Aaron Stanley King

One of the most popular Visual Studio extensions is Web Essentials. One of my favorite features is the extra stylesheet support WE gives Visual Studio. Making sure that the numbers of colors in a web site doesn't get out of control can be a big deal. Having a consistent color palette makes a real difference in the overall feel of a web application. After you install the extension you should see a new menu in the toolbar called Web Essentials. It will look like this. If you click "Create color palette" you'll add a css file to the Solution Items. This file is named specifically "WE-Palette.css". Do not rename it or move it. If you happen to remove it, but do not delete it then you'll be stuck. The file might still be in the solution folder but hidden from the project. You will have to delete it or Visual Studio won't be able to create it. You'll be stuck in a state of color palette limbo. In this example I created a s

Pro Tip: Don't Trust Yourself I had not used this product for a while but recently installed it again.  When I'm focused on frontend work and other developers are handling the backend, I don't write any SQL.  It's nice to work on teams that have brilliant database developers that you can count on to use best practices. I'm currently back to being a full stack developer on a project and the database is not my own.  I don't want to make mistakes that might slow up the team.  So I need all the help I can get.  I'm not saying that I'm a bad developer.  In fact, I get a lot of props from other developers on my SQL skills.  But I'm not perfect. SQL Code Guard is a free add-in for SQL Server Management Studio and Visual Studio.  Sorry, there isn't a VS 2015 build yet that I can find.  That could change by the time you read this.  I use it with SSMS the most. ( You should also install Red Gates SQL Search.  I like it also. )    What does

In Visual Studio 2015, Microsoft has fixed that default setting everyone hates.  Well, I bet the majority of developers hate it.  No? Just keep reading anyway. By default, when you relate a work item to a check in, if the work item is not resolved or closed, it tries to resolve the work item for you.  Why?  I don't know. It's always been that way. This, for me, is a real pain.  I don't, by default, want to do that.  I (usually) want to associate the work item.  So how do I change the default?  Prior to VS 2015 you had to edit your registry and restart Visual Studio.  Doesn't that sound like a great user experience? Here is how to do that if you have not upgraded or need to use another version other than 2015:  http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mitrik/archive/2010/12/03/how-to-make-associate-the-default-action-for-work-items.aspx   I think it still works.  I only have Visual Studio 2015 now so I don't care. Thanks to user input the team at Microsoft has created a ne

So you get this wonderful error from SQL Server Reporting Services when you try to add a data driven subscription to your report: Data-driven subscriptions cannot be created because the credentials used to run the report are not stored, the report is using user-defined parameter values, or if a linked report, the link is no longer valid. You look and you are using a shared data source that has saved credentials.  So that's not it. You check and the report is not linked to any other report.  So that's not it. You go ahead and remove all the parameters and publish.  So that's not it. Is SSRS a liar?  Dumb Microsoft goofed again right.  Not so fast.  This is still something you can fix.  I came across something that could help.  Check on the Variables section. In the rdl file's xml there is a <Variables></Variables> section.  Remove it and publish.  The error will go away.  You can also see it in the Report Properties. You'll see a variabl

This one is new for me. It might be something you have to consider all the time. I do not. Stored procedures in SQL may have defaults for certain options set only at creation. So you can't override them or even alter them. You have to drop and recreate them if those options have an affect on your query. This probably doesn't affect 99% of your queries. It doesn't affect mine too much. Today I had to so a bit of XML in my stored procedure though. It worked in dev fine because of course my options are set differently than in another server. When I gave the script to someone else to try... whammo! SELECT failed because the following SET options have incorrect settings: 'QUOTED_IDENTIFIER' What the hell does that mean? Is this Office Space? PC LOAD LETTER! No it's not a movie. This is real life and SQL has this cool table called sys.sql_modules. It can store options that you have set when you created that bloody stored procedure that isn't wo

I have changed positions over the years. It does happen. I do answer my phone and read my email. I like talking to other developers and entrepreneurs about technology. Sometimes that might involve me coding for them or with them. I don't like it when a recruiter calls me up looking to place someone they know or wanting to fill a role they have. Please don't bother me. I won't be nice to you when you call and I'll block your email. You can contact me on LinkedIn if you want. That is what LinkedIn is for. Calling me up at all hours of the day and night isn't going to help you, at all.

SQL Saturday Cleveland - Feb  7, 2015 In this talk Aaron will introduce users to some techniques and tools for developing and maintaining SQL code inside an Agile SDLC. Aaron will use test driven development techniques and commit his code changes to Team Foundation Services and schedule a build. He'll also demonstrate some custom solutions and go over all of the different databases that a DBA might support in an on-premise TFS install.