October 16, 2010 in Blog by Amer

Two Enterprise Portals on the Same Machine for Two AOS’s

I had an issue where I needed to install a new Enterprise Portal on a server that has two AOS’s: TEST and DEVELOPMENT.
The TEST AOS has already an Enterprise Portal installed and configured. The requirement was to install an Enterprise Portal also for the DEVELOPMENT AOS.
When I successfully completed the installation, I figured out that the Websites form (in Administration –> Setup –> Internet –> Enterprise Portal) in TEST contains two websites! The old and the new one. I tried to delete the new website from this form and I also added an entry in the same form on the DEVELOPMENT environment. But, for some reason the EP was showing incorrect results like this:

I solved the issue by letting the .NET Business Connector Configuration points to the DEVELOPMENT environment! Before that, I have un-installed that new EP.

Then I was able to deploy the EP on the DEVELOPMENT environment :).

October 14, 2010 in Blog by Amer

Failed to Connect to the Local Windows Database Engine while Running SharePoint Configuration Wizard

I had a problem while running the SharePoint Configuration Wizard after installing WSS 3.0 SP2 that says:

Failed to connect to the configuration database.
An exception of type System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException was thrown.  Additional exception information: Access to module dbo.proc_getObjectsByClass is blocked because the signature is not valid.
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException: Access to module dbo.proc_getObjectsByClass is blocked because the signature is not valid.
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.OnError(SqlException exception, Boolean breakConnection)
.......

As it looks clear from the error, the wizard simply fails to connect to the database. (The database was installed as Express edition on the local machine and the OS was Windows Server 2008 R2.) After lots of tries to uninstall WSS 3.0 and reinstall it again and again… I have done the following:

1. Un-installed Microsoft SQL Server Express Edition (from Programs and Features)
2. Downloaded Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Edition (http://www.microsoft.com/express/database/) and then installed it
3. Installed WSS 3.0 SP2 as farm installation
4. After the installation has finished, I got the SharePoint Configuration Wizard where I was able to choose the local database that I have just installed..

The wizard then ran just fine. Hope it will with you as well

October 13, 2010 in Blog by Amer

Two Enterprise Portals on the Same Machine for Two AOS’s

I had an issue where I needed to install a new Enterprise Portal on a server that has two AOS’s: TEST and DEVELOPMENT.
The TEST AOS has already an Enterprise Portal installed and configured. The requirement was to install an Enterprise Portal also for the DEVELOPMENT AOS.
When I successfully completed the installation, I figured out that the Websites form (in Administration –> Setup –> Internet –> Enterprise Portal) in TEST contains two websites! The old and the new one. I tried to delete the new website from this form and I also added an entry in the same form on the DEVELOPMENT environment. But, for some reason the EP was showing incorrect results like this:

I solved the issue by letting the .NET Business Connector Configuration points to the DEVELOPMENT environment! Before that, I have un-installed that new EP.

Then I was able to deploy the EP on the DEVELOPMENT environment :).

October 6, 2010 in Blog by Amer

Saudi OpenDoor Event in Saudi Arabia, Steve Ballmer is Coming to Saudi!

Microsoft OpenDoor is the largest Microsoft technical event in Saudi Arabia during Fiscal Year 2011. The keynote speaker for this event will be Microsoft CEO “Steve Ballmer”. Open Door is a 3-days conference (2-days in Riyadh city on Nov 2/3, 1-day in Jeddah city on Nov 7). The OpenDoor event is designed to attract more than 2200 TDMs, IT technical professionals and developers in Saudi Arabia. The event consists of 3 different tracks: one for IT professionals, one for developers, and one for technical Managers. The event’s main theme will be “Transitioning to the cloud & technology roadmap”, and it will cover various Microsoft technologies in cloud computing, IW, core infrastructure, database, client, in addition application platform and tools. Subject matter experts from Microsoft and top local industry experts will be speaking at the event. A major highlight of this big event will be the Microsoft partners’ expo where top Microsoft partners show their latest solutions and offerings in the Saudi market.

Following is a brief about the main tracks that will be run during this event:

• General Track: 3 keynotes, 2 closing sessions
• IT Professional Track: 11 breakout sessions with deep technical demos for IT technical professionals for the full duration of event
• Developer Track: 11 breakout sessions with deep technical demos for IT technical professionals for the full duration of event
• Technical Managers Track: 10 IT management and strategy sessions during 2nd day of the event in Riyadh, and during Jeddah event day
• Partners Expo: Sponsoring partners will be demonstrating and showing their local solutions/offerings in the market for the full duration of the event

October 5, 2010 in Blog by Amer

Convert All Hirji Formats into Gregorian

I came across a requirement where I needed to convert users entry from Hirjri Calendar date (the Islamic Calendar) into the Gregorian Calendar. In previous posts, I have shown how to convert Gregorian Date (date data type in Dynamics AX) into Hirjri… if you are interested in those check them out here:

• Yet another great way to handle the Hijri date in Dynamics AX!
• Hijri date in Dynamics AX

In order to convert a Hirji date into Gregorian, I used the .NET classes referenced in the any Dynamics AX standard version.

Enjoy!

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//Amer Atiyah, http://blog.amerax.net
static date hijri2GrDate(DAPHijridateStr   hijriDateStr)
{
    System.Globalization.CultureInfo arCul = new System.Globalization.CultureInfo("ar-SA");
    System.Globalization.CultureInfo enCul = new System.Globalization.CultureInfo("en-US");
    System.DateTime                  tempDateTime;
    str                              strTemp;
    System.String[]                  arr;
    date                             grDate;
;
 
    //all expected dates formats
    arr = new System.String[18]();
    arr.SetValue("dd M yyyy",  0);
    arr.SetValue("yyyy/MM/dd",  1);
    arr.SetValue("yyyy/M/d",    2);
    arr.SetValue("d/M/yyyy",    3);
    arr.SetValue("dd/MM/yyyy",  4);
    arr.SetValue("yyyy-MM-dd",  5);
    arr.SetValue("d/MM/yyyy",   6);
    arr.SetValue("dd/M/yyyy",   7);
    arr.SetValue("yyyy-M-d",    8);
    arr.SetValue("dd-MM-yyyy",  9);
    arr.SetValue("yyyy MM dd",  10);
    arr.SetValue("d-M-yyyy",    11);
    arr.SetValue("d-MM-yyyy",   12);
    arr.SetValue("dd-M-yyyy",   13);
    arr.SetValue("d M yyyy",    14);
    arr.SetValue("dd MM yyyy",  15);
    arr.SetValue("yyyy M d",    16);
    arr.SetValue("d MM yyyy",   17);
 
    try
    {
        tempDateTime = System.DateTime::ParseExact(hijriDateStr, arr, arCul, System.Globalization.DateTimeStyles::AllowWhiteSpaces);
    }
    catch
    {
        error("Unexpected Hirji date format.");
        return datenull();
    }
    strTemp = tempDateTime.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy");
    grDate = str2date(strTemp, 123);
 
    return grDate;
}

It might a great idea if you added this method to the “Global” class, like what I did :).