Office Productivity

The Big SharePoint Survey Results are In!

Rob Foster — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 03:00:20 GMT

In Episode 15 of the SharePoint Pod Show, we discussed the preliminary results from the Big SharePoint Survey that was conducted by Lightning Tools. The results are in and you can get them here:

SharePoint Survey

I've Updated My RSS

Rob Foster — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 03:19:17 GMT

Please subscribe to my new feed here:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/lespaulrob

Surprising Results for a BDC Survey

Rob Foster — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:25:17 GMT

The Lightning Tools team did a recent survey on the usage of the BDC in organizations. The results of the survey were quite shocking to me as I thought that most people would use the BDC integration for searching their line of business data. The results indicate that search came in a distand 3rd next to BDC web parts and list integration (for list columns).

Get the survey here.

I know that I will be using the results of the survey to refine my approaches to using the BDC as it appears to paint a clear picture as to what companies want and need vs. what I thought that they need.

Thanks guys for opening the results of the survey to the world!!!!

Quick SQL 2008 DB Analysis Script

Rob Foster — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 14:40:46 GMT

I've been playing around with SQL 2008's Intellisense features and ran across a few of the "sys." ('sys dot') functions that are very useful.

Naturally, I cracked open one of the ambiguous SharePoint content database and started running some analysis queries about the database. I came up with a very high-level and then a more detailed level SQL script that you can use for some very quick database analysis. No this is not as robust as a tool that you can buy that does deep analysis, but it does give you a good high-level view of the database that you are analyzing.

Enjoy!

//begin script

--high-level database report
SELECT COUNT(*) AS 'Number of Tables'
FROM sys.tables

SELECT COUNT(*) AS 'Number of Triggers'
FROM sys.triggers

SELECT COUNT(*) AS 'Number of Views'
FROM sys.views

SELECT COUNT(*) AS 'Number of Sprocs'
FROM sys.procedures

SELECT COUNT(*) AS 'Number of Indexes'
FROM sys.indexes

SELECT COUNT(*) AS 'Number of Database files'
FROM sys.database_files

SELECT COUNT(*) AS 'Number of SQL Logins'
FROM sys.sql_logins

SELECT COUNT(*) AS 'Number of Assemblies'
FROM sys.assemblies

--Detailed Database Report
SELECT name as 'Table Name'
,create_date
,modify_date
FROM sys.tables
ORDER BY name

SELECT t.name AS 'Trigger Name', tbl.name as 'Associated Table'
FROM sys.triggers t
INNER JOIN sys.tables tbl
ON t.parent_id = tbl.object_id
ORDER BY t.name

SELECT name AS 'View Name'
FROM sys.views
ORDER BY name

SELECT name AS 'SProc Name', create_date, modify_date
FROM sys.procedures
ORDER BY name

SELECT tbl.name as 'Associated Table'
  , i.name as 'Index Name'
  , i.type_desc
  , i.is_unique
  , i.is_primary_key
  , i.is_unique_constraint
FROM sys.indexes i
INNER JOIN sys.tables tbl
ON i.object_id = tbl.object_id
ORDER BY tbl.name, i.name

SELECT name AS 'Database File Name'
  ,type_desc
  ,physical_name
  ,state_desc
  ,size
  ,growth
  ,is_read_only
  ,is_sparse
  ,is_percent_growth
FROM sys.database_files
ORDER BY name

SELECT name AS 'SQL Login Name'
,[sid]
,type_desc
,default_database_name
,default_language_name
FROM sys.sql_logins
ORDER BY name

SELECT name AS 'Assembly Name'
  ,clr_name,permission_set_desc
  ,create_date
  ,modify_date
FROM sys.assemblies
ORDER BY name

//end script

SharePoint Pod Show Episode 3 is Live

Rob Foster — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 01:27:50 GMT

Nick, Brett, and I just went live with another episode of the SharePoint Pod Show. In this episode, we interview SharePoint MVP Eric Shupps who was recently in London to speak to the SharePoint Users Group.

Also, we got new recording equipment, so this time the show quality is 1000% better than any of our previous episodes! Thanks to MVP Keith Elder of Deep Fried Bytes for helping me out with questions and showing me how they record their show. I really appreciate it! :-)

Click here to go to the show!

Free Vista SP1 Support

Rob Foster — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 19:20:09 GMT

Free, unlimited installation and compatibility support is now available for all worldwide customers using Windows Vista SP1, until March 18, 2009. Telephone support is available worldwide. Chat and Email support in US and Canada only.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Effective dates

From now until 18 March 2009.

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Location

Find out more and access the service at http://support.microsoft.com/common/international.aspx?rdpath=1&prid=11274&gprid=500921

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DreamSpark...it's about time!

Rob Foster — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 22:52:55 GMT

This morning, Microsoft Corp. announced that it will be giving away Visual Studio 2005 and 2008, SQL Server 2005, Windows Server Standard Edition, XNA Game Studio 2.0, and its Expression suite of products to college students worldwide -- and eventually to high school students.

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates announced the program, called DreamSpark, today on the company's Channel 8 site.

Strong Authentication for your email

Rob Foster — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 19:10:59 GMT

It's called PhoneFactor and it's free! Not to mention, it is just flat out cool.

Get it here.

Are you an MVP in Nashville? Why don't I know you???

Rob Foster — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 14:56:15 GMT

Ok, so I just stumbled onto yet another MVP (Joe Webb) that's based here in Nashville.

My question is, WHY DIDN'T I KNOW THIS BEFORE??? I actually found Joe on a YouTube video from the MVP summit. So far, here is my list of MVP's that I know of that live here:

Rob Foster (that's me)
Greg Beamer
Kevin Kline
John Kellar
Joe Webb

Are there others? Probably....if you are an MVP in Nash-Vegas, let's meet for lunch or something to connect.

I'm an MVP and I feel GRRREAT!

Rob Foster — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 14:47:00 GMT

This is TOO funny!