Visual Studio Team System 2008 Database Edition GDR CTP16 is released. Among the highlights:

VSDBCMD.EXE

• Added independent commandline deployment and reverse engineer, which can be used on machines that do not have Visual Studio installed, in order to deploy the results of a database project build (.dbschema file), or if you need to generate a .dbschema file so you can for example compare it, this commandline tool will let you do that as well.

Database Project (.dbproj) Upgrades

• CTP15 enabled upgrade of project files, but did not included updating Data Generation Plans (.DGEN files), which now be upgraded when they are opened the first time inside the DGEN designer.

Schema Compare

• You can now choose the SQL Command Variables (SQLCMD) to use during a Schema Compare session by clicking the “Specify SQLCMD variables” button on the Schema Compare toolbar. This will allow you to compare projects that are using SQLCMD variables and provide the contextual information via the variable values.
• You can now set the Schema Compare options at the session level, in addition to Tools->Options, by clicking the Settings button on the Schema Compare toolbar.
• And you can now save your Schema Compare session and reopen it again. The team also added an item template for this, name "Schema Comparison"

Extensibility

• The namespace and assembly naming cleanup has been completed. As a result all assembly names and namespaces have been changed. This means if you have code leveraging our extensibility mechanisms you need to update the assembly references and namespaces in your code.
• The team added the ability to add your own refactoring types! So now you can create your own refactoring command and have it change all the required references inside the schema. This is above and beyond the ability to create your own refactoring targets (the sources your want to change by an refactoring type), static code analysis rules, data generators, data distributions and test conditions.
• Public access to TSQL parsers for SQL Server 2000, 2005 and 2008, including the script generator functionality.

And then there are many more enhancements in the parser, interpreter, validation, build and deploy.

Pre-requisites:

CTP16 requires the following components to be installed:

• Visual Studio 2008 SP1 RTM
• Microsoft SQL Server Compact Edition 3.5 SP1

Download location:

Download CTP16 from the following location:

• http://download.microsoft.com/download/0/a/e/0ae1153a-8798-474a-93e6-d19299f37c8b/setup.exe
• http://download.microsoft.com/download/0/a/e/0ae1153a-8798-474a-93e6-d19299f37c8b/Readme.mht
• http://download.microsoft.com/download/0/a/e/0ae1153a-8798-474a-93e6-d19299f37c8b/VSTS 2008 Database Edition GDR Documentation.zip

NOTE: If you have a previous version of the GDR installed, you need to uninstall that and then install the latest CTP16 bits

SQL Server 2008 support are not 100% done, the parser was just code complete after this release was done and that work is now being consumed by the interpreter, script generator, validation and build and deployment components. There will be a public release candidate once code complete is achieved, hence there will be one more release between now and RTM.

Most of you aware that having 3G turned on will drain your phone's battery pretty quickly. Hence, you might want to enable auto disconnect from 3G (by default it won't) whenever the data connection is not in use.

Step 1: Go to [Settings]->[Connections]->[Advanced]->[Options]
Step 2: Set "Idle disconnect after" to "30 seconds"
Step 3: With a Registry Editor, go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Comm\ConnMgr\Planner\Settings\
Step 4: Change the value for [SuspendResume] from "~GPRS!" to "GPRS_bye_if_device_off"
Step 5: Reboot your phone

Note: If you are unable to complete step 1 and step 2 (i.e. if you are running Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional, etc.), use a registry editor and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Comm\ConnMgr\Planner\Settings\. Change the value for [CacheTime] to 30.

PHM Registry Editor (Pocket PC): http://www.phm.lu/Products/PocketPC/RegEdit/
PHM Registry Editor (Smartphone): http://www.phm.lu/Products/Smartphone/RegEdit/

There were some questions directed to me when I was at Tech·Ed SEA 2008 last week. So I think it is a good idea for me to blog about them here for sharing purpose.

Scenario: We currently have 5 developers (maybe will hire more in the future). We are doing SQL programming (*.sql files) and ASP.NET application (*.aspx, *.aspx.vb, web.config etc). We would like to save all the source files and have version control in this system.

Q: What is/ are the software required and version to implement the version control only?
A: Visual SourceSafe 2005* (VSS2005) can be used for small team as it is still a cost-effective, desktop-based source control solution. However, for those who are looking for a complete collaboration platform, Team Foundation Server 2008 (TFS2008) is the best option. For a team with 5 members or less, TFS2008 Workgroup Edition shall be sufficient as it comes with your MSDN Premium Subscription (any Team Edition). For teams with more than 5 members, you need to consider purchasing TFS2008 Standard Edition. In order to get TFS2008 up and running (even just the source control), you need to have at least a working Windows Server 2003 with Internet Information Services (IIS), SQL Server 2005 and Windows SharePoint Services 2.0. For more details on software requirements, please refer to Team Foundation Installation Guide for Visual Studio Team System 2008.

Q: What software is required for developers to work with database objects and have them stored in source control?
A: Other than the source control options stated above, you are recommended to use Visual Studio Team System 2008 Database Edition to simplify the development with database objects.

Q: What is the sequence of the installation steps for software at the server side on Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition?
A: For instructions on how to setup VSS2005, click here. If you are implementing TFS2008, refer to Team Foundation Installation Guide for Visual Studio Team System 2008 for detailed instructions on how to setup TFS2008.

Q: What is the necessary software to install in to the developer's PC (Windows XP Pro) so that we can do the version control?
A: If you are implementing VSS2005 as your source control solution, click here. However, if you are implementing TFS2008, refer to [Installing Team Explorer] section in Team Foundation Installation Guide for Visual Studio Team System 2008. Of course, you will still definitely need Visual Studio.

Remarks: TFS is not a VSS upgrade. Instead, it is the foundation for Visual Studio Team System – a fully integrated, software development lifecycle tool. TFS provides a robust source control system, integrated work items, and dynamic reports, all built on SQL Server 2005 (and now supports SQL Server 2008**).

*Visual SourceSafe 2005 Update must be installed to improve compatibility with Visual Studio 2008. This is applicable if you are implementing VSS2005 as your source control solution and you use VS2008 as the client.

**Visual Studio 2008 Team Foundation Server Service Pack 1 must be installed at the server side for SQL Server 2008 support.

During the installation of SP1 for TFS2008, I encountered a fatal error and the setup process had to rollback. A quick view at the HTML installation log (located at C:\Documents and Settings\userId\Local Settings\Temp\) revealed the following error message:

Returning IDOK. INSTALLMESSAGE_ERROR [Error 29109.Team Foundation Report Server Configuration: SQL Reporting Services configuration encountered an unknown error. Verify that you have sufficient permissions to configure SQL Reporting Services, and try again.]

A further review at the detailed TXT installation log (located at the same path as the above) shown that access to configure Reporting Services was denied.

TFRSConfig - Team Foundation Server Reporting Services Configuration Tool
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

Connecting to SQL Server Reporting Services. Please wait...
Invalid namespace
Querying the following Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) path: IIS://tfs.company.com/W3SVC.
System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x80070005): Access is denied.

at System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry.Bind(Boolean throwIfFail)
at System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry.Bind()
at System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry.get_IsContainer()
at System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntries.ChildEnumerator..ctor(DirectoryEntry container)
at System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntries.GetEnumerator()
at Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Admin.ReportingServices.WebSiteFinder.FindBestMatch(Uri searchUri)
at Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Admin.ReportingServices.InputArgs.EnsureIISSettings()
at Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Admin.ReportingServices.ReportingServicesConfigurator.Run()
at Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Admin.ReportingServices.Program.Main(String args)

At first glance, it seemed like the account I was using to execute the SP1 has no permission to configure Reporting Services. However, that was ruled out rather quickly as the account is a member of local Administrators group. Revisited the error message and the FQDN caught my attention as I updated the computer NetBIOS name to FQDN (using TfsAdminUtil.exe) some time ago. Did a search and came across the following:

"One possible explanation for this failure to access WMI data remotely is that a firewall is blocking that traffic.  If the friendly name were actually represented as TFS-Q.somedomain.com, that could drive traffic that would otherwise be local through a proxy server.  An address with ‘.’s in it would not be considered a local address when interpreting the setting that determines whether to bypass a proxy server for local addresses.  The traffic would then leave the box, which would mean that you would need the DCOM port open (TCP 135)."

Viola!!! After executed TfsAdminUtil.exe configureconnections with /ReportsUri as well as /ReportServerUri to change the FQDN back to computer NetBIOS name and updated IIS Default Web Site's host header to include the computer NetBIOS name, SP1 installed successfully on the server. After the upgrade, I just changed the computer NetBIOS name (again using TfsAdminUtil.exe) back to FQDN and removed the host header value added just now.

Following the release of SQL Server 2008 RTM last week, the availability of Service Pack 1 for Visual Studio/Visual Studio Team System 2008 SP1, Team Foundation Server 2008 SP1 and the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 was announced earlier today. Go get them while they are hot! (Note: Bootstrapper is for online install)

Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1 (Bootstrapper)
Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1 (iso)
Visual Studio  Team System 2008 Team Foundation Server Service Pack 1
NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1

Some of the key improvements included:

• Improved WPF designers
• SQLServer 2008 support
• ADO.NET Entity designer
• Visual Basic & Visual C++ improvements (including an MFC-based Office 2007 style 'Ribbon')
• Team Foundation Server improvements - detailed here
• Richer JavaScript support, enhanced AJAX and data tools and web site deployment improvements
• A new .NET profile for client applications that is much smaller and installs much faster
• Substantial .NET performance improvements (particularly in startup time)
• And much, much more...

For more details, please visit Brian Harry's blog.

I'll be delivering a Instructor-led Labs (ILL) at Tech·Ed SEA 2008 on Day 3 (13 Aug), 10:00am - 11:15am (Room 404). Feel free to drop by if you are interested.

This lab is intended for developers and project managers working on Microsoft .NET Framework solutions. In this lab you will review and work with the Work Items created when using the MSF CMMI process template for a team project. You will modify the existing work items in both Visual Studio and Microsoft Office Excel. You will see how Microsoft Visual Studio Team System Team Foundation Server can be configured to send alerts when the solution changes. You will interact with the project through the SharePoint project portal created for the team project and Team System Web Access. Through the exercises in the lab, you will perform tasks related to work item management and team communication using Team Foundation Client and Microsoft Office Excel.

For more ILL sessions, please visit http://www.microsoft.com/malaysia/techedsea2008/inst-lab.mspx.

Slides Download: http://cid-456e9b12e7be1f3a.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Tech%c2%b7Ed%20SEA%202008/TE08%20Sin%20Min%20-%20TLA032-ILL.pdf

Yes! It is here finally and comes with Developer, Enterprise, Standard, Web, and Workgroup editions. You may download them via MSDN Subscriptions today!

I did a schema import yesterday from Malaysia against a SQL Server 2005 located in US and the devenv.exe process consumed 90-98% most of the time. Add on to that, opening this project from local file system (not attached to source control) also takes hours with high CPU utilization as well (> 90% most of the time). Below are details on the size of the project:

Size: 21.3 MB (22,371,240 bytes)
Size on disk: 25.0 MB (26,279,748 bytes)
Contains: 5,724 Files, 63 Folders

Notes: Every time you load the project, a model file (with the file name [guid].model) and some temporary files (with the file name [guid].[n].tmp) will be created in C:\Documents and Settings\[user]\Local Settings\Temp\ where files are added to the model. This is where it takes the most time for the project to be ready for usage. These files get removed automatically if the solution or Visual Studio closes normally (no crash or exception).

UPDATES: The product group is starting to address performance as a whole now within the GDR release, so over the coming weeks you should start to see significant performance improvements.