Sunday, February 28, 2010

SQL 2005 + XP SP3 = WTF

Today I ran into an issue where SQL 2005 Express wouldn't install, and kept giving a 1603 error message.

Further research into the SQL installer logs revealed that it was, in fact, MSXML 6 Service Pack 2 that was failing to install. I tried installing from KB954459, but the setup continued to throw me an "interrupted" error.

After googling around, I found multiple people talking about the "Windows Install Cleanup Utility".
(A few of the salient articles are linked below.)
I used to this utility to remove the MSXML 6 Service Pack 2 installation reference, but after a reboot, still no luck installing the KB hotfix (above).

The trick was, I didn't need to install MSXML 6 anymore, I could just go ahead with the SQL 2005 Express installer, and then it worked without any trouble. Apparently the SQL installer carries its own version of the MSXML 6 Core Services package which doesn't include whatever incompatabilities exist between MSXML 6 SP2 and Windows XP SP3.

Note to self, Aaron Bertrand is totally right about the finger-pointing. Microsoft should have gotten their shit together about this when it was first brought to light on more than a few computers. Dicks.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Linq to SQL GetCommand for diagnostics and auditing

To be completed when I [don't] have the time...

The point is, the DataContext.GetCommand' function accepts an IQueryable parameter and returns more ADO.NET style command information.

I was looking for something like this a while ago whilest attempting to audit and inject into the SQL that Linq executes against SQL Server, eventually giving up to the feeling that I had failed miserably at proper google searching.

So this has some potential to that, I'll have to look into it further when I'm not under 'release' mentality.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

WtvWatcher now in Google AutoComplete!!!

I know it's a small thing, but it's a small victory for such a meager effort on my part.

My lil' app is now a common enough keyword for Google to index it as an auto-complete search term. Joy.