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All Posts (562)

• 

  Published on

  2017-01-21 12:53 a.m.

  Authors

  koskila

  Tags

  AzurePowerShellDevEnvironmentSharePointOnline

  Getting Connect-MsolService (and other Azure Active Directory PowerShell cmdlets) to work

  In this post, I'll try to archive everything that you need to download and install to get commandlets like Connect-MsolService working. I've had to do it a couple of times when changing laptops, so it's good to document them somewhere! :) So, when would you need to follow this guide and install the modules described here?

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• 

  Published on

  2017-01-20 3:46 a.m.

  Authors

  koskila

  Tags

  Culture

  USA, 1: Initial Thoughts

  I'm staying in the United States of America for the first 6 months of 2017 for both work and leisure. In case you'd need to contact me during that time, that's doable by normal means (Twitter/email). Just the timeframe's a tad different due to my location being 8 hours from Finland (-6 UTC time zone). This blog post kind of sets the initial mood and expectations for the trip. Excuse me - who's doing what? So - we are going to the United States. But why? Well, that's a valid question.

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• 

  Published on

  2016-12-30 6:46 p.m.

  Authors

  koskila

  Tags

  EIGSite5SupportOpinionWebHosting

  EIG/Site5 review - Part 1, experience with Site5 before and after EIG takeover

  This article is part 1 in my " One web developer's story about the downfall of web hosting " series; a frustrating firsthand experience with a formerly-great web hosting provider taken over by EIG (Endurance International Group). You can find the second post here: EIG / Site5 review - Part 2, the Aftermath Okay, so this is going to be a bloggish rant about EIG - Endurance International - a web "hosting" company that's ruining the web for everyone.

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• 

  Published on

  2016-12-02 8:22 p.m.

  Authors

  koskila

  Tags

  ConfigurationPowerShellDevEnvironmentSharePointOnline

  Remove-SPODeletedSite - Actually removing a SharePoint Online Site Collection

  This post describes the actual, working, and the fast process of removing a site collection in SharePoint Online using the Remove-SPODeletedSite commandlet in SharePoint Online Management Shell (a flavor of PowerShell). Description Sometimes you need to get rid of a site collection you've created in SharePoint Online. The most typical example perhaps is removing the team site created for a group of people working together. That's pretty simple and there are a few ways of doing that.

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• 

  Published on

  2016-11-16 10:04 p.m.

  Authors

  koskila

  Tags

  CSharpDebuggingVisualStudio2010VisualStudio2013VisualStudio2015

  Launching a new debugger instance from code in Visual Studio

  This post describes a quick solution to launching a new Visual Studio instance for debugging the code. There are a lot of applications for this, but where I've found it exceptionally useful, has been in debugging the Entity Framework's code-first migration (one of the ways for database initialization) Seed-method . It is by default undebuggable, as when you are running Update-Database you can't really use a -debug switch or anything, and there's really no way to launch the debugger.

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• 

  Published on

  2016-11-12 11:40 a.m.

  Authors

  koskila

  Tags

  CSharpEFEF6IISSQLAspNet

  Fixing the "No Entity Framework provider found for the ADO.NET provider with invariant name 'System.Data.SqlClient'" error

  This post describes the fix to THE " No Entity Framework provider found for the ADO.NET provider with invariant name 'System.Data.SqlClient' " error, which Visual Studio throws at your face when you try to run an application on any Windows-based system (or which you've dug out of event logs). Also, your application is probably built on .NET Framework and Entity Framework. Let's get into it!

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• 

  Published on

  2016-10-13 10:50 a.m.

  Authors

  koskila

  Tags

  CSharpThreadingWindowsWPFDesktopApp

  Using Dispatcher to update values in GUI elements from a background thread

  If you're developing something like a WPF app and you need to update values on the User Interface based on a long-running operation that runs in a background thread (like depicted in my other blog post right here - that post is for a full-trust SharePoint solution, but the basic principle is the same!). yOU probably need to use Dispatcher, or otherwise, you'll run into issues with the GUI elements being owned by another thread, and therefore forbidding access to them.

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• 

  Published on

  2016-10-04 9:53 a.m.

  Authors

  koskila

  Tags

  SharePointDevEnvironmentM365SharePoint2013SharePointOnlineSharePointUserProfileService

  Disabling Delve/MySite redirection from SharePoint Site Collections

  In this post, I outline a simple way to stop SharePoint (either on-premises installation or SharePoint Online) from redirecting to Delve or MySites (respectively). The normal behavior is, that this happens when users click any name of a user anywhere in SharePoint. This is often not desired, and sometimes just confusing or impractical. Problem If your customers are like mine, a lot of them hate Delve or MySite, or both. Or maybe they just aren't willing to yet adopt Delve.

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• Published on

  2016-09-16 8:05 a.m.

  Authors

  koskila

  Tags

  AzureEFEF6SQLCodeFirstDevEnvironmentVisualStudio

  Applying Entity Framework's Code-First Migrations against a Database in Azure by running Update-Database

  This post describes how to run Entity Framework's code-first migrations against a database located in Windows Azure. This is done by running the Update-Database commandlet with suitable switches, see below. The problem and symptoms Okay, so you're developing your MVC+EF cool web app with a database in Azure, and you're using code-first migrations. Cool!

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• 

  Published on

  2016-09-12 3:34 p.m.

  Authors

  koskila

  Tags

  O365SharePoint2013SharePointAddInSharePointAppPartSharePointLegacySharePointOnline

  Updating files in an App Part (SharePoint Add-in)

  Luckily, SharePoint Add-ins (or App Parts, like they were called earlier) are slowly getting killed and rooted out of all the sites they once were deployed to - and I don't think anyone's going to miss them. However, as so often happens with legacy implementations, there will still be thousands of sites, where SharePoint administrators and developers will be responsible for maintaining and developing the solutions further.

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• 

  Published on

  2016-09-02 10:41 a.m.

  Authors

  koskila

  Tags

  PowerShellSharePointOnline

  Fixing "Connect-SPOService : Identity Client Runtime Library (IDCRL) could not look up the realm information for a federated sign-in." -error

  This post describes my super-simple fix to a weird error about "Identity Client Runtime Library (IDCRL)" failing with federated sign-in when running PowerShell scripts against SharePoint Online. One typical form of the error might be something along the lines of " Identity Client Runtime Library (IDCRL) could not look up the realm information for a federated sign-in. " coming up.

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• 

  Published on

  2016-08-25 9:53 a.m.

  Authors

  koskila

  Tags

  CSharpEF6IISVisualStudio2017VisualStudio2019DevEnvironmentVisualStudioVisualStudio2015

  Exception of type 'System.OutOfMemoryException' was thrown.

  This post describes one of the more no-brainerish ways of fixing a 'System.OutOfMemoryException' exception being thrown in your ASP.Net MVC application using C# and Entity Framework. Problem While developing a web project, for example, an ASP.NET MVC web application that is using EF, sometimes when handling a lot of data or complex entities on your dev machine, you encounter this error: OutOfMemoryException: Exception of type 'System.OutOfMemoryException' was thrown.] System.Text.StringBuilder.

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• 

  Published on

  2016-08-02 10:15 a.m.

  Authors

  koskila

  Tags

  TypeScriptReactJSVisualStudio2015

  Fixed: Cannot use JSX unless the '--jsx' flag is provided

  This blog post is about fixing issues related to building a project with TypeScript files. Basically, if your jsx or tsx -files are not getting built to js-files (which is what the browser understands) in Visual Studio's build, this post might solve the issue for you. Description Whilst converting a project using React.js to TypeScript (and, hence, to use .ts and .tsx files instead of .js and .

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• 

  Published on

  2016-07-25 11:50 a.m.

  Authors

  koskila

  Tags

  VisualStudioVisualStudio2010VisualStudio2013VisualStudio2015

  Tip: Scroll Solution Explorer to current file in Visual Studio 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2017

  This quick post describes how to get the Solution Explorer to actually track your currently open file. For some reason, this extremely useful feature is disabled by default in Visual Studio. Enabling it helps you to better conserve your context, and see which part of your solution you're in, while you're developing a complex piece of software. Give it a try, in case you haven't already! It's great and extremely useful! :)

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• 

  Published on

  2016-06-07 6:35 a.m.

  Authors

  koskila

  Tags

  ConfigurationCSharpEFSQLAspNetDevEnvironment

  Solving the "Spatial types and functions are not available ..." -problem

  This page describes multiple ways to fix the ' Spatial types and functions are not available for this provider because the assembly ‘Microsoft.SqlServer.Types’ version 10 or higher could not be found. ' exception which comes up during debugging or publishing your program, app or service using DbGeography. Symptoms While running a console program or perhaps installing an ASP.

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• 

  Published on

  2016-05-29 12:52 p.m.

  Authors

  koskila

  Tags

  CSharpEFEF6SQLCodeFirst

  Fixing the error: "Column XX in table dbo.YY is of a type that is invalid for use as a key column in an index."

  While using Entity Framework and code-first migrations, Entity Framework (EF) creates the indexes for you - but what if you need to create a custom one, explicitly based on a certain field/column? Then you'll have to tell EF which one to use as a key column.

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• 

  Published on

  2016-04-05 12:44 p.m.

  Authors

  koskila

  Tags

  DisplayTemplatePowerShellM365SharePointOnlineSharePointSearchSharePointUserProfileService

  RefinableString -managed property in SharePoint Online not populating for all items

  This post describes a peculiar problem that a customer had. In their intranet, all of their employees had a managed metadata -typed managed property in SharePoint User Profile Service and a mapping from that property to RefinableString31. RefinableString31, in turn, was used on Search DisplayTemplates to show the textual value of the managed metadata field. Symptoms The mapping and displaying of the values worked beautifully - except for one user.

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• 

  Published on

  2016-03-17 12:43 p.m.

  Authors

  koskila

  Tags

  ManagedMetadataM365SharePoint2013SharePointOnline

  Tweaking the SharePoint list view search box to filter on managed metadata fields

  This post contains a really small, but nifty tweak to the search box in SharePoint list views. Applies to 2013, and Office 365 (for now). Pretty basic stuff, but had to figure this out for a customer so can just as well document it here :) Okay - so a customer needed to be able to filter view items in a SharePoint list by values in a keyword field (managed metadata, with values added by editor users), and wanted to use SharePoint's search box.

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• 

  Published on

  2016-02-14 9:02 a.m.

  Authors

  koskila

  Tags

  CSharpDisplayTemplateMVCMVC5AspNet

  Duplicate object values in ASP.NET MVC Display Templates? Easy fix!

  Are you getting duplicate object values (or whatever those Objects output in .ToString())? Eh, so was I, after I edited the display template for String. Found a fix, though. Description Okay - I just ran into one of my more stupid mistakes since.. Well, since forever. I had made some quick and simple edits in String.cshtml display template (among quite a few other edits before building again and seeing what happened), as I added support for Enum values there.

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• 

  Published on

  2016-02-07 9:36 a.m.

  Authors

  koskila

  Tags

  AzureCSharpEFEF6MVCMVC5AspNetCodeFirst

  Fixing "An error occurred while updating the entries" while running code-first migrations in MVC 5 app

  This post describes an issue with EF's code-first migrations, when mapping between DB's DateTime (datetime2) and C#'s DateTime simply fails, and results in the Update-Database cmdlet failing, too. It is more or less a prime example of a situation, where the error itself tells very little about the actual issue, and since debugging code-first migrations is kind of difficult ( see the best tips for that here! ), it's cumbersome to investigate.

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• 

  Published on

  2016-01-29 9:52 p.m.

  Authors

  koskila

  Tags

  AzureNetworkSQLVisualStudio

  Fixing error "Cannot open server - - requested by the login. Client with IP address - - is not allowed to access the server." in Azure deployments from Visual Studio

  This article explains how to work your way around the exception 'Cannot open server - requested by login...' The issue is caused by Azure's firewall logic, which might sometimes appear a little bit overzealous for simple development workloads, and might stop you from accessing your databases from your development machine. But just as everything else in Azure, the firewall exists for a reason, and working with it just requires a couple of extra clicks, is all.

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• 

  Published on

  2016-01-21 1:37 p.m.

  Authors

  koskila

  Tags

  PowerShellSharePoint2016SharePoint2019ULSDevEnvironmentOnPremisesSharePoint2010SharePoint2013

  Using PowerShell to set ULS logging level to "extra verbose" to catch all the events in the logs

  This blog post describes how to set SharePoint's ULS level to "Extra Verbose" (VerboseEx) using PowerShell. This is not possible using the browser UI, so some POSH magic is required! Luckily, it's quite straightforward, but to avoid filling your hard drive(s) with huge log files, you should reset the level when you're done debugging! Description of the solution By default, ULS logging is somewhat non-detailed. This means that a lot of data that could be used to debug issues is omitted.

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• 

  Published on

  2016-01-05 12:02 p.m.

  Authors

  koskila

  Tags

  PowerShellSharePoint2016SPWebDevEnvironmentSharePoint2010SharePoint2013

  Using PowerShell to modify anonymous access permissions on SharePoint On-Premises

  This post is about managing Anonymous Access on a SharePoint site (SPWeb) using PowerShell commandlets. It's often a lot more feasible and even easier than using the browser interface! In some cases, it's borderline impossible to avoid it anyway - since accessing the GUI switch might not be possible. Description Assume you have a site collection that you have published to the whole world.

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• 

  Published on

  2015-11-17 9:12 a.m.

  Authors

  koskila

  Tags

  DeploymentWSPDevEnvironmentFullTrustOnPremisesSharePoint2010SharePoint2013

  Powershell Error: Cannot uninstall the LanguagePack 0 because it is not deployed.

  Have you ever run into this, very non-descriptive and weird SharePoint error message "Cannot uninstall the LanguagePack 0 because it is not deployed"? You could encounter it while running some PowerShell scripts - most typically when trying to update a wsp solution. I have, and luckily often easily solved! Symptoms Assume you're trying to install, update or uninstall a SharePoint solution (.

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• 

  Published on

  2015-10-20 1:23 p.m.

  Authors

  koskila

  Tags

  DeploymentIISSharePoint2016AspNetDevEnvironmentFullTrustSharePoint2010SharePoint2013

  "Server Error in '/' Application" or "Parser Error" - it's actually a malformed web.config killing your ASP.NET-application or SharePoint

  This post describes how to resolve a kind of cryptic and oddly misdescriptive error message about Parser Error on your ASP.NET application or (an On-Premises) SharePoint site. I ran into this after deploying wsp-packages to a SharePoint farm, but you can apparently get this on ASP.NET MVC sites, too. The error doesn't actually tell you what's wrong, so figuring it out took a while. Though hopefully, it helps you!

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