Situation:  Windows Server 2008 with SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services and SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services SP 1, Microsoft Dynamics Axapta 2009 with Service Pack 1 and KB 959494 will not allow AX Analysis Extensions to install with the error message: You must install SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services with Service Pack 2 or higher before installing the Analysis extensions.

As a new DAX-er, welcome to the hell that is DAX 2009 installer.  To be kind, the setup for Ax 2009 needs a great deal of work.

Microsoft suggests applying KB 959494 which is of no use for SSAS 2008 SP1.

After applying the KB article SSAS Extensions still will not install.  Further research seems to indicate that the problem might be with some 9.0 SSAS assemblies in the GAC.

Setup does not recognize that SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services is
installed If you have SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services installed and you are
installing the analysis extensions, you might receive an error that says you
must install SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services with Service Pack 2. This
error message indicates that there is an Analysis Services 2005 version of
the Microsoft.AnalysisServices.dll file in the Global Assembly Cache.
Microsoft Dynamics AX does not support running Analysis Services 2005 and
Analysis Services 2008 on the same computer. To resolve this issue, uninstall
the Microsoft.AnalysisServices.dll file that has a version number of 9.0 from
the Global Assembly Cache (typically located at C:\Windows\assembly).
Important: Be sure that you do not uninstall the
Microsoft.AnalysisServices.dll file that has a version number of 10.0

I checked and sure enough there were.  So I looked and found SQL Server 2005 Express installed on the machine, not sure why.

Anyway, I uninstalled SQL Server 2005 Express and also the SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services ADOMD assemblies.

I checked the GAC after uninstalling the 2005 components and I had a clean GAC, only 10.0 references.

On to install again…and the Analysis Extensions can now be installed!

Oh how beautiful it is:

In .NET 4.0 / Visual Studio 2010 I was working with a WPF application who’s ViewModel was sending a Model (Data) object back to a WCF service for processing.  In previous versions of the framework and WCF I could simply send any serializable object down the wire.  In .NET 4.0 apparently I need to do some further class decorating.

I needed to include the namespace:

using System.Runtime.Serialization;

My class that I was sending needed to be decorated with:

[DataContract]

and the properties I wanted to send down the wire via WCF needed to have:

[DataMember]

After decorating the Class and it’s properties with DataContract and DataMethod everything worked like a charm.

Below are some of the debugger data that helped troubleshoot the problem.

The InnerException message was 'Type 'System.DelegateSerializationHolder+DelegateEntry' with data contract name 'DelegateSerializationHolder.DelegateEntry:http://schemas.datacontract.org/2004/07/System' is not expected.

System.ServiceModel.CommunicationException was unhandled
  Message=There was an error while trying to serialize parameter http://tempuri.org/:receipts. The InnerException message was 'Type 'System.DelegateSerializationHolder+DelegateEntry' with data contract name 'DelegateSerializationHolder.DelegateEntry:http://schemas.datacontract.org/2004/07/System' is not expected. Add any types not known statically to the list of known types - for example, by using the KnownTypeAttribute attribute or by adding them to the list of known types passed to DataContractSerializer.'.  Please see InnerException for more details.
  Source=mscorlib
  StackTrace:
    Server stack trace:
       at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.DataContractSerializerOperationFormatter.SerializeParameterPart(XmlDictionaryWriter writer, PartInfo part, Object graph)
       at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.DataContractSerializerOperationFormatter.SerializeParameter(XmlDictionaryWriter writer, PartInfo part, Object graph)
       at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.DataContractSerializerOperationFormatter.SerializeParameters(XmlDictionaryWriter writer, PartInfo[] parts, Object[] parameters)
       at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.DataContractSerializerOperationFormatter.SerializeBody(XmlDictionaryWriter writer, MessageVersion version, String action, MessageDescription messageDescription, Object returnValue, Object[] parameters, Boolean isRequest)
       at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.OperationFormatter.SerializeBodyContents(XmlDictionaryWriter writer, MessageVersion version, Object[] parameters, Object returnValue, Boolean isRequest)
       at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.OperationFormatter.OperationFormatterMessage.OperationFormatterBodyWriter.OnWriteBodyContents(XmlDictionaryWriter writer)
       at System.ServiceModel.Channels.BodyWriter.WriteBodyContents(XmlDictionaryWriter writer)
       at System.ServiceModel.Security.SecurityAppliedMessage.WriteBodyToSignThenEncryptWithFragments(Stream stream, Boolean includeComments, String[] inclusivePrefixes, EncryptedData encryptedData, SymmetricAlgorithm algorithm, XmlDictionaryWriter writer)
       at System.ServiceModel.Security.WSSecurityOneDotZeroSendSecurityHeader.ApplyBodySecurity(XmlDictionaryWriter writer, IPrefixGenerator prefixGenerator)
       at System.ServiceModel.Security.SecurityAppliedMessage.OnWriteMessage(XmlDictionaryWriter writer)
       at System.ServiceModel.Channels.BufferedMessageWriter.WriteMessage(Message message, BufferManager bufferManager, Int32 initialOffset, Int32 maxSizeQuota)
       at System.ServiceModel.Channels.TextMessageEncoderFactory.TextMessageEncoder.WriteMessage(Message message, Int32 maxMessageSize, BufferManager bufferManager, Int32 messageOffset)
       at System.ServiceModel.Channels.HttpOutput.SerializeBufferedMessage(Message message)
       at System.ServiceModel.Channels.HttpOutput.Send(TimeSpan timeout)
       at System.ServiceModel.Channels.HttpChannelFactory.HttpRequestChannel.HttpChannelRequest.SendRequest(Message message, TimeSpan timeout)
       at System.ServiceModel.Channels.RequestChannel.Request(Message message, TimeSpan timeout)
       at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ClientReliableChannelBinder`1.RequestClientReliableChannelBinder`1.OnRequest(TRequestChannel channel, Message message, TimeSpan timeout, MaskingMode maskingMode)
       at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ClientReliableChannelBinder`1.Request(Message message, TimeSpan timeout, MaskingMode maskingMode)
       at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ClientReliableChannelBinder`1.Request(Message message, TimeSpan timeout)
       at System.ServiceModel.Security.SecuritySessionClientSettings`1.SecurityRequestSessionChannel.Request(Message message, TimeSpan timeout)
       at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.RequestChannelBinder.Request(Message message, TimeSpan timeout)
       at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannel.Call(String action, Boolean oneway, ProxyOperationRuntime operation, Object[] ins, Object[] outs, TimeSpan timeout)
       at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannelProxy.InvokeService(IMethodCallMessage methodCall, ProxyOperationRuntime operation)
       at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannelProxy.Invoke(IMessage message)
    Exception rethrown at [0]:
       at System.Runtime.Remoting.Proxies.RealProxy.HandleReturnMessage(IMessage reqMsg, IMessage retMsg)
       at System.Runtime.Remoting.Proxies.RealProxy.PrivateInvoke(MessageData& msgData, Int32 type)
       at Warehouse.ViewModel.Services.SyncService.ISync.SendNewReceipts(SendNewReceiptsRequest request)
       at Warehouse.ViewModel.Services.SyncService.SyncClient.SendNewReceipts(SendNewReceiptsRequest request) in d:\Projects\Warehouse.2010\Warehouse.ViewModel\Service References\Services.SyncService\Reference.cs:line 75
       at Warehouse.ViewModel.SyncData.PerformSync() in d:\Projects\Warehouse.2010\Warehouse.ViewModel\SyncData.cs:line 60
       at Warehouse.Window1.btnBackup_Click(Object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) in d:\Projects\Warehouse.2010\Warehouse\Window1.xaml.cs:line 196
       at System.Windows.EventRoute.InvokeHandlersImpl(Object source, RoutedEventArgs args, Boolean reRaised)
       at System.Windows.UIElement.RaiseEventImpl(DependencyObject sender, RoutedEventArgs args)
       at System.Windows.Controls.Button.OnClick()
       at System.Windows.Controls.Primitives.ButtonBase.OnMouseLeftButtonUp(MouseButtonEventArgs e)
       at System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs.InvokeHandler(Delegate handler, Object target)
       at System.Windows.EventRoute.InvokeHandlersImpl(Object source, RoutedEventArgs args, Boolean reRaised)
       at System.Windows.UIElement.ReRaiseEventAs(DependencyObject sender, RoutedEventArgs args, RoutedEvent newEvent)
       at System.Windows.UIElement.OnMouseUpThunk(Object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)
       at System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs.InvokeHandler(Delegate handler, Object target)
       at System.Windows.EventRoute.InvokeHandlersImpl(Object source, RoutedEventArgs args, Boolean reRaised)
       at System.Windows.UIElement.RaiseEventImpl(DependencyObject sender, RoutedEventArgs args)
       at System.Windows.UIElement.RaiseEvent(RoutedEventArgs args, Boolean trusted)
       at System.Windows.Input.InputManager.ProcessStagingArea()
       at System.Windows.Input.InputManager.ProcessInput(InputEventArgs input)
       at System.Windows.Input.InputProviderSite.ReportInput(InputReport inputReport)
       at System.Windows.Interop.HwndMouseInputProvider.ReportInput(IntPtr hwnd, InputMode mode, Int32 timestamp, RawMouseActions actions, Int32 x, Int32 y, Int32 wheel)
       at System.Windows.Interop.HwndMouseInputProvider.FilterMessage(IntPtr hwnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam, Boolean& handled)
       at System.Windows.Interop.HwndSource.InputFilterMessage(IntPtr hwnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam, Boolean& handled)
       at MS.Win32.HwndWrapper.WndProc(IntPtr hwnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam, Boolean& handled)
       at MS.Win32.HwndSubclass.DispatcherCallbackOperation(Object o)
       at System.Windows.Threading.ExceptionWrapper.InternalRealCall(Delegate callback, Object args, Boolean isSingleParameter)
       at System.Windows.Threading.ExceptionWrapper.TryCatchWhen(Object source, Delegate callback, Object args, Boolean isSingleParameter, Delegate catchHandler)
       at System.Windows.Threading.Dispatcher.InvokeImpl(DispatcherPriority priority, TimeSpan timeout, Delegate method, Object args, Boolean isSingleParameter)
       at MS.Win32.HwndSubclass.SubclassWndProc(IntPtr hwnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam)
       at MS.Win32.UnsafeNativeMethods.DispatchMessage(MSG& msg)
       at System.Windows.Threading.Dispatcher.TranslateAndDispatchMessage(MSG& msg)
       at System.Windows.Threading.Dispatcher.PushFrameImpl(DispatcherFrame frame)
       at System.Windows.Application.RunInternal(Window window)
       at Warehouse.App.Main() in d:\Projects\Warehouse.2010\Warehouse\obj\Debug\App.g.cs:line 0
       at System.AppDomain._nExecuteAssembly(Assembly assembly, String[] args)
       at Microsoft.VisualStudio.HostingProcess.HostProc.RunUsersAssembly()
       at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state)
       at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart()
  InnerException: System.Runtime.Serialization.SerializationException
       Message=Type 'System.DelegateSerializationHolder+DelegateEntry' with data contract name 'DelegateSerializationHolder.DelegateEntry:http://schemas.datacontract.org/2004/07/System' is not expected. Add any types not known statically to the list of known types - for example, by using the KnownTypeAttribute attribute or by adding them to the list of known types passed to DataContractSerializer.
       Source=System.Runtime.Serialization
       StackTrace:
            at System.Runtime.Serialization.XmlObjectSerializerWriteContext.SerializeAndVerifyType(DataContract dataContract, XmlWriterDelegator xmlWriter, Object obj, Boolean verifyKnownType, RuntimeTypeHandle declaredTypeHandle)
            at System.Runtime.Serialization.XmlObjectSerializerWriteContext.SerializeWithXsiType(XmlWriterDelegator xmlWriter, Object obj, RuntimeTypeHandle objectTypeHandle, Type objectType, Int32 declaredTypeID, RuntimeTypeHandle declaredTypeHandle, Type declaredType)
            at System.Runtime.Serialization.XmlObjectSerializerWriteContext.InternalSerialize(XmlWriterDelegator xmlWriter, Object obj, Boolean isDeclaredType, Boolean writeXsiType, Int32 declaredTypeID, RuntimeTypeHandle declaredTypeHandle)
            at System.Runtime.Serialization.XmlObjectSerializerWriteContext.InternalSerializeReference(XmlWriterDelegator xmlWriter, Object obj, Boolean isDeclaredType, Boolean writeXsiType, Int32 declaredTypeID, RuntimeTypeHandle declaredTypeHandle)
            at System.Runtime.Serialization.XmlObjectSerializerWriteContext.WriteSerializationInfo(XmlWriterDelegator xmlWriter, Type objType, SerializationInfo serInfo)
            at System.Runtime.Serialization.XmlObjectSerializerWriteContext.WriteISerializable(XmlWriterDelegator xmlWriter, ISerializable obj)
            at System.Runtime.Serialization.ClassDataContract.WriteXmlValue(XmlWriterDelegator xmlWriter, Object obj, XmlObjectSerializerWriteContext context)
            at System.Runtime.Serialization.XmlObjectSerializerWriteContext.InternalSerialize(XmlWriterDelegator xmlWriter, Object obj, Boolean isDeclaredType, Boolean writeXsiType, Int32 declaredTypeID, RuntimeTypeHandle declaredTypeHandle)
            at System.Runtime.Serialization.XmlObjectSerializerWriteContext.InternalSerializeReference(XmlWriterDelegator xmlWriter, Object obj, Boolean isDeclaredType, Boolean writeXsiType, Int32 declaredTypeID, RuntimeTypeHandle declaredTypeHandle)
            at WriteDockReceiptToXml(XmlWriterDelegator , Object , XmlObjectSerializerWriteContext , ClassDataContract )
            at System.Runtime.Serialization.ClassDataContract.WriteXmlValue(XmlWriterDelegator xmlWriter, Object obj, XmlObjectSerializerWriteContext context)
            at System.Runtime.Serialization.XmlObjectSerializerWriteContext.InternalSerialize(XmlWriterDelegator xmlWriter, Object obj, Boolean isDeclaredType, Boolean writeXsiType, Int32 declaredTypeID, RuntimeTypeHandle declaredTypeHandle)
            at System.Runtime.Serialization.XmlObjectSerializerWriteContext.InternalSerializeReference(XmlWriterDelegator xmlWriter, Object obj, Boolean isDeclaredType, Boolean writeXsiType, Int32 declaredTypeID, RuntimeTypeHandle declaredTypeHandle)
            at WriteArrayOfDockReceiptToXml(XmlWriterDelegator , Object , XmlObjectSerializerWriteContext , CollectionDataContract )
            at System.Runtime.Serialization.CollectionDataContract.WriteXmlValue(XmlWriterDelegator xmlWriter, Object obj, XmlObjectSerializerWriteContext context)
            at System.Runtime.Serialization.DataContractSerializer.InternalWriteObjectContent(XmlWriterDelegator writer, Object graph)
            at System.Runtime.Serialization.DataContractSerializer.InternalWriteObject(XmlWriterDelegator writer, Object graph)
            at System.Runtime.Serialization.XmlObjectSerializer.WriteObjectHandleExceptions(XmlWriterDelegator writer, Object graph)
            at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.DataContractSerializerOperationFormatter.SerializeParameterPart(XmlDictionaryWriter writer, PartInfo part, Object graph)
       InnerException:

This has actually been updated to reflect a lot of Server 2008 / SQL 2008 issues.  One thing I learned that has not yet been resolved:  Install Enterprise Portal, SSRS and SSAS all on the same machine.  Otherwise you will have great big problems!  As of this writing it is still an issue, mainly an OLAP problem / Kerberos issues.  So take my advice and install all 3 on the same machine!

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa497072.aspx

Finally found a great article on this after some searching and finding really outdated articles!

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb613576.aspx

<Window

  xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"

  xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"

  xmlns:sys="clr-namespace:System;assembly=mscorlib" 

  SizeToContent="WidthAndHeight" 

  Title="Show Enums in a ListBox using Binding">

  <Window.Resources>

    <ObjectDataProvider MethodName="GetValues"

                        ObjectType="{x:Type sys:Enum}"

                        x:Key="AlignmentValues">

      <ObjectDataProvider.MethodParameters>

        <x:Type TypeName="HorizontalAlignment" />

      </ObjectDataProvider.MethodParameters>

    </ObjectDataProvider>

  </Window.Resources>

  <Border Margin="10" BorderBrush="Aqua"

          BorderThickness="3" Padding="8">

    <StackPanel Width="300">

      <TextBlock>Choose the HorizontalAlignment value of the Button:</TextBlock>

      <ListBox Name="myComboBox" SelectedIndex="0" Margin="8"

               ItemsSource="{Binding Source={StaticResource AlignmentValues}}"/>

      <Button Content="Click Me!"

              HorizontalAlignment="{Binding ElementName=myComboBox,

                                            Path=SelectedItem}"/>

    </StackPanel>

  </Border>

</Window>

Something that might not be readily apparent to you is the use of the <x:Type /> markup extension.  Documented here.  I needed to figure this one out because I was binding my own enum instead of simply a CLR enum.  The thing to know is that you must include the namespace for your assembly that contains your enum in the XAML markup:

xmlns:warehouse="clr-namespace:Warehouse.Model;assembly=Warehouse.Model"

I named my namespace ‘warehouse’ here and referenced the assembly and namespace that contains my enum.

Next, you must reference the type with namespace prefix like so:

<x:Type TypeName="warehouse:DockReceiptTypeEnum" />

Now the beginning of my XAML looks like this and it works great!

<Window x:Class="Warehouse.Window1"

    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"

    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"

    xmlns:sys="clr-namespace:System;assembly=mscorlib" 

    xmlns:warehouse="clr-namespace:Warehouse.Model;assembly=Warehouse.Model"

    Title="Dock Receipts" Height="478" Width="957" xmlns:my="clr-namespace:Telerik.Windows.Controls;assembly=Telerik.Windows.Controls.GridView">

    <Window.Resources>

        <ObjectDataProvider MethodName="GetValues"

                        ObjectType="{x:Type sys:Enum}"

                        x:Key="ReceiptTypeEnum">

            <ObjectDataProvider.MethodParameters>

                <x:Type TypeName="warehouse:DockReceiptTypeEnum" />

            </ObjectDataProvider.MethodParameters>

        </ObjectDataProvider>

    </Window.Resources>

I encountered the infamous AG_E_UNKNOWN yesterday.  I was actually using Silverlight controls from Telerik.  I dragged the RadGridView control inside my XAML and thats where the problem manifested.  Apparently the drag/drop operation did not add all the References that I needed in order to use the Telerik controls. 

If you have the same problem, make sure all the references and dependencies are referenced in your project’s References section.  I had to add Telerik.Windows.Controls and Telerik.Windows.Controls.Data to get my RadGrid error in my XAML to go away.

At my wits end with some seriously lame code I stumbled upon today.  Believe it or not, I actually saw a developer use a dead open source .ini reader/writer to read and write ONE setting in a config file.  The best part is the open source project they used was not originally intended to be used that way.  It was originally used to read/write settings in a .INI file.  Once again… Carpenter.. Hammer.. used on everything.  My sincerest apologies to the carpenters.

Problem:  I want to read, write and store data on disk.  .NET since 1.0 has had facilities built in to serialize classes to XML (and other medium).  This works out well if you for example have an ‘order’ class that contains a customer’s order.  That order class would have properties containing order data and possibly a List<> of OrderedItems which in turn would have it’s own set of properties.  So you want to persist this Order to disk?  Serialize it and write it. 

Solution:  Serialize the data to XML and write it to disk.  I will provide clear cut examples of this in part 2 of this post.  For now, I wanted to post a base class I use that I wrote long ago that lets you Load, Save and Enqueue an object to Disk or to an MSMQ Message Queue.  I find it very useful in storing configuration settings and for sending MSMQ Messages.

First is the interface: ILoadableSavableQueueable

using System;

namespace ConfigHelper

{

    interface ILoadableSaveableQueueable

    {

        void Enqueue(string msmqDestinationPath);

        void SaveToXML(string filename);

        string ToString();

    }

}

Second is the class implementation: LoadableSavableQueueable

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.Linq;

using System.Text;

using System.Messaging;

using System.Reflection;

using System.Xml.Serialization;

using System.IO;

namespace ConfigHelper

{

    public class LoadableSaveableQueueable<T> : ILoadableSaveableQueueable

    {

        public static T LoadFromXML(string filePath)

        {

            XmlSerializer xer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T));

            StreamReader sr = File.OpenText(filePath);

            T config = (T)xer.Deserialize(sr);

            sr.Close();

            sr.Dispose();

            return config;

        }

        public void SaveToXML(string filename)

        {

            if (!Directory.Exists(Path.GetDirectoryName(filename)))

                Directory.CreateDirectory(Path.GetDirectoryName(filename));

            XmlSerializer xer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T));

            if (File.Exists(filename))

                File.Delete(filename);

            using (FileStream fs = File.Create(filename))

            {

                xer.Serialize(fs, this);

            }

        }

        public override string ToString()

        {

            StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();

            sb.AppendFormat("--] {0}", this.GetType().Name);

            foreach (PropertyInfo pi in this.GetType().GetProperties())

            {

                sb.AppendFormat("{0}: '{1}'\r\n", pi.Name, pi.GetValue(this, null));

            }

            return sb.ToString();

        }

        public void Enqueue(string msmqDestinationPath)

        {

            using (MessageQueue q = new MessageQueue(msmqDestinationPath))

            {

                Message msg = new Message(this);

                msg.Recoverable = true;

                q.Send(msg);

                msg.Dispose();

            }

        }

    }

}

Simple example:

You have a class that you want to read and write to XML to disk.  That class is called ConfigSettings and contains a property called ProgramName.

[Serializable]

public class ConfigSettings : LoadableSavableQueueable<ConfigSettings>

{

   public ConfigSettings() {}

   private string _ProgramName;

   public string ProgramName

   {

    get { return _ProgramName; }

    set { _ProgramName = value; }

   }

}

Now you can use the LoadFromXML and SaveToXML methods to read and write this class to XML file on disk.

Again, a better example is to follow.

This blog entry, when complete, will discuss the Silverlight application I created for the header of my blog.  It is a simple little application that I created to explore some Silverlight functionality for another project.  What I learned here I applied to a work-project.

The DBML editor in Visual Studio 2008 tends to create a nasty name in the settings file for your database connection string.  We have our databases named with the associated environment e.g. Product_dev or Product_test.  When the DBML editor saves the connection string you get a nasty name such as: ClassLibrary1.Properties.Settings.Product_devConnectionString.

This is fixed by creating the setting for the connection string first and giving it a pleasant name such as: ProductDb. 

Make sure you create the setting of type (Connection String) and save the settings.  After this you will need to edit your .config file and assign a providerName attribute to the connection string that was created.

providerName="System.Data.SqlClient"

After this, open your DBML file and your ProductDb connection string will show in the dropdown.