Author Archives: Paul Sturm
Excel not opening files
About a month ago, Excel has had trouble opening native files. I could double click an XLSX file and Excel would start only to tell me the file I was trying to open (and just used to launch Excel with) didn’t exists. The following (in a cmd window) seems to have fixed it: “C:\Program [...]
How to determine the current database context in SQL Server
I like to run a check script I’ve crafted that tells me stats on the database before I upgrade and perform schema changes. To make the script more universal, I wanted it to report the name of the database the stats are for (for printing purposes). I knew how to check the database server hostname [...]
How to change the path/move a project in Visual Studio
Close the solution. Rename the folders outside Visual Studio. Open the solution, ignoring the warnings. Go through all unavailable projects. Set the property ‘File Path’ to the new location. Reload the project. In case you didn’t rename the project, rename it (F2). Taken from here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/211241/how-do-i-rename-a-project-folder-from-within-visual-studio
SSRS: Could not load type ‘Microsoft.ReportingServices.UI.GlobalApp’
I suspect some MS patch caused this as no one has touched this server in months yet today, we got the following: Server Error in ‘/Reports’ Application. Parser Error Description: An error occurred during the parsing of a resource required to service this request. Please review the following specific parse error details and modify [...]
Database diagrams on disconnected devices
If you try to use the database diagram feature in SQL Server Management Studio and the owner of the database is a domain id but you are disconnected from the domain (notebook users!), you’ll get an error like this: “Database diagram support objects cannot be installed because this database does not have a valid owner. [...]
Securing a single file with IIS7
With IIS7's revamped interface, I had a hard time locating how to change the permission on a single file. I could see how to do so at a folder level, but I couldn't see how to do so on a single file (.CFM in this case). It turns out, once you hilghted the file you [...]
8.3 Short filenames on Windows 2003 Server
If you have a document repository of sorts, it may pay to disable short filenames (legacy leftover from Win95 days). To check if enabled: fsutil.exe behavior query disable8dot3 To disable: fsutil.exe behavior set disable8dot3 1 This will not remove existing short filenames but the system will no longer generate them. This also works on XP. [...]
Powershell + 7zip + SQL Server backups
I needed a way to shrink the backups in SQL Server 2005 (native compression doesn’t exist until the 2008 version). 7zip compresses better than most anything, it’s free (even for commercial use), its stable, and it’s small. Powershell is my favorite tool builder. This is the result: #set alias to 7zip – adjust path as [...]
Bing Maps API (via URLs)
I've located a small page that describes the various functions available via Bing maps.
Service Unavailable on SQL Services Reporting Services after Microsoft Patch
Last night, my SSRS server failed on the first access attempt after Multiple Windows patches were installed by WSUS overnight (SQL Server 2005 EE, Windows 2003 SP2). This is not a critical server for me so it doesn't get tested before patches are applied. As such, it gets all patches immediately without testing and, in fact, is [...]