• WMF Exploit

    December 30, 2005 / No Comments »

    There is an extremely nasty new exploit that targets a vulnerability in Windows Fax and Picture viewers (WMF). Usually, I don't pay much attention to the latest on spyware since IE always asks you to confirm download. But this one is really bad. No IE warnings or security toolbar. If you havigate to a rogue website that uses the exploit, it will bypass the IE security settings. By the time resident anti-spyware and virus shields catch it, it is too late and your machine will be infected, as shown here. For the time being, the workaound is to disable the viewers: regsvr32 /u shimgvw.dll Also, do yourself a favor and, if you are not doing this on a regular basis, enable Windows XP System Restore and create a restore point. Microsoft has isued the following advisory about the new threat. Microsoft Security Advisory (912840) Vulnerability in Graphics Rendering Engine Could Allow Remote...

  • Excel to the Rescue

    December 28, 2005 / No Comments »

    Thanks for Marco Russo’s blog, I’ve learned that Microsoft has released an updated version (version 1.5) of the Excel 2002/2003 Add-in for SQL Server Analysis Services. I discussed in details how version 1.0 could be used to generate ad hoc reports from SSAS cubes in my book Applied Microsoft Analysis Services 2005. Although version 1.0 was compatible with SSAS 2005, it was unaware of the new UDM features. For example, it couldn’t differntiate between attribute and multi-level hierarchies. The updated bits target both UDM and SSAS 2000 although not all of the new UDM features (e.g. drillthrough actions) are supported. Easily overlooked, the version 1.5 of the Excel Add-in represents the first Microsoft OLAP browser that targets UDM. It is not perfect, but it is better than nothing. We can only expect the Excel/UDM integration to improve in Excel 12. So, I feel good about Excel analytics. Unfortunately, I don’t share...

  • Into the Multi-dimensional Space

    December 21, 2005 / 1 Comment »

    Lately, I’ve run into a few “multi-dimensional” posts in the public SSRS newsgroup. It seems like more and more people target SSAS 2005 cubes as a reporting source. It looks like I am not the only one who have noticed this trend. Brian Welcker has recently commented about the SSRS-SSAS integration in his Fingerpops blog. Here are some notes based on my experiments with the MDX Query Designer. LimitationsThe promise of the MDX Query Designer (implemented by the SSAS team) is giving the report author a tool to produce easily SSAS-based reports without requiring MDX knowledge. Unfortunately, the MDX Query Designer and SSRS integration has left a substantial ground for improvement. For example, it should allow dropping levels of a parent-child dimension on rows to produce the report similar to this one. I can produce this report in the SSAS cube browser (or another OLAP browser) in seconds. However, the...

  • Web ReportViewer and Multi-value Parameter Bug (or how I spent my weekend)

    December 20, 2005 / 2 Comments »

    This weekend, I was working on the second part of my Report Viewers article for DevX. As usual, it all started with an innocent idea which turned out into a whole-day affair. I wanted to demonstrate how to integrate the VS.NET 2005 web ReportViewer with a server report that takes a multi-value parameter. Of course, to save time to lay out the presentation layer, I decided to use absolute positioning for my web controls. Much to my surprise, the ReportViewer wouldn’t expand the multi-value parameter. It would helplessly repost the page each time I would click on a report parameter. So, I got on an ambitious and arduous quest to find out what I am doing wrong. The most puzzling finding was that the Report Manager (which behind the scenes uses the web Report Viewer) would render the report just fine. This left me utterly perplexed and convinced that I...

  • My book is selling from Amazon and B&N

    December 17, 2005 / No Comments »

    At last, my book "Applied Microsoft Analysis Services 2005" is available for purchase from the retail outlets, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble. This completes the arduous and time-consuming book lifecycle which readers are probably unaware of. Here is how it goes... Once the author hands off the final manuscript to the publisher, the publisher sends the electronic copy to the printer. In the case of my book, it took one month for the printer to produce the book. Next, the printer ships the book to the distributor. Then, the distributor sends the books to the wholesalers (Ingram and Baker & Taylor).  Retailers, such as Amazon and B&N, get the books from the wholesalers. So, from the time the book is received from the distributor, it takes another 30 or so days until the books fill the channels. So, setting the book publication date on Amazon is nothing more than an...

  • RS 2005 RDL Available

    December 9, 2005 / No Comments »

    In his blog, Brian Welcker (Group Program Manager for Reporting Services) announced yesterday the arrival of the much anticipated RDL 2005 specification.

  • RS 2005 Tips and Tricks Code Available

    December 8, 2005 / No Comments »

    The code samples for my web seminar "Reporting Services 2005 Tips and Tricks" can be found here. They include: Using external images (URL and web service) Expression-based connection strings XML extension to render ADO.NET datasets streamed from a web service OLAP report from SSAS CLR stored procedure integration ASP.NET Handler to echo in the incoming URL and SOAP requests to the Report Server WinReporter demo that demonstrates the WinForms ReportViewer in remote and local mode.

  • New Wave of Presentation Delivery – Web Seminars

    December 7, 2005 / No Comments »

    Yesterday, I delivered a web seminar for WindowsITPro (sponsored by Microsoft) about RS 2005. I have to admit that I really enjoy it. I got more than 340 attendees. This broke my previous of record of 300 for my RS presentation at TechEd Europe 2004. The best thing about a web seminar is that you do it from the comfort of your house or office. No travel, hassle, and travel expenses. No cell phones and other annoying sound effects. Enjoy the silence! The questions get logged in an orderly fashion, so you could preview them before you answer (or don’t :-)). You can do polls too. What could be better?   The only negative thing about this particular seminar is that I was restricted to static content only and I couldn’t share my desktop for live demos. This was a limitation of the technology WindowsITPro is using, of course. Microsoft...

  • SQL Server 2005 Documentation Refresh

    December 7, 2005 / No Comments »

    Microsoft has released a refresh of the SQL Server 2005 documentation. On the same page, you will find also a link to a SQL Server 2005 Samples and Sample Databases download.

  • Great Plains Report Pack

    December 5, 2005 / No Comments »

    Microsoft has come up with a new Report Pack for Great Plains which uses SQL Server Reporting Services and comes with a number of report templates.

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