Upgrading to Visual Studio 2010 and SQL Server 2008 Express R2

I made the jump yesterday to finally install and configure my dev machine to run the latest bits. I upgraded from Visual Studio 2008 to Visual Studio 2010. I also upgraded from Sql Server Express 2005 to Sql Server 2008 R2 Express. I must say that I'm very excited to start using all the new stuff. Rather than installing everything side by side, I decided to scrap the old apps and fully commit to the new pieces.

During this process I had no real problems. The only real problem I had was getting SQL Server 2008 R2 Express configured correctly. I've tried various things to get the new database management tools working inside the SQL Server Management Studio 2008 R2 and couldn't quite figure it out (still can't). No matter what I do, I can't create a new 2008 R2 database without using VS2008 Server Explorer. Whenever I right click and 'Create Database', it always creates a SQL CE 3.5 database instance. This version is missing a lot of functionality. For instance, I'm not able to create views and the designer for this is very kludgy IMO. I'm sure it's something simple, but I just can't figure it out yet.

While trying to get it fixed, I completely uninstalled SQL Server Development Edition 2005. This still didn't solve my problem, so now I'm without Analysis Services 2005 and no full blown SQL Engine. It's all good, I've read that they sit side by side nicely even when installing SQL 2005 after SQL 2008.

The good news is that I can create a 2008 R2 database instance from inside my new VS2010 IDE. That's a win in my book and I'm content with this. The process was pretty simple

• Uninstall SQL Server 2005 Express


• Uninstall Visual Studio 2008


• Install SQL Server 2008 Express R2


• Install Visual Studio 2010 Professional


• Reinstall Resharper 5.1


• Test that everything worked...


• Convert Projects to VS2010


• Blog about the new goodness

I did have one pretty nasty problem when converting my ASP.NET MVC project to the 4.0 framework. Visual Studio provided a nice little wizard to do this, but when it did this there were some things that didn't work as expected.

The first problem was that it didn't add System.Core to the references. Without this library referenced, all of my Linq queries were brokent (+100 source files)! While this looks like a pretty simple thing to fix, it turned out to be a little tricky. I couldn't just add it as a reference from inside the IDE like I thought. When I tried to do this, I got an error stating:

"A reference to 'System.Core' could not be added. This component is automatically referenced by the build system."

Hmm... The way I was able to fix it was to:

1. Right click on my Web Project


2. Unload Project


3. Edit the .csproj file


4. Add <Reference Include="System.Core" /> in the appropriate ItemGroup


5. Save the change


6. Right click on my Web Project again


7. Reload project
8. 
   

Voila!

I also had (and still have) a problem debugging my web project. When I try to run my project, it does not actually start debugging like it should. The project compiles and starts the ASP.NET Development Server, but it doesn't actually load the URL in my default web browser. When I open the system tray icon and click 'Show in browser...' it crashes. I tried all kinds of things to get it to work, but nothing is working. I've installed a few patches and restarted IIS a few times after each one, but nothing. I've tried running aspnet_regiis -i against the new framework. Again, to no avail. As a test, I ran the project and then went to my web browser and typed in the appropriate URL. It works. I set some breakpoints in my code, and they work too. This works well enough for me.

Next steps I think are to convert my entire project to .NET 4.0 Framework so I can take advantage of all the new goodness with C# 4.0. I also plan to upgrade our web solution from ASP.NET MVC 1.0 to ASP.NET MVC 2.0. I'm also anxious to start using GrapeCity ActiveAnalysis 2.0 Silverlight control.

Upgrading to new development environments is so much fun... I'm actually excited to work a full day tomorrow! :)

Data Dynamics Business Intelligence Suite

Today Data Dynamics announced an insane discount on their extremely powerful and feature rich component package: Data Dynamics Business Intelligence Suite for only $899!

This suite includes Data Dynamics Analysis and Data Dynamics Reports together. For a comparison on what this means, each one typically sells for $1,499 each. That means that they are offering both for less than you can typically purchase one. The two products truly deliver a full blown business intelligence solution. Trust me! They've done the research and interviewed the proper people to prove this. If you've heard me talk about these products in the past, but never gave it a second thought, please download each product and run it against your own data. You'll be a believer right away.

Both products have been built from the ground up at Data Dynamics. Features are constantly being added and samples are continually updated to help teach you what each product is capable of doing. Watch some of the screencasts (DDA / DDR) if you are not sure what they can do, and see what you're missing.

Update: Oct, 6 @ 9:30 pm
Data Dynamics Analysis just announced support for trend lines, part-to-whole calculations, extracting data from the selection, and many other new features. Download it now and see for yourself... I am!

See what people are saying:

• http://blog.scott.willeke.com/2008/10/huge-discount-on-data-dynamics-reports.html
• http://mrdotnet.wordpress.com/2008/10/06/fall-discount-on-data-dynamics-business-intelligence-products/
• http://twitter.com/LucasHardbarger/statuses/949044379
  

Data Dynamics Analysis (First Maintenance Release)

The Data Dynamics Analysis team has been working diligently on some new features and bug fixes for the product. We just posted our first maintenance release yesterday. This build includes a few new features and some pretty important bug fixes. My favorite new feature for this release probably has to be the AutoConnect property.

This new property allows a developer to deliver a (front to back) visual analysis solution without writing a SINGLE LINE OF CODE! Here is how it works...

1. Start a new Windows Forms solution.
2. Drop a PivotView control onto your Windows Form.
1. Set the Dock property to Fill
   
3. Drop the RdDataSource control onto your Windows Form.
1. Set the ConnectionString property (same one you used to build the custom schema file *).
2. Set the ConnectionType property (OleDb, ODBC, or Sql)
3. Set the CustomSchemaFile property (*)
   
4. Set the QueryString property (ie. query or stored procedure)
5. Notice the new AutoConnect property defaults to True
4. Set the PivotView's DataSource property to rdDataSource1.
5. Press Play!
   

This new AutoConnect property prevents the developer from ever having to go to the code window and manually writing rdDataSource1.Connect() in the Forms' Load event. Sure, it's a little feature, but it's a really big selling point for some of our more non-technical users.

We are continuing to make enhancements on the product and are committed to delivering new builds much more frequently to ensure that our users are taken care of quickly and effectively. More and more cool features are coming very soon too; there are 3 (huge) features that we hope to deliver to the public in the next month or so. If you haven't signed up for product updates, I highly encourage it!

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* - When you install Data Dynamics Analysis, it ships with many prebuilt schema files that describe some of the relational data sources that ship with the product. If you would like to explore these data sources, simply reference the schema files from the following directory:
...My Documents\Data Dynamics\Analysis\DataSources

Otherwise, you can analyze your own data by modeling a default schema to represent your data source. In order to quickly build a default schema file that represents your data, refer to our online walkthrough.