This is the second part of the SQL Azure Database Manager series. The first part is here.

So, now you're connected to your database by using the SQL Azure Database Manager.

Here is the detailed interface provided :

The different parts of the interface are :

A toolbar :

Here from the Database toolbar, you can have access to the most common tasks that I'll explain gradually.

Note that on the top of the toolbar, I've a small buttons panel. The second button will change depending on the content currently loaded in the designer/editor view.

In the case I'm working on a table with the table designer, the buttons will then be Database and Table :

In the case I'm working on a view with the view designer, the buttons will then be Database and View :

So you understood that the second button will be contextualized. And by clicking the first one, you can come back to the Database Toolbar.

A navigation pane :

This is where you'll find your Tables, Views and Stored Procedures.

This is an accordion control, so you can choose the detail to deploy.

At the top of the pane is a filter text box. So if I type the term Stored, here will be the filtered result of the previous snapshot:

This is a multi-tab view where you will :

• Design your tables.
• Edit your data.
• Edit/Run your queries.
• Edit your stored procedures.
• Edit your views.

The start page show information (inside a beautiful cube) about your database like the status, the collation, the compatibility level, …

And if you turn the cube, you'll have a 3D chart displaying the data storage used.

In the status bar, you'll find information about: the server FQN & the database you're connected to, the user you're logged in and a support ID.

You can logout from the SQL Azure Database Manager by using the small upper right link.

More to come in the next part! :)

The SQL Azure Database Manager is a light and easy to use tool to manage you SQL Azure Database.

This tool runs inside your browser thanks to the Silverlight power (remember, the dead Silverlight!).

The URL to access the SQL Azure DB Manager is : https://manage-db3.sql.azure.com/

***

Edit (14/12/2010)

I was contacted by Microsoft today. Working with a direct URL is a bad practice.

Here is their message :

In the post you reference https://manage-db3.sql.azure.com . We have instances of database manager co-located in each of the SQL Azure datacenters. The best practice would be to launch database manager directly from the portal, instead of hitting the url directly to ensure that you are running on an instance of database manager that is closest to your data. That url points to one of our European datacenters and may not be the best launch point for it(depending on where your data is located).

***

One you get the Silverlight application loaded, insert :

• Your SQL Azure Server Name (Fully Qualified DNS Name)
• Your database Name
• Your login Name
• Your password.

That's it! Click on the Connect button an you're in!

If you've any problem connecting, you'll see a small error link :

Click on it and you'll have a more detailed error message:

Once the door is open, you'll meet this new view :

More to come… :)

If you install the last version (1.3) of the Azure SDK, you'll now have the possibility to use an Extras small VM size :

For more information about the VM sizes : http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee814754.aspx

To download the 1.3 version of Azure SDK : http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=7a1089b6-4050-4307-86c4-9dadaa5ed018&displaylang=en

Recently I've worked on a small Silverlight application that targets Sharepoint 2010 file operations (copy, move, delete, …).

Sharepoint 2010 has a lot of great enhancements compare to Sharepoint 2007 but still lacks of basic file operations facilities (e.g. if you want to copy a file from a doclib to another doclib, you must give the URL of the destination doclib).

This V 0.1 of Sharepoint 2010 SilverXplorer currently only offers files & folders browsing.

Here is how the application looks like inside of Sharepoint :

Here is how the loading progress looks:

To change the Sharepoint site, click the button and choose a new site URL:

To go inside a folder, just click it!

To go up, click the button.

You can also use it in an out of browser way (with elevated trust).

On the Silverlight side, the new Sharepoint 2010 Client Object Model has been used.

If you take a look at the code, you'll also note that I've used a Resource Dictionary & Merged Dictionaries for styles and states and that I'm playing a lot with states (I like them!).

Sharepoint queries were optimized by Mathieu Gretry who joined the project!

To download the V 0.1 of the XAP or to access the source code, just go to : http://spsilverxplorer.codeplex.com/

If you've Firefox 3.6.4 or above installed on your computer and if you use it as your default browser, you'll probably meet some problems while trying to debug a Silverlight application in Visual Studio.

The Mozilla team has changed security settings for plugins.

I found the solution in the Silverlight forum (Thanks to MisterGoodcat!).

Here is what you to do :

• Type "about:config" into Firefox address bar
• Accept the warning (if applicable)
• Search for the entry "dom.ipc.plugins.enabled.npctrl.dll"
• Change its value from "true" to "false" (by double-clicking it)
• Restart the browser

A short post to prevent you installing an edition of Office/Outlook 2010 64 bits and better go to setup a 32 bits version.

A few days ago on my twitter, I shared this link : "Microsoft warns: Don't use 64-bit Office 2010"

Here is one good illustration of that…

I just tried to install the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 for Microsoft Office Outlook on a computer with Outlook 2010 64 bits and here is the message I get :

Time to uninstall Office 2010 64 bits and install Office 2010 32 bits on this computer!

Edit : Here is the official message from the CRM Team.

The new Enterprise Library 5.0 was launched a few days before and I decided to use this new version in my projects. One of the main application block I'm using is the Logging Application Block.

I went to use it in a WCF Service Library into Visual Studio 2010. Everything was fine until I decided to use a Database Trace Listener. Of course, I referenced the Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Logging.Database in my project. But it always failed to run with this message:

"Invalid TraceListenerData type in configuration 'listenerDataType=\"Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Logging.Database.Configuration.FormattedDatabaseTraceListenerData, Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Logging.Database, Version=5.0.414.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35\"'."

Finally, I found that you need to work with the .NET 4.0 Full Framework and not only the Client Profile. Some assemblies are needed by the Database Trace Listener that are not present in the Client Profile (to learn more about the differences between the Full Framework and the Client profile, go here).

So, just target your project to the .NET Framework 4 and everything will be fine.

Imagine this simple custom list created in Sharepoint 2010 :

If you want to add an item to this list, here is the dialog that will be shown:

To easily customize this form:

Go in the List Tools > List in the Ribbon:

You can then choose the « Customize Form » icon :

Or, if you go in the Library Settings, you can use the "Form Settings" link.

Infopath will open with the form you asked to customize.

Here is my customisation (I will probably isn't it ?)

Now, when you create or edit an item in the list, here is the form that will be shown :

And if you browse your list in Sharepoint Designer 2010, you will find the template.xsn in the Item folder of your list.

Imagine this scenario :

• You've built a Silverlight application with the out-of-browser feature.
• This application is installed on multiple computers.
• You may work with your Silverlight app without being connected.
• You want to avoid complex sync programming and you don't want to use server-side data service(s).

In this scenario, you need to work with a local repository to persist your data. Keep it simple and let's consider an XML file to serialize your data (for more complex scenario, this article may be a source of inspiration).

But… Implementing a data sync pattern may lead to headache.

How to avoid writing a server sync service, a (proprietary?) client agent (with a nice data changes detection), and how to remain the less system-dependant as possible?

Others have done it for you with Dropbox!

Simply said, Dropbox "is software that syncs your files online and across your computers".

Dropbox is stable, secure and very seamless. It works on Windows, Mac and Linux.

For more information about it and if you want to register, go here (and, at your turn, invite your friends to earn more space).

So, come back to our Silverlight OOB application. Here is then my architecture suggestion:

You can try it with this application : DropboxSLOOB

To use it :

• Install the application on your computer (out-of-browser with elevated privileges) clicking the button

  

• Your Dropbox folder MUST be installed in your "My Documents" folder.
• Create a small XML file in your Dropbox folder, copy this :

  <? xml version ="1.0"encoding="utf-8"?>

  < Items >

  < Item data ="This is an item data" />

  < Item data ="This is another item data" />

  < Item data ="efefe" />

  </ Items >

Now you can get your items and create new ones. And if you try to use another computer with the same application, you'll see that your data is synced! 

To download this test application and the test XML file (it's inside the Visual Studio project), go here.

This application is made under VS 2010 RC with SL 4.0 RC.