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SQL Server 2008 February CTP - report a bug and

SQL Server 2008 February CTP - report a bug and get a chance to win XBOX!
I feel this type of contest by Microsoft will make this (2008) SQL Server release as a best release as more and more users will be interested to j oin the SQL Server 2008 February CTP Bug Bash Contest that will gain chance to win XBOX. These are the OfficialRules that govern how the Microsoft SQL Se…
SQL Master

[UK, Job] Want to be a Microsoft DE?
Via Mike, there’s an opening in the DPE team! Technorati Tags: Mike Taulty, Microsoft, Developer Evangelist, DE, DPE Share This …
Craig Murphy

NCoverExplorer… v1.4.0

Syndicated from Kiwidude’s Geek Spot

I’ve had this "quietly available" on the download page for a few weeks to gain feedback on any issues and with no known issues outstanding it seems appropriate to more publicly announce it.

A big change in NCoverExplorer 1.4.0 is that it is no longer published under the GPL license. I made this change for a number of reasons; amongst which was the concern that a number of companies have of deploying GPL based tools into their development process. This roadblock has been removed and should no longer prevent your companies from using this toolset.

My original choice of GPL was based on using the ICSharpCode 1.x texteditor control. I have now dropped that component in favour of using the superior (but commercial) Actipro SyntaxEditor control instead. The improvements are not only in stability and features but also visual as you can see below in the code highlighting screenshot. A splitter window is available as also shown.

So why should you upgrade to NCoverExplorer 1.4?

This release is less about adding new features (although there are some to be found) and more about stabilisation for the future. The core model code has been rewritten and better tested. There have been countless code coverage corner cases (say that five times in a row!) arise that should be better catered for. Better performance for .NET 2.0 users, lower resource usage, better error handling and some minor gui quirks addressed.

Some of the "internal" changes have spilled over externally. For instance the configuration file format used by NCoverExplorer.Console with /c has changed to support new features, although I have retained legacy compatibility for those who choose not to upgrade their build scripts immediately.

What about the new features? Well, the ones I did squeeze in were…

• Support for the //pm (profiling a process by name) argument in NCover 1.5.8;
• Copy command in the source code text area via right-click;
• Print preview command in the File menu;
• /fc argument for NCoverExplorer.Console to fail a build if the combined total coverage of all assemblies does not meet the minimum specified. This was the original behaviour of the /f command before it was changed to fail if any individual assembly does not meet the minimum;
• Coverage exclusions now support the ‘?’ wildcard and multiple ‘*’ wildcards within the expression.
• Report xml contains a "totalSeqPoints" attribute as requested for developers writing alternate xsl reports that need to calculate the excluded code at each level;
• Update the NAnt/MSBuild task dlls to support the latest changes;
• Redesigned the options dialog as shown below;

Microsoft vs TestDriven.NET - 06 June 2007

Today Microsoft kindly extended my deadline by 24 hours so that I could further consult my lawyers. So far they have done a very good job of keeping the pressure on. This isn’t simply a case of knocking out a quick email Pirate Bay style!

Before I released support for Visual Studio Express, I made a point of carefully reading the Express EULA. After reading it I was confident that the technique I was using wasn’t in breach of the license. I am now acutely aware that if I turn out to be wrong I could end up losing everything. This isn’t a situation that any developer wants to find themselves in.

Unfortunately the alternative to fighting this is bowing down to a vague catchall clause. I am an anxious person and don’t want live in fear of this kind of thing.

Places to Intervene in a System By Donella H. Meadows
Here we continue the developer.* Systems and Software series, in which we explore the topics of general systems thinking and cybernetics to discover how “systems” concepts can help software professionals in the day-to-day work of creating, deploying, and improving software.
Click here for the full article.