Dan English's BI Blog: Downloads

BIDS Helper on CodePlex.com

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 12:11:36 GMT

I blogged about the new release back in December here when version 1.2.0.1 came out which fixed a few issues with the SSAS buttons in the calculation tab and with the SSIS highlighter. In talking with colleagues and clients recently though it seems like quite a few people are surprised when I talk about BIDS Helper. I thought everyone already knew about it or was using it, but I guess not. I really feel that this is an excellent add-in for anyone doing SSAS or SSIS development that I had to post another blog posting. I know that my blog is starting to get more coverage thanks to the BI Blog aggregator http://biglogs.com and now that my blog is mirrored on the Magenic blog site at http://blog.magenic.com/blogs I wanted to post another entry promoting the BIDS Helper which is available here.

So what is so cool about BIDS Helper and why would you want to use it? Well the main features that I like are the options to deploy the MDX script in the calculations tab of the cube, aggregation manager, update estimated counts, column usage reports, expression and configuration highlighter, expression list, and smart diff (all of the features are cool and helpful, but these are some of the key ones I use). If you go to the site on CodePlex you can get detailed information about each feature with screenshots.

It appears that this add-in currently only works with the English version of BIDS and that it probably only works with 2005 and not 2008 versions of Visual Studio. I haven't actually tested it in VS 2008 yet, but according to some comments on the site there appears to be some issues.

Here is the complete list of features that are currently included with the BIDS Helper along with a picture from the site that highlights a few of the features:

Features

I did take a quick peek at the Source Code section for this Project and it appears that version 1.3.0.0 should be available anytime now. Some of the new features according to the comments are the ability to sort the SSIS packages by name (like you can do in SSAS), VS 2008 support, SQL Sever 2008 support, smart diff for SSAS objects, and more performance improvements . This is cool stuff and you got to thank Darren Gosbell, Greg Galloway, and John Welch (hopefully I got all of the names right) for making this available. Feel free to post an item on the discussion section for anything that you would like to see added because most of the new features being added are taken directly from this section here.

Microsoft Business Intelligence VPC Release 6

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 11:18:42 GMT

Yesterday I received an email from my colleague, Kory, asking me if I had heard of the new BI VPC version 6 (April 2008 release) that was available. I stated that the only one that I knew of was version 5.1 which I posted on my blog back in December here. I quickly queried the Microsoft Download Center here and I didn't see a new version available. I asked him where he saw this mentioned and he pointed me to a new BI blog that I had not seen yet by Peter Koller over in Norway here. Now I had to know where Peter discovered this so I left him a comment and he pointed me to the hidden gem buried on Microsoft's site here (look down in the lower right for the download links - 7 files).

So what is different. Version 6 includes new demos and presenter scripts for different verticals. When you extract the files it creates an additional demos folder which now contains all of the scripts so you don't need to try and pull them off the VPC at all. It still has all of the same programs installed and configured which is very nice . Here is everything it contains and I highlighted the new items (and this VPC will expire on 8/17/2009 - maybe just in time for PPS v2).

I didn't see a readme file associated with this, so if you are looking for the password it is the typical Microsoft demo one and the same one that was used on the last VPC, pass@word1. So let the downloads begin! Enjoy the VPC and I got to thank Kory and Peter for pointing this out and sharing this information with the community, thanks guys!

MSDN Reader download now

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 11:49:46 GMT

A few weeks ago I downloaded and installed a project from the new MDSN Code Library called MSDN Reader. This application uses the Syndicated Client Experiences Starter Kit to be able to exploits the push capabilities of RSS and allows the content to be synced down to the client application and presented in a very cool and intuitive way. This is utilizing the WPF (Windows Presentation Framework) for the UI and it really adds a great user experience. The ability to search and add articles to your reading list (this is the caching and offline functionality) by right-clicking on an article along with being able to easily navigate and find MSDN articles (not sure how recent you can get though, still trying to determine that).

There are a couple of good articles on Analysis Services Data Mining, one on Integration Services fuzzy lookups and grouping, and quite a few on Reporting Services (creating custom report items, setting up custom code libraries, etc.) that you can read up on if you haven't seen them already. The code is also available to download if you would like to see how it was created or make a few modifications of your own. This does use a new beta product called Subscription Center which you will see running that will update the content that is available. Download this now and test it out for yourself. I think I am going to take a look at this and create a BI Blog Reader version (maybe include a few other topics, but make it configurable)!

Free Miscrosoft Software for College Students

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 11:43:34 GMT

Microsoft has free software for College/Graduate Students. Software available: Visual Studio 2008 Pro (and 2005 Pro), Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition, SQL Server 2005 Express (free for anyone), Expression Studio, Game Studio 2.0 and more.

Not a bad deal if you are a college student.

BIDS Helper 1.2.0.1 released today

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 23:30:50 GMT

This includes a few fixes that were introduced in the 1.2 version. There was an issue with multiple buttons being generated in the calculations tab that has been fixed. Here is a description of the fixes:

Release 1.2.0.1 Description

This release incorporates a couple of bug fixes and some minor performance improvements.

FIXED: Multiple copies of the BIDS Helper buttons appearing in the calculations tab of the cube designer
FIXED: Occasionally the Expression/Configuration highlighter would fail to highlight items correctly
FIXED: The performance of the highlighter component has been slightly improved.

If you haven't installed this add-in for Business Intelligence Development Studio I would highly recommend it. It is a lifesaver if you are trying to test out your calculations in your cube and just need to deploy the MDX script. Find out more about the product on CodePlex.

Microsoft Office 2007 SP1 has been released!

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 13:50:09 GMT

SP1 for Office 2007 was released this week and if you have Office 2007 installed this should have been downloaded with your Windows Updates (checked my applications and it doesn't appear that this has happened yet).

Office 2007 Service Pack 1

Download the new service packs for your Office 2007 products.

· Office 2007 Service Pack 1

· Visio 2007 Service Pack 1

· Project 2007 Service Pack 1

Not sure if you have SP1 installed yet, then check out this link - How to determine which version of a 2007 Office product is installed

Microsoft Business Intelligence VPC Release 5.1

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 11:33:45 GMT

Microsoft has posted a BI VPC that is fully loaded with all of the BI components on their download site. There are two links and a couple of files that you will need to download to extract the VPC. The total download is a little over 4GB and the extracted VHD is around 15GB. According to the readme file the OS is setup to expire on 3/5/2009.

Here is what is included on the VPC:

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Service Pack 2
Internet Explorer 7
Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007
Microsoft Office Visio 2007
Microsoft Office Project 2007
Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007
Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server 2007
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 w/ Service Pack 1
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 w/ Service Pack 2 (w/ SSIS, SSAS, SSRS)
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Data Mining Add-ins
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 SharePoint Integration Add-in
ProClarity Analytics Server 6.3
ProClarity Dashboard Server 6.3
ProClarity Desktop Professional 6.3
ProClarity Web Professional 6.3
Microsoft PerformancePoint Planning Server 2007
Microsoft PerformancePoint Monitoring Server 2007
Microsoft PerformancePoint Dashboard Designer
Microsoft PerformancePoint Planning Add-In for Excel
Microsoft PerformancePoint Planning Business Modeler
Project REAL Reference Implementation
SoftArtisans OfficeWriter 3.8.1 and Designer
BI Demo Files
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Samples
Microsoft SQL Server BI Metadata Samples
Performance Point Planning Samples/Labs
Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office Second Edition

Here are the links for the downloads: Link1 and Link2. Enjoy!

Office SharePoint Server 2007 Training

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 10:44:56 GMT

I love free training opportunities. Microsoft has now released a network (portal) or a standalone client version of some Office SharePoint Server 2007 training materials. The training includes videos, interactive tutorials, and articles. The Training topics lead you step-by-step through beginning to advanced features, including Collaboration, Business Processes and Forms, Portals and Personalization, Search, Business Intelligence and Enterprise Content Management. I am current in the process of download the material to take a look at it.

The Standalone Edition is accessed through your browser after you install the application on your personal computer. If you are a server administrator and want to install the Portal Edition to your Office SharePoint Server site, click here. The Portal Edition allows you to add content to help your users learn about the rich features of Office SharePoint Server 2007.

Take a look for yourself if you are interested:

Office SharePoint Server 2007 Training (Standalone Edition)

Office SharePoint Server 2007 Training (network)

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 CTP (Nov 2007) VHD now available

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 12:57:03 GMT

A VHD of the latest SQL Server CTP is now available for download if you want to test it out. I haven't had a chance to setup the new CTP yet, so I am in the process of downloading this one. Thanks Microsoft:)

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Community Technology Preview (November 2007) VHD

Brief Description

This download comes as a pre-configured VHD. This allows you to trial SQL Server 2008 CTP in a virtual environment.

Quick Details

Version: 1.1

Date Published: 12/4/2007

Language: English

Download Size: 180.6 MB - 2280.6 MB*

*Download size depends on selected download components.

Overview

SQL Server 2008, the next release of Microsoft SQL Server, will provide a comprehensive data platform that is more secure, reliable, manageable and scalable for your mission critical applications, while enabling developers to create new applications that can store and consume any type of data on any device, and enabling all your users to make informed decisions with relevant insights.

System Requirements

Supported Operating Systems: Windows Server 2003; Windows Vista; Windows XP

This is a pre-configured VHD image that requires Virtual Server 2005 R2 installed on your system. Please refer to the Virtual Server 2005 R2 System requirements page here.
In addition to the System Requirements for Virtual Server 2005 R2, you will need additional disk and memory resources for running the virtual machine. This VHD is pre-configured to use approximately 10GB of hard disk space and approximately 512MB of memory.
To learn more about the full System Requirements for running SQL Server 2008 CTP, see the system requirements page.

Instructions

In order to use this evaluation package you will need to have Microsoft® Virtual Server 2005 R2 installed on a physical machine. If you do not have Virtual Server installed you can get this product free of charge from www.microsoft.com/virtualserver. Details of how to install Virtual Server 2005 R2 are included in the download and documentation that accompanies the product.
You will also find a readme document as a part of the download. Please refer to this for additional details on how to extract and use the VHD as a part of the download.

Files in This Download

The links in this section correspond to separate files available in this download. Download the files most appropriate for you.

File Name (File Size)

Win03_KatmaiNovCTP.part1.exe (700.0 MB)

Win03_KatmaiNovCTP.part2.rar (700.0 MB)

Win03_KatmaiNovCTP.part3.rar (700.0 MB)

Win03_KatmaiNovCTP.part4.rar (180.6 MB)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=6A39AFFA-DB6E-48A9-82E4-4EFD6705F4A6&displaylang=en&mdc_uxref=sl

Weekly Downloads for WE 12/01/2007

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 00:59:21 GMT

I must admit that I am constantly on the lookout for new things to download. Here is what I downloaded this past week:

SQL Server 2005 Books Online (September 2007) - Download an updated version of the documentation and tutorials for Microsoft SQL Server 2005. See the "Additional Information" section for an update on SQL Server Express Books Online. For a list of updated topics, see "New and Updated Books Online Topics (15 September 2007)."
Microsoft Office Mobile 6.1: Upgrade for Microsoft Office 2007 file formats - If you've got a Windows Mobile 5.0 or Windows Mobile 6 phone or PDA, you'll want to grab this update. The update is free for anyone who has an existing copy of Office Mobile, which should cover most Windows Mobile users. It adds support for Office 2007 documents including DOCX, XLSX and PPTX files. There's also enhanced viewing capabilities for Excel Mobile, the ability to add SmartArt in PowerPoint Mobile. Users can also view and extract files from ZIP folders.
Free Download Manager v2.5 - FDM accelerates downloads by splitting files into sections and then downloading them simultaneously. As a result download speed increases up to 600%, or even more! FDM can also resume broken downloads so you needn't start downloading from the beginning after casual interruption. FDM lets you download files and whole web sites from any remote server via HTTP, HTTPS and FTP. You can also download files using BitTorrent protocol.
Windows Live Writer - Windows Live Writer is a desktop application that makes it easier to compose compelling blog posts using Windows Live Spaces or your current blog service. Blogging has turned the web into a two-way communications medium. Our goal in creating Writer is to help make blogging more powerful, intuitive, and fun for everyone. Writer has lots of features which we hope make for a better blogging experience.
SQL Server 2008 - Table valued parameters (Channel9 Screencast) - If you have to insert more than one row of data in a Table, you end up executing the insert statement / stored procedure as many times for each row, with Table-valued parameters you can send multiple rows of data to a single TSQL statement or stored procedure without creating temp tables or doing multiple round trips. Table-valued parameters are a new parameter type in SQL Server 2008 and are declared by using user-defined table types.