How To Get The Database Name For The Current User Process

This question pops up frequent enough so here are 4 ways to return the database name for the current user process

First up is the fastest method. this will run on SQL Server 200 and 2005

SELECT DB_NAME()


Next up is getting the name by joining the sys.dm_exec_requests dmv and sys.sysdatabases. this runs on SQL Server 2005 only

SELECT s.name
FROM sys.dm_exec_requests d
JOIN sys.sysdatabases s on d.database_id = s.dbid
WHERE session_id = @@SPID

Here is something similar, this also runs only on SQL Server 2005

SELECT name
FROM sys.sysdatabases
WHERE dbid = DB_ID()


And we end with something that runs on both SQL Server 2005 and 2000
SELECT name
FROM master..sysdatabases
WHERE dbid = DB_ID()


But like I said before you should always use DB_NAME()

SQL Server 2005 Performance Dashboard Reports Available For Download

The SQL Server 2005 Performance Dashboard Reports are Reporting Services report files designed to be used with the Custom Reports feature introduced in the SP2 release of SQL Server Management Studio. The reports allow a database administrator to quickly identify whether there is a current bottleneck on their system, and if a bottleneck is present, capture additional diagnostic data that may be necessary to resolve the problem. For example, if the system is experiencing waits for disk IO the dashboard allows the user to quickly see which sessions are performing the most IO, what query is running on each session and the query plan for each statement.

Common performance problems that the dashboard reports may help to resolve include:
- CPU bottlenecks (and what queries are consuming the most CPU)
- IO bottlenecks (and what queries are performing the most IO).
- Index recommendations generated by the query optimizer (missing indexes)
- Blocking
- Latch contention

The information captured in the reports is retrieved from SQL Server's dynamic management views. There is no additional tracing or data capture required, which means the information is always available and this is a very inexpensive means of monitoring your server.

Reporting Services is not required to be installed to use the Performance Dashboard Reports.

Keep in mind that the SQL Server instance being monitored must be running SP2 or later.
So what are you waiting for? dowmload it and read the details here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=1D3A4A0D-7E0C-4730-8204-E419218C1EFC&displaylang=en

R.I.P Visual FoxPro

Where is the wake ;-) Finally this thing is about to die, no more having to deal with 40 tables because each FoxPro table has a 2GB limit. And don’t get me started with exclusively locked tables either. I think that I will listen to die, die my darling by Metallica while I finish this post. Here are some of the lyrics

Die, die, die my darling
Dont utter a single word
Die, die, die my darling
Just shut your Foxy eyes (I replaced pretty with Foxy)

So for all you FoxPro lovers, there is a great new site (so there is hope for you ;-)) VFP-Conversion

Think Outside the Fox-Den!

map of the world, based on the frequency of its locations mentioned in books.

Here is something interesting and it has to do with data. Inside Google Book Search has some neat maps of the world based on the frequency of its locations mentioned in books. From the site:

We've all seen views of the Earth from space, where the numerous pinpoints of light on the ground combine to yield a speckled map of the world. I wanted to show the Earth viewed from books, where individual mentions of locations in books combine to yield another interpretation of the globe. The intensity of each pixel is proportional to the number of times the location at a given set of coordinates is mentioned across all of the books in Google Books Search.

Here is the link: http://booksearch.blogspot.com/2007/03/earth-viewed-from-books.html

Wladimir Klitschko Knocks Out Ray Austin In The Second Round

This is how I like my boxing fast and efficient. Wladimir Klitschko knocked out Ray Austin in the second round with a series of left hand punches. That is all there is to say about this fight

Scribd: The YouTube Of Documents

What is Scribd?
Scribd lets you publish and discover documents online. It is like a big online library where anyone can upload. We make use of a custom Flash document viewer that lets you display documents right in your Web browser. There are all sorts of other features that make it easy and fun to publish, convert, embed, analyze, and read documents.

Part of the idea behind Scribd is that everyone has a lot of documents sitting around on their computers that only they can read. With Scribd we hope to unlock this information by putting it on the web.

What kinds of documents can I publish on Scribd?
Literally, anything you can put in a Word (.doc), PDF (.pdf), text (.txt), PowerPoint (.ppt), Excel (.xls), Postscript (.ps), or LIT (.lit) file.

So go ahead and check it out: http://www.scribd.com/

Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 x64 Edition Release Candidate Available For Download

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2) Release Candidate (RC) is a cumulative service pack that provides the latest updates, security and stability enhancements, in addition to new features, feature updates and utility updates to the Windows Server 2003 operating system. SP2 helps secure your server and improve system reliability, security, and stability thereby ensuring the highest level of readiness to meet the ever increasing demands of today’s server operating systems.
Windows Server 2003 SP2 can be installed directly on the following operating systems:
Windows Server 2003 Editions (All 32-bit x86)
Windows Server 2003 Itanium-based Editions
Windows Server 2003 x64 Editions
Windows Server 2003 R2 Editions
Windows Server 2003 Storage Server R2 Edition
Windows Server 2003 Compute Cluster Edition
Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2
Windows XP Professional x64 Edition


Download it here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=AC8EDD44-96B3-4D11-9293-12970CD62FED&displaylang=en

how to save a whole heap of money on SQL Server 2000 licenses

I Just read this on the daily WTF (which got renamed to Worse Than Failure the other day)
An insurance company decides to install the trial version of SQL server 2000 on their production box because they don't want to pay the license. After 6 months they backup all the data, wipe out the hard drive (reimage) and install the trial version again, restore all the databases and are good to go for another 6 months...ROFL
Why not just use developer edition? You are violating the license anyway, it will at least save you the hassle of reinstalling every 6 months...
Link to original article is here http://worsethanfailure.com/Articles/SQL_on_Trial.aspx

Can you solve Joe Celko's SQL puzzles? Three puzzles. Many answers.

ComputerWorld has posted three SQL puzzles that were written by Joe Celko on their website. These puzzles come from Joe Celko's latest book Joe Celko's SQL Puzzles and Answers, Second Edition

These are the puzzles:
Puzzle 1: FISCAL YEAR TABLES
Answer #1
Puzzle 4: SECURITY BADGES
Answer #1
Answer #2
Puzzle 9: AVAILABLE SEATS
Answer #1
Answer #2
Answer #3
Answer #4
Answer #5

the site has individual links to each puzzle and answer, the link to the puzzles is here: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9012350&source=NLT_APP&nlid=48
Let me know what you think and if you can come up with better/different answers.

Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 Update for Windows Vista Available For Download

Get the download here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=90E2942D-3AD1-4873-A2EE-4ACC0AACE5B6&displaylang=en


Brief Description
The Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 Update for Windows Vista addresses areas of Visual Studio impacted by Windows Vista enhancements.

Overview
If the machine participated in the Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 Update for Windows Vista Beta, please be sure to uninstall the beta first.

During the development of Windows Vista, several key investments were made to vastly improve overall quality, security, and reliability from previous versions of Windows. While we have made tremendous investments in Windows Vista to ensure backwards compatibility, some of the system enhancements, such as User Account Control, changes to the networking stack, and the new graphics model, make Windows Vista behave differently from previous versions of Windows. These investments impact Visual Studio 2005. The Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 Update for Windows Vista addresses areas of Visual Studio impacted by Vista enhancements.
Many of the Windows Vista enhancements are documented at the Windows Vista Development Center.

This download installs the Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 Update for Windows Vista for the following Visual Studio SKUs:


Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office
Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition
Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition
Microsoft Visual C# 2005 Express Edition
Microsoft Visual J# 2005 Express Edition (English Only)
Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Premier Partner Edition
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Software Architects
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Software Developers
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Software Testers
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Test Load Agent
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Test Load Controller
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Code Profiler
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Explorer

SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2a?

SQL Server MVP Aaron Bertrand has posted a blog entry where he mentions that the time and build number have changed to 2007-03-05 and 9.00.3042.01. You can get the latest file here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=d07219b2-1e23-49c8-8f0c-63fa18f26d3a&DisplayLang=en

.NET Rocks Podcast: Paul Randal on SQL Server 2005 Performance and Recovery

.NET Rocks has made available their latest podcast. From the site:

"Microsoftee Paul Randal drops by for an engaging talk about his contributions
to the recoverability of SQL Server 2005, which are many (Can you say CHECKDB?).
An old friend of ours, and a fairly new friend of Paul's, busts in on the
conversation and makes a cameo appearance. "

Download the podcast here:http://dotnetrocks.com/default.aspx?showID=220

How To Make A FileGroup Read Only in SQL Server 2005

How to make a filegroup read only in SQL Server 2005? This question popped up today on tek-tips. This is how you do that: First we will create a new database named TestFilegroup. Next we will add a filegroup named Test1FG1 which contains a file named test1dat3.
The next step is to do an alter database modift filegroup readonly command
Here is the complete script

USE master
go

--Create New DB For Testing
CREATE DATABASE TestFilegroup
go


--Create FileGroup
ALTER DATABASE TestFilegroup
ADD FILEGROUP Test1FG1;

--Add file to fileGroup
ALTER DATABASE TestFilegroup
ADD FILE
(
NAME = test1dat3,
FILENAME = 'c:\t1dat3.ndf',
SIZE = 5MB,
MAXSIZE = 100MB,
FILEGROWTH = 5MB

)
TO FILEGROUP Test1FG1

--Make FileGroup ReadOnly
ALTER DATABASE TestFilegroup
MODIFY FILEGROUP Test1FG1 Read_Only;

Use Read_Only not ReadOnly because the keyword READONLY will be removed in a future version of Microsoft SQL Server. Avoid using READONLY in new development work, and plan to modify applications that currently use READONLY. Use READ_ONLY instead.




Now what happens when you try to create a table on filegroup Test1FG1?
USE TestFilegroup
GO
CREATE TABLE abc (id INT) ON Test1FG1

You will see the following error message
Server: Msg 1924, Level 16, State 2, Line 1
Filegroup 'Test1FG1' is read-only.

You can use sys.filegroups and check the is_read_only column to find out if a filegroup is read only
SELECT is_read_only
FROM sys.filegroups
WHERE name = 'Test1FG1'

Here is the result
is_read_only
------------
1




Using NTFS Compression with Read-Only User-defined Filegroups and Read-Only Databases
SQL Server 2005 supports NTFS compression of read-only user-defined filegroups and read-only databases. You should consider compressing read-only data in the following situations:
You have a large volume of static or historical data that must be available for limited read-only access.
You have limited disk space.

ASP.NET Library Site Launched

A friend of mine has started the ASP.NET Library site. The idea of this site is to provide ASP.NET articles, code and tips for professional ASP.NET developers. The site right now offers Resources, Articles and a Code Bank. Under Code Bank you can find the following:
Applications
Controls
Database
Email
HTML

So go ahead and check it out: http://aspnetlibrary.com/

Arrays and Lists Article Updated For SQL Server 2005

SQL Server MVP Erland Sommarskog has updated his Arrays and Lists article and this new version deals exclusively with SQL Server 2005. This is a must read if you are a SQL Server developer. So what are you waiting for? Stop wasting your time here and start reading Arrays and Lists in SQL Server 2005

The Digg Effect

Someone posted The Sysinternals Troubleshooting Utilities have been rolled up into a single Suite of tools post on Digg and over a thousand people dugg the story. I got a massive amount of traffic, so much that I had to get a new counter for this blog because it stopped working when this blog got a total of 99999 hits. After all these diggs people started to add this post to del.icio.us and so far 183 people have added it to their delicious account. You can see all these people here: http://del.icio.us/url/9be2731b569601719d645d97e88254b4

Here is a graph of the pageviews



I promise that I WILL write a SQL post this weekend and it will be about partitioned functions It will show you how you can use $PARTITION to select data from a specific partition

Top 5 Post and Google Searches For Jan and Feb 2007

Usually I do this once a month but I decided to do it once every two months from now on, I guess you can call it lazyness. Here are the top 5 posts for January and February 2007 in terms of pageviews

1 The Sysinternals Troubleshooting Utilities have been rolled up into a single Suite of tools
2 Ten SQL Server Functions That You Hardly Use But Should
3 Clippy Is Not Dead, Clippy Is Alive.....On Linux
4 Increase Your Productivity With Query Analyzer
5 The Real Reason Why Condoleezza Rice Never Smiles

So two of these (Clippy and Condoleezza) have nothing to do with SQL Server.

Top Queries
These are searches that people typed in the Google search box on this site
I always keep track of these because it gives me some ideas of what to write
Here is the top list for the last 2 months, I left out the adult searches ;-)

None
did france pay brazil to win the cup
NotMyFault
query analyzer not view
sql login
saltrain
notmyfault
%disk read time
defrag
daylight saving SQL Express
maximum number database
openrowset
SQL queries
tree structure catalogue
rainbowfish children book
failed for login sa
jacobs
sysinternals
origin of the name jacobs

Top Ten Posts Of All Time

Here is the list of the ten most popular posts in terms of pageviews since I started collecting this info. Damn Clippy how did he/she get to number 6?

1 The Sysinternals Troubleshooting Utilities have been rolled up into a single Suite of tools
2 SQL Query Optimizations
3 Ten SQL Server Functions That You Hardly Use But Should
4 Five Ways To Return Values From Stored Procedures
5 Login failed for user 'sa'. Reason: Not associated with a trusted SQL Server connection. SQL 2005
6 Clippy Is Not Dead, Clippy Is Alive.....On Linux
7 NULL Trouble In SQL Server Land
8 COALESCE And ISNULL Differences
9 Increase Your Productivity With Query Analyzer
10 Three Ways To Display Two Counts From a Table Side By Side

How Do I? video series focused on SQL Server 2005 Express

The http://www.asp.net/ site posted a great new "How Do I?" video series focused on SQL Server 2005 Express (which you can download and use completely for free).
So what is in this series?

#1 What is a Database?
(28 minutes, 15 seconds)

#2 Understanding Database Tables and Records
(24 minutes, 56 seconds)

#3 More about Column Data Types and Other Properties
(21 minutes, 37 seconds)

#4 Designing Relational Database Tables
(34 minutes, 10 seconds)

#5 Manipulating Database Data
(40 minutes, 20 seconds)

#6 More Structured Query Language
(23 minutes, 13 seconds)

#7 Understanding Security and Network Connectivity
(40 minutes, 59 seconds)

#8 Connecting your Web Application to SQL Server 2005 Express Edition
(1 hour, 5 minutes)

#9 Using SQL Server Management Studio
(40 minutes, 26 seconds)

#10 Getting Started with Reporting Services
(32 minutes, 51 seconds)

#11 Building and Customizing Reports in Business Intelligence Development Studio
(44 minutes, 50 seconds)

#12 Creating and Using Stored Procedures
(42 minutes, 34 seconds)

#13 Enabling Full-Text Search in your Text Data
(38 minutes, 25 seconds)

You can download all of these here: http://www.asp.net/learn/videos/default.aspx?tabid=63#sql

Enjoy

Visual Studio Code Name "Orcas" - March 2007 Community Technology Preview (CTP) Available For Download

Get it here and start messing around with LINQ:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=b533619a-0008-4dd6-9ed1-47d482683c78&DisplayLang=en

From the site:

Visual Studio code name “Orcas” delivers on Microsoft’s
vision of smart client applications by enabling developers to rapidly create
connected applications that deliver the highest quality rich user experiences.
This new version enables any size organization to rapidly create more secure,
manageable, and more reliable applications that take advantage of Windows Vista
and the 2007 Office System. By building these new types of applications,
organizations will find it easier than ever before to capture and analyze information
so that they can make effective business decisions.



This download is the March 2007 Community Technology Preview of Microsoft
Visual Studio Code-Named “Orcas”. This CTP is available in English only.



Note: This CTP is available as a Virtual
PC image or as a self-extracting install. If you wish to use the Virtual PC
image you will need Virtual PC or Virtual Server to run this image. If you wish
to use the self extracting install, we advise that you do not install this on a
production machine. Depending on your hardware the download files make take
between 30-60 minutes to decompress.



This CTP targets early adopters of the Microsoft technology, platform, and
tools offerings. It enables developers to experience the upcoming toolset and
underlying platform improvements. We designed this release to enable developers
to try out new technology and product changes, but not to build production
systems. This limitation is fully covered in the EULA that accompanies this
CTP.



The highlights of this CTP include:

• LINQ
  
  The LINQ Project: this CTP represents a major milestone in the LINQ
  project. For more information about LINQ click here.
  
• VB 9.0 Language
  Support: This CTP contains the following language features:
• Query Expressions:
  Basic querying, filtering, and ordering support
• Object Initializers
• Extension Methods
• Local Variable Type
  Inference
• Anonymous Types
• XML literals
• XML properties
• New Line and
  Expression IntelliSense
• C# 3.0 Language
  Support: This CTP implements all of the C#3.0 language features from the
  May LINQ CTP including:
• Query Expressions
• Object and Collection
  Initializers
• Extension Methods
• Local Variable Type
  Inference and Anonymous Types
• Lambdas bound to
  Delegates and Expression trees
• Complete design-time
  support: Intellisense, Formatting, Colorization
• LINQ to ADO.NET
• ADO.NET is fully
  integrated with LINQ and offers many options for using LINQ in various
  scenarios: LINQ to SQL provides direct access to database tables from
  the programming environment, LINQ to Entities enables developers to use
  LINQ over EDM models, and LINQ to DataSet allows the full expressivity
  of LINQ to be used over DataSets.
• LINQ to Entities
  enables developers to program against a relational database using a view
  of the data that is appropriate for the application they are building,
  independent of the structure of the underlying database. The use of the
  Entity Data Model (EDM) enables developers to design models that follow
  the concepts built into the application, instead of having to map them
  to constructs available in relational stores. LINQ to Entities is built
  on the ADO.NET Provider model and will support working against different
  back end relational stores in addition to Microsoft SQL Server. This CTP
  includes a LINQ to Entities provider for SQL Server and SQL Server
  Compact Edition.
• LINQ to SQL (previous
  name DLinq) has enhanced the functionality from the May 2006 LINQ CTP.
  You can find it in System.Data.Linq namespace in System.Data.Linq.dll.
  New in this release is that DataContext provides optimized modes for
  read-only use and serialization . Also new is that DataShape streamlines
  eager loading capabilities and adds the ability to set queries on
  relationships
• LINQ To SQL Designer
• Methods can be created
  from stored procedures and functions within the designer.
• Better handling of
  database schemas.
• Improved inheritance
  support in the designer.
• LINQ over XML (XLinq)
• System.Xml Bridge
  Classes added – There is a set of extension methods allowing XPath /
  XSLT to be used over LINQ to XML trees, allow XSLT transformations to
  produce an LINQ to XML tree, and to validate an XElement tree against an
  XML Schema.
• Event Model - This
  allows LINQ to XML trees to be efficiently synchronized with a GUI, e.g.
  a Windows Presentation Foundation application
• Class hierarchy
  changes - XObject class added, XStreamingElement class (temporarily)
  removed
• Various
  understandability / usability improvements – There have been a number of
  relatively minor changes done in response to internal reviews, usability
  studies, and external feedback to make the API more clean and
  consistent.
• LINQ to Objects API
• The LINQ to Objects
  API supports queries over any .NET collection, such as arrays and
  Generic Lists. This API is defined in the System.Linq namespaces inside
  System.Core.dll.

• ADO.NET
• Extended, more powerful
  data APIs with the ADO.NET Entity Framework
• With the ADO.NET
  Entity Framework developers will be able to model the view of the data
  that is appropriate for each one of the applications they are building,
  independently of the structure of the data in the underlying database.
  The use of the Entity Data Model (EDM) enables developers to design
  models that follow the concepts built into the application, instead of
  having to map them to constructs available in relational stores. Once
  the model is in place, the powerful ADO.NET Entity Framework API is used
  to access and manipulate the data as .NET classes or as rows and
  columns, whatever is appropriate for each application.
• Added paging and stored
  procedures for update (“update customization”) for ADO.NET Entity
  Framework:
• Paging: the paging
  support in the ADO.NET Entity Framework allows developers to “page” over
  data in a database by indicating the start row and number of rows to be
  included in the result. Paging is available through Entity SQL (using
  the LIMIT AND SKIP keywords) and through the query-builder methods in
  the ObjectQuery &ltT> class (Top and Skip). In a future CTP the
  feature will also be enabled to be used in LINQ queries by means of the
  standard Take and Skip LINQ operators.
• Stored-procedures for
  update customization: the Entity Framework by default automatically
  generates SQL statements for insert, update and delete operations when
  processing changes to entities in memory to be sent to the database.
  With the stored-procedures update customization feature developers have
  the option to override the automatic SQL generation and instead provide
  stored-procedures that will perform the insert, update and delete
  operations, which the system will call during entity change processing.
  Among other things, this enables scenarios where direct access to tables
  is restricted in the database and the only way to make changes to the
  data is through stored-procedures.
• Microsoft
  Synchronization Services for ADO.NET
• Provides an
  application programming interface (API) to synchronize data between data
  services and a local store. The Synchronization Services API is modeled
  after the ADO.NET data access APIs and gives you an intuitive way to
  synchronize data. It makes building applications for occasionally
  connected environments a logical extension of building applications
  where you can depend on a consistent network connection. For details
  please visit http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=80742
  .

• Web
• Improvements for web
  development in this CTP include:
• New ASP.NET WebForms
  design-surface with advanced XHTML and CSS features
• JScript intellisense
  for ASP.NET AJAX and browser DOM
• Multi-targetting for
  .NET Framework 2.0, 3.0, and 3.5 in websites and web applications
• LINQ to SQL designer
  integration in websites and web applications

• Client App-Level Services
• Enable client
  application developers to use the same user profile and login services as
  your Web applications. This enables customers to utilize on set of
  backend storage for user personalization and authentication regardless of
  the applications type.

• C# Workflow Rules
• Workflow Rules allows
  users to enter rules (and conditions) in a code-like manner
• Support the use of the
  new C# Extension methods features in their rules
• Enable operator
  overloading and the new operators in their rules

• XML
• XML Tools: XSLT
  Debugger
• Enables Input Data
  Breakpoints allowing the user to break the execution of the style-sheet
  whenever a certain node in input document is hit.
• XML Editor Performance
  Improvements
• Performance in the Xml
  Editor for Intellisense, schema validation etc is improved by
  implementing incremental parsing of the XML Document.
• Seamless transition
  between XML Editor and XSD Designer
• Improves the
  experience a user has when working with an XML Schema in textual and
  graphical mode at the same time.

• MSBuild
• Parallel/Multi-Processor
  Builds
• Building multiple
  projects in parallel, as much as possible based on the use of dependency
  information in projects to parallelize
• Allowing the
  developer/builder to control the parallelism by providing them the
  ability to specify the number of processors to use for build.

• UAC Manifests in the Managed Build Process
• Support for manifests
  that are embedded into the final executable via the Build process.

• IDE
• Windows Presentation
  Foundation (WPF) Designer (“Cider”) & Application Tools to deliver
  the ability to:
• Create, edit, build,
  run and debug WPF projects
• Use the WPF Designer
  to:
• Preview any XAML in
  the designer including user defined controls and types
• Design Windows, Pages
  and UserControls
• Do basic layout tasks
  in a Grid
• Do basic property
  editing using the new property browser
• Easily understand and
  navigate “document structure” using the Document Outli
• See changes in the
  designer immediately in the XAML
• Use the XAML Editor
  to:
• Edit XAML with
  intellisense
• See changes in the
  XAML immediately in the designer
• Build design time for
  WPF controls
• UAC manifests in the
  IDE for Windows Vista applications
• Enable developers on
  Windows Vista to easily include the UAC manifest as an embedded
  resource.

• CLR
• Add IRI support (RFC
  3987) to URI related classes
• This allows resource
  identifiers to be specified using a character set that supports all
  languages.
• New Async model on
  Socket class
• A new Async model is
  reduces the per I/O overhead compared to the current I/O model
• Peer Networking Classes
  
• Delivers a set of
  peer-to-peer network APIs that allow a developer to easily extend an
  application with compelling collaboration functionality.
• WMI.NET Provider
  Extension 2.0
• WMI.NET Provider
  Extension 2.0 simplifies and enhances the development of WMI providers
  in the .Net framework to enable the management of the .NET applications
  while minimizing the impact on the development time.
• Delivers equivalent
  access to WMI features and functions available to native code
  providers.
• Exposes property
  updates and methods to managed code.
• Improved scalability
  for large collections of WMI entities.

• Office
• Enable ClickOnce deployment
  for Microsoft Office applications
• Developers now have an
  easy to use and version resilient security model for their applications
  that will exist for future versions of Visual Studio and Office. With
  full support for ClickOnce deployment of all Office 2007 customizations
  and applications, developers and administrators now have the right tools
  and framework for easy deployment and maintenance of their Office
  solutions.

• Team Architect
• Top-down service design
  
• Top-down system design
  allows an application architect/lead developer to perform the design of
  a business solution without having to be confronted with technology
  decisions. It enables the user to progressively refine a high-level
  system design, designing new sub-systems and applications in the context
  of the system in which they are to be used.
• Architectural Roles on
  System, Applications and Endpoints
• Enables an architect,
  while working on the high-level design of a system’s architecture using
  the System Designer, to introduce elements into the design that play a
  specific pre-defined architectural role(s) within architectural
  patterns.

• Team Developer
• Profiler Support for
  WCF Applications
• Enable profiling of
  WCF based applications to improve application performance
• Customize and extend
  code correctness policies
• Code Analysis Check-in
  Policy improvements to communicate to a developer why the check-in
  policy failed and to provide guidance on how to pass the policy
  requirements.
• Customize and extend
  code correctness policies
• Code Analysis Check-in
  Policy improvements to communicate to a developer why the check-in
  policy failed and to provide guidance on how to pass the policy
  requirements.
• Performance tune an
  enterprise application
• Enables developers to
  run profiling during load and test procedures for a system, to see how
  it behaves, and use integrated tools to profile, debug and tune. This
  also enables performance base-lining, so that users can save a baseline
  profile and then, if the performance degrades, compare up-to-date traces
  to identify the source of the regression

• Team Test
• Unit Test Generation
  Improvements
• Improvements to unit
  test generation provide an easy way for the user to specify what methods
  to test, and generate test methods and helper code to do unit testing,
  as well as providing unit test support for generics.
• Web Test Validation
  Rule Improvements
• Web Test rules
  improvements enable testers to create more comprehensive validation
  rules for the application being tested. These improvements include the
  following functions:
• Stop test on error
• Search request and
  response
• Add validation rule
  for title
• Redirect validation
• Provide test level
  validation rules
• Expected HTTP code
• Warning level for
  errors on dependents
• Better Web Test Data
  Binding
• This feature allows
  users to data bind .CSV and XML files, as well as databases to a web
  test, using a simple databinding wizard.
• Improved Load Test
  Results Management
• With this feature user
  can open or remove an existing load test result from the load test
  repository. User can also import and export load test results files.

• Team Foundation Server
• Team Build
• Support multi-threaded
  builds with the new MSBuild.
• Continuous Integration
  – There are many components to this, including build queuing and queue management,
  drop management (so that users can set policies for when builds should
  be automatically deleted), and build triggers that allows configuration
  of exactly how when CI builds should be triggered, for example – every
  checkin, rolling build (completion of one build starts the next), etc.
• Improved ability to
  specify what source, versions of source, etc to include in a build.
• Improved ability to
  manage multiple build machines.
• Simplified ability to
  specify what tests get run as part of a build
• Version Control support
  
• Destroy- The version
  control destroy operation provides administrators with the ability to
  remove files and folders from the version control system. The destroyed
  files and folders cannot be recovered once they are destroyed. Destroy
  allows administrators to achieve SQL server disk space usage goals
  without constantly needing to add more disks to the data tier machine.
  Destroy also facilitates removing versioned file contents that must be
  permanently removed from the system for any other reason.
• Annotate - Annotate is
  a feature that allows developers to inspect a source code file and see
  at line-by-line level of detail who last changed each section of code.
  It brings together changeset data with difference technology to enable
  developers to quickly learn change history inside a source file.
• Folder Diff - Team
  Foundation Server now supports compare operations on folders, whereby
  the contents of the folder are recursively compared to identify files
  that differ. Folder diff can compare local folders to local folders,
  local folders to server folders, and server folders to server folders.
  It’s a great way of identifying differences between branches, files that
  you’ve changed locally, and files that have changed between two points
  in time.
• Get Latest on Checkout
  - As an optional setting on a team project or on an individual basis,
  you can have Team Foundation Server always download the latest version
  of a file when you check it out. This helps ensure that you don’t have
  to merge your changes with somebody else’s when you check the file back
  in.
• Performance and Scale
• This release includes
  numerous improvements in performance and scalability of Team Foundation
  Server.

• Visual C++
• Easily add the Windows
  Vista “Look and Feel” to native C++ applications
• Developers can use
  Visual Studio to build ISV applications that exhibit the Windows Vista
  “look & feel”. A number of the Windows Vista “look & feel”
  features are available simply by recompiling an MFC application. Deeper
  integration that requires more coding or design work on the part of the
  developer is also simplified with Visual Studio’s integrated support for
  the Windows Vista native APIs.

Existing CTPs: As Visual Studio code name “Orcas” CTPs are released on a predefined cadence, existing CTPs (such as the LINQ May 2006 CTP) may not yet have been integrated into a given “Orcas” CTP release (This should not be taken as a change in commitment to any existing technology that has been made available as a CTP but instead is just a real world example of how large applications, with many technology areas, are built. We will be integrating this existing functionality into future CTP builds.

Developers using a VPC image can run the CTP on a machine without impacting any existing software installations. The CTP can be removed by deleting the folder and using the Virtual PC application to remove the configuration information.

This image ships with networking set to “local”. This setting enables the virtual machine to think it is connected to a network without actually connecting and exposing the machine to the Internet. We recommend that customers do not modify the networking settings. Customers who wish to turn networking “on” to connect the image to a physical network are advised that they will need to ensure the security of the virtual machine as well as apply any security updates that may have become available since the release of this image.