I finally had upgraded to Outlook 2007 about a month ago and one of the features I found myself using a lot was the Preview feature for attachments. It was great for the PDF and the typical office documents, but there were no preview handlers for files such as WAV. I have a VOIP line that emails me the voice mail messages that have been left so having a WAV previewer would be really useful for me.

During my search for such a feature I ran across a great utility from Gil Azar (and in his post gives credit to lots of others for their help). You can download the ultimate Outlook 2007 preview handler from his site.

If you are interested in some of the technical details Gil discusses them on his page and provides some really great links.

I’ve included parts of Gil’s original post just in case his site disappears one day.

A self-extracting installer, which silently installs Stephen Toub’s MSDN Magazine Managed Preview Handler Framework and Gil’s small addition, can be downloaded here

I ran into a problem scheduling the transfer of a file via FTP today.  The server was behind a firewall that required me to use PASV FTP support.  Unfortunately the command line version of FTP that comes with Windows 2003 was not able to support this configuration (at least I could not figure out how to make it support it).

In trying to figure out a solution to this issue I ran across NcFTP.  This is primarily a *nix based FTP tool (both server and client), but it has a Windows command line version of FTP that proved to be just the tool I needed.  You can download the Windows version of the client or if you prefer they have lots of *nix flavors.

I have this client that posted several hundred files on their internal web site that I needed to download to my laptop for testing purposes.  I started downloading them one by one and thought that there must be a better way without installing some big application to do this.  With a little Google searching I found a great open source utility called wget that provides everything I needed from a command line (which had the added bonus of being able to easily script it).

An example of the command to recursively download a web site is shown below:

wget -l2 -r -k http://www.siteyouwanttoget.com/folder1

• The -l parameter tells the software how many levels to download (I only needed 2 levels deep in my example)
• The -r parameter tells it to download recursively
• The -k parameter tell is to convert non-relative links into relative ones so that there will not be any dependencies on the original site.

So there you have it. One simple, small 162Kb EXE that does exactly what I needed (it also does ALOT more than this). Have Fun!

There are lots of places to get information about putting the Session State into a SQL Server database instead of in-memory. The information I have found most useful is the utility aspnet_regsql.exe. It performs a bunch of different tasks for ASP.NET and interaction with SQL Server and the membership interfaces.

For example if you want to get session persisted across SQL Server reboots you can issue this command:

aspnet_regsql.exe -ssadd -sstype p -E -S <servername>

The sstype p is the option that allows for the state to be persisted. You can execute aspnet_regsql.exe -?

You’ve been there before.  You are busily testing your import routines and running up the Identity column in your main import table.  Before you know it the value is in the multi-millions and you just want to reset it back to 1. 

The way to accomplish this is to use the DBCC CHECKIDENT command.

For example:

DBCC CHECKIDENT (SalesForce, reseed, 0)

This assumes your table is called SalesForce and you want to start the numbering at 1.  If you wanted to start the number at 2000 you can substitute 0 with 1999.  There has been some discussion that has said if the table never had records added to it the reseed value itself will be used instead of the reseed + 1 value.  You should not need to use this statement for a “new” table.

Credit for this post is given to Pinal Dave over at http://sqlauthority.com/.  The specific post this I am referring to is the one at this page.

Found a great article on blocking spam using T-SQL code.  It is especially useful for blog posts and other community related sites that accept user input.  Could even be used on form comments to help block all those guys that submit endless forms on your sites.

On the last project I was working on I did not have physical access to the SQL Server disks in order to get a copy of the backup file created using the SSMS software. I needed to make a copy to my local SQL Server in order to do some testing before I blew away all the data on the “real” SQL Server. SSMS does not appear to have a method to allow you to specify a network path, but T-SQL has that capability with the BACKUP command.

If you complete the following steps you can get a backup copy of the database on your local workstation (assuming you have SQL Server installed locally):

1. Get the IP address of your local computer using the ipconfig command or some other method.
2. Make sure you have created a share on your computer in the location where you want the backup file to be stored. For this example I am going to assume there is a share called BACKUP that points to C:\BACKUP (again, this share is on your local workstation, not the remote SQL Server)
3. Connect to the remote database with SSMS
4. Open a Query Window
5. Execute the following command (replace 1.1.1.1 with the IP address determined from step 1 and replace YourDatabase with the name of the database you want to backup)

BACKUP DATABASE YourDatabase
TO DISK = ‘\\1.1.1.1\Backup\YourDatabase.bak’
WITH FORMAT,
NAME = ‘Full Backup of YourDatabase’

Now you can use SSMS to restore the database to your local copy of SQL Server or just keep it around in case you mess up the production database.

Another useful thing you can do is to schedule this and use the OSQL command line tool to execute the script as part of a development release or any other process. There are lots of options.

You know you have done it before.  The second you hit send you realized you forgot to attach the all important photo, spreadsheet or document.   Here is a way to delay the sending of the email so you can grab it before it goes out to everyone you sent it to.  We are going to assume you are using Outlook, but the same thing can be done with most email clients that support the Rules concepts.

• Open Outlook
• Click on the Tools menu and then Rules & Alerts.
• Click on New Rule “Start from a blank rule”.
• Click in Step 1 box, “Check message after sending”.
• Next, click on “On this machine only”.
• Next, Click in Step 1 box, “Defer delivery by a number of minutes”.
• Click in Step 2 box, “a number of” enter the number of minutes. 
• Click on OK, click on Finish.

Now, when you click on Send, your message will be held for however many minutes you selected before being sent.  After sending an email if you realize there is something that needed to be changed, you just click on the Outbox, then click on the message to open, make any changes and click on send again.   This technique has saved me numerous times from being “stupid”.

Found some great tips in the simple-talk.com blog about disabling buttons on asp.net forms.

If you ever created a form and had your users click on the submit button multiple times this is the code you have been looking for.  Be sure to check out Robyn Page’s comments for a method to block the whole form during the form submit as well.

Complete details can be found here.

The below information is taken from this post from here. I copied a majority of the text just in case his site disappears one day since this information is really valuable.  I would like to give credit to Ben Armstrong for providing invaluable information on the topics surrounding Virtual PC, Virtual Server and its benefits and pitfalls.

One cool use of Virtual PC is as a ‘backup’ during a physical computer migration.

What I do is:

1. Setup the new computer with Windows, virtual PC, and as many of the applications from the old computer that I know about
2. Take the hard disk out of her old computer and attach it to the new computer
3. Boot up the new computer
4. Go into the Disk Management tool under Windows (Control Panel –> Administrative tools –> Computer Management –> Disk Management)
5. Select to remove the disk letter from the hard disk from the old computer
6. Start Virtual PC
7. Use the Virtual Hard Disk wizard to create a linked virtual hard disk pointing to the hard disk from the old computer
8. Then use the Virtual Hard Disk wizard to convert the linked virtual hard disk to a dynamic virtual hard disk
9. Wait a long time (usually 2 to 3 hours)
   1. Any anti-virus software should be disabled for this step - otherwise it will take a lot longer
10. Create a new virtual machine that points to the new virtual hard disk
11. Boot up the virtual machine and confirm that everything works
    1. There are a few things that can cause this to fail - and I will discuss them in further depth in coming posts
12. Install the Virtual Machine Additions and shutdown the virtual machine
13. Shutdown the new computer and remove the old disk

Once this is done - I can begin migrating data and application information from the virtual machine to the physical computer over the network. But the best thing is that if a program doesn’t work - you can just launch the virtual machine and use it there for now.

You might also run into a problem during this process that can be resolved using the following method (original post can be found here):

This post is going to focus on migrating Windows systems - but there are similar issues with migration of most other operating systems.

Problem 1: “STOP:0×000007B Inaccessible Boot Device”

You image the physical computer to a virtual machine - and now when you boot it blue screens almost immediately with a “STOP:0×000007B Inaccessible Boot Device” message.  What is going on?  Well, Windows maintains a list of ‘critical boot devices’ that are loaded in order to boot the system.  One of these devices is going to be the hard disk controller that you boot the system off of.  Sometimes - your physical computer will be close enough to the virtual machine that you do not see this error message.  However - if you do see this problem - you will need to do the following:

1. Go back to the original physical computer
2. Boot Windows
3. Go to ‘Start’ –> ‘Control Panel’ –> ‘Administrative Tools’ –> ‘Computer Management’ –> ‘Device Manager’
4. Expand the ‘IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers selection’
5. Double click the ‘controller’ entry (not the ‘Channel’ entries)
6. Go to the ‘Driver’ tab
7. Select ‘Update Driver’
8. Select to ‘Install from a list or specific location (advanced)’
9. Select ‘Don’t search. I will choose the driver to install’
10. This should display a list with your specific controller and a Standard / generic controller.  Select the standard / generic controller.
11. Finish the wizard
12. Shutdown the system
13. Attempt to migrate the system again

This is the only problem that I am going to discuss in this series that requires you to make a change to the physical system before you migrate it - but thankfully it is a non-destructive change - as you will still be able to boot the physical system with no problems after this change.

Found a great article at www.simple-talk.com which described how to create pivot queries with dynamic column names.  It seems simple at first until you try to adjust your columns manually and then discover that you really need to implement some special code to accomplish the task.  The article Pivots with Dynamic Columns in SQL Server 2005 provides just the right information to accomplish the task and saved me a ton of time trying to create the process on my own.  Great job Andras.

If you love framed art, or at least the idea of hanging artwork in your home or office, and just don’t know where to start, you’re in the perfect place!  There are so many different things you can do with art that you really can create your own unique room or office.  There are a ton of different and great ideas that you can use when decorating with framed art.  Here are just a few great ideas to get you started.

One of the most beautiful things you can do with artwork comes with time.  Select a piece of art that you absolutely adore in a special color.  It can be black and white, red, green or whatever else you want.  Make sure you really like the color, because it will be the basis for this decorating tip.  As you visit galleries, flea markets, art sales and shows and other places, search for more art in this same color.  It can be different colors as well, with this color as the main one, or even with accents of this color.  When you have found several pieces of artwork with this color, you will hang them together in a grouping.  This is a breathtaking effect, and it ties all of the artwork together and almost makes it seem like one large piece of artwork.

Another thing you can do to tie artwork in with a room, especially if it is a bright color is to accessorize.  Choose small accessories in the same color as the artwork.  This can include throw pillows, candles, picture frames, vases or anything else that you love.  Placing these in the same room with the artwork will add little pops of color, and it will really tie the room together with the artwork.  This is a really beautiful look that adds warmth and style to a room.  This idea can easily be used to create a beautiful effect with the last idea of purchasing several pieces of art in the same colors.  Simply use that color to accessorize with as well.  Against a neutral background, this looks amazing.

Lighting for the artwork can really liven it up and warm up the room.  Adding up-lights which illuminate the artwork is a beautiful idea.  This looks particularly lovely in bathrooms, bedrooms, and dining rooms.  When the other lights are dim, and your art lights are on, the effect is lovely.  Lighting really does add to the room and make it more beautiful.  Showcasing your artwork is easy when you use lighting.  It brings attention to the artwork that you have selected and creates a mood which is wonderful.  It’s actually rather fun to decorate with artwork, and create a space that is unique and full of style.  Remember to choose art that you truly love, and that you will not mind seeing for quite some time.  Art is meant to last a long time, and adding great ideas with decoration and style will make you want to keep it around forever!

After all the work I did with the dates in the environment variable I had a need to email the files I was working with.  Found a really GREAT command line utility that allows for sending email from a batch file.  It has nearly endless options and took about 2 minutes to setup and get working in our environment.  It’s called Blat and is available from this site.

If you want to learn a lot about sending email and can read C++ you can also download the full source code for Blat.

If you have ever tried to script data downloads and log file manipulation you probably have run across the need to embed the date into a filename during a copy/move operation within a batch file.  I have never been able to find a built-in way to do this within Windows.  Here are a few lines that allows you to get the month, day and year into their respective environment variables.

If you add the following to your command/batch file:

@echo off
FOR /F "TOKENS=2* DELIMS= " %%A IN ('date/t') DO SET mdy=%%A
FOR /F "TOKENS=1* DELIMS=/" %%A IN ('echo %mdy%') DO SET month=%%A
FOR /F "TOKENS=2* DELIMS=/" %%A IN ('echo %mdy%') DO SET day=%%A
FOR /F "TOKENS=3* DELIMS=/" %%A IN ('echo %mdy%') DO SET year=%%A

You will then be able to use the following environment variables:

%month% to return the month
%day% to return the day of the month
%year% to return the 4 digit year.

If you need any assistance with this, feel free to comment below.

I have been tired of trying to copy and paste sections of the screen for all the documentation that needs to be written for our software solutions.  The solution we have come up with is to use a great product from TechSmith called SnagIt.  It provides a simple way to easily capture portions of the screen or windows and then generate output in a multitude of formats (graphics, PDF, Word, Excel, etc, etc, etc).

If anyone knows of a better tools than SnagIt, let us know.

Found a great tip online on how to create a date in T-SQL in a very fast way.  The code looks like this:

declare @year int, @month int, @day int
select @year = 2006, @month = 1, @day = 16

select dateadd(month,((@Year-1900)*12)+@Month-1,@Day-1)

This is especially useful when doing date comparisons in queries.  Many people use the convert function, but the above code executes far faster because it does not have to do any string manipulations.  Credit should be given to Michael Valentine Jones for this tip.  More information about this tip can be found here.  Here is some more great information on date manipulation for SQL Server.

Quarksoft, LLC has introduced a new service which provides digital photo archiving.  It will protect all your digital photos from hard drive crashes, viruses and other catastrophic events.  For a limited time we are offering our solution for only $99 per year.  You can get complete details via our web site.  Additional information about digital photo archiving can be found at http://www.redboomerang.com