What I wanted built-in, part 2

I am a responsible coder. Everywhere I’ve worked, if they haven’t had source control, I have championed the install of it. Even when it wasn’t possible, I have still campaigned to get it, because we all need insurance.

However.

This sense of responsibility? Not so much when in my test lab, but still, I do check in and check out to provide myself sanity. And prevent myself from stepping on myself. I just don’t do it as often as I would, since I’m not worried about other people getting in there.

(Well, I am, but that’s what firewalls are for.)

So, in trying to connect to Team Foundation Server, I was reminded that I’m going to need to install two MORE packages just to chat with my own TFS install from SSMS.

First up, I have:

Microsoft Visual Studio Team Explorer
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=329


Then, I have to install:

Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2010 MSSCCI Provider 32-bit
http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/bce06506-be38-47a1-9f29-d3937d3d88d6


Or, if I were on SQL 2012, I would need:

Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2012 MSSCCI Provider 32-bit
http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/b5b5053e-af34-4fa3-9098-aaa3f3f007cd

And this is just so I can connect.

I want this built in – why isn’t this software on a web share as a part of the server install, so I don’t have to go back out to the internet and get it?

How have I missed this?

How have I missed this until now?

http://www.ssw.com.au/ssw/Standards/Rules/RulesToBetterSQLReportingServices.aspx

New Engagement

I recently started a new engagement with PotomacWave Consulting, and couldn't be happier!

I'll be doing SSIS, SSRS, SSAS, and SQL Server 2005 developer / DBA stuff.

Really excited about this change!

Making an org chart from Exchange, part 4

So, I want to build a simple report to draw out my org chart from Outlook / Exchange / Active Directory. To do that, I outlined a pretty straightforward data table:

CREATE TABLE [dbo].[reportsto](
[ID] [varchar](1000) NULL,
[pname] [varchar](1000) NULL,
[pmanager] [varchar](1000) NULL,
[paddress] [varchar](1000) NULL,
[INSERTED] [datetime] NULL
) ON [PRIMARY]

I then wrote a script to draw down various entities from Active Directory to my local SQL Server. You can simulate what data I got with the following inserts:


insert into dbo.reportsto(pname,paddress,pmanager,pmid) values ('test person 1', '123 Main Street', '',null);
insert into dbo.reportsto(pname,paddress,pmanager,pmid) values ('test person 2', '123 Main Street', 'test person 1',(select pid from dbo.reportsto where pname = 'test person 1'));
insert into dbo.reportsto(pname,paddress,pmanager,pmid) values ('test person 3', '123 Main Street', 'test person 1',(select pid from dbo.reportsto where pname = 'test person 1'));
insert into dbo.reportsto(pname,paddress,pmanager,pmid) values ('test person 4', '123 Main Street', 'test person 2',(select pid from dbo.reportsto where pname = 'test person 2'));
insert into dbo.reportsto(pname,paddress,pmanager,pmid) values ('test person 5', '123 Main Street', 'test person 2',(select pid from dbo.reportsto where pname = 'test person 2'));
insert into dbo.reportsto(pname,paddress,pmanager,pmid) values ('test person 6', '123 Main Street', 'test person 2',(select pid from dbo.reportsto where pname = 'test person 2'));
insert into dbo.reportsto(pname,paddress,pmanager,pmid) values ('test person 7', '123 Main Street', 'test person 2',(select pid from dbo.reportsto where pname = 'test person 2'));
insert into dbo.reportsto(pname,paddress,pmanager,pmid) values ('test person 8', '123 Main Street', 'test person 2',(select pid from dbo.reportsto where pname = 'test person 2'));
insert into dbo.reportsto(pname,paddress,pmanager,pmid) values ('test person 9', '123 Main Street', 'test person 2',(select pid from dbo.reportsto where pname = 'test person 2'));
insert into dbo.reportsto(pname,paddress,pmanager,pmid) values ('test person 10', '123 Main Street', 'test person 3',(select pid from dbo.reportsto where pname = 'test person 3'));



Making an org chart from Exchange, part 3

Creating a new SQL Server reporting services DB - writing your first report will come quick enough after you setup the server.

Creating your first report in Reporting Services can be rather... interesting... if you haven't done the the necessary config first. To get Reporting Services up and running, you have to make sure you have run the configuration tool.

Note that I'm assuming you've already run the SQL Server setup program and have IIS installed.

I'm running SQL Server 2008 R2, so it's Start >> All Programs >> SQL Server 2008 R2 >> Configuration Tools >> Reporting Services Configuration Manager

You'll get the popup window labelled "Reporting Services Configuration Connection"... quite the mouthful, and just put in your server \ instance name, and click ok.

You can click through the various tabs on the left. I found that during my setup, the reporting database wasn't installed for whatever reason. I went to the Database tab, and clicked the "Change Database" button. I was able to create a new reporting server database from the wizard, and then that was it.

Making an org chart from Exchange, part 2.5

Here's a link to one of the samples I'm using while building this:

http://vbaexpress.com/kb/getarticle.php?kb_id=222

In the author's words:

Dumping the Global Address List (GAL) to Excel provides an list in a form that can be easily searched or summarized. I recently had a phone call that was garbled and I caught only a fragment of his mobile phone number. I was able to quickly find this person's details by searching the Excel list. Can also be used to find multiple addresses in the GAL or to filter the GAL by location.

Here's another:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/Aa201300

And another:
http://www.outlookcode.com/article.aspx?ID=40

And from the OutlookCode.com, above, links here:
http://www.slovaktech.com/code_samples.htm#DLToWord

Making an org chart from Exchange, part 2

So what I want to do is, like I said before, is build a report that displays an org chart for my organization.

In order to do this, I'm think I'm going to need to

• Figure out SSRS - I've done lots of Crystal Report writing in a previous life, so this should be more a matter of learning the UI
  
• Find the data lurking somewhere inside of Outlook
• Write a VBScript extraction routine inside of Outlook to push the data to a database source somewhere
• Write the report, being cognizant of the org structure of my organization, and how the data is grouped
  

Making an org chart from Exchange, part 1

I want to do this: