I’ve been fighting an error trying to install SQL 2008 R2.  The installer gives an error, “The SQL Server 2005 Express Tools are installed. To continue, remove the SQL Server 2005 Express Tools.”  It turns out, the error was due to Red Gate SQL Compare, not SQL 2005.  Thanks to this article, I was able to uninstall Red Gate to get SQL 2008 R2 installed.

http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/sqldbatips/archive/2008/08/14/sql-2008-install-blocked-on-express-tools-but-actually-due-to-sql-prompt.aspx

Sitecore has a concept for replacing special characters in a URL. By default, their config file isn’t set to translate spaces. So URLS like, http://www.arkesystems.com/Hello World.aspx translate to http://www.arkesystems.com/Hello%20World.aspx. For SEO purposes, its best to translate spaces. Add the following line to your Sitecore web.configs so the URL would translate to http://www.arkesystems.com/Hello-World.aspx.

<encodeNameReplacements>
    <replace mode="on" find="&amp;" replaceWith=",-a-," />
    <replace mode="on" find="?" replaceWith=",-q-," />
    <replace mode="on" find="/" replaceWith=",-s-," />
    <replace mode="on" find="*" replaceWith=",-w-," />
    <replace mode="on" find="." replaceWith=",-d-," />
    <replace mode="on" find=":" replaceWith=",-c-," />
    <replace mode="on" find=" " replaceWith="-" />
</encodeNameReplacements>

Making sure things are cross browser compatible is always a challenge.  But a general rule of thumb is you should just avoid using padding in your CSS.  It’s probably the #1 reason you’ll get cross browser issues.

Avoid using padding in general.  It especially causes issues when you need to set a width in your CSS because you’ll get different results in IE and Firefox.  The better method is to put a div inside a div (called an inner tube) and set margin on the inner div.

Tools for developing custom SharePoint applications: Visual Studio project templates for Web Parts, site definitions, and list definitions; and a stand-alone utility program, the SharePoint Solution Generator.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=7BF65B28-06E2-4E87-9BAD-086E32185E68&displaylang=en

I ran into a strange authentication problem in IIS on Windows Server 2003 SP1.  The website is configured for integrated authentication only.  I can authenticate and access the website no problem from any workstation on the network.  But from the console, I cannot access the website--it gives me a 401.1 HTTP error.  Strange.  The server can talk to the domain because I logged into the machine.  DNS looked good.

I ran across this little utility called AuthDiag.  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=E90FE777-4A21-4066-BD22-B931F7572E9A&displaylang=en

AuthDiag directed me to a strange error message in the security logs, which led me to this KB article.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;896861

Specifically from the article...

This issue occurs if you install Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) or Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1). Windows XP SP2 and Windows Server 2003 SP1 include a loopback check security feature that is designed to help prevent reflection attacks on your computer. Therefore, authentication fails if the FQDN or the custom host header that you use does not match the local computer name.

I decided to go with option 1 and set DisableLoopbackCheck to 1 and this fixed my problem.

CRM can be challenging to troubleshoot with log files scattered across several servers and often underlying problems that don't even appear in the logs.  I stumbled upon this diagnostic tool that was helpful in finding the problem with an SRS install.  Enjoy!

http://blogs.msdn.com/benlec/archive/2008/03/04/crmdiagtool4-for-microsoft-crm-4-0-has-been-released.aspx

I just wanted to post a little tidbit about the newer versions of DNN.  Specifically, I just installed DNN 4.8.4.  It went through the install process just fine and after that I tried to open the home page of the default portal.  I got stuck in an endless loop of redirects back to the home page.  In previous versions of DNN, this behavior was usually a result of a misconfigured PortalAlias table.  After spending time troubleshooting it from that angle I had to just start debugging the code.  I found a gem in the Page_Error handler in PageBase.vb that was causing my issue.

If objBasePortalException.Message.Contains("System.Web.Extensions") Then
    ' suppress AJAX error in Medium Trust
    Response.Redirect(strURL)

Googling for the exception message led me to this post http://www.dotnetnuke.com/Community/Forums/tabid/795/forumid/111/threadid/200731/scope/posts/Default.aspx.  Because I am using VS2008, my solution was to change the web site build settings to target the 3.5 framework instead of 2.0 so that the build would include references to ASP.NET AJAX.  Changing the build target to 3.5 fixed the problem.

You can now download Windows XP SP3 from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsxp/0a5b9b10-17e3-40d9-8d3c-0077c953a761.aspx.  The last service pack released for XP was 3 years ago and since then Microsoft has released hundreds of hot fixes.  SP3 wraps all of those fixes together and introduces a couple new features that will improve Windows Server 2008 compatibility.  SP3 will be available on Windows Update shortly but in the meantime, you can download it directly from TechNet.

Windows® XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) includes all previously released updates for the operating system. This update also includes a small number of new functionalities, which do not significantly change customers’ experience with the operating system. This white paper summarizes what is new in Windows XP SP3.  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=68c48dad-bc34-40be-8d85-6bb4f56f5110&displaylang=en

I'm using the FCKEditor ASP.NET control on a web application that's deployed to a virtual directory.  When my app is deployed to the root of a web site, FCKEditor works great.  When I'm deployed in a virtual directory, I get an HTTP 404 error in the FCKEditor IFRAME.  One quick look at the IFRAME properties shows that the URL is missing the virtual directory path.  All prepared to hack on the FCKEditor.cs file, I discovered that some one else already thought of this scenario.  I either overlooked a step in the documentation or this is an undocumented feature.  Regardless, here is a universal solution to the problem...  Just add the following key to the appSettings section of your web.config...

<add key="FCKeditor:BasePath" value="~/fckeditor/"/>

That's it!  By default, FCKEditor uses /fckeditor/ and doesn't try to ResolveUrl to discover your virtual directory scenario.  Only when you add this to your appSettings will FCKEditor look for the ~ and upon finding that will it run the path through ResolveUrl.  That said, adding the above key to your appSettings should solve this problem for 99% of the people dealing with this issue.

I just ran across a very useful Reflector.NET add-in and just wanted to spread the word about SequenceViz.  It's still beta and the comments on their page indicate there are some bugs but I was able to get it working right away and this tool is really helpful.  I hope you find it useful also...

http://www.codeplex.com/sequenceviz/Wiki/View.aspx?title=ReflectorPlugin