The Problem: I could find no obvious way to update the mscorlib reference in my solution, so I decide to simply delete it and add it again, and hope that it magically updates to the most recent version.  This is actually what usually happens with Visual Studio.  However, I delete the mscorlib reference, and I am unable to add it back again, I get the error message telling me that mscorlib is already included in the project.

The Cause: This is a known problem in Visual Studio.

The Solution: I just went into my project (.csproj) file and added the following line

<Reference Include=”mscorlib” />

And that fixed it.  I still have no idea how to make it use the most recent .Net Framework though.

photo credit: dasapfe

Message: Unhandled Error in Silverlight 2 Application An exception occurred during the operation, making the result invalid.  Check InnerException for exception details.   at System.ComponentModel.AsyncCompletedEventArgs.RaiseExceptionIfNecessary()
at StronicoMain.ServerUtil.AddressTypeListCompletedEventArgs.get_Result()
at StronicoMain.Page.proxy_AddressTypeListCompleted(Object sender, AddressTypeListCompletedEventArgs e)
at StronicoMain.ServerUtil.ServerUtilClient.OnAddressTypeListCompleted(Object state)
Line: 1
Char: 1
Code: 0
URI: http://www.servername.com/Silverlight.js

You spend an hour or so trying to decifer the InnerException, which gives you no useful information.  You then try to access the web service via a web browser, like http://www.servername.com/MyService.svc, and you get a 404 error.  You then add that to the mime type list and still the problem is not fixed.

The Cause: Your WCF services are not mapping properly to the IIS 7 metabase.

The Solution: Run the following command “%Windir%\Microsoft.Net\Framework\v3.0\Windows Communication Foundation\ServiceModelReg.exe -r” in a command prompt.  That clears everything up.  Please see this page on social.msdn.microsoft.com for more information.

photo credit: ⓙanet

For whatever reason I find this sort of open, public, rule based scheduling more appealing than the current approach most companies (including mine) follow.  As one must commit to software these days the process of development is important to my decision to buy in the first place.  I’m not sure I have any real reason to believe in this, but it would seem that this approach would be more likely to fix problems that actually exist, as well as resulting in greater usability.

In sum, the idea is that software scheduling should have the following characteristics

• Performance over new features
• Separation of performance development and new feature development
• Published scheduling
• Transparency for timelines

Thoughts?  This is actually close to Milton Friedman’s idea of a monetary rules to replace a gold standard, instead of monetary policy being arbitrarily set by the Federal Reserve.

photo credit: Peter Kaminski

“System.Net.Sockets.SocketException: No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it 127.0.0.1:25″

The Cause: SMTP services are not installed on the server, they do not seem to be installed by default.

The Solution: SMTP is not configured on the server.  Go ahead and add in SMTP (it is not installed by default).  It will take about 60 seconds to install.  You will then get the error  “Mailbox unavailable. The server response was: 5.7.1 Unable to relay for user@domain.com”.  You then must run on the SMTP relaying services via the IIS 6 interface (for some reason) in start/control panel/administrative tools/internet information services and add the current account from there.

The Problem: When you leave the domain, the user profile is basically destroyed and a crippled version is put in it’s place. Very little documentation exists on how to prevent this, and the market has not supplied many programs to help either. Copying files and folders did not work for me. I tried both Windows Easy Transfer and the User State Migration Tool from Microsoft, to no avail. Curiously, none of my knowledgeable tech friends knew of an easy way to do this.

The Cause: As near as I can tell – there is little software market for downgrading your network, or providing documentation. Happily there is at least one company that will step up.

The Solution: Download the User Profile Wizard from Forensit. (It took me much time to find it). Make backups of everything, then run the Wizard. You will probably have to create a new login to use, but the profile will be pristine once it’s transfered over.

I imagine this would not be much of a problem for someone more knowledgeable, but for me it was quite vexing.

Okay, hopefully the next blog posts will be all about startsups and Silverlight.

Note – this is cross posted to my other work site at Digital Tool Factory.