How do I backup SQL Azure to a Blob Storage Account using bacpac

27-Jun-1212 Leave a comment

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/hh335292

My word press blog entry

 

Filed under Azure, SQL Azure

How do I … backup by using Create Database … As Copy Of to an Azure database (to Azure)

27-Jun-1212 1 Comment

–Start logged into Azure and with master as current database
–Does work 27/06/2012
DROP DATABASE _20120627
CREATE DATABASE _20120627 AS COPY OF

–Must wait for state to be changed from Copying to ?Ready?
SELECT * FROM sys.dm_database_copies
SELECT * FROM sys.databases
SELECT name, state, state_desc from sys.databases where name = ‘_20120627’

–Test that data is there
SELECT * FROM .

Filed under Azure, SQL Azure

Azure Storage – a pre-requisite to export SQL to blob storage

27-Jun-1212 Leave a comment

A storage account needs a container before it can be used.
The container may be made in Visual Studio using a new Project > Cloud > Windows Azure Cloud Service
When this project is created with any Web Roles you create the relevant projects will also be created and linked.
When this is created make this Cloud Service Project the start-up project and run-it in Visual Studio as an administrator you may then get further, it will not start the cloud service project but the web project. This will then give relevant keys.

I found this not to run in local. Needed to publish it first.
Then in Azure Management > Hosted Services > Locate > Run from DNS

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/2153.windows-azure-and-sql-azure-tutorials-tutorial-3-using-windows-azure-blob-service-en-us.aspx#__Lesson1Proc1

 

To test the application in the staging environment

  1. From the portal, in the left pane, click Hosted Services.
  2. In the middle pane, expand GolferMessageBoard, and then click v1.2.0.0.
  3. In the Properties pane, click the URL in the DNS name box. The application is opened in a new browser tab or a new browser window depending on your browser configuration.
  4. Test the application by entering one or more entries.

After the application is working correctly in the staging environment, you are ready to promote it to the production environment.

To promote the application to production

  1. From the portal, in the left pane, click Hosted Services.
  2. In the middle pane, expand GolferMessageBoard, and then click v1.2.0.0.
  3. From the top menu, click Swap VIP.
  4. In the Swap VIPs dialog, click OK. Wait until the Status for the deployment changes to Ready.
  5. In the Properties pane, click the URL in the DNS name box. The application is opened in a new browser tab or a new browser window depending on your browser configuration.
  6. Test the application in the production environment by entering one or more entries.

 

Azure Export of SQL database to blob

The format of the file should be
http:// teststorage01.blob. core.windows.net/dbbackup/ebcgroup1.bacpac

I had following error:
“azure blob is not writeable … the specified container does not exist”

To create the container make sure the above has been published to Azure and run from there.

 

Filed under Azure, SQL Azure

How do I … change Config ConnectionString at runtime

21-Jun-1212 Leave a comment

See code below


Public Class RuntimeConnection

Const ConStringSettingsName = "MyEntitiesName"

Sub SetRuntimeConnection(UserNameValue As String, PasswordValue As String)
Dim currentConString = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings(ConStringSettingsName).ConnectionString
Dim myWebConfig = System.Web.Configuration.WebConfigurationManager.OpenWebConfiguration("~")
Dim builder As New EntityClient.EntityConnectionStringBuilder(currentConString)
Dim sqlConStrManager As New SqlClient.SqlConnectionStringBuilder(builder.ProviderConnectionString)
sqlConStrManager.UserID = UserNameValue
sqlConStrManager.Password = PasswordValue
builder.ProviderConnectionString = sqlConStrManager.ConnectionString
myWebConfig.ConnectionStrings.ConnectionStrings(ConStringSettingsName).ConnectionString = builder.ConnectionString
myWebConfig.Save()
ConfigurationManager.RefreshSection("connectionStrings")
'Dim msg = String.Concat(sqlConStrManager.ConnectionString, vbCrLf, vbCrLf, builder.ConnectionString, vbCrLf, vbCrLf, _
' myWebConfig.ConnectionStrings.ConnectionStrings(ConStringSettingsName).ConnectionString)
'MsgBox(msg)
End Sub

End Class

Also see below


Imports System.Configuration

...

Dim config As Configuration = ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration(ConfigurationUserLevel.None)
config.ConnectionStrings.ConnectionStrings("myEntities").ConnectionString = value
config.Save()
ConfigurationManager.RefreshSection("connectionStrings")
'MsgBox(config.ConnectionStrings.ConnectionStrings("myEntities").ConnectionString)

.

 

End.

Filed under ADO.Net, Visual Studio

ASP.Net publish to Azure with Database and control of Start Page

19-Jun-1212 Leave a comment

Followed

https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/develop/net/tutorials/web-site-with-sql-database/

There was a warning on publish page 3, which mentioned code-first migrations must be enabled. After web-search I realised I needed to upgrade to a higher version of EntityFramework which has System.Data.Entity.Migrations

Used Visual Studio > Tools > Library Package Manager > Package Manager Console

PM> install-package EntityFramework -Pre

PM> enable-migrations

will then publish. Although now up, the sites page is “This web site has been successfully created. There’s nothing here yet, but Windows Azure makes it simple to publish content with GIT, TFS, FTS or your favorite development tool”

If go directly to a page I know exists it does take me there, (or in my case redirects to login)

http://xamlgeek.net/2010/11/19/start-page-in-azure/

During development this of course wasn’t an issue – I just right clicked the page I wanted as startpage as selected “Set as Start Page”.

When I deployed to Azure the start page wasn’t recognized. To set the start page in Azure it is necessary to do one of two things: 1) Implement a start page called “Default.aspx” or 2) specify the start page in the web.config file:

2010-11-19_002433

Setting the defaultDocument value in the web.config fixed my issue.

 

 

Filed under ASP.Net, Azure

ASP.Net Forms Authorization

19-Jun-1212 Leave a comment

Use

C:\%windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\<versionNumber>\aspnet_regsql.exe

to add authorisation schema to an existing database

This will not work with SQL Azure. See

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2006191

which links to

http://archive.msdn.microsoft.com/KB2006191

Filed under ASP.Net

ASP.Net MVC VB.Net Troubleshooting

19-Jun-1212 Leave a comment

Trouble

The connection name ‘ApplicationServices’ was not found in the applications configuration or the connection string is empty

Solution

Go to Project level web.config. Find <membership> change connectionStringName=”ApplicationServices” to “LocalSqlServer”

 

Filed under ASP.Net, Troubleshooting

How do I … ASP.Net MVC with VB.Net

18-Jun-1212 Leave a comment

How do I … submit text from an input box.

    <form action="" method="post">
   Code starts with: <input type="text" name="MinCode" id="CodeInput" />
    <input type="submit" value="Click Me" /> 
    </form>

and

    <form id="search" action="http://www.google.co.uk/search" method="GET"> 
    <input type="text" name="q" /> 
    <input type="submit" value="Submit" /> 
    </form>

How do I … Register Routes

 routes.MapRoute("Products", "Products/{myCode}", _
              New With {.controller = "Products", .action = "Search"})

How do I … use this route in a controller

        Function Search(name As String) As ActionResult

            Dim myName = RouteData.Values("name")
            Dim myNameFromSignature = name
            Dim result = String.Concat(myName, vbCrLf, name)
            'Return RedirectToAction("Index")
            Dim model As New List(Of ProductsModel)
            InitialiseProductList(model)
            model = model.Where(Function(f) f.Code.ToLower.StartsWith(name)).ToList
            If model.Count = 0 Then
                Return Content(Server.HtmlEncode("No results"))
            End If

            'ViewBag.Name = name
            Return View(model)

        End Function

How do I now call this ASP.Net MVC Search Box

<% Html.BeginForm("Search", "Products")%> 
   <input type="text" name="myCode" /> 
   <input type="submit" name="Submit" /> 
<% Html.EndForm() %>


Confirmed that this works. SRS 18/06/2012. Then did not work 19/06/2012. However following did work.


this example also includes “How do I use @ in ASP.Net MVC including Using.


@Using (Html.BeginForm(“Search”, “Reg90″, FormMethod.Post))

@:<input type=”text” name=”myCode” />

@:<input type=”submit” value=”Click Me 2″ />

End Using




				


				

					

						Filed under ASP.Net
											

				


			


		
			


				


					
User Standards for Documents


					

						

							08-Jun-1212
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User Standards for Documents




Introduction


The originator of a document would ideally bring documents up to a certain standard before distribution. If this is not done then each recipient may need to bring the document up to standard themselves.


It is also good courtesy to send people well-structured documents.


Data Redundancy (duplicated data)


Ideally data is stored once. Distributing a file, especially by email, has the effect of creating multiple copies of the same data in different places, each of which may then be altered independently.


It is good to be aware of possible discrepancies between copies.


One solution is to have a central location for files.


A better solution is to use a central database


Excel


General Standards


    

  1. Save with the cursor at the most appropriate position. Normally the first sheet A1.
    2. 



Standards for Documents that may require printing


    

  1. If it is likely that the sheet may be printed, then set column widths and margins appropriately before saving so that the sheet will print in one sheet wide
    2. 

  2. If appropriate add gridlines
    3. 

  3. If appropriate add titles to the header, page numbers and dates and possibly the sheet or file name to the footer as well
    4. 



For most data including:


Data that may need to be Sorted, Filtered, Imported or require Sums or Pivots


    

  1. Each column to have a heading in a single cell
    2. 

  2. No column gaps
    3. 

  3. No row gaps
    4. 

  4. Single top row
    5. 

  5. Freeze panes normally somewhere in row 2 so that the top row is frozen. If the first column or two contains code name or key data and in particular if there are more columns than fit on the screen then it may be appropriate to put the frozen cell in B2, C2 or similar
    6. 



For data that needs to be imported


    

  1. Each column would have a single cell with no spaces and CapitalLettersAtTheBeginningOfEachWord
    2. 

  2. First normal form, see below.
    3. 

  3. If similar data is being imported then put in a single list, not across multiple sheets
    4. 



Normalize


Examples


    

  1. 

    Very Bad
    

    2. 

  2. 

    Bad:
    

    3. 

  3. 

    Better: First Normal Form – 1NF:
    

    This is an acceptable level for most users.
    

    4. 

  4. 

    Good: Higher levels of Normalization:
    

    This uses multiple tables to remove data duplication. In the example above the film title “Casablanca” appears more than once. If more films were added the actor names would also appear more than once. In the example below the title and actors appear only once and are subsequently referred to by their IDs, in this case in the FilmActor table.
    

    5. 





				


				

					

						Filed under User Help
											

				


			


		
			


				


					
WPF freezes when dragging data source onto a Page or Window


					

						

							18-Apr-1212
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Problem


WPF freezes when dragging data source onto a Page or Window


Possible Solution


Inspect datasource and see if it has a child table underneath it. Does this child expand to show the parent table again. If so then you may be creating an infinite loop when dragging the datasource onto the Page or Window




				


				

					

						Filed under Errors, Troubleshooting, WPF
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