Fullsix Blog

Nota: Como encontrei pela net algumas pessoas com o mesmo problema sem solução, vou fazer o post em inglês e português, na esperança que possa ajudar quem passar pelo mesmo.

[EN]

After some time working on a Silverlight project, switching between Visual Studio 2008 and Expression Blend 2 SP1, I decided that today was a great day to clean the house a bit – aka Refactoring. Cleaning done, project running without problems until I tried to open it in Blend and get the error “failed to compare two elements in the array”, which made it impossible to open the solution in Blend, but had no problems in VS.

After trying some ideas I’d seen on the web (commenting the code in Page.xaml.cs), looking at the .sln and .csproj files hoping to find some wrong configuration, nothing. Everything remained the same. By unloading all the projects and reloading them one by one, I realized the problem was in a class library where I’d placed a web reference that was, before, in the web application. Hmmmmm… but I really want the web reference in the class library! Yep, but Blend doesn’t want it there! Both the class library and the web app were targeting version 2.0 of the .NET Framework (due to integration requirements with other application, which, in the meantime, was decided that were no longer necessary).

Hmmm… what if it is a service reference? So I converted the class library and the web app to .NET 3.5 and added a service reference to the web service I was calling. Let’s try opening this in Blend…. BINGO! Works! By the way, now that we’re in 3.5, I might as well do some more cleaning and refactor some XmlElement-related code to the wonderful LinqToXml.

Summarizing: It looks like Blend doesn’t like web references. Migrating to 3.5 and to a service reference solved the problem.

[PT]

Depois de algum tempo a trabalhar num projecto em Silverlight, alternando entre o Visual Studio 2008 e o Expression Blend 2 SP1, decidi que hoje era dia de arrumar um bocado a casa – aka Refactoring. Casa arrumada, projecto a correr sem problemas até que tento abri-lo no Blend e depáro-me com o erro “failed to compare two elements in the array”, o que tornava impossível abrir a solução no Blend, mas sem qualquer problema no VS.

Depois de experimentar algumas ideias que vi pela net (comentar o código do Page.xaml.cs), andar pelos ficheiros .sln e .csproj na esperança de encontrar alguma configuração errada, nada. Tudo na mesma. Fazendo unload de todos os projectos e adicionando um a um outra vez, identifiquei que o problema estava numa class library onde tinha colocado uma web reference que anteriormente estava na web application. Hmmm… mas eu quero a web reference na class library! Pois, mas o Blend não quer! Tanto a class library como a web app tinham como target a versão 2.0 da .NET Framework (devido a requisitos de integração com outra aplicação que, entretanto, se decidiu já não serem necessários).

Hmm…. então e se for uma service reference? Converti a class library e a web app para .NET 3.5 e adicionei então uma service reference para o web service em questão. Vamos lá então tentar abrir isto no Blend…. BINGO! Works! E agora que estamos em 3.5, aproveito para arrumar a casa mais um bocadinho e converter um código XmlElement-related para o maravilhoso LinqToXml.

Resumindo: Parece que o Blend não gosta de Web References. Passar para 3.5 e para uma Service Reference resolveu o problema.

The Microsoft Expression team just released a new version of it’s Deep Zoom Composer tool. You can get it here.

This release fixes some issues, namely high memory consumption and support for transparent PNG (remember to export to PNG and not JPG, if you are exporting as a collection).

The big improvements are in DeepZoomTools.dll. Me and a lot of other people were getting this bug many times, which has apparently been fixed. I tried it with a couple of images which always failed, and they’re now successfully imported.

Read the team’s post here.

Hi everyone. My Microsoft DevDays 09 session about Deep Zoom was great! A lot of fun for me and hopefully for everyone who attended. The whole DevDays was great! Met a lot of people, lots of old friends and some new ones. Learned lots of new stuff on some great sessions.

For anyone that wants to get in touch with me, my email is . Please don’t hesitate to ask questions, show me your deep zoom and Silverlight projects or just say hello.

Now that it’s over, it’s time to start preparing for Mix 09 in Las Vegas, where Microsoft will hopefully present us with stuff they’ve been working on, trying hard to improve all the great products developers use on a daily basis.

Before Mix, it’s time to pick up the electric guitars again and go on a mini tour with my band (guys and red-shoed gal, miss you!) through Spain, which will for sure be fun as hell!

Now the links for the DevDays stuff:

Great DeepZoom websites and projects:

EDIT: http://www.microsoftnatal.com/

http://livelabs.com/seadragon/

http://memorabilia.hardrock.com/

http://www.mojaveexperiment.com/

http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2009/44.president/inauguration/themoment/index.html

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/groups/ivm/HDViewSL/

http://bigpicture.vertigo.com/obama

www.laguna-coupe.com

zoom.record.pt

http://photosynth.net/Default.aspx

http://photozoom.mslivelabs.com/

Jose Fajardo on DG.TV showing killer Deep Zoom ideas (watch this video for awesome deep zoom ideas by Jose Fajardo!)

DeepZoom tools:

Microsoft Deep Zoom Composer

Microsoft Image Composition Editor

HDView / DeepZoom Photoshop Plugin

2nd Factory Jellyfish

DeepZoom links:

Microsoft MSDN Library – Deep Zoom

Microsoft Silverlight Forums

Microsoft Expression Forums – Composer

Jaime Rodriguez – A Deep Zoom Primer

As promised, The Group Photo:

NOTE: This is what happens when your pictures are not so good!

NOTE2: I used Microsoft Image Composition Editor, and all it took was to drag and drop 4 pictures into it and export it as Deep Zoom. Try it yourselves (with higher quality pictures!).

FINAL IMAGE HERE: http://www.fullsix.pt/rfiel/DevDays09/groupphoto/wux209.html

I’ll be posting some more Silverlight/DeepZoom related stuff. Stay tuned.

EDIT: Microsoft ECard Natal was missing from project list.

Cheers.

One issue I’ve seen a lot of people having with MbUnit is one unhandled exception when closing MbUnit GUI: “Could not find a part of the path ‘…….\PreviousState.mbunit”.

To solve this, just create a MbUnit folder under you ApplicationData folder.

Eg: C:\Documents and Settings\rfiel\Application Data\MbUnit

MbUnit will create the file the next time it closes and the exception is gone.

Apparently it is being solved: http://code.google.com/p/mb-unit/issues/detail?id=109

While migrating a database from SQL Server 2005 to SQL Server 2000, a colleague was faced with this exception:

The ‘System.Web.Security.SqlMembershipProvider’ requires a database schema compatible with schema version ‘1′. However, the current database schema is not compatible with this version. You may need to either install a compatible schema with aspnet_reqsql.exe (available in the framework installation directory), or upgrade the provider to a newer version.

He didn’t use aspnet_regsql on the target db. Instead, he generated schema create scripts from SQL Server Management Studio. I usually use RedGate SQL Compare and SQL Data Compare, which I believe to be priceless for database synchronization.

There are many probable causes for this. After browsing for solutions, here’s a summary of steps we took to solve it:

1. If possible, use aspnet_regsql on the target db.
2. Make sure the user specified in the connection string has EXECUTE permissions on aspnet_* stored procedures. Grant them if necessary.
3. Restart the web application

Don’t forget step 3!