Spent the morning trying to figure out why my Application Block help file (.chm) was not displaying content. Needless to say, I went down several rabbit holes on the Internet (web pages that did not yield a solution).

If you download a help file (.chm) and then open the file you may get a warning message - but this is not a clear message to what the problem is. When the application comes up, the content pain says something to the effect that it cannot display the page. There is nothing to indicate how to fix the problem.

So, here it is. CHM (help files) that are downloaded are blocked - and you have to "unblock" them. They were blocked by a security update. So, downloaded CHM files have the blocked attribute set. If you select on the file's properties you can change this behavior by selecting the "unblock" button.

Rob Caron has short discussion with screen shots here.

I should caveat this note to say that there MAY BE a hotfix for this problem, but I am not willing to pay MICROSOFT money to get the hotfix - that seems to be the only way I can get it. For some reason, Microsoft does not think my O/S product for Vista Ultimate, on an HP computer purchased at Best Buy (where the O/S was installed), is valid? 

Or, my other choice is to pay $99 to send an email saying "I NEED THE HOTFIX".

Here is what I need a hotfix for. I cannot run a "debug" session for scripts on SSIS. I am running Vista Ultimate 64 bit. You would think that Microsoft would have worked this out by now. The fact that there may be a hotfix available, but I cannot get to it unless I pay for it is just infuriating.

Thanks to Greg Robidoux and Jeremy Kadlec, I have now published my first MSSqlTips Tip.

Dynamically build connection objects for Microsoft Access databases in SQL Server Integration Services

Warning! Developer Rant!

OK, this is my rant for the week. I HATE the automatic updates for the Windows XP/Vista operating system.

I tend to leave my computer up for days with several browsers open to pages of information that is usually providing me with assistance on a programming projet or two. Along comes the automatic updates and "poof" there goes my pages, and any open applications I have running.

I have had this happen to me on 3 computers in the last 24 hours. All development computers. I could have sworn I turned off the automatic updates. If I did, and the O/S still rebooted - then I am going to have to disable them all together.

I am personally getting tired of the cyberterrorism that results in operating systems that have to constantly be patched to thwart some new vulnerability. And the result is the constant intrusion of Microsoft and other application development companies (are you hearing me Symantec?), plus the incredible drag that the anti-virus software places on my computers' performance. While I can fault the companies that continue to intrude upon my life, I also realize that the anoninomity (say that three times fast) of the Internet has allowed persons to perpetrate crimes that would surely place them behind bars if translated into non-computer related acts.

Back to the software update issue. Imagine the heating repair man coming into your home in the middle of the night to install the latest patch to your thermostat. In the process, he turns the heat off - and it is the middle of winter. At least he might pat the head of my daughter, Cindy Loo Hoo, give her a glass of water and put her back to bed.

With Microsoft setting this trend, how long before I should expect to see the Maytag repairman showing up at 3 a.m. to work on the dishwasher?

First, let me congratulate our fearless leader, Scott Lock on being selected as a Microsoft MVP. This is a wonderful accomplish and it is about time Microsoft got around to recognizing all the people who organize events and connect developers together. Scott's recognition is long overdue. He's not only a technologist, but a community leader.

On most nights there is a user group somewhere in the Washington DC metro area with someone presenting technical content that would typically cost significant monies in travel, lodging, and registration fees to see the same content at a conference or training scenario. Without a doubt, the CAPAREA user group has had a stellar list of presenters and topics. Without people like Scott, who work tirelessly to make these presentations happen - and for no compensation - the developer community would not have access to these wonderful resources. Thanks Scott - and kudos for a job well done.

Scott is giving a presentation tonight at the Capital Area .NET User Group (CAPAREA) on VSTO - Automation and Customizing Excel 2003.

Here's the summary:

Tuesday, July 24, 2007 at 7:00 PM

Building office applications has never been better.  You've heard all of the hype about Office 2007, Ribbons, etc.  This session is based on what the majority of us are in today...Office 2003.  Customizing and automating Excel 2003 is a great way to build dynamic workbooks that solve some cool problems.  This presentation is an overview of what Visual Studio Tools for office is about and how it applies to Excel 2003 and Office 2003.

CAPAREA was visited by none other than Mr. VB, himself, Paul Vick. He is the Microsoft VB language architect on Tuesday, September 26th.

Paul's topic was "Visual Basic 9.0: Language Integrated Query (LINQ), XML integration and beyond...". Paul is also author of The Visual Basic .NET Programming Language.

The speaker was a huge draw for our group. We had over 65 people in attendance last night.   

I gave a presentation on XQuery at the NovaSQL user group that meets in Vienna, Virginia.

Jeremy Kadlec and Brian Moran run a great program. The turnout was very good, too. Lots of SQL experts.

Do you know how you can tell if you are giving a presentation to people that are SQL experts? You can tell that they are when you try to do a SELECT statement, and you get the dreaded Invalid object name error. Before you can blink you hear twenty-thirty voices saying, "You're in the Master database!"

I had a great deal of fun talking about XQuery with a very savvy crowd.

Attached to this post are my PowerPoint slides from the presentation.

Kudos to Scott Lock, CAPAREA President, for getting Jasper Johansson, Microsoft Security Expert, as a presenter on December 13th.

The presentation that he will give is still being discussed, but needless to say, his "How To Get Your Network Hacked in 10 Easy Steps" and other presentations were SRO (standing room only) at recent Microsoft TechEd conferences. Not only are his topics critically important to IT developers and administrators, but he is one of the best presenters I have seen (and I have seen a few).

See you there!

At the PDC, Microsoft talked about a host of new technologies, servers, and systems that will be rolling out in the next couple of months and years.

A reoccurring theme among some of these technologies and platforms is the integration of RSS. I have seen articles and now seeing this information at PDC, I am very much convinced that RSS will be the informational packaging used between business, services, peer-to-peer, etc., etc.