I am creating a site that is mainly used to view reports. The database is SQL Server 2008 R2 Express with Reporting Services. I was thinking of using Business Intelligence Development Studion to create reports since it integrates well and is easy to use. The site does not exist yet as the reports are its main feature.
I started using Visual Web Developer 2010 for the site since I thought it would work well. A Microsoft rep recommended that I use Visual Studio 2012 since it's compatible with SQL Server 2008 R2 and is the latest version. HOWEVER, it seems that report integration was stopped since Visual Studio 2008.
What tools should I be using for my reports and site? The database must be Microsoft but I am flexible about everything else. I am looking for tools that work well with the database.
I also want to use source control software that is compatible/works well with whatever IDE/software I'm using. Any recommendations?
Right now, I am the sole developer. I want to be prepared to expand to a small team once the project is underway and I want to be set up right the first time!
If predefined reports is the main feature of your site, i recommend you to go a level higher and use some tool that let you create and design reports easily, like DBxtra.
Related
I want to know the features and limitations of TFS express 2013. Such as Check in and check out options, how many users can be configured and regarding sql server versions it supports and so on.
I found this:
What's missing in TFS Express?
The Express edition is essentially the same TFS as you get when you
install the TFS Basic wizard except that the install is trimmed down
and streamlined to make it incredibly fast and easy. In addition to
the normal TFS Basic install limitations (no Sharepoint integration,
no reporting), TFS Express:
Is limited to no more than 5 named users.
Only supports SQL Server Express Edition (which we’ll install for you, if you don’t have it)
Can only be installed on a single server (no multi-server configurations)
Excludes the TFS Proxy and the new Preemptive analytics add-on.
And also no backlog board or task board...
I see the Backup tab is also missing...?
Backup is included in express version
Do we know whether CodeLens works with TFS Express?
CodeLens works with TFS Express.
https://lajak.wordpress.com/2013/01/09/tfs-2012-versions-of-team-foundation-server/
Team Foundation Server Express
TFS Express is a free limited version of Team Foundation Server. It is
great for small teams of up to 5 five users. TFS Express can be
downloaded from the MSDN website and it is around 500MB. Here is a
direct link to the TFS Express home page.
Pro’s
Free
Data stays inside your network
Comes with version control repository
Work item tracking
Build Automation
You have more control compared to the TFS Service
Can customize Process and Workitems template
CAL’s can be purchased in case your team grows beyond 5 users
Support for express versions of Visual Studio
Con’s
Must have own hardware or virtual machine
Not accessible from anywhere
Supports Basic installation only
Limited Agile Project management features and tools
No Reporting Integration
No SharePoint Integration
Supports only SQL Server Express Edition
Installed on one machine. Can’t scale out
Doesn’t support TFS Proxy
Excludes Preemptive analytics add-on
Need to manage your own database backups and downtimes in case of hardware failure
Buy license for the Operating System and CALs if required
social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/vstudio/en-US/8f99b8b8-4406-4fb4-b326-4cff50683b8c/tfs-2012-free-vs-commercial?forum=tfsversioncontrol
In addition, there are some other limitations for TFS express.
Only supports SQL server Express edition.
Can only be installed on a single server.
You can get more information form Brian Harry's blog TFS Express (blogs.msdn.com/b/bharry/archive/2012/02/23/coming-soon-tfs-express.aspx)
We have SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition here.
I have been using SQL Server Management Studio 2008 for connecting to our Data Source - this has been working fine for the last year.
When I first got here, I found an article on this site that stated that to install Management Studio, you just down the SQL Server Express 2005/2008 installer. Once installed, it will give you access to features according to the SQL Server version of the Data Source (this worked a treat).
I now need to use SQL Profiler, but it isn't present in SQL Server 2008 Management Studio.
Through searching online, I apparently need to tick the "Management Tools - Complete" option - but this option is not present on the installer.
I am using SQLEXPRWT_x64_ENU.exe to attempt to install this but the feature is not present, it only has "Management Tools - Basic" available.
There does not seem to be a way to point the installer at my Data Source, so that it can see that it will be used with an Enterprise licensed server.
I have tried downloading various versions, but still the "Complete" option is missing.
Is there an installer that I can download with this option enabled, or do I have to ask my support services team to speak to Microsoft to provide a special installation program for me to get this facility?
Any help on this issue will be greatly appreciated.
MS does not provide the SqlProfiler with Express versions of Sql Server. I have been looking for a profiler alternative myself, found ExpressProfiler on Codeplex but its a bit crude and not very configurable. This one works quite nicely: http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/784905/Real-time-Tracing-With-SQL-Server-Express
This might be a really dumb question... but in VS2013 when trying to add a local database to my Windows Forms Application Project the option is now shown in the C# items menu. The only DB that is available is a Service-Based DB. From what I understand, this is related to SQL Compact Edition but I do have SQL Server 2012 installed. Any ideas? Or are there any significant differences between the Local DB and Service-Based DB?
A service-based database is a database that is only accessed through a server. It uses an MDF data file, which is SQL Server format. To be able to connect to a SQL Server database the SQL Server service must be running, because it's that that processes your requests and access the data file.
A local database is one that is local to your application only. It uses an SDF data file, which is SQL Server CE (Compact Edition) format. There is no need to install a server to access an SDF database. You simply distribute the DLLs that constitute SSCE along with your app and access the data file directly.
You'd normally only use SSCE if the data was to be accessed by your app only and there was a relatively small amount of data. For your project you would use SQL Server. For testing purposes you can use the free Express Edition. When deployed you might still use SSEE or you might use a full version of SQL Server. Note that Microsoft include SSEE with their own RMS POS software. SSEE is limited to databases of 4GB though, so even if you start out with SSEE and it can handle the load, you may still have to upgrade at some point in the future based on data capacity.
Source of info:jmcilhinney post.
for help on creating the database have a look at this tutorial it may be of some help.
Hope this info helps you :)
It turns out VS2013 dropped the .sdf format.
Is Microsoft dropping support for SDF database files in Visual Studio?
The answer is yes: Microsoft is silently dropping support (as usual IMHO) to Sql Compact Edition.
It started abandoning Sql CE 3.5 in Vs2012 It continued dropping Sql CE in Sql Management Studio 2012 and finally in VS2013
You can use CompactView or install SQL Server Compact Toolbox extension in VS2013 or (my prefered solution) use Sql management Studio 2008
UPDATE thanks to Nicolas' comment
As stated by Microsoft:
SQL Server compact edition is in deprecation mode with no new releases planned near future. Last release SQL CE 4.0SP1 (and earlier releases that are still in the support cycle) will continue to be supported through its lifecycle and Microsoft is committed to fix any major, production blocking issues found in these releases.
Have you tried adding your local database from inside the project? Have a look and see if you can add your database from datasources.
I am new to Visual Studio 2010, so please bear with me. Back in the days of using VB6 combined with an Access database, all I had to do was to use the Package & Deployment wizard and include the database file in the setup. Then all the client had to do was run one setup file and the application would magically run right away (the database would be placed in the App Path).
Is there some way to create a setup file in VS 2010 which will also install SQL Server Express automatically, attach the database along with the application itself?
This is meant for people who do not have SQL server installed and they should be able to start using the app by running one single setup.
Thanks!
Yes, your setup based on Windows Installer and built with Visual Studio itself can deploy everything you need. Read this article on MSDN for more details (maybe you won't need ClickOnce but it contains a lot of links).
I guess you need some clarification about your options (I assume you want to use a Microsoft solution because you talked about SQLExpress).
Microsoft SQL Server: fully featured database engine. It costs (a lot) and deployment isn't easy as we would.
Microsoft SQL Server Express: free edition (with some limits) of the big brother. Same installation issues. Perfect for medium desktop or web applications.
Microsoft LocalDB: single or multiple file, single user, support for stored procedures and advanced data types as in higher versions, easy to deploy and (optionally) per-user execution. Perfect for small/medium desktop applications and developing (with some preconditions with web applications too).
Microsoft SQL Server Compact 4.0: single file, single user, small, in-process, very easy to deploy. Perfect for small single user applications or used as local data storage (VS2k10 C++ Intellisense, for example, uses a SQLCE DB).
Microsoft JET Engine: the old beloved Access. If you come from VB6 I guess you know this.
If (and this is a big IF) your application is intended for a single user and you don't need data-sharing, now Microsoft provides a new version of SQLServer Express called LocalDB.
This version runs as standalone executable (isn't a service).
Its major advantage is the easy installation.
Search for LocalDB or look at my question LocalDB deployment
I'm trying to get started with building my own webparts, planning to follow this MSDN article.
I've downloaded Visual C# 2010 Express - I'm not quite at the point where I feel comfortable dropping 1000 big ones yet, and I installed Visual Web Developer 2010 Express via the WPInstaller.
Following through the tutorial, aside from the fact that I don't get the option to create a "Web Control Library", a gap I filled with this article, I can't seem to find the sn.exe tool (or the "Visual Studio 2005 Command Prompt"!).
I know it's not quite a direct programming related question, but I can't even get the thing going yet!
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks
EDIT:-
I think I may be jumping the gun quite considerably, I wrote a simple hello world example and tried to build it but it doesn't have any references to the Microsoft.SharePoint packages and they don't appear in my lists.
Am I understanding some more research I've done (namely this) correctly, in that I have to actually have a full installation of actual SharePoint on the machine I'm developing on?
sn.exe is part of the .Net Framework SDK tools - not actually part of Visual Studio.
If you've got the SDK installed (which I think you must have if you're using VS) then it will be in a directory such as (depending on which version of .NET SDK you've got installed)
c:\program files\microsoft.net\SDK\v2.0\Bin
You can develop SharePoint web parts with VS express but you won't be able to use extensions like VSeWSS which can make your life a little easier.
You don't have develop on a machine with SharePoint installed upon - you can just copy the Microsoft.SharePoint.dll assembly from a machine with it installed on and reference it in your project.
There are pros and cons to developing on a SharePoint machine.
Its easier to get started -
especially debugging locally rather
than remote debugging.
Harder to be
sure that you're code will work a
'real server' - are you sure you
don't have any dependencies that may
not be installed.
Harder to work with
multiple versions of SharePoint (2007
WSS and MOSS and 2010 foundation,
server etc).
If you do want to work with a locally installed SharePoint then
You can install windows server OS with SharePoint and Visual Studio.
there is a hack for installing SharePoint 2007 on vista (referenced in the SO article you link to)
you can install SharePoint Foundation 2010 on Windows 7 (but I am not sure what the licensing restrictions are - is this maybe something thats given through MSDN?)
If you decide to go with the remote server installation then save yourself some grief and use virtualization such as VMWare Server, Virtual PC or Hyper-V.
If you are doing SharePoint development trying to reference the Microsoft.SharePoint namespaces you need to have SharePoint installed on the machine if you want to do things like debugging, etc. For SP 2010 you CAN install SharePoint on a Win 7 machine. For previous versions of SharePoint, you will need to setup a Server that is Server 2003 or Server 2008 (you can't install SP 2007 and earlier on client machines). Generally this is a Virtual Machine for developers.
Having said all of that, there are relatively few reasons you need SharePoint to develop a WebPart. The vast majority of the WebPart functionality is part of the System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts namespace. Even if I am accessing SharePoint data, I generally use the ASP.NET web part.
If you are trying to use the new SharePoint VS 2010 functionality to create Visual Web Parts, etc, then you will need to install SP 2010, since that functionality is not supported in earlier version of SharePoint.
John