default value given in map is also not mapped.

Let me know how to create empty tags in input XML?

Here we can use xslt to create output if tag is not there. but we are not sure which element will be missing going forward so that we can mention it in XSLT Script.

is there any work around for this.

Any help will be really appreacited.

Thanks.

Pooja Jagtap Software Engineer KPIT Cummins

Reply:

A bit of experimentation using "Logical Existence", "Not" and "Value Mapping" should provide the functionality you need.

David Downing... If this answers your question, please Mark as the Answer. If this post is helpful, please vote as helpful.

Edited by David K. Downing Wednesday, January 9, 2013 4:25 PM

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Reply:

Thank you for reply.

I will try this.

Pooja Jagtap Software Engineer KPIT Cummins

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SQL Server 2012 Diagnostic Information Queries by Glenn Berry (updated January 11, 2013)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13748067/SQL%20Server%202012%20%20Diagnostic%20Information%20Queries%20%28January%202013%29.sql

Thank you Glenn Berry!

Frank Garcia

Changed type Allen Li - MSFT Thursday, January 17, 2013 6:01 AM General Discussion

Reply:

Hi Frank,

Thanks for your sharing. Your post will help others have concern with these topics. Thanks for your effort again.

Allen Li
TechNet Community Support

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Reply:

You're welcome Allen.

Best,

Frank Garcia

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Windows 8 - Browsers Font rendering issue!

Hi Guys,

Suddenly, font rendering is stuffed up in my internet browsers

Please check the screenshot here: http://i.imgur.com/Fli9j.png

Tested browsers: IE 10, FireFox 18.0, Chrome 24.0.x

This is the most annoying thing!

Help will be appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

Changed type Juke Chou Tuesday, January 22, 2013 10:55 AM

Reply:

Could you post back screenshot for IE too?

Try update your Windows and check for update from your PC manufacturer. You might need to update your Graphic Card too.

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Reply:

Windows 8 has really messed up font rendering, especially in IE10.

IE10 uses greyscale font anti-aliasing instead of the RGB anti-aliasing you still see in Windows Explorer desktop version.

This post has a good pic of the difference.

http://www.eightforums.com/browsers-mail/16920-internet-explorer-10-vs-other-browsers.html

Microsoft seem determined to ignore the issue.

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Reply:

Never mind, I am downgrading to Windows 7 until Windows 8 gets stabilized

Cheers

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EOP Features

Hey a litle Details from last September:

EOP provides inbound and outbound spam and malware filtering, reporting, message trace, and mail-flow configuration features. Some of these features were included with FOPE.

EOP features include the following:

URL lists for spam/juck filtering that block/stop messages containing specific URLs within their message body.
EOP includes additional lists more than those available in FOPE.
The ability to skip spam filtering for trusted senders, based on subscription lists
The ability to filter messages written in specific languages, or sent from specific countries or regions
Malware filtering that able to delete and strip unsafe attachments
The capacity to mark bulk email) as spam through the UI
The capability to search for, view, or release quarantined email messages in the EAC
Transport rules which you can use to control mail flow, based on a message's content
Message tracing capability, which allows you to search for and view details about a specific message
Inbound connectors and outbound connectors you can use to enforce secure communication between you and a partner, or to make hybrid mail flow (where you host a portion of your mailboxes on-premises and a portion in the cloud) possible
New reports, which you can use to monitor your organization's mail flow, available in the Office 365 portal, by using a Microsoft Excel download application, or by using a Web service.

FYI

I'd be glad to answer any question

Ms Support forum

Sunday, February 20, 2022