Mark Brown's Blog
TFS, Visual Studio, SQL Server, BizTalk, SharePoint, .Net, and more ...
Checking MSMQ message queue count with C#
I noticed the other day a team member was having exceptions being thrown every second when idle in a...
Date: 01/05/2012
How to build a Virtual Image with just a Win 2k8 setup disk ISO
I don't have to do this often but when I do I occasionally forget the steps. For those wanting to...
Date: 01/28/2011
Online Help with Download Content Fails on Visual Studio 2010
If you first choose online help then go into Help -> Manage Help Settings, then choose Install...
Date: 08/18/2010
Helpful Links to Extra Tools and Features for Visual Studio 2010
Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate Current Version: 10.0.30319.1 (RTM) .Net 4.0 Current: 4.0.30319 (RTM)...
Date: 07/09/2010
Executing logic between PreRender and PreRenderComplete Asyncronously
Most of you are familar with the PageAsyncTask class...
Date: 02/09/2010
VS2010 Guidance now published!
After a long journey, the work I did along with others has finally paid off. The VS2010 Guidance is...
Date: 01/14/2010
Fewer smaller .Net DLLs vs less large DLLs
Generally speaking it is better to have less large DLLs versus many smaller DLLs for the following...
Date: 12/28/2009
Visual Studio and .Net Tutorials and Training Videos
A friend asked about some sites to learn about Visual Studio and programming. There is a lot of...
Date: 11/10/2009
Visual Studio Tutorials and Training Videos
A friend asked about some sites to learn about Visual Studio and programming. There is a lot of...
Date: 11/10/2009
Steps to add Developer Tools to Send To folder
Steps to add programs to Send to folder Navigate to your SendTo folder (Windows XP location is...
Date: 10/09/2009
TFS Extras Article Created
Started a article that will contain lots of free/commerical add-ons and website articles for TFS....
Date: 10/01/2009
Team Foundation Server Extras
TFS is one of the greatest development productivity tools I have seen in a long time from Microsoft....
Date: 10/01/2009
Free Telerik TFS Manager and Dashboard
As a Microsoft VSTS ranger, I come across some interesting TFS add-ons on occasion. The recently...
Date: 10/01/2009
How to close window (self) without prompting in IE6 and IE7
ScenarioWeb application wants to pop-up a window as a certain size, chromeless, etc. However doesn't...
Date: 08/25/2009
How to autoresize parent frame height from child frame
ScenarioA parent document contains a frame that loads a file which content is dynamic and you want...
Date: 06/12/2009
How to access SQL Server on Windows through a secure connection from Perl on Linux
Scenario Have some perl code that wants to access Microsoft SQL Server 2005. The SQL Server is...
Date: 06/04/2009
Windows 2008 R2 Hyper-V and Remote Desktop
Scenario Download your favorite image (or create one) and you want to exchange files with the guest...
Date: 05/28/2009
Install a remote printer via a Hyperlink in HTML
Ever tried to install a printer by just giving users a link? Well here is a small snippet of one way...
Date: 02/13/2009
Using Visual Studio with IIS7 on Vista and Win 7
For those interested in installing VSTS and using with IIS7 on Vista (and possible with Win 7) you...
Date: 02/10/2009
How to do logic OR AND NOT across rows in SQL
Scenario You have a normalized table that has values in rows. Let's take an example that has a...
Date: 12/15/2008
Custom Security and SQL Job with SSIS Script Task
Scenario Recently I ran into a security issue that has a simple fix. Here is the situation: SSIS...
Date: 11/06/2008
Optimizing queries with joins and over statements in SQL 2005
I was working on a common scenario and found an interesting side effect. Applications typically have...
Date: 07/29/2008
SQL Server 2005 UNPIVOT Command - changings columns to rows (normalizing)
ScenarioA table that contains several columns that you need to take and change into rows in order to...
Date: 06/16/2008
TFS History via command line for a date range
I know several people have blogged about this and it is available in the help files somewhat. I...
Date: 04/29/2008
How to use or setup Sharepoint or Reporting Services on a separate port or machine with TFS
You can use the following to move your sharepoint location on your existing TFS Sharepoint sites or...
Date: 04/16/2008
How to write SQL to get a record to process in a cluster of processing computers
Working with a friend at work, we were discussing how to create some SQL to go after records in a...
Date: 03/01/2008
How to backup and truncate all log files in a database
Some things to consider ... Make sure you can recover your server and database prior to issuing...
Date: 01/26/2008
Unable to delete or disable SQL Server job due to error regarding MSX server
Have you ever run across this error before when trying to delete or disable a SQL server job (or...
Date: 01/26/2008
SOAP Toolkit + Vista + Excel 2007 + Call Web Services = Impossible
Well I wouldn't say impossible ... just not supported. I had a conversation with a client that asked...
Date: 01/02/2008
SQL Server 2005 SP2 - Access Denied on MSSQLData directory
This was a strange occurance I found recently. If you encounter the error SQL Server Setup failed to...
Date: 10/22/2007
Issue with SSIS Package calling stored procedure OUTPUT datetime parameter type
Symptom The incoming tabular data stream (TDS) remote procedure call (RPC) protocol stream is...
Date: 10/18/2007
SQL Server 2005 Job, SSIS Step, Data Sources Access Denied
This particular issue was interesting. I was troubleshooting an issue where an individual had rights...
Date: 10/14/2007
Selecting the Most Current Record in a table (SQL2000 and 2005 examples)
My friend Alfredo helped with some SQL code and I thought it would be interesting to share. I was...
Date: 09/19/2007
Secure SSIS step execution when running as a SQL Job
Here is the scenario: SQL Agent account (NETWORK SERVICE or some DOMAIN ACCOUNT) does not have...
Date: 07/23/2007
Programatic way to determine space used on all database tables
Here is one way I have found in order to get all tables space used. Effectively it queries the...
Date: 07/17/2007
Ensure best Excel export formating from SQL Server Reporting Services
When designing reports it is important to be aware that the report may be exported to Excel. This is...
Date: 06/28/2007
Launch VPC without VPC Console via command line
Ever wanted to launch a VPC without going through the console? You can through the command-line:...
Date: 06/21/2007
Login Failed for User '' - SQL Server
Periodically, I have seen issues with connecting to a remote SQL Server from SQL Server Management...
Date: 06/21/2007
eSCRUM template from Microsoft Released
Microsoft eScrum Version 1.0eScrum is a Web-based, end-to-end project management tool for Scrum...
Date: 06/14/2007
Using MSSCCI Provider and TFS Proxy Server
I was at TechEd and was involved in a conversation that thought the MSSCCI provider did not work...
Date: 06/11/2007
Team Foundation Server and Project Server 2007 Connector Launched
My good friend Lenny (and fellow VSTS Ranger) released the Project Server 2007 Connector to TFS. I...
Date: 06/11/2007
Official: Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008
Well, I just got back from TechEd and WOW! lots of things happening. Along with the great sessions...
Date: 06/11/2007
Microsoft Remote Desktop Management Tool
Although this has been out for a while, I got reminded recently about a tool from Microsoft that...
Date: 05/22/2007
How to determine schema definitions of Stored Procedures in .Net
Here is some code to get an idea. Note that if a stored procedure sends back a temp table this does...
Date: 03/06/2007
ASP.NET 2.0 Web Part vs Sharepoint 2007 Web Parts
So what is the deal with ASP.NET web parts and SharePoint web parts? Well, glad you asked. I am not...
Date: 02/28/2007
Team Foundation Server Power Tools v1.2 Released
Team Foundation Server is happy to announce the release of version 1.2 of Team Foundation Power...
Date: 02/21/2007
SQL Server 2005 SP2 is now available
For those anxiously awaiting, SQL Server 2005 SP2 is now available at...
Date: 02/20/2007
Sending Excel 97/XP/2000/2003/2007 Output from ASP.NET 2.0
I know there are several articles on the internet describing varous methods to send excel output...
Date: 02/20/2007