Running .Net 4.6 Unit tests using vstest.console or TFS builds

Published January 20, 2016 9:29 pm

Unit tests can be authored in VS 2015 and can be targeted to various framework versions e.g. 4.0, 4.5 using the project Target Framework settings. When the framework is set to 4.6 or 4.6.1, you may face a known issue with the vstest.console.exe command line test runner or within TFS (Team foundation server) Builds.

When the tests built using fx >= 4.6 and executed along with another unit test dll that is built with framework version < 4.0 – the runner (vstest.console.exe) is unable to find any tests in the dll. This is because it uses incorrect version of framework in the test host process to discover the tests and hence does not find any tests.

The error may look like this and no tests are discovered.

D:\git\myproj\NetFx46Issue\NetFx46Issue\bin\Debug>c:vstest.console NetFx46Issue.dll Microsoft.VisualStudio.QualityTools.UnitTestFramework.dll
Microsoft (R) Test Execution Command Line Tool Version 14.0.24720.0
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

Starting test execution, please wait...

Information: Additionally, you can try specifying '/UseVsixExtensions' command if the test discoverer & executor is installed on the machine 
as vsix extensions and your installation supports vsix extensions. Example: vstest.console.exe myTests.dll /UseVsixExtensions:true

In addition, there may be another error if .net frameworks 2.0/3.5 is not installed on the machine and dialogs may popup to install .Net Frameworks 2.0/3.5 windows feature until the command line is aborted with CTRL+C. Capture

Error: The active Test Run was aborted because the execution process exited unexpectedly. To investigate further, enable local crash dumps either at the machine level or for process te.processhost.managed.clr20.exe. Go to more details: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=232477

The error in XamlBuild or Build vNext environment in a TFS 2013/2015 can be on these lines depending on whether frameworks 2.0/3.5 is installed on the build agent machine or not.

The workaround for this is to use /framework:framework40 switch with vstest.console.exe command line.

D:\git\myproj\NetFx46Issue\NetFx46Issue\bin\Debug>c:vstest.console.exe NetFx46Issue.dll Microsoft.VisualStudio.QualityTools.UnitTestFramework.dll /framework:framework40
Microsoft (R) Test Execution Command Line Tool Version 14.0.24720.0
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

Starting test execution, please wait...
Passed   TestMethod1

Total tests: 1. Passed: 1. Failed: 0. Skipped: 0.
Test Run Successful.
Test execution time: 13.1705 Seconds

For Xaml build definition, TargetFrameworkVersion=Framework40 setting needs to be passed using a .runsettings file.

  1. Download TargetFrameworkVersion40.runsettings here.
  2. This setting file (TargetFrameworkVersion40.runsettings) needs to be committed to source control along side the test code
  3. Edit the build definition to specify runsettings for the automated test run. Refer msdn for details.
  4. “Source Settings” for the build definition must ensure that the TargetFrameworkVersion40.runsettings file is synced up on the build agent.

For build vnext definition also the steps will be same except the step (3). Runsettings can be specified through the web interface to edit “Visual Studio Test” task’s settings.

The issue will be addressed in VS 2015 Update 2.

vstest.console.exe /logger

Published December 25, 2015 11:00 am

If you use vstest.console.exe, you are user of unit testing in Visual Studio. If you use it with /logger:TfsPublisher – you qualify as advanced user of vstest.console.exe. /logger switch lets you publish the results to the tfs server against a build & test runs show up on the build page.

// publishes results to the build 
vstest.console.exe mytests.dll /logger:TfsPublisher;Collection=http://mytfsserver:8080/tfs/DefaultCollection/;BuildName=MyBuild_20151222.1;TeamProject=myproj

It can publish results to either XAML Builds or new builds (tfs 2015). To publish test results from within TFS build 2015 – build definition enables to add “Publish test results” task out of the box. It can be used to publish the TRX file produced by other tasks during the build. It is not recommended to use /logger:tfspublisher from within a build. While it can be made to work, it may have pitfalls.

  1. The build runs in the context of a service or user based on how the build agent is configured. vstest.console.exe  may not have access to the tfs server.
  2. The build number in the TFS 2015 – is by default of YYYYMMDD.N format – in the new build definition. It must be prefixed e.g. MyBuild_YYYYMMDD.N when editing the build definition. Otherwise – two build definitions may have the same build number & confuse the publisher. publishing may fail with error (Build 20151222.1 cannot be found under team project myproj).

Can I take programming as life time career choice?

Published May 23, 2015 8:01 pm

In the past posts, I had gone over taking programming as career choice, taking a lead role and switching to IC role after taking a lead role. If you are a techno manager, you will certainly come across a career junction – to make a choice whether to pick a general mgmt direction or continue to remain a techno manager or IC role. I have been through this whether I should/can continue to code through out my career?

Wouldn’t my gray cells give up after some time since programming so much depends on your cognitive power? Would I generate enough value compared to my years of experience? Would I work against the probability for having a successful career? I won’t be surprised if many of us go through such questions when faced through this choice.

Do doctor think about taking its practice as life-long career? Do painter think about taking painting as life long career? In fact, well known painters are known for painting till quite late in their lives. then, Why as a programmer I face this question. I do think there is little bit of perception of this as low-end work – the leaf node work. Visions are built at top & translated into reality by engineering. It is like architects make the building drawings & buildings are built by the workers laying the bricks etc. but isn’t that true for any other profession? Not every painter is known for his work. neither every doctor. Still many of them can have a long satisfying career.

Programming alone does not cut it. If I just good at coding and keep doing that. It is likely that I hit a saturation point and that might be ok for many of us. As long as we recognize it and content with it. In that case, I am still good at what I am doing; I do a good job at it; I am still known within my group, organization, company. It gives me a work identity to be content with and I continue doing what I like.

I like more creative freedom. I like to paint on a bigger canvas with absolute creative freedom. That is where some of us take a plunge into envisioning the product & building it. Entrepreneur + programming is a good combination. You can see a gap & have ability to build an awesome product addressing it plus you love doing it! To begin with, we might fail couple of times. Did we born as exemplary programmers? we didn’t. Then, building a right product addressing right audience may require few attempts. It is hard especially when you take it later in your career when opportunity loss is higher. If it can be done with finances flowing from other streams, it’s a good combination to begin with.

but there is a deadly combination. Entrepreneur + programming + people – if you can have a close network of people – who are your fellow product programmers – who aspire to dream about and bring to life awesome products  and you all get along well at creative & value system level. It is the best and the deadly combination. It is the power of many hands, openness for creativity and alignment of value system for trail-blazing speed.

What is the value system alignment? Are you in it for money? Are you in it for your creative freedom or building something useful? If there is alignment – there is less friction, more power of diversity, power of more minds & hands.  1 + 1 can be 11 or it can also be zero or -1 if both 1s are chasing in opposite directions. In general, I am of the opinion that smaller organization are good for building new things from scratch & bigger organization are better for sustenance & scaling up an established product at smaller scale.

Is the path easy? No. No path is easy anyway. You do go through your set of nightmares. but you grow with them. Dealing with failures (or call it learning steps) is a separate post by itself. Once you board the entrepreneur track – it doesn’t mean you don’t ever go back to a job. Entrepreneur in spirit are the flexible people who are chasing their present goals. It is worthwhile to take a job when you go through your learning curve – to make a living and also learn new things.

What about architect roles? In general, good architects are also good engineering managers. As long term career choice, I still consider this path as techno manager. Programming as life long career choice means you love programming – like a painter love painting. Such people typically hop between IC (individual contributor), lead (first level manager aka M1), engineering manager/director (M2), architect etc. along the career just to taste little bit for everything but wherever they are – they love their art (code). They also like working with people; in few roles, they may not right performance reviews but still love working with a team and team rally with them.

Did I cover all the combinations? certainly not. I have seen few unique examples personally but they are rare. E.g. T Roy @ codemachine.com, Mark Russinovich @ sysinternals . They are exemplary in their art and excel in their niche. Needless to say there are many such personalities who have created their own unique example.

In sum total, programming alone does not cut it as a life long career. A techno manager can be a satisfying career if I keep up my good work, keep learning, realize myself & be content with it instead of getting caught up in rat race. Programming + (entrepreneur + people | more) can certainly create awesomeness. Isn’t awesomeness little rare? Still strive for it!

Visit to IIHP’s scientific seminar @ Vijaywada

Published April 29, 2015 1:06 pm

WP_20150426_10_49_20_ProIt has been over 2 weeks from the visit to GHF World Homeopathy summit. I had met Dr. KRK Prabhakar Reddy there and came to know about IIHP scientific seminar @ Vijaywada on 26th April. I had thought to go there as well but sat on the decision until Thursday 23rd April. In the meanwhile, I have traveled once more to Mumbai on a family trip; it is summer holidays for children and home alone for myself. It took few days to get used to this. I searched through facebook posts to find the contact details & reached Dr. Lakshmi. This time – we wanted not only to be with the practitioners but also introduce them to Homeo Clinics – An app for every Homeopathy Practitioner. After making few calls to Dr. Lakshmi & Dr. Baskar – which they obliged – decided to put a stall at the seminar.

This visit was different in few aspects.

  1. I had stall duty and had limited time to listen to the speakers. Still I managed few minutes. More on this later.
  2. I met quite a range of practitioners in their technology usage; quite refreshing & interesting conversations.
  3. There were last minute adventures during hyderabad-vijaywada-Hyderabad travel given my absent mindedness.
  4. Good food @ Swarna palace. Good company of other stall managers.
  5. What remained constant – was you are still surrounded by homeopathy practitioners and policy makers.

I almost spent 1.5 days with Sreedhar, a good designer @ printo. He helped me realize & add the creative beauty – to get our flyer & banner for the stall. All through – I was pre-occupied how to best communicate the value the app brings for the practitioner. Book tickets, cab, hotel, grab meals in between and catch a little bit of sleep. It was only 25th that I could catch 7 hours of sleep. It is key since next day 26th I have to be fully awake!

It was interesting to met a full rainbow spectrum of practitioners on stall – in terms of technology usage. I met practitioners steady with manual note taking – on one side of the spectrum to another side – practitioner who wants the app on everything – ipad, android and windows. I met first practitioner using Windows Phone…ya…Windows phone Nokia lumia 720. I carry a lumia 730 – a pretty good companion. We were mid way of porting the app on Windows Phone but it is on hold until we get other work done. I met practitioners from places near vijaywada to up to Vizag –  Eluru, Guntur, Bapatala, Rajamundry, Jaggayyapet, Palakol and I am sure there were more  – who we can meet next time!

I missed taking selfies this time with interesting personalities at seminar. It met one practitioner who claimed to have every software that exists – with him and that too Top edition! When I pitched our access anywhere feature, he made interesting remark. Something on these lines — “Sir – mai clinic ke andar ghar to bhul jata hu and ghar ke andar clinic ko bhul jata hu.”. In English – “Sir, I forget home when I enter my clinic. Also I forget clinic when I step out of it.” Certainly, it is good practice to have a good work-life balance. but nevertheless, there is no harm in having the power (access everwhere) with you and exercise only at your will. I met Dr. Anand again (after GHF Mumbai).

I met with students from Kadappa college. Some of them aspire to take up Masters from JSPS after finishing their bachelors. I remembered Dr. Aruna from Kadappa college then. Sometime – I would visit there. I felt student crowd was relatively less but still there were still groups hanging around for tea together but not many watched the promotion of Acer Iconia Win 8.1 tablet – that we had put in Tea area!

I caught moments from the honorable commissioner of AYUSH speech who appreciated the efforts of Homeopathy practitioners – as silent workers, their contributions in controlling swine flu epidemic and inspired them to speak/publish their contributions for better recognition of Homeopathy. He also motivated students. On a low note, he expressed that there is strong need for the upgrading infrastructure at the colleges and call for action to the alumni & NRV (non resident villagers – I am not sure if I got this term right. I heard it first time in his speech) – in partnership with government – to contribute to the required fund of order of 10cr for this. I missed lectures & talks by Dr. Issac Golden, honorable minister of health – A.P., Dr N Srinivasa Rao – member central council of homeopathy and other esteemed speakers of the day.

This post will be incomplete without the mention of Dr. M. Kutumba Rao – if I heard right – he is in his 88th year. What is memorable about his speech is his sense of simplicity & humor. He inspired students & practitioners alike about the practice. It was exciting – to see him, Dr. M Jayaram (son) and Dr. M Sarala Kiran (grand son) together – 3 generations practicing Homeopathy.

About the adventures, ola cabs canceled my cab at Hyderabad. I managed to get an auto to getWP_20150425_18_27_06_Pro to railway station and decided to leave the banner in the auto. When I realized during the train – technology came to rescue and I found that there are banner printers next to the hotel in vijaywada. After parking @ swarna palace, I went in the nearby lanes experiencing the beautiful summer heat. I met designer & owner of Karuna Graphics who checked and gracefully directed me to Vasu Digital where I got the banner done – in fact, printing was better than the original I was carrying! I could not resist taking a pic of their huge machine setup printing huge banners.

WP_20150425_21_24_02_ProI found whereabouts of Big bazaar, buckinghampeta from local merchants to buy chocolates – I had forgotten to buy at Hyderabad previous day. Well – you got to have good time at stall and what’s better than having a melody chocolaty! Food @ swarna palace does need a mention. I was pleasantly surprised for two veg meals I had there. During return – my train ticket stayed at WL1 and with a tip from Dr. Krk I decided to take a bus return journey; I avoid bus journey by all means! I got bus within 5 minutes of reaching the bus station. The onion sweetness in the highway dhaba near vijaywada for dinner – was awesome and made up for the hardship of the bus return journey. I reached Hyderabad early 3am Monday and maneuvered home in auto in empty lanes of Hyderabad experiencing cold morning breeze.

In Closing, My sincere thanks to Dr. Lakshmi, Dr. Baskar, all doctors manning registration desk @iihp-seminarand entire organizing committee. Thanks to every practitioner who visited our stall & gave his valuable time. We will connect with you again (in fact I got a call back yesterday) to serve you! Thanks also to practitioners who  not visited our stall (but plan to visit next time – pun intended). Thanks you Sudheer for good company throughout the day, Krishna Prasad (bioforce), Siva Rama Krishna (SBL) and all other stall managers. Special thanks to Dr Krk for connecting me to event, being so warm & cordial & the tip to take the bus in night, Dr N Srinivasa Rao for his valuable time to hear us, being human & offering a ride back Hyderabad with a brief intro when he heard that my train ticket remained wait-listed and being humble & approachable.

How do you measure success? Closing a few deals. We did not. but most of the practitioners did hear us till the end and liked what we offer. We did get to meet a good number of practitioners, introduce them to Homeo Clinics – an app for every homeopathy practitioner and of course, what an eventful trip!

Visit to GHF World Homeopathy Summit 2015, Mumbai

Published April 13, 2015 6:44 pm

It was Wednesday last week. I had to take a call whether I should go to World Homeopathy summit 2015 Mumbai. I had heard about World Homeopathy Summit in Mumbai being organized by Global Homeopathy foundation way back in dec – from one of the practitioner. I was not sure whether it made sense for me to join or whether I can join as a delegate? I decide to call the organizers to find out whether a non-practitioner can join the conference. I got ok. I thought it might be good platform to hear/meet some of best minds and practitioners at the conference. With some deliberation, I decided to go for it.

I tried to join the gang of experienced practitioners (& professors) from JS Homeo college but somehow could not synchronize my itinerary with them. Sat (11th) – day started with boarding an early morning flight from Hyderabad to Mumbai. I meet the Dr. KR Prabhakara Murthy & a set of JS College alumni & practitioners from Hyderabad – at Mumbai airport.  From Sat morning to Sunday evening – it was like being in a crowd – whichever way you go – you hit next person who is doctor, scientist, researcher; quite unusual for a software guy. Every other discussion fired different part of my brain!

WP_20150412_15_32_32_Pro-001It was heart warming to see classmates meeting after 20-30 years, hugging and laughing out their college times! It was nostalgic to see student, prof and prof of prof taking a walk together along the new marine lines beach together. In general, I found that there is good bonding between Profs (many of them are practicing) & students – my sample size was certain limited. There was lot of energy from students – some interested in goodies @ conf (like club mahendra free stay) & hanging around with friends, some having serious discussion about their research / projects, some chasing celebrities like Dr. Dana Ullman for a selfie who was available at arm’s length at times (Dana was also kind enough to let me click a selfie with him) and many remained glued to their seats in the auditorium to listen to each lecture until last hour of the conference.

Did you know that India has 150+ Homeo medical colleges? Did you know that India has 250K+ homeo practitioners? Did you know that Gov of India now has separate ministry for Homeopathy? Did you know that in some countries like USA, Homeopathy faces challenges from modern medicine significantly? Did you know that homeopathy medicine becomes more powerful as it is diluted more & more? Did you know that it can act at a sub atomic level? How it can be enabler/catalyst for the human vital force to build balanced harmonious human being? I am quoting few things I get to know here.  For all the people seeking science base & spirituality existence at the same time – it threw more light at the subtle phenomenon – how “like cures like” is used to trigger the human immune system (vital force). Like I need to face my fears to overcome them, body also need to face some of these diluted things – to build up its subtle immune power.

While a set of practitioners (including conference focus) were seeking scientific base to establish Homeopathy credibility, there were practitioners who questioned this & whether this is against the spirit of Homeopathy & at a time when modern medicine is into soul searching about their processes – taking Homeopathy in that direction is right? Both sides are probably right in a broader holistic view and conference enabled them to have a platform to raise their views.

There was government organizations participation like CCRH as well. In fact, CCRH sponsored a day lunch and made additional donations. Also expressed their interest in sponsoring research projects. There was participation by Dept. of Ayush executives and many other top bureaucrats. Few things from Dr. Manchanda lecture stick in my memory. Answering a question that – there is need for a elaborate library with access to achieves of leading international journals. He mentioned that CCRH has already have digital access to many of the renowned international journals, encouraged & call to action to the colleges to seek access & enable their students to get exposed to the latest research. On a low note, he mentioned that despite his repeated asks – only a handful of the colleges are leveraging the resources!

There was one mention that practitioners & researchers need to instead focus on putting forward more positive results rather than defending & having a negative commentary when homeopathy is dismissed as non-science or discredited; like looking at glass half full vs half empty. There were couple of discussions & presentations on usage in veterinary & call for action to bring together practitioners working in that domain. There was one presentation by Brazil delegate that walked through long list of research papers in past years. There was strong interest in few presentations – one by IITB about nanoparticles  presence in homeo medicines, few on nosodes, one about application to cancer  and one more that I mention little later. I might have missed some since I did not take notes instead depend on my memory.

WP_20150412_07_11_39_ProLocation was nice right in the hub of Mumbai – marine lines. Beach was at walkable distance. Railway & airport at reasonable distance. There were minor issues with mikes and strong lights glare on stage for speakers. Otherwise, good audio visuals. Few stalls – club mahendra promised 3 night free trip (riders unknown) to delegates, free homeo medicines to practitioners from one vendor, one stall of homeo software. One stall to delegates to click their selfies as memorabilia. Welcome kit & participation certificate. There was minor traffic during registration but minor teething issues are expected at any place. Decent simple packed lunch on both days. I forgot to mention delegates recorded their feedback as one of the fun activity and chatted around Tea counter during breaks.

WP_20150412_12_05_51_ProFinally – let me come to the Dr. Khuda Bukhsh talk on day 2. This talk was in my opinion was one of the highlights of the summit & deserves special mention. He threw light on interplay of human genes & homeo medicines in dilution such as 30c. If you missed it – I heard that organizers might make available recordings of the talks on dvd. This talk will certainly be a recommended watch – my personal favorite. He got standing ovation from the crowd for his work & talk.

Taken with Lumia SelfieOn a lighter note – I met one senior practitioner from Karnal (my memory defies me to remember his name). He simply stood out of the crowd with his hat & staunch mustache. I could not resist but to request for a selfie with him. He kindly obliged. His comments also sticks to my memory – mucha rakane ke liye such boline ka daam chahiye jo gyada logo ke paas nahi hai. isliye kaam log hi rakhte hai! English version – to keep mustache – one needs guts to tell the truth that only few have – hence, you find less people with such mustache.

While we strive towards excellence in building productivity software & services at scale and one such app – Homeo Clinics – we have dedicated for Homeopathy practitioners – it is imperative to devote time to know your customer and the domain. It starts at connecting with more & more of the practitioners, be between them to understand the problem space and invite them to use the solution. In sum total, the summit was empowering trip for me to get more into Homeopathy in general, get through bit of terminology / jargon, connect with a handful of senior & long time practitioners, get more enlightened, make few new friends & last but not the least – have a good time!

 

Homeo Clinics – An app for every Homeopathy Practitioner

Published April 10, 2015 11:26 am

Happy girl recovering from illness with homeopathic medicine

Are you a homeopathy practitioner? Did you think about your hour worth? Homeo Clinics is a must have productivity app for every Homeopathy Practitioner – to do more; be more.

It lets you focus on your patient. With its simple intuitive interface, it lets you manage your note taking about your patients effectively. It comes preloaded with the standard abbreviations for the homeo medicines & let’s each practitioner personalize his own. It does not stop here. Your data is safely stored in world class Microsoft data center, backed up nightly and accessible any time any where to you!

Homeo Clinics app is available through windows 8 store on your laptop running Windows 8.1. Give it a shot!

Congratulations & Welcome to Homeo Clinics! Happy exploring and use your free time to treat more patients, teach students…

Not convinced yet. Give me few minutes to walk you through notes I have taken while talking to a set of homeopathy practitioners.

What I heard My observation
I have been doing it like this and it works! Nokia 6310 was the most robust and simple phone of its time. It still works! Should I still use it?Technology is not evil per se. It’s overuse or wrong application is. The point is not to hate technological advances. Rather embrace it where it betters your life.
I have gadgets but want to keep my life simple. Just write reviews in my hard copies. Certainly – Keeping things simple is good. But will keeping pace with changes around harm? Do we still go & get manual train tickets? Do we still get hard copies from an analog camera? Haven’t we moved to digital pictures and smart phones?Why think about next generation way of writing reviews complex? Through Homeo Clinics app, we focused on simplifying the experience of writing reviews (minimalist UI).
I don’t have many patients & I am ok right now. Will your patient base remain same year after year? You patients base will certainly grow in 1-5 years of your practice. Investing in a right technology solution is right.For homeo clinics, we have designed subscriptions offers that range from low to very high use. Student offer that cost less than a month of bike petrol or a movie with popcorn and standard package that cost less than a family trip to Dominos.
I don’t have a laptop and/or tablet How much does a Windows tablet cost? I brought one yesterday for 8k (at the cost of basic smart phone). The cost is easily recovered in less than a Month if it helps you save less than one week of your time. Are you worth less than 8k per week?Point is – time is precious. Further, we have put attractive limited time introductory offers with tablet/laptop free.
I have assistants. They are available easily (at low cost). They take care of writing reviews. Does keeping drivers mean not to learn driving? Having assistant does not suggest not to have right technology solution to effectively write patient reviews. It still helps to have one, use it for couple of days & then, delegate the work to your assistants.
I have whatsapp & email. My patients like that I am accessible there. Having a personal empathy & connection with patients is excellent! Will it harm if you have access to your notes about patients in 3 clicks? It only adds to the experience.
I have used many solutions. They are intimidating. Historical experiences come to haunt you. You wanted to key in 2 lines about your patient & what you got is a BUSY intimidating FORM that will not go away until you fill in the information in that FORMAT!Through Homeo Clinics, we have simplified writing reviews to — add medicines, add symptoms, add optional notes, DONE! Less is actually more. It is about the review writing experience rather than filling review form. To tell you the truth – it is just the beginning!

 

Are you ready for the change?  To do more. Be more. No more fumbling with note books. You can focus on – your patient. For everything else – Homeo Clinics is there.

For more, refer Homeo Clinics facebook page. We love to hear from you!

 

Homeo Clinics subscriptions offers

Published April 9, 2015 7:13 pm

acer-iconia

 

How about getting a Win 8.1 tab free?

It has been couple of weeks since the public release of Homeo Clinics app in Windows Store. While the app comes with free trial period, some of you might be looking for the subscription offers beyond the free trial period.

We are releasing the details about our subscription offers. You can refer them here. We do understand that some of you may need to upgrade from windows 7 to windows 8, buy a wifi device or may want to buy a handy windows 8 tablet. For all of you – we have put limited period attractive offers with the goodies coming to you – FREE!

Go. Check it out.

 

Homeo Clinics app windows store release

Published March 17, 2015 7:43 pm

We are delighted to announce that we are close to windows store release of one of our apps for Homeopathy practitioners. It has been in private use in production for couple of months. It has helped iron out operational issues and up the bar on quality. Now, we will onboard selected few more practitioners and slowly open it up to wider audience.

It has been a joy ride to bring to you (homeopathy practitioners) – first public release of this app. While we are focused on helping people do things, we have built this app with the right experience to read & write effectively your patients reviews. It is the starting point – since this is what you do daily – so many times. The app provides the right experience & the cloud service hosted in windows azure keeps your data safe, secure & available. There is lot more to come as we hear from you!

We will post the link to the app in windows store here once it is live.

Update: App is live in windows store. Here is the link to the app in windows store

sd vs git commands

Published February 21, 2015 10:16 am

If you ever worked at Microsoft, you would have used the source depot command line tool sd.exe. Prior to tfs, this is the primary source depot tool used within Microsoft including windows team. Although, it used one more layer of top of it to enable branching across multiple source depot servers. Outside Microsoft, you get to use tfs using tf command line or using visual studio integrated UI. git is prevalent at other places.

gitA programmer is interested in code everywhere & hence, getting familiar with git is important. Hence, I just started by skimming the Pro git book & taking github tutorial. Getting comfortable with any tool takes little time and also you learn by mapping your old concepts to the new tools.

Here are my notes as I am going through this::

sd command/conceptgit command/concept
sd is typical source depot with a central repository & local client mapping. There isn't distributed repositories (although it has concept of proxy servers). For most of the commands, source depot server need to be available including branching, merging etc.git comes with local repository & remote repository. This is key high level difference which then translates into differences in the individual commands.
enlistment
- local copy of the files		Working directory
sd client - set server/local path mappings
sd sync - sync local copy		git checkout - update working directory with files from required branch
NA. There is only central repository.git remote - setup mapping with remote repositories.
NA. There is only central repository.git push -- publish changes
git pull -- fetches changes
to/from remote repository.
change list - a set of files that can be committed to server. multiple change lists can be maintained in the enlistment.staging directory.
files need to be staged prior to commit.
sd add -- add files
sd edit -- edit files
to change list		git add - add files
to staging area
sd revert - reverts changes git reset - remove file from staging area
git checkout - reset contents of file to last checked in version
sd delete -- delete file
to change list		git rm - delete file
to stage area
sd submit -- submit change list to servergit commit -- submit changes in staging area to local repository
sd branch -- create a branchgit branch -- create a branch
sd integrate -- to merge changes forward/backward to/from child branches. called forward & reverse integrate.
sd resolve - merge changes		git merge -- merge changes from child branch or remote repository,

* These notes are kind of high level mappings & are meant for me to jump start; get to more details along the way.

 

Schedule to shutdown (deallocate) azure vm during night time

Published November 12, 2014 12:51 pm

Recently we have started the service trial. VM is unused past 11PM and should be shutdown to save dollars. so, I set out to figure out how to do it.

On net search – I hit across azure automation services which let you schedule your powershell script for process automation. It was not straight forward to get going with it without spending day or two to understand it and its billing. I was simply looking for a quick solution without any learning curve. I know shutdown /s /t 0 shuts down a windows computer. Can I schedule it? I found that schedule task mmc is available in windows azure vm. Hence, I created a basic task and scheduled it for 1 am to shutdown.

In morning, I did find the VM in stopped state. but I have typically seen the VM in stopped(deallocated) state when I shutdown using azure management portal. I looked around and found that stopped VM is still billed. stopped(deallocated) VM is not billed. I have to now figure out how can I de-allocate it in midnight? azure powershell and cross platform CLI both provide commands to shutdown VM (including deallocation). Download of azure powershell is ~120mb whereas azure-cli (cross platform) is available through npm (nodejs). I have nodejs on my devbox and it is our server platform too. npm install azure-cli -g command installed the command line in less than a minute. command line is also very intuitive and simple to follow.

azure account download 
-- launch the browser, login, download & save the azure account publisher settings.
azure account import <path to publisher settings file> 
-- imports setting for the subscription.
azure vm shutdown -v <vm name> 
-- shutdown vm including deallocation.

Now, I need to figure out the solution to trigger this command at midnight. My laptop is also sleeping at that time including me. Windows task scheduler also have option to wake computer & ensure network connection before launching a task. It requires changing advanced power settings on the computer – to enable wake up alerts. I tried to schedule it (using windows task scheduler) in the VM itself which did not require all of this and it did work to de-allocate itself!

ps/ I have set few additional settings in the task. 1) run with highest privileges 2) run whether user is logged on or not. It asks the admin password to schedule the task. Without the password – it can’t have network access which is required for the command line to issue the command.