First Try- TeamCompanion in MS Outlook

I have used Team Foundation Server since 2007. Yesterday I saw a tool called TeamCompanion ( 90 day trial) online. After I installed this software in my local machine, it appeared in my MS outlook. Now I can use it to connect to our team project and create work items easily.

When opening my outlook, I can go to our Project Portal to see the work status. For our business members who don’t have Visual Studio IDE installed and always use MS outlook all the time, this is a great tool for them to create work items (bugs, tasks, user story) easily in their MS outlooks directly.

Every time when I search the work item in my outlook, I need to enter the parameter and run the query again. There is no way for me to create a query and save it in the outlook. It is only saved in team project. This is not good for business members.

If they can support this feature, that would be great.

VSTS Web Performance Test: Fix the issue of Request failed: The request was aborted: Could not create SSL/TLS secure channel

Today my colleague told me if I can use VSTS 2010 to automate MicroStrategy 9 BI Web Portal over https protocol because he wants to run BVTs every day.

I tried 2 different ways:

Coded UI Test:

It can be automated without any issue. You need to logout first before you run the test again.

Web Performance Test:

After recording the test, it shows the error: Request failed: The request was aborted: Could not create SSL/TLS secure channel.

After spending some time investigating this issue, I need to add the following source code to let the test pass.

ServicePointManager.Expect100Continue = true;
ServicePointManager.SecurityProtocol = SecurityProtocolType.Ssl3; 

In this case, Coded UI Test is the best solution for MicroStrategy 9 BI Web Portal.

VSTS 2010: Add Config Transforms is disabled

Today I look at our developer’s Silverlight Project to debug the issue in Test Environment, and "Add Config Transforms" is disabled when I right click on Web.config .

In order to make Add Config Transforms enabled, I need to go to Build -> Configuration Manager->Active Solution Configuration->New and create a new solution configuration.

After that, Add Config Transforms is enabled.

How to turn on Temporary Internet Files Folder in Windows 7?

Yesterday I wrote the post about Silverlight .xap needs to be updated in the users’ laptops after pushing a new build. Someone asked me where “Temporary Internet Files” folder is. Good question. It is invisible by default, but you can use the command line to open the folder directly.

Here are the steps:

Click Start.

In Search Program and files, enter Folder and Folder Options appears

Click Folder Options. In View tab, uncheck “Hide Protected Operating Systems (Recommended)”. Click Apply.

“Temporary Internet Files “Folder will appear.

Silverlight .xap needs to be updated in the users’ laptops after pushing a new build

We have pushed so many builds including important bug fixes since July 6. Today our business analysts opened their IE and found out why the bugs were not resolved. I talked to them: Please refresh your IE and make sure if you get the latest .xap file in your laptop.

The interesting part of Silverlight UI is that if users keep their IE open, after we push a new build and they don’t feel that, they can still use the old Silverlight UI. In order to make their individual .xap updated, the best way is to use F12 key to refresh IE, clear browser cache and go to the site again. I showed them how to do it. 

I also talked to them: Please make sure if you can see Silverlight loading progress indicator (1%-100%) every time when you launch IE. This indicates the latest .xap is loaded in your laptop. If not, the .xap might not be updated.



We can also use the following way to see if .xap is updated in our laptop.

Go to %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\ and you will see sprint2.xap.

Last Modified: It is the time we have the new build (e.g. 7/11/2002 11:24 AM).

Last Accessed and Last Checked: It is the time we access the site (e.g. 7/11/2002 11:43 AM)

 

If your .xap is not updated, please use F12 key to refresh IE, clear browser cache and go to the site again. When Silverlight loading progress indicator appears, everything is working as expected later.

System Restore fixes Internet Explorer has stopped responding

Internet Explorer 8 on my work laptop (Windows 7 x64) crashed all the time yesterday when I browsed my Gmail and some sites I visited often. “Internet Explorer has stopped responding” dialog box appeared all the time. I tried the following ways and could not make Internet Explorer 8 work.

Disabling Add-Ons in Internet Explorer 8 didn’t work.

Resetting Internet Explorer 8 didn’t work.

Using sfc /scannow didn’t work.

When looking at the event logs, I saw 2 dlls (mshtml.dll and urlmon.dll) might crash.
  

Using regsvr32 urlmon.dll didn’t work.

Using regsvr32 mshtml.dll didn’t work.

After long investigation, I find our company pushed windows update yesterday and many machines had the issue. After doing system restore, Internet Explorer 8 works perfectly.