That’s when I stumbled upon this post by Doug Kennard about using a UDL file to test connections.

1. Open up Notepad and create an empty text file, then click File -> click Save -> and  save it with the File name: TestConnection.udl to your desktop.
2. Go to your desktop and double-click on the TestConnection.udl file you just created and the Data Link Properties box will popup.
3. Select the Provider tab and Find the provider that you want to connect with and click Next >>.
4. Now from the Connection tab, select or enter your source/ server name -> then enter information to log on to server -> and select the database on the server.
5. Click Test Connection and click OK to save the file.

1. Locate the CCTray installer on the build server. Default location is C:\Program Files\CruiseControl.NET\webdashboard\cctray\CruiseControl.NET-CCTray-1.4.4-Setup.exe
2. Copy it to a location on the client machine and execute with admin permissions
3. Simply install as per default settings.

Configure CCTray

1. Open CCTray and select File/Settings
2. Under the Build Projects tab select Add
3. Project window should show with a list of Build Servers on the left and Projects on the right. Select Add Server to bring up the server selection window
4. The easiest option is to choose the Via the CruiseControl.Net Dashboard configuration. Enter the location of the CCNet server. Eg http://Server/ccnet would be the default location. If another version of CCnet was installed under a different port simply add that to the line ie. http://Server:8085/ccnet
5. If the server is valid pressing OK will take you back to the Project screen and the server and any available projects listed in the CCNet.config file will show up. Simply select the project you want to connect to.
6. The project should now show up under the Build Projects tab. You can also adjust the priority of builds by moving them up or down on the list.
7. The selected projects should now appear in the CCTray main panel. When the system performs an auto run or you select a Force Build, the icon will change to yellow to show it is being executed. If it passes then a pop-up balloon will show it has succeeded and the icon will turn green. If it fails the icon will turn red.
8. To read results of the build simply right click the project you want to check on and select Display Web Page. This will take you to the CCNet webpanel on the server and allows you to check the results of the build and any details on errors that may have been encountered.

Using Xunit with VS

1. Ensure that Xunit has admin permissions active and included in the System path.
2. To use Xunit within Visual Studio, Unload the <project>.Tests from the Solution and Edit the csproj file. Xunit will automatically run tests when requested but to get an output of the results include the following line within the file.

<Target Name=”AfterBuild”>

<Exec Command =”xunit.console

[Project location]\bin\Debug\[Project].Tests.dll /xml

[Project location]\[Project].Tests\bin\Debug\[Output Filename].xml”>

</Exec>

</Target>

Note:- Xunit doesn’t always work with virtual paths. Most of the time you will need to hard code the paths for Xunit to work.

<cruisecontrol xmlns:cb=”urn:ccnet.config.builder”>

<!– This is your CruiseControl.NET Server Configuration file. Add your projects below! –>

<project>

<name>[Project Name Goes Here – This will show on the CCTray]</name>

<sourcecontrol type=”svn”>

<trunkUrl>svn://[location of the trunk source files are committed to]</trunkUrl>

<workingDirectory>[Location on server files are to be downloaded to]</workingDirectory>

<username>[User Name to Access SVN]</username>

<password>[Password to Access SVN]</password>

</sourcecontrol>

<tasks>

<msbuild>

<executable>C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\MSBuild.exe

</executable>

<workingDirectory>[Location on the server where SVN deposited the files]

</workingDirectory>

<projectFile>[Name of the solution to be executed]</projectFile>

<buildArgs>/noconsolelogger /p:Configuration=Debug /v:m

</buildArgs>

<targets>Clean;Build</targets>

<timeout>600</timeout>

<logger>ThoughtWorks.CruiseControl.MsBuild.XMLLogger,

C:\Program Files\CruiseControl.NET\server\ThoughtWorks.CruiseControl.MsBuild.dll

</logger>

</msbuild>

</tasks>

<publishers>

<merge>

<files>

<file>[Location of the Xunit result file that MSBuild creates when processing the build. Usually located in the BIN folder of the Test solution]</file>

</files>

</merge>

<xmllogger />

<statistics />

</publishers>

</project>

</cruisecontrol>

CC.Net Installation

1. Go to http://sourceforge.net/projects/ccnet/files/CruiseControl.NET%20Releases/ to get the latest version. At the time of writing this we used version 1.4.4
2. Once downloaded simply run the program as an administrator. Follow the default options. Installing the CC.NET Server is required. The Web Dashboard gives a web interface for the server function.
3. Ensure to install CC.NET as a windows service and create the virtual directory for IIS
4. Choose the default options for installation directory and the application path and complete installation
5. Once CC.Net has installed check to ensure that the virtual site has been set up in the default section of IIS. If it has not been set up, simply create a virtual site within the Default Web Site directory. Ensure that the site is listed as CCNET as this will ensure the web dashboard can be accessed by the CCTray
6. Go into the Services settings and locate the Cruise Control service. In the properties change the Log On section to the account to the local master account. This is to help reduce conflicts that may arise later when the services attempts to access certain functions.

Important Note – Before the service can run you need to ensure that the current .NET frameworks are installed.

Xunit Installation

1. Download the latest version of Xunit from http://xunit.codeplex.com/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=31606
2. Unzip the Xunit file and save it to an appropriate location on the hard drive. Common installation is in the Program Files folder.
3. Run the xunit.installer.exe file with admin permissions. A list of available integration options will display. Simply select the options you wish to integrate and Enable.        NOTE:- If there are no available options to choose from then simply exit the installer.
4. Once Xunit is installed, right click on My Computer and select Properties. Navigate to Advanced and choose Environment Variables. Ensure that the path to the Xunit directory is included in both User Variables and System Variables.
5. To include Xunit results in the output of the WebDashboard open the dashboard.config file in a text editor and add <xslFile>xsl\xUnitSummary.xsl</xslFile> to the list of options under the section <xslFileNames> within the <buildReportBuildPlugin>

Special Considerations

To enable CruiseControl to execute builds the following things need to be considered.

1. Subversion – SVN needs to be installed to allow checking out of code that has been submitted from the clients.
2. Structure – Xunit has difficulty using virtual paths when executing tests. This means that paths need to be hard coded instead. This causes a problem when CCNet retrieves the code from SVN and attempts a build. If the path being used on CCNet doesn’t match the paths within the project files then compilation errors will occur. To avoid this, the paths on the client and server have to match. For example source files are located in C:\TestProjects\Example1\ on the client machine. The same structure will need to be replicated on the server by CCNet to avoid errors.
3. Without Visual Studio being installed on the server, certain files needed for compilation may be missing. One particular file is the Microsoft.WebApplication.targets required to build web applications. To resolve this error simply copy the file from a client machine and place it on the server. The standard location it can be found at and is required in is C:\Program Files\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v9.0\WebApplications\
4. Ensure that the .NET 3.5 frame work has been installed on the server.
5. A blog detailing a real world set up of CCNet – http://richardsbraindump.blogspot.com/2007/06/real-world-cruisecontrolnet-setup.html

Many examples use the following for the configuration

      <msbuild>
        <executable>C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\
          v2.0.50727\MSBuild.exe</executable>
        <workingDirectory>"Working directory goes here"
          </workingDirectory>
        <projectFile>"Name of solution.sln"</projectFile>
        <buildArgs>/noconsolelogger /p:Configuration=Debug /v:diag
          </buildArgs>
        <logger>ThoughtWorks.CruiseControl.MsBuild.XMLLogger,
          C:\Program Files\CruiseControl.NET\server\
          ThoughtWorks.CruiseControl.MsBuild.dll</logger>
      </msbuild>

With the above example you’ll get the following message when building against an MVC solution

errorMSB5014: File format version is not recognized. MSBuild can only read solution files between versions 7.0 and 9.0, inclusive.

To resolve this simply change the executable to the following

        <executable>C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\
          v3.5\MSBuild.exe</executable>

The error occurred while I was implementing configuration parameters to make it easier to identify config files that were being used. In the WebConfig file I was implementing the castle functions as follows to switch between config files

<castle>

<include uri=”file://Config\sample.config” />

<!–<include uri=”file://Config\debug.config” />–>

<!–<include uri=”file://Config\live.config” />–>

<!—- rest of config components go in here –>–

</castle>

The debug and live config files were empty and simply displayed the name of the file. To make the config cleaner I moved the components of the Web.config file and put them into the sample.config file. While doing this I also used the properties function to set the value of the file as follows

<configuration>

<properties>

<configName>Sample</configName>

</properties>

<components>

<component id=”taxcalc.service” type=”IOCSample1.Components.Sample2.TaxCalculator, IOCSample1″>

<parameters>

<Rate>0.125</Rate>

</parameters>

</component>

<!—- rest of components in here à

</components>

</configuration>

Then in the Web.config it was set up as follows

<castle>

<components>

<include uri=”file://Config\sample.config” />

<!–<include uri=”file://Config\debug.config” />–>

<!–<include uri=”file://Config\live.config” />–>

<component id=”whatConfig.service” type=”IOCSample1.Components.Sample5.WhatConfigurationService, IOCSample1″>

<parameters>

<Configuration>#{configName}</Configuration>

</parameters>

</component>

</components>

</castle>

When the page was run it failed with the following error

Unexpected node under ‘component’: Expected ‘component’ but found ‘components’

Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.

Exception Details: System.Configuration.ConfigurationErrorsException: Unexpected node under ‘component’: Expected ‘component’ but found ‘components’

The cause for this error was a simple line placement mistake. The include files need to go before the components and not within the components section

<castle>

<include uri=”file://Config\sample.config” />

<!–<include uri=”file://Config\debug.config” />–>

<!–<include uri=”file://Config\live.config” />–>

<components> Place the opening components tag after the include files

<component id=”whatConfig.service”

The following is a basic example of how to use the helper function

DATABASE

For this example the database has the following tables

CREATE TABLE dbo.ListA (
ListVal   uniqueidentifier    NOT NULL
CONSTRAINT PK_ListVal PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED
CONSTRAINT DK_ListVal DEFAULT NewSequentialID(),
ListName  nvarchar(15)        NOT NULL
);

CREATE TABLE dbo.ListB(
ListName nvarchar(15) NOT NULL
CONSTRAINT U_ListB_ListName UNIQUE
);

CONTROLLER

Create an entitiy connection to the database model to generate the reference to the data.

public Design_Entities _entities = new Design_Entities();

Within the function you are wanting to use the drop down list in enter the following

ViewData[Label] = new SelectList(entity, value, name)

public ActionResult Create() {
var _list1 = from c in _entities.ListA select c;
ViewData["ListA"] = new SelectList(_list1, “ListVal”, “ListName”);

var _list2 = from c in _entities.ListB select c;
ViewData["ListB"] = new SelectList(_list2, “ListName”);

return View();
}

VIEW

To use the bound data you use the following code in the view

<%= Html.DropDownList(“ListA”) %>

<%= Html.DropDownList(“ListB”) %>

The rendered view source code will look like this

<select id=”ListA” name=”ListA”><option value=”"></option>
<option value=”1″>One</option>
<option value=”2″>Two</option>
<option value=”3″>Three</option>
<option value=”4″>Four</option>
</select>

<select id=”ListB” name=”ListB”><option value=”"></option>
<option>One</option>
<option>Two</option>
<option>Three</option>
<option>Four</option>
</select>

THINGS TO WATCH FOR

With the above example the source code shows no values for ListB. Most would consider that since ListB has only one column that the helper would use this as both the selection value and the selection name. However the helper simply sees the column as an object and not a value. To get around this use the same option as List A

var _list2 = from c in _entities.ListB select c;
ViewData["ListB"] = new SelectList(_list2, “ListName”, “ListName”);

By assigning the column to both the value and the text it will give you the following source code

<select id=”ListB” name=”ListB”><option value=”"></option>
<option value=”One”>One</option>
<option value=”Two”>Two</option>
<option value=”Three”>Three</option>
<option value=”Four”>Four</option>
</select>

Also you can include a default option by putting the option label after the Data reference in the helper.

<%= Html.DropDownList(“ListA”, “On the count of…”) %>

<select id=”ListA” name=”ListA”><option value=”">On the count of…</option>
<option value=”1″>One</option>
<option value=”2″>Two</option>
<option value=”3″>Three</option>
<option value=”4″>Four</option>
</select>

Report Manager was not using the default user account information to start the service. After several changes to the user account settings in IIS, Report Manager and the computer User accounts there was no change. The solution to this problem turned out to be very easy to rectify.

During a new server installation, Internet Explorer V6.0 SP1 is installed and  is set to an Enhanced Security Configuration. This results in IE performing in abnormal ways when looking at websites. This includes impersonation of user accounts.

By default the https:\\localhost address is included in the Local Intranet Trusted list. You also need to include the http:\\localhost address in this section as well. If the localhost address is included in the Trusted Sites list it will not work.

http://jwwishart.wordpress.com/2009/06/25/installing-sql-server-2005-reporting-services-on-vista/

The solution is to reboot the machine and press ESC to enter the boot options. Choose the recovery mode and then select the command root option. Enter the command sudo apt-get remove compiz compiz-core and press enter.

Once this has completed removing the packages simply reboot the machine and the GUI functions should be disabled and using default graphics drivers

While printing a report in Reporting Services an error regarding being “unable to load client print control” can occur.

Researched various sites regarding RS printing errors. In particular there is a error regrading a Microsoft Hot Fix that interferes with the Active X functions.

http://blogs.msdn.com/brianhartman/archive/2008/11/05/client-print-fails-to-load-after-microsoft-update-956391.aspx

Microsoft Update 956391 has a kill bit function that disables the print functions attached to Reporting Services within IE. Most people have found removing the update fixes the error however it does leave the system open to security issues that were resolved by the update.

Installing the latest updates should resolve the issue in most cases without needing to remove the affected patch.

However the error may keep recurring or a new error relating to the library resource files may become apparent. It’s recommended to remove the RSClientPrint active X control and rerun the print job to install the Active X control again. If this doesn’t resolve the problem the best approach is to clear all affected RSClientPrint files and try again.

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sqlreportingservices/thread/792cc550-304d-4326-a0a5-0dd430092f7f

The above article has a section relating to the repairing of this error. Steps followed were

• Unregistered the RSClientPrint.dll from System32

• Deleted all of the RSClientPrint* files from System32

• Removed (Right-click > Remove) the currently registered RSClientPrint control the Downloaded Program Files directory

This seemed to correct any issues and the Active X functions installed without any errors.