Category: Tips

  • Drop Builds’ primary output in a “Latest” folder

    As briefly mentioned in another post, we have a specific “Reference Assemblies” folder on the Build Machines containing the latest version of each assembly issued from a successful Build. Assemblies in that folder, know as the “Latest” folder, can be used for “Continuous Integration” Builds.  This post is about the pragmatic solution implemented to drop only the primary output of the Builds in that folder.

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    The output of a Build contains not only the assemblies and satellite assemblies issued from the compilation of the Visual Studio Projects (I.e.: assemblies part of the “primary output” as named in the Microsoft Setup Projects). It contains also a copy of all the referenced assemblies (file references) with the property “CopyLocal”=”True”.

    It’s important for our purpose to only drop the primary output into the “Latest” folder, otherwise we could override the latest version of some referenced assemblies with a  copy of the specific version found for the Build (e.g.: when targeting the Integration Environment, we use the promoted version on, the assemblies which are possibly not the latest).

    We may not set “CopyLocal”=”False” on all the “file references” because MSTest needs a copy of those in the bin folder to be able to run the unit Tests (That would not be the case if we could find for MSTest an equivalent of the “ReferencePath” parameter of MSBuild).

    We don’t have access to methods (or well described “algorithms”) to retrieve the exact list of assemblies part of the “primary output”. Such methods are only implemented in the Microsoft Setup Projects (Projects not supported, by the way, by MSBuild).

    We don’t want all our developers to add MSBuild Scripts in their Visual Studio Projects to drop the “Targets” in the “Latest” folder.

    Ex. copy “$(TargetDir)$(TargetName).???” “C:\RefAssemblies\Latest”

    This is not only too error prone (like everything you request to a human developer), but it’s also not robust enough. It’s in our opinion impossible to maintain this with enough guarantee taking into account that developers can for example add support for new languages at any time. For each Project, in addition to the assembly $(TargetDir)$(TargetName).dll, we also have to drop the satellite assemblies (e.g.: <culture>\<assemblyname>.resources.dll”), etc…

    The most generic solution we found to identify the assemblies part of the primary output, although quick and dirty, consists in parsing the FileListAbsolute.txt file generated by MSBuild itself and available in the “obj” folder. We “rely” so on direct output of Microsoft (the content of that file) and avoid to implement (and maintain) our own generic (and most probably complex) algorithm (“complex” because I have no idea how to detect satellite assemblies in a Visual Studio Project).

    Notice: We may only drop the primary output of Builds in the “Latest” folder for “Continuous Integration” Builds or Builds targeting the Integration Environment (both using the latest version of the sources). Builds targeting Qualification, Pre-Production or Production use always a specific version of the sources instead of the latest version. Their purpose is indeed to fix a bug in the assemblies deployed in the targeted environment and build with older sources.

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    [csharp] using System;
    using System.IO;
    using System.Linq;
    using System.Activities;
    using System.Reflection;
    using System.Diagnostics;
    using System.ComponentModel;
    using System.Collections.Generic;
    using Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.Client;
    using Microsoft.Build.Evaluation;

    namespace AG.SCRM.TeamBuild.Activity
    {
    /// &lt;summary&gt;
    /// Collect Build’s Primary Output Items
    /// &lt;/summary&gt;
    [BuildActivity(HostEnvironmentOption.All)] public sealed class GetPrimayOutput : CodeActivity
    {
    /// &lt;summary&gt;
    /// List of Build’s Primary Output Items
    /// &lt;/summary&gt;
    [RequiredArgument] public InOutArgument&lt;List&lt;FileInfo&gt;&gt; PrimaryOutputItems { get; set; }

    /// &lt;summary&gt;
    /// Build’s Configuration Parameter
    /// &lt;/summary&gt;
    [RequiredArgument] public InArgument&lt;string&gt; Configuration { get; set; }

    /// &lt;summary&gt;
    /// Build’s Platform Parameter
    /// &lt;/summary&gt;
    [RequiredArgument] public InArgument&lt;string&gt; Platform { get; set; }

    /// &lt;summary&gt;
    /// Local path of Build’s project file
    /// &lt;/summary&gt;
    [RequiredArgument] public InArgument&lt;string&gt; LocalProject { get; set; }

    [RequiredArgument] public InArgument&lt;string&gt; OutDir { get; set; }

    /// &lt;summary&gt;
    /// Collect Build’s Primary Output Items
    /// &lt;/summary&gt;
    /// &lt;param name=&quot;context&quot;&gt;&lt;/param&gt;
    protected override void Execute(CodeActivityContext context)
    {
    var fileListAbsolute = PrimaryOutputItems.Get(context);
    var localProject = LocalProject.Get(context);
    var configuration = Configuration.Get(context);
    var platform = Platform.Get(context);

    // Default Configuration is &quot;Debug&quot;
    if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(configuration)) configuration = &quot;Debug&quot;;

    // Initialize the list of Build’s Primary Output Items if required.
    // Otherwise, add Build’s Primary Output Items to the provided list
    // to possibly support a loop on all Visual Studio Solution files in
    // Build’s
    if (fileListAbsolute == null) fileListAbsolute = new List&lt;FileInfo&gt;();

    if (Path.GetExtension(localProject).Equals(&quot;.sln&quot;, StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase))
    {
    // Parse the Visual Studio Solution file
    SolutionParser sln = new SolutionParser(localProject);
    string root = Path.GetDirectoryName(localProject);
    foreach (SolutionProject project in sln.MSBuildProjects)
    {
    localProject = Path.Combine(root, project.RelativePath);
    CollectOutputItems(context, fileListAbsolute, configuration, platform, localProject);
    }
    }
    else
    {
    // Validate that the file is a Visual Studio Project
    var projectCollection = new ProjectCollection();
    try
    {
    Project project = projectCollection.LoadProject(localProject);
    string projectDirectoryPath = Path.GetDirectoryName(localProject);
    CollectOutputItems(context, fileListAbsolute, configuration, platform, localProject);
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
    throw new Exception(string.Format(&quot;Project file ‘{0}’ is not a valid Visual Studio project.&quot;, localProject), ex);
    }
    projectCollection.UnloadAllProjects();

    }

    context.SetValue(PrimaryOutputItems, fileListAbsolute);
    }

    private static void CollectOutputItems(CodeActivityContext context, List&lt;FileInfo&gt; items, string configuration, string platform, string project)
    {
    string projectFileName = Path.GetFileName(project);
    string projectName = Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(project);
    string projectPath = Path.GetDirectoryName(project);
    string fileListAbsolute = GetFileListAbsolute(configuration, platform, projectFileName, projectPath);

    if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(fileListAbsolute))
    {
    System.IO.StreamReader file = null;
    string line;

    string parent = Path.GetDirectoryName(fileListAbsolute);

    // Read the file and parse it line by line.
    using (file = new System.IO.StreamReader(fileListAbsolute))
    {
    while ((line = file.ReadLine()) != null)
    {
    // Ignore obj folder’s local items.
    if (!line.StartsWith(parent, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
    {
    FileInfo item = new FileInfo(line);
    if (item.Exists)
    {
    // We are actually only interested in .dll and .exe + their .pdb, .xml and .config
    if (item.Extension.Equals(&quot;.dll&quot;, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) || item.Extension.Equals(&quot;.exe&quot;, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
    {
    //MessageHelper.DisplayInformation(context, string.Format(&quot;Build output of {0} contains: {1}.&quot;, projectName, item.Name));
    items.Add(item);

    var config = new FileInfo(Path.Combine(item.DirectoryName, item.Name + &quot;.config&quot;));
    if (config.Exists)
    {
    //MessageHelper.DisplayInformation(context, string.Format(&quot;Build output of {0} contains: {1}.&quot;, projectName, config.Name));
    items.Add(item);
    }

    var pdb = new FileInfo(Path.Combine(item.DirectoryName, Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(item.FullName) + &quot;.pdb&quot;));
    if (pdb.Exists)
    {
    items.Add(item);
    }

    var xml = new FileInfo(Path.Combine(item.DirectoryName, Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(item.FullName) + &quot;.xml&quot;));
    if (xml.Exists)
    {
    items.Add(item);
    }
    }
    }
    else
    {
    //MessageHelper.DisplayWarning(context, string.Format(&quot;Primary Output items not found for project {0}: {1}.&quot;, projectName, line));
    }
    }
    }
    }
    }
    else
    {
    //MessageHelper.DisplayWarning(context, string.Format(&quot;SCRM: No FileListAbsolute found for project ‘{0}’&quot;, projectName));
    }
    }

    /// &lt;summary&gt;
    ///
    /// &lt;/summary&gt;
    /// &lt;param name=&quot;configuration&quot;&gt;Build’s Configuration: Debug or Release&lt;/param&gt;
    /// &lt;param name=&quot;platform&quot;&gt;Build’s Target Platform: Any CPU or x86&lt;/param&gt;
    /// &lt;param name=&quot;projectFileName&quot;&gt;Visual Studio Project filename&lt;/param&gt;
    /// &lt;param name=&quot;projectPath&quot;&gt;Visual StudioProject path&lt;/param&gt;
    /// &lt;returns&gt;The path of the FileListAbsolute.txt file.&lt;/returns&gt;
    /// &lt;remarks&gt;This file should be located under /obj/{platform}/{configuration/}.
    /// But we also check the parent folders if the file is not found where expected.
    /// We did indeed experienced problem to locate this file for Builds with &quot;Mixed Plateform&quot; Target.&lt;/remarks&gt;
    private static string GetFileListAbsolute(string configuration, string platform, string projectFileName, string projectPath)
    {
    var fileListAbsoluteName = projectFileName + &quot;.FileListAbsolute.txt&quot;;
    var fileListAbsolutePath = Path.Combine(projectPath, &quot;obj&quot;, platform, configuration, fileListAbsoluteName);
    if (!File.Exists(fileListAbsolutePath))
    {
    fileListAbsolutePath = Path.Combine(projectPath, &quot;obj&quot;, configuration, fileListAbsoluteName);
    if (!File.Exists(fileListAbsolutePath))
    {
    fileListAbsolutePath = Path.Combine(projectPath, &quot;obj&quot;, fileListAbsoluteName);
    if (!File.Exists(fileListAbsolutePath))
    {
    fileListAbsolutePath = null;
    }
    }
    }

    return fileListAbsolutePath;
    }
    }

    /// &lt;summary&gt;
    /// This Visual Studio Solution file Parser can be used to retrieve lists of projects in a Solution.
    /// The first list contains all projects that can be built with MSBuild.
    /// The second list contains all the other projects.
    /// &lt;/summary&gt;
    /// &lt;remarks&gt;
    /// Based on http://stackoverflow.com/questions/707107/library-for-parsing-visual-studio-solution-files.
    /// It’s a wrapper on Microsoft Build’s internal class &quot;SolutionParser&quot;
    /// &lt;/remarks&gt;
    public class SolutionParser
    {
    static readonly Type s_SolutionParser;
    static readonly PropertyInfo s_SolutionParser_solutionReader;
    static readonly MethodInfo s_SolutionParser_parseSolution;
    static readonly PropertyInfo s_SolutionParser_projects;

    public List&lt;SolutionProject&gt; MSBuildProjects { get; private set; }
    public List&lt;SolutionProject&gt; OtherProjects { get; private set; }

    static SolutionParser()
    {
    s_SolutionParser = Type.GetType(&quot;Microsoft.Build.Construction.SolutionParser, Microsoft.Build, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a&quot;, false, false);
    if (s_SolutionParser != null)
    {
    s_SolutionParser_solutionReader = s_SolutionParser.GetProperty(&quot;SolutionReader&quot;, BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance);
    s_SolutionParser_projects = s_SolutionParser.GetProperty(&quot;Projects&quot;, BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance);
    s_SolutionParser_parseSolution = s_SolutionParser.GetMethod(&quot;ParseSolution&quot;, BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance);
    }
    }

    public SolutionParser(string solutionFileName)
    {
    if (s_SolutionParser == null)
    {
    throw new InvalidOperationException(&quot;Cannot find type ‘Microsoft.Build.Construction.SolutionParser’ are you missing a assembly reference to ‘Microsoft.Build.dll’?&quot;);
    }
    var solutionParser = s_SolutionParser.GetConstructors(BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.NonPublic).First().Invoke(null);
    using (var streamReader = new StreamReader(solutionFileName))
    {
    s_SolutionParser_solutionReader.SetValue(solutionParser, streamReader, null);
    s_SolutionParser_parseSolution.Invoke(solutionParser, null);
    }
    MSBuildProjects = new List&lt;SolutionProject&gt;();
    OtherProjects = new List&lt;SolutionProject&gt;();
    var array = (Array)s_SolutionParser_projects.GetValue(solutionParser, null);
    for (int i = 0; i &lt; array.Length; i++)
    {
    SolutionProject project = new SolutionProject(array.GetValue(i));

    if (project.ProjectType == &quot;KnownToBeMSBuildFormat&quot;)
    MSBuildProjects.Add(project);
    else
    OtherProjects.Add(project);
    }
    }
    }

    /// &lt;summary&gt;
    /// This class represent a Visual Studio Project member of a Solution.
    /// &lt;/summary&gt;
    /// &lt;remarks&gt;
    /// It’s a wrapper on Microsoft Build’s internal class &quot;ProjectInSolution&quot;
    /// &lt;/remarks&gt;
    [DebuggerDisplay(&quot;{ProjectName}, {RelativePath}, {ProjectGuid}, {ProjectType}&quot;)] public class SolutionProject
    {
    static readonly Type s_ProjectInSolution;
    static readonly PropertyInfo s_ProjectInSolution_ProjectName;
    static readonly PropertyInfo s_ProjectInSolution_RelativePath;
    static readonly PropertyInfo s_ProjectInSolution_ProjectGuid;
    static readonly PropertyInfo s_ProjectInSolution_ProjectType;

    static SolutionProject()
    {
    s_ProjectInSolution = Type.GetType(&quot;Microsoft.Build.Construction.ProjectInSolution, Microsoft.Build, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a&quot;, false, false);
    if (s_ProjectInSolution != null)
    {
    s_ProjectInSolution_ProjectName = s_ProjectInSolution.GetProperty(&quot;ProjectName&quot;, BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance);
    s_ProjectInSolution_RelativePath = s_ProjectInSolution.GetProperty(&quot;RelativePath&quot;, BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance);
    s_ProjectInSolution_ProjectGuid = s_ProjectInSolution.GetProperty(&quot;ProjectGuid&quot;, BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance);
    s_ProjectInSolution_ProjectType = s_ProjectInSolution.GetProperty(&quot;ProjectType&quot;, BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance);
    }
    }

    public string ProjectName { get; private set; }
    public string RelativePath { get; private set; }
    public string ProjectGuid { get; private set; }
    public string ProjectType { get; private set; }

    public SolutionProject(object solutionProject)
    {
    this.ProjectName = s_ProjectInSolution_ProjectName.GetValue(solutionProject, null) as string;
    this.RelativePath = s_ProjectInSolution_RelativePath.GetValue(solutionProject, null) as string;
    this.ProjectGuid = s_ProjectInSolution_ProjectGuid.GetValue(solutionProject, null) as string;
    this.ProjectType = s_ProjectInSolution_ProjectType.GetValue(solutionProject, null).ToString();
    }
    }

    /// &lt;summary&gt;
    /// List of known project type Guids from http://www.mztools.com/articles/2008/mz2008017.aspx
    /// + BizTalk: http://winterdom.com/2008/12/biztalkserver2009msbuildtasks
    /// + Workflow 4.0
    /// &lt;/summary&gt;
    public enum ProjectType
    {
    [Description(&quot;{FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}&quot;)] Windows_CSharp,
    [Description(&quot;{F184B08F-C81C-45F6-A57F-5ABD9991F28F}&quot;)] Windows_VBNET,
    [Description(&quot;{8BC9CEB8-8B4A-11D0-8D11-00A0C91BC942}&quot;)] Windows_VisualCpp,
    [Description(&quot;{349C5851-65DF-11DA-9384-00065B846F21}&quot;)] Web_Application,
    [Description(&quot;{E24C65DC-7377-472B-9ABA-BC803B73C61A}&quot;)] Web_Site,
    [Description(&quot;{F135691A-BF7E-435D-8960-F99683D2D49C}&quot;)] Distributed_System,
    [Description(&quot;{3D9AD99F-2412-4246-B90B-4EAA41C64699}&quot;)] Windows_Communication_Foundation_WCF,
    [Description(&quot;{60DC8134-EBA5-43B8-BCC9-BB4BC16C2548}&quot;)] Windows_Presentation_Foundation_WPF,
    [Description(&quot;{C252FEB5-A946-4202-B1D4-9916A0590387}&quot;)] Visual_Database_Tools,
    [Description(&quot;{A9ACE9BB-CECE-4E62-9AA4-C7E7C5BD2124}&quot;)] Database,
    [Description(&quot;{4F174C21-8C12-11D0-8340-0000F80270F8}&quot;)] Database_other_project_types,
    [Description(&quot;{3AC096D0-A1C2-E12C-1390-A8335801FDAB}&quot;)] Test,
    [Description(&quot;{20D4826A-C6FA-45DB-90F4-C717570B9F32}&quot;)] Legacy_2003_Smart_Device_CSharp,
    [Description(&quot;{CB4CE8C6-1BDB-4DC7-A4D3-65A1999772F8}&quot;)] Legacy_2003_Smart_Device_VBNET,
    [Description(&quot;{4D628B5B-2FBC-4AA6-8C16-197242AEB884}&quot;)] Smart_Device_CSharp,
    [Description(&quot;{68B1623D-7FB9-47D8-8664-7ECEA3297D4F}&quot;)] Smart_Device_VBNET,
    [Description(&quot;{14822709-B5A1-4724-98CA-57A101D1B079}&quot;)] Workflow_30_CSharp,
    [Description(&quot;{D59BE175-2ED0-4C54-BE3D-CDAA9F3214C8}&quot;)] Workflow_30_VBNET,
    [Description(&quot;{06A35CCD-C46D-44D5-987B-CF40FF872267}&quot;)] Deployment_Merge_Module,
    [Description(&quot;{3EA9E505-35AC-4774-B492-AD1749C4943A}&quot;)] Deployment_Cab,
    [Description(&quot;{978C614F-708E-4E1A-B201-565925725DBA}&quot;)] Deployment_Setup,
    [Description(&quot;{AB322303-2255-48EF-A496-5904EB18DA55}&quot;)] Deployment_Smart_Device_Cab,
    [Description(&quot;{A860303F-1F3F-4691-B57E-529FC101A107}&quot;)] Visual_Studio_Tools_for_Applications_VSTA,
    [Description(&quot;{BAA0C2D2-18E2-41B9-852F-F413020CAA33}&quot;)] Visual_Studio_Tools_for_Office_VSTO,
    [Description(&quot;{F8810EC1-6754-47FC-A15F-DFABD2E3FA90}&quot;)] SharePoint_Workflow,
    [Description(&quot;{6D335F3A-9D43-41b4-9D22-F6F17C4BE596}&quot;)] XNA_Windows,
    [Description(&quot;{2DF5C3F4-5A5F-47a9-8E94-23B4456F55E2}&quot;)] XNA_XBox,
    [Description(&quot;{D399B71A-8929-442a-A9AC-8BEC78BB2433}&quot;)] XNA_Zune,
    [Description(&quot;{EC05E597-79D4-47f3-ADA0-324C4F7C7484}&quot;)] SharePoint_VBNET,
    [Description(&quot;{593B0543-81F6-4436-BA1E-4747859CAAE2}&quot;)] SharePoint_CSharp,
    [Description(&quot;{A1591282-1198-4647-A2B1-27E5FF5F6F3B}&quot;)] Silverlight,
    [Description(&quot;EF7E3281-CD33-11D4-8326-00C04FA0CE8D&quot;)] BizTalk,
    [Description(&quot;32f31d43-81cc-4c15-9de6-3fc5453562b6&quot;)] Workflow_40
    };

    /// &lt;summary&gt;
    /// Helper Class to manage Visual Studio Project’s types
    /// &lt;/summary&gt;
    public static class ProjectTypeExtensions
    {
    public static Guid ToGuid(this ProjectType val)
    {
    DescriptionAttribute[] attributes = (DescriptionAttribute[])val.GetType().GetField(val.ToString()).GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DescriptionAttribute), false);
    return attributes.Length &gt; 0 ? Guid.Parse(attributes[0].Description) : Guid.Empty;
    }

    public static ProjectType Parse(string val)
    {
    return Parse(Guid.Parse(val));
    }

    public static ProjectType Parse(Guid val)
    {
    ProjectType? type = null;
    FieldInfo[] fis = typeof(ProjectType).GetFields();
    foreach (FieldInfo fi in fis)
    {
    DescriptionAttribute[] attributes = (DescriptionAttribute[])fi.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DescriptionAttribute), false);
    if (attributes.Length &gt; 0)
    {
    if (Guid.Parse(attributes[0].Description) == val)
    {
    if (Enum.IsDefined(typeof(ProjectType), fi.Name))
    type = (ProjectType)Enum.Parse(typeof(ProjectType), fi.Name);
    break;
    }
    }
    }
    if (type.HasValue)
    return type.Value;
    else
    throw new FormatException(string.Format(&quot;'{0}’ is not a valid Project Type’s Guid&quot;, val.ToString()));
    }

    public static List&lt;ProjectType&gt; GetMSBuildProjectTypes(string localProject)
    {
    var projectCollection = new ProjectCollection();
    Project project;
    try
    {
    project = projectCollection.LoadProject(localProject);
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
    throw new Exception(string.Format(&quot;Project Type cannot be determined as ‘{0}’ is not a valid VS project.&quot;, localProject), ex);
    }

    var projectTypes = GetMSBuildProjectTypes(project);

    projectCollection.UnloadAllProjects();

    return projectTypes;
    }

    public static List&lt;ProjectType&gt; GetMSBuildProjectTypes(Project project)
    {
    try
    {
    var projectTypeGuids = (from property in project.Properties
    where property.Name == &quot;ProjectTypeGuids&quot;
    select property.EvaluatedValue).FirstOrDefault();

    List&lt;ProjectType&gt; projectTypes;
    if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(projectTypeGuids))
    projectTypes = new List&lt;ProjectType&gt;();
    else
    projectTypes = (from guid in projectTypeGuids.Split(‘;’) select Parse(guid)).ToList();

    return projectTypes;
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
    throw new Exception(string.Format(&quot;Unable to determine the project type of ‘{0}’ due to: {1}&quot;, Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(project.FullPath), ex.Message));
    }
    }
    }
    }
    [/csharp]

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    ,
  • Cannot remove/cancel/delete Print jobs

    I did recently had to restart the “Print Spooler” Service to clear the Print job queue where a job was stuck and refused to abort.

    Click to Read More

    I did download the free software – HP Photo Creations – from HP to print at home calendars, greetings cards, etc… It’s missing some essentials features IMO, like “align” pictures/text/etc… but it’s not that bad.

    I just add one issue while printing one of my creation on my PhotoSmart C6280, which is most probably related neither to that model nor to HP Photo Creations, but to the HP Drivers and/or Windows 7: One of the print job in the queue never started to print…

    When print jobs are currently queued/printing, you should see a printer icon :printer: in the notification area. Click on this one to open the print queue. If you don’t see this icon, you can still open the queue  by clicking the Start button :start:, clicking Control Panel, clicking Hardware and Sound, and then clicking Devices and Printers. There, double-click your Printer to open its status window and access the Print Job Queue.

    In that queue, I found my print job in first position, apparently stuck… So I decided to cancel it (right click the job and select “Cancel”). Its status became something like “Deleting – Error – Printing” but the job never disappeared from the queue. Usually, the printer is displaying an error message (e.g.: no paper or ink any more) and once this error solved, the job disappears. But if you don’t find what’s wrong, the easiest solution consists in clearing the queue (including all the other pending jobs if any):

    1. Click Start-R to run a command and type services.msc to open the Service Administration console.
    2. Find the services “Print Spooler” in the list of services (As a tip: Select the first service and type “Print”. The cursor will move directly to the first matching name in the list)
    3. Right-click this “Print Spooler” service and Select “Restart”
    Et voilà. The Print Job Queue is now empty…

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  • Target multiple environments with only one TFS Build Server

    I had customize our Build Process Template to support multiple target environments on a single Build Machine. I.e.: to resolve the “file references” at Build time depending on the environment targeted for the deployment.

    Click to Read More

    At work, we have mainly four distinct environments: Integration, Qualification, Pre-Production and Production. Each application (and its referenced assemblies) are promoted from one environment to the next one via tasks (Release Distribution jobs) scheduled according to a predefined monthly Release Plan…

    TFS Build Machines not only compile the applications to be deployed via the standard Release Distribution, but also the urgent fixes to be deployed directly in Pre-Production without passing through Integration and Qualification environments. It also happens, although really quite seldom, that a Build skips the Integration and goes directly to Qualification.

    It’s also to be noticed that none of our applications (assemblies) are strong named and deployed in the GAC, neither on development workstations nor on servers. Instead, all referenced assemblies are always copied within the application’s bin folders, also on the servers.

    Therefore, basically, we would need Build Machines dedicated for each target environment with the adequate assemblies made available on them, for reference resolution purpose. That would be a pity to have such Build Machines (and the related setup, maintenance, backup costs, …) for at most one build per month (Fix in Production and Qualification are fortunately not common).

    To avoid that,  I did customize our Build Process Template to take a Reference Path as input and to pass it to MSBuild. Actually, when editing a Build Definition, the Builder can select the target Environment, and the Build will simply receive a path to the location containing the related assemblies.

    Ex.: MSBuild mySolution.sln /p:ReferencePath=”c:\RefAssemblies\Qualification\”

    How can I be sure that this Reference Path won’t interfere with any Hint Paths defined in the Visual Studio projects?

    First, note that the location provided to MSBuild via the “ReferencePath” parameter will be probed to resolve all “file references” before any other location on the standard probing path. But we also pay attention to not make the assemblies available on the Hint Path on the Build Machines:

    • On Development Workstations, all our assemblies are made available in a single “Reference Assemblies” folder. Developers add references on assemblies in there for development and local testing purpose. They can also start a task at will to update this “Reference Assemblies” folder with the latest version of the assemblies (the versions used in the Integration Environment) or with the version currently deployed in the Qualification or Production Environments (e.g.: for bug fixing purpose).
    • On the Build Machines, there is one “Reference Assemblies” folder per environment (i.e.: updated by the Release Distribution with the assemblies currently in use in that environment). None of those folders is located at the same path as the “Reference Assemblies” folder of the Development Workstations. As a result, MSBuild cannot use the Hint Paths found in the Visual Studio projects to locate the referenced assemblies. Instead, it uses the path of the “Reference Assemblies” folder passed to it via its parameter /p:ReferencePath.

    In addition to the “Reference Assemblies” folders per environment, we also have one  extra folder containing the output of each latest successful Build. This one is used for “Continuous Integration“. No need to update the references in the Visual Studio Projects, MSBuild always find in that folder the latest version of each assembly recently built on any Build Machine (if requested to do so via the Build Definition). This is by the way the default “target environment” for all “Rolling Builds” defined on “Development Branches”, so any breaking features in a new version of a referenced assembly is immediately detected. Builds “candidate” to be promoted use by default the Reference Path with the assemblies from the Integration environment.

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  • .Net: Do not Split your Strings

    It could result in an “Out of Memory Exception” on really large strings as a colleague experienced last week.

    Click to Read More

    I admit I used to call Split a lot too as it’s really easy and spares me a bunch of code. Ex.: to parse lines of a CSV file. And yet, the documentation on MSDN is clear about Split performances:

    The Split methods allocate memory for the returned array object and a String object for each array element. If your application requires optimal performance or if managing memory allocation is critical in your application, consider using the IndexOf or IndexOfAny method, and optionally the Compare method, to locate a substring within a string.

    Here is a guy who deeply analyzed the memory issue which occurs when splitting a very large string : “Out of Memory Exception

    And if you need to parse the content of a large .csv, here is an efficient custom parser that can be used instead of calling Split on each line: “Fast CSV Reader

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  • Line Break versus Paragraph in WordPress

    For a WordPress beginner (at least for me, who used to write html in notepad++), when editing a post, it is irritating that the ‘Enter’ key is not simply adding a line break but starting automatically a new paragraph instead, especially when typing some pieces of code.

    Fortunately, there is a trick to add a line break without starting a new paragraph.

    Click to Read More

    A new paragraph is usually started after a “Hard break” also known as a “Carriage Return”, which is indeed the default when typing “Enter” in a Word Processor. At the opposite, a simple “Line break” also known as “Soft Break” does not start a new paragraph and result in a normal line-spacing.

    Ex.: The white-space between the previous text and this line is due to a “paragraph separator”. But here after, you will see two lines A. and B. separated by a simple line break.

    A. first line of text
    B. second line of text

    Instead of typing “Enter” at the end of the line A., press “Shift-Enter” instead. That wilt result in a “soft break” (line break) instead of a “hard break” (carriage return).

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  • Connect to TFS from VS with multiple accounts

    Assuming that you are using Windows Integration Authentication to access TFS, any instances of Visual Studio run during a Windows session will always use the current user to access TFS… Fortunately, there is a simple trick to connect on TFS with multiple accounts without starting new Windows sessions with other users.

    Click to Read More

    If like me you are a TFS administrator, you could indeed need to switch quite often from one user account to another. e.g.: to work in TFS with another profile (Contributor or Builder) and validate various configuration settings (security, etc…).

    In such a case, the easiest is to right-click on the Visual Studio Shortcut (e.g.: in the Start Menu >  All Programs > etc…) and select “Run As…”. Then enter the windows account to be used to connect to TFS.

    Notice: Each time you will do that for the first time with a new account, Visual Studio could start much slower than usually as it has to create a new profile…

    Notice: The account used to “Run As…” Visual Studio won’t become the new default account. I.e.: it won’t be reused the next time you run Visual Studio!

    You can also edit the properties of the shortcut to Visual Studio (or create a copy of that shortcut). Then, click on the “Advanced” button in the “Shortcut” tab and tick the option box “Run with different credentials”. Doing that, you will always be prompted to enter an account when running Visual Studio.

    To permanently change the default account used by Visual Studio to connect on TFS, I read that we have to change the credentials used for the that TFS server in the “Credentials Manager” (Control Panel > User Accounts > Credential Manager). Unfortunately  I may not do that here at the office :/

    To check with which user you are connected to TFS, check-out any file and have a look on the “User” column in the “Source Control Explorer”.

    Notice: You may run two instances of Visual Studio with distinct accounts simultaneously. There won’t be any “conflict”.

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  • Samsung Kies licence agreement: “Accept” button not visible

    I am starting to hate Samsung’s softwares as much as those of HP (I experience too many issues with their softs on my PC, mainly due to my atypical hardware, I admit) !

    I have been stuck on the “licence agreement” dialog window of the latest Samsung Kies update for a while because this stupid window does not auto-resize on PC with small display (e.g.: Mini-Laptop). As a consequence, the “accept” button is not visible. And no, it’s not possible to move the window, it’s a fixed size not movable dialog box 🙁

    Fortunately, you can accept the licence agreement with the keyboard.

    Click to Read More

    1. Click on the licence agreement screen to give it the focus.
    2. Press on “Tab” and “Enter” successively until you get a message “do you really want to cancel” (“Tab” move the focus to the next control in the screen. You get the message when the focus reach the “accept” button).
    3. Click “No” (The focus goes back to the “accept” button).
    4. Press “Shift-Tab” to go back to the previous control. This one is the checkbox “I agree” (I guess :))
    5. Press the “Space Bar” to check the checkbox.
    6. Press “Tab” and “Enter” to accept the licence agreement

    That’s it.

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  • Galaxy S2: Hardware ID Missing

    Since a recent Kies update, my Galaxy S2 started to throw the exception “Hardware ID Missing” every time it was plugged into my PC.

    The reason is a “bug” in the version of the SAMSUNG USB Driver for Mobile Phones installed with the Kies update. Fortunately, there is a elementary solution.

    Click to Read More

    This solution consists in installing an older version of the Samsung Driver. E.g.:  v1.4.8.0 available here, or 1.4.103 available here. I did use the 1.4.103 with success. No need to uninstall first the version currently installed. You will simply have to confirm during the setup that you want to install that version although another one is already installed.

    This issue prevents Kies to connect with the phone via USB. Concretely you see the “connecting” message for a while as well as a spinning icon looping indefinitely.

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  • Samsung Kies error: PDLR has stopped working

    After a recent update, Kies started to throw the exception “PDLR has stopped working”.

    If you are looking how to solve that issue, I did google on that too and found a radical solution.

    Click to Read More

    A solution often mentioned on the web is to remove the following line from the config file (or to completely delete the file) :

    [xml][/xml]

    This config file is located in “%programfiles%\Samsung\Kies\External\FirmwareUpdate\KiesPDLR.exe.config” (on x64 platform: “%programfiles% (x86)”).

    This fix didn’t work for me. But another one did the trick: I did an “advanced” uninstall of Kies using the free “Revo Uninstaller” and did next a fresh re-install.

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  • Syntax highlighting in WordPress

    I am using the plugin “Syntax Highlighter Evolved” to color the code samples embedded in my posts.

    This one is based, as many others, on the code syntax highlighter developed in java-script by Alex Gorbatchev.

    Click to Read More

    Here is the list of supported syntaxes [syntax name: tag]:

    ActionScript3: as3, actionscript3
    Bash/shell: bash, shell
    ColdFusion: cf, coldfusion
    C#: c-sharp, csharp
    C++: cpp, c
    CSS: css
    Delphi: delphi, pas, pascal
    Diff: diff, patch
    Erlang: erl, erlang
    Groovy: groovy
    JavaScript: js, jscript, javascript
    Java: java
    JavaFX: jfx, javafx
    Perl: perl, pl
    PHP: php
    Plain Text: plain, text
    PowerShell: ps, powershell
    Python: py, python
    Ruby: rails, ror, ruby
    Scala: scala
    SQL: sql
    Visual Basic: vb, vbnet
    XML: xml, xhtml, xslt, html, xhtml

    The easiest it to use the tags here above as shortcode around your “code”, like this: [tag]my code[/tag] where tag can be php, vb, shell, ….

    Here is a sample from Alex G.’s website using the tag “php” as a shortcode:

    [php]// SyntaxHighlighter makes your code snippets
    // beautiful without tiring your servers.
    // http://alexgorbatchev.com
    var setArray = function(elems) {
    this.length = 0;
    push.apply(this, elems);
    return this;
    }[/php]

    There are various options than can be set using parameters: [tag parameter=”value”]my code[/tag]. Those options are listed in the “settings” page of the plugin (See via the WordPress admin dashboard).

    The various issues I found are:

    1. Although using the parameter gutter=”true”, I cannot remove the line numbering but keep the toolbar.
    2. Copy/Paste code from an IDE does not provide a nice output:
      • The indentation is lost,
      • some lines of code become formatted as “paragraphs” and extra blank lines appears therefore
    There is however a trick to keep the original formatting of the code when copy/pasting this one.
    1. Copy first your code from the IDE
    2. Next, in your post, select the HTML view
    3. Then, in this view, add your tags [tag][/tag]
    4. Finally, paste your code between those tags and switch back to the Visual view

    If you prefer to convert your code into HTML+CSS, the best online tool I found is Pygments (Python Syntax Highlighter) which supports for free much more languages than most others, has a simple interface and display not  advertisement.

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