Mickey Gousset

Team System Rocks Logo Contest

mickey_gousset — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:24:17 GMT

So, Team System Rocks is about to undergo a facelift in a couple of months. And I would LOVE to have a new logo for the site. However, I am "graphically impaired". So I thought I would see if there was anyone out there who could create me a new logo. And what better way to generate interest than with a contest?

So, here is the deal: Team System Rocks needs a new logo. I will use the logo on the site, and maybe on any materials I may make in the future (such as T-shirts, etc...). As far as what I want or don't want in a logo, I have no idea. Surprise me.

So, what do you win: A copy of Visual Studio Team Suite with a year subscription to MSDN Premium.

So, when does the contest end: August 31st, 2008

Send all contest entries to me at mickey_gousset@.hotmail.com. I'll announce the winner and unveil the new logo with the new facelift of Team System Rocks.

Let the games begin!

New CTP for VSTS Database Edition GDR is now available

mickey_gousset — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:11:49 GMT

GertD just announced that a new CTP of the upcoming 2008 update, Microsoft VSTS 2008 Database Edition GDR is now available. From Gert's blog:

You can download it from MSDN:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=bb3ad767-5f69-4db9-b1c9-8f55759846ed&displaylang=en
Most important changes:

Project upgrade is now in place. For those of you who were kind enough to donate their database projects, thank you!
Mixed projects are no longer supported, from now on server projects represent only server creatable objects and user objects that need to be deployed to “master”. Another change is that server options will not get deployed; we only validate the settings as pre-requisites for a deployment. As such server options (sp_configure) have been added to the project system.
The interpreter now understands temporary tables, table variables and select into column sources.
The Static Code Analysis MSBuild task was added
XSD Reference user interface support is enable, but it does not yet create XML Schema Collections
And lots of fixes since CTP14

Please file bugs using Microsoft Connect and post questions on the MSDN forum.

And here are some of the details from the download site:

Overview

In addition to providing support for SQL Server 2008 database projects, this release incorporates many previously released Power Tools as well as several new features. The new features include distinct Build and Deploy phases, Static Code Analysis and improved integration with SQL CLR projects.
Database Edition no longer requires a Design Database. Therefore, it is no longer necessary to install an instance of SQL Express or SQL Server prior to using Database Edition.
SQL Server Support

SQL Server 2008

All new data types:

Intrinsic (date, datetime2, datetimeoffset, time)
Built-in SQL CLR types (geography, geometry, hierarchyid)

New DML

Merge, table parameters, …

SQL Server Configuration Options

Server option settings will be verified prior to deployment or set during deployment
Additional 1st Class Object Type Support
Rules, defaults, Asymmetric keys, symmetric keys, certificates, …

Projects

Server Projects

Server objects and option settings may be implemented in a separate Server Project
This enables a team to define a standard a configuration for their SQL servers and reference it from their Database Projects

Partial projects

Allowing code sharing between projects by including files from a different project, where the code is included as-is from the originating project and the source code control ownership remains with the originating project
This enables code reuse and single sourcing while having a single deployment unit

Composite projects

References to other database projects or .dbschema files that contribute to the same deployment unit.
This enables the separation of development roles and responsibilities and composition of Databases using multiple projects.

Single sourcing of external artifacts

SQL-CLR references allow the user to create a reference to a SQL-CLR project or SQL-CLR assembly. This automatically becomes an ASSEMBLY type in the Database Project

Build and Deploy

The Build process now produces a separate portable schema output that is fed in to a redistributable deployment engine
A redistributable deployment engine. For example, to implement a setup application that deploys the Database Project.

Refactoring

Preservation of Intent

Enables the deployment of refactoring changes as intended by the user (renames are deployed as renames not as drop/add statements for example)

New Refactoring Operations

Wildcard Expansion
Move Schema
Fully Qualify
Extensibility point which enables the ability to develop and deploy custom refactoring types and targets

Schema Compare

Now supports comparing Projects, Databases or dbschema files in any combination. For example, Project to Project, which has not been possible until now.
Object Type Filtering
Additional ignore filtering options

T-SQL Static Code Analysis

Including the ability to develop and deploy custom rules

Dependency Viewer

View the dependency relationship between objects in your schema

Unit testing

Supports execution with other ADO.NET providers

Data Generation

Design-time enhancements

Smaller .dgen file
Support for undo/redo
Foreign key replacement
Separation of population status into new display window

Runtime enhancements

By default uses SqlBulkCopy to populate target tables
Capability to register different outputs for generated data – i.e. generate to Excel or to file so you can use BCP to load
By registering a custom output we have the capability to execute scripts at different points during data generation (i.e. before start/after completion or before/after a table

Extensibility

Data Generators
Statistical Data Distribution
Test Conditions
Static Code Analysis Rules
Refactoring Types
Refactoring Target

Teamprise 3.1 is now available

mickey_gousset — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:25:10 GMT

As you can see from the Team System Rocks Breaking News section, Teamprise 3.1 is now available. Martin Woodward has a great blog post on some of the highlights. These include:

Improved Offline Support
TFS 2008 SP1 New Feature Support
Command Line Client Improvements
64-bit support on Windows

This is a maintenance free release to everyone that has a valid Teamprise 3.0 license.

I'm finally on Twitter

mickey_gousset — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 21:49:35 GMT

As long as I can remember to update it.

Follow me here.

Radio TFS #7 - VSTS 2008 Test Edition

mickey_gousset — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:26:46 GMT

Martin, Paul, and Mickey are getting Radio TFS back on track with Radio TFS #7 - Visual Studio Team System 2008 Test Edition.

Get it here!

Problems with FeedDemon and MSDN Blogs

mickey_gousset — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 18:43:48 GMT

You may be wondering why I haven't been posting my VSTS Links lately. Part of that has to do with Tech Ed 2008. I was there all last week, and presenting for the first time (for more on that, see my personal blog at http://www.teamsystemrocks.com/blogs/mickey_gousset), so I got a little behind in my reading.

This weekend, when I went to catch up, I noticed something odd. FeedDemon was not synching up with blogs.msdn.com or weblogs.asp.net. I tried updating to the latest version, and still no dice. So I didn't have easy access to all the information from the MSDN bloggers, which provide a good bit of content for VSTS Links. I did some searching, and come up with the following links about the problem:

Looks like the work-around for the time being is to move these feeds into a folder that does not synch with NewsGator. That's going to be a major pain, but I like FeedDemon, so I'll deal with it for the time being.

I'll get the VSTS Links back on track in a couple of days. Thanks for your patience!

Tech Ed Daze: Presentation Day - The Aftermath

mickey_gousset — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 21:13:21 GMT

So I'm done! I did it! I have now officially presented my first Break Out Session at Tech Ed. And it feels good!

I had a nice crowd, probably around 60-70 people. I only saw a few people leave during the presentation, so a majority stayed. I spent about 5-10 minutes before the session started talking with people, about Team System, Tech Ed, and whatever else came up.

I felt like my presentation went well. All my demos worked the way I wanted them to, and I felt like I communicated the points I wanted told. I had several people come up and ask questions afterwards. All in all it was a great time.

I'll blog more about it later. Right now its time to relax...

Tech Ed Daze: Presentation Day - Part 2

mickey_gousset — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 14:28:41 GMT

So, this will be my last blog post until after my presentation. I ran through the demos quickly this morning, and everything stills seems to work (as you would expect it to). At this point I feel pretty comfortable with my demos, I just want to make sure I keep the audience entertained. I keep hearing people saying how they have had issues with the Virtual PC tech we are using this year. That scares me a little, since I am using it, but everything seemed to go find at Tech Check last night, so keep your fingers crossed for me.

For those coming to the session, come a little early. I'll get there about 12:30. I think there is a lunch time session in that room, but they should be done by 12:45. I'll fire everything up, and that'll give us time to sit around and shoot the breeze before the session starts. And of course, after the session, I'll move discussions and questions down to the TLC, where we can hang out in a little more comfort. I'll stick around and answer questions (or pull other people in to answer questions) for as long as you would like me to.

I'll even have a little swag to give away, if you can answer a couple of quiz questions right....

S230A....See ya there.

Tech Ed Daze: Presentation Day - Part 1

mickey_gousset — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 09:20:09 GMT

So I had the trifecta completed yesterday. I was working in the TLC (Thanks Anu for putting up with me), and a couple of guys walked up to me around 5:45 PM and told me that they knew me from my book. Thank you guys, you made my day. So now I've been recognized from the book, the podcast, and the website. Rock on.

I took the wuss move and stayed in last night, instead of hitting the MVP party. I decided to, shockingly, run through my presentation one last time, because today is the day. It's Presentation Day!

So of course, I'm up at 5 AM, because I can't sleep. But I'm experience less of the "oh crap I'm speaking and Tech Ed and scared out of my mind" and more of the "Ok, I'm ready to get this show on the road and see how I do". Looking back through this series of blog posts, its apparent that I have been a little "nervous", and I have. But don't think for a moment I haven't been enjoying it, because its been a great wild wide.

I'll be talking in S230A at 1 PM on Web Testing with VSTS. You can have all the free soft drinks that you want (my personal favorite is Diet Mountain Dew, BTW). My goal is to show you some examples of web testing that go beyond just the basic record a web test and slap a validation rule in there, though that is in there too. You have to start somewhere. But I'm going to show data driven web testing, custom extraction rules, web test plugins, and coded web tests. I feel these tools get overlooked, because they aren't as well known, or sound complicated, and I want to highlight how useful and easy they can be to use. My examples may not be NASA-like in their hardness, but I think they help convey the point of what you can do with these technologies. And you never know, we might bust out some Jonathan Coulton. :)

Also, if you come to my session, make sure you fill out an eval. I'm sure you are tired of speakers saying that to you, but in my case I'd really love to see the results of my first time speaking. Even if you have to get up in the middle of the session and leave (which is perfectly fine), you can still fill one out. And if you can take a couple of extra minutes to leave comments, that would be even better. The numbers are nice, but its the comments that are going to help me become a better presenter, which is my goal. So the more comments you have, good, bad, or indifferent, ultimately will help me next time I get up in front of a group.

This morning, I'm going to hit breakfast, and then Mike Azocar's talk on Team System Testing with Virtual Machines (not the actual name, but close enough so you can find it. Hey, it's 5 in the morning). After that I'll look through my stuff one more time in the speaker room, and then probably hang in the TLC till time for my talk. I'll be in the room around 12:30, to do a quick tech check, so if you want to come by early and hang out and talk before the session starts, please do. I'll be the guy in the nice light blue shirt that stays wrinkled no matter how much you iron it (and I tried last night, I really did). After the session, I'll take any questions people have back down to the TLC (to get out of the way for the next speaker). And, last but not least, I'll be signing my book at the bookstore from 3:30 to 4 today (at least I think that is still the plan). You don't have to buy a copy, but I'd love people to just come hang out and chat, so I don't sit there all alone, looking like a puppy waiting for adoption (insert sad puppy eyes here).

I'm ready to get this day going....

Tech Ed Daze: T - 1 Day Till My Presentation - Part 4

mickey_gousset — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 16:57:08 GMT

So, should you be scared when Steven Borg is playing with a vacuum cleaner, flashing red light, and blender? Maybe, maybe not. But apparently they are all going to be used during his Team Build session, so this should be pretty fun.

Uh oh, it looks like he has some sort of projectile device as well....

Had another ego-boost today. I was walking to lunch, and the gentleman next to me asked me if I was Mickey Gousset from the Radio TFS podcast! Turns out he had just listened to the latest episode this morning. So now all I need is for someone to come up and say they recognize me from my book, and I'll have the trifecta!

Speaking of my book, I am doing a book signing from 3:30 PM to 4 PM on Thursday, June 6 at the bookstore. I checked on Monday and there were 10 copies of the book. I checked yesterday and there were still 10 copies of the book. :D

As far as my presentation goes, I think I have made my peace with it. I'm satisfied with where it is at, and I think it is the kind of session I would find interesting, so no more worrying about it (at least until tonight).

Ok, time to learn all about Team Build. Don't forget, I present tomorrow (Thursday) in Room S320A.

Tech Ed Daze: T - 1 Day Till My Presentation - Part 3

mickey_gousset — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 14:16:51 GMT

So I've run through my presentation again, found one issue with a demo, and fixed it. My presentation should be about 80% demo and 20% slides. Based on some of the rumblings I've heard, attendees want to see more hands on demo, so that is what I hope I'm providing them.

I'm hanging out in the TLC right now till the Tech Expo opens, and then I'll make one quick pass through there, to say hello to some of the people I know working the booths (and possibly see if there is any good swag).

As I mentioned before, this afternoon I'm going to a couple of sessions (in addition to Steven's Team Build talk, I'll be going to a lunch session on how to write for MSDN magazine), and then I'll be in the TLC till 6.

Tech Ed Daze: T - 1 Day Till My Presentation - Part 2

mickey_gousset — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 12:12:21 GMT

I'm in the speaker room now, about to run through my presentation a couple of times. Think happy thoughts for me.

Tech Ed Daze: T - 1 Day Till My Presentation - Part 1

mickey_gousset — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 10:28:10 GMT

Last night we had a dinner with several of the Team System MVPs and some product group members. It is always fun to get us all in a room together and watch us argue. :) We went to one of those places where it's five different courses, but you basically only get to select your main dish, and everything else is set for you. The first thing they brought out was this little cracker-like thing with some unidentifiable stuff on it. Jeff Levinson and I kept looking at each other with a "You try it and then I'll try it" kind of look. Jeff finally went first. It was pretty good. Then when the soup came out, it was my turn to go first. That was pretty good too.

After the dinner we went to Doug's Geekfest party at the piano bar. I had not been in a piano bar in a while, and had forgotten how fun they were. I hung there for about an hour, then hitched a ride back to the hotel to look at my presentation again.

So here I am this morning, about to head over to the convention center and queue up my VHD to get loaded for my presentation tomorrow. And I have to admit I'm now getting really nervous. I've set in on several sessions, and seen what I like and didn't like about how some speakers did their thing. My biggest concern is my demos, to be honest. I don't know if people will be expecting some sort of huge, esoteric, very complicated-type stuff, but if you are, you'll be in the wrong place. I have a message to convey, and I want to point out some tools that are available in the product that some people don't use, because they are either unaware of the tools, are concerned that they are too complicated. I didn't want my demo to get in the way of that message, so intentionally kept it relatively simple.

My schedule today is pretty simple. I'll be spending most of the morning in the speaker room, running through my presentation, or over in the TLC, just hanging out. I'm headed to the Team Build Muscle Man presentation at 1 PM, and then I'll be working in the TLC from 3-6. I'd love for at least one person to come by today and say they have been reading these Tech Ed Daze posts, :D. After that, I've got my Tech Check at 7.

Tech Ed Daze: T - 2 Days Till My Presentation - Part 3

mickey_gousset — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 18:28:16 GMT

So, no one came by to see me at the blogger lounge, but I took the time to work on my presentation some more (bit surprise there. Ya'll are definitely going to get tired of me talking about that, I'm sure. :D ).

Lunch wasn't bad today. We had a table full of Team System MVPs, along with Ed Hintz from Microsoft. The discussion ranged from the TFS Migration Toolkit to how to break into a safe if you don't have the combination (and it's a lot easier than you think).

I stopped back by the TLC, where I had my first ego-boosting moment. A guy named Mike stopped me and said he was a big fan of Team System Rocks! Woo Hoo! My blog and I were recognized. If I had any TSR swag I would have given him some, but alas, I am a poor website owner. But it was kinda cool to be recognized. So thanks for making my day Mike!

I also got a hug from Mary-Jo Foley today. She was signing her book Microsoft 2.0 in the bookstore, and I stopped by to say hello and finally meet her in person. She is a very nice person.

Tech Ed Daze: T - 2 Days Till My Presentation - Part 2

mickey_gousset — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 14:49:50 GMT

The keynote went ok, as keynotes go. I'm currently in the Tech Ed Blogger Lounge area, if anyone reads this in the next hour and wants to come by and chat. :D