Sometimes it works, sometimes not

This is not good!
If something in your software is dependent from the combination of

  1. current weather in London (weather there changes very often, and you and your system actually sits in Sydney)
  2. the mood of your girlfriend (or wife) this morning and
  3. amount of nuts in your muesli in your breakfast bowl

you have a big problem

 

I can’t run tests anymore with MsTest
“Sometimes I can”
... and I am not sure if this is the fault of the latest TFS KB Update... Since we moved to TFS2010 we had to install this KB to work with VS2008 an TFS2010

When I try to run my tests I get this error

clip_image002

Same problem as Gabriel had described in his post about Error: "Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation."
His solution: none. Over time it was fine :-)

To reproduce this I can easily do

  1. Start VS2008
  2. Go to “Test” | “Windows” | “Test Results”
  3. Error message!

image

I had a couple of things installed like: Resharper, Testdriven.Net, Coderush, … and was not sure what it is…
The last thing I installed was the KB article about using VS2008 with TFS2010.

What I did and didn’t help:

  • Start up Visual Studio in safe mode (parameter /SafeMode )
  • Start up Visual Studio and reset user data (parameter /resetuserdata )

---------------------------------
Note: I hate to do a /resetuserdata because it looses all my “nice” settings like:

  • Removing animations and speedup start of VS
  • Changing F1 keyboard key to do NOTHING (That’s a big one!) ( -> Tools -> Options –> Environment –> Keyboard –> F1 “Remove” )
  • Track Active Item in Solution Explorer ( -> Tools -> Options -> Projects and Solutions  )

More of this settings can be found on stackoverflow Visual Studio optimizations
---------------------------------

 

After all that, I attached another VS to the other one running with “Debug” –> “Attach to process” and enabling all exceptions in “Debug” –> “Exceptions”

---------------------------------
Note: I saw a lot of Resharper exceptions once I start to open a solution and browsing through files…
exceptions in VSActionManager.cs, VSProjectInfo.cs, VSSolutionManager.cs, …
---------------------------------

BUT NO EXCEPTION when I tried to reproduce the problem!
image 
Figure: The top VS2008 is attached to the lower one (that reproduces the error).

Fix: None so far
but I was able to run the tests (and to see my “Test results” window) sometimes.

I think it must be a weird combination of “devenv /safemode”, “Open solution”, “Build”, “Clean”, “Rebuild”, “Cross fingers”, “Run all tests”… Or maybe the other combination mentioned at the top of the post.
Didn’t figure it out yet

Will update this post once I know!

Tools that I use and that are not on Scott Hanselman’s list of tools

I did a new install of Win7 RC last Saturday morning (my quickest install ever with my new SSD HD!!) During the install I wrote down the tools that I installed. I realised some of them are not on Scott Hanselman’s tools list! But almost all are mentioned in the comments on his blog post

This is the list of tools that I always install
And these are NOT on Scott’s tool list

Total Commander
File manager - the german “swiss army knife”. The best tool ever! Replaces Windows File Explorer, Winzip, Winrar, Beyond compare, FTP tools, …and more!

Fullshot
Screenshot utility - Don’t really like SnagIt, because its harder to use

Stroke It - Don’t be just a keyboard jed
Mouse gesture to the max - I used Symbol Commander, Sensiva in the past, but Stroke It is free

Stardock Fences
Organizes my desktop, and double-click  hide icons is great for presentations

SharpReader
My blog reader of choice, I know its old and they didn’t release a version since a couple of months / years …. but it just works

Shortkeys
Text replacement - I got used to that one and have 20 short cuts in there, don’t want to migrate to autohotkey…. to painful

Browser Selector
Depending on the URL that I click on emails it opens different browser, great! and other features described in this blog post about Browser Selector

Free Download Manager
1. Save all downloads in 1 place (FireFox, IE, …) 2. Resume downloads and 3. free

WinPatrol
Like “autorun” from sysinternals but keeps my system healthy in the background. If there is a change in my system –> Warning

irfanview
My picture viewer of choice. fast and shows all file extensions in the world

SSMS Tools
Enhances SQL Management Studio with features like: Create INSERT INTO script for table …

Nmap
If you don’t know it you don’t need it

mRemote
Save all your RDP, SSH, VNC connections in 1 place and connect by double click

 

Scott uses different tools and that is good.

My comments

What I found strange that there is no mouse gestures tool. I think he is a keyboard master and is not using a mouse at all probably :-) Or he is using some authotkey script for mouse gestures…

There is no file manager in Scott’s list. Just FAR file manager (DOS, crazy!!)  :-(

Firefox as default browser and IE for SharePoint

If you are using more than 1 browser in your daily work life, make sure to use the small little “Browser Selector” tool from Marco

The good thing for me is:

  • Firefox is my default browser (web apps like gmail, wave, … just work nicer)
  • Opera is for reading (reading, zooming, 100 open tabs: Opera is still FAST)
  • IE is for Microsoft sites like SharePoint, MS CRM, … (that require IE or Kerberos authentication)

My configuration looks like this

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<BrowserSelector>
  <Rules>
    <Rule Url="microsoft.com" Browser="IE" />
    <Rule Url="msdn.com" Browser="IE" />
    <Rule Url="msn.com" Browser="IE" />
    <Rule Url="live.com" Browser="IE" />
    <Rule Url="sharepoint.ssw.com.au" Browser="IE" />
    <Rule Url="crm.ssw.com.au" Browser="IE" />
    <Rule Url="intranet.ssw.com.au" Browser="IE" />
-------SNIP SNIP SNIP SNIP -------
  </Rules>
  <Browsers>
    <Browser Name="Firefox" Path="C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" Default="true" />
    <Browser Name="Opera" Path="C:\Program Files (x86)\Opera\opera.exe" />
    <Browser Name="IE" Path="C:\Program Files (x86)\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" />
  </Browsers>
</BrowserSelector>

Get it from the dedicated “Browser selector” project page

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