SharePoint 2010: File locked for editing by xxx

In SharePoint 2010 it is very frequent to see users complaining of encountering this particular error when they try to edit a file in Office 2010 client.

It is because the SharePoint server will attempt to check every 10 minutes whether the user performing the edit still has the file handle open for editing.

According to the KB - waiting 10 minutes usually resolves the problem - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/899709

Sometimes, even though the user has checked in.closed the file after making his changes, other users still could not access the file for editing.

Sun Yat Sen Memorial, Taipei

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

Sun Yat-Sen memorial park is another famous attraction in Taipei.
Most tourists like to go there to witness the hourly changing of guards.

It is very conveniently located within the Chung-Shan vicinity and reachable by MRT.
If you have time to space, you could enter the memorial hall and view some of the artifacts on display, as well as visit the library.

Convert PowerPoint slides to Images in C#

One of the challenges I have come across is to have a component that could batch convert PPT and PPTX files into images.

I know there are really good components out there like Aspose, but IT budget is always a constraint.
As we already had Office 2010 installed on our machine, I came up with a quick console application t perform the function.

Obviously, you need Office 2010 installed on the machine where you need to run the tool. I compiled the project for the .NET 2.0 Framework.

Just add some references to your Visual Studio 2010 solution like below:
Microsoft.Office.Interop.PowerPoint (from .NET, v14.0.0.0)
Microsoft.Office.Core (from COM, v14.0.0.0)
Others like System.Configuration (as I am using app.config)

After creating a basic C# Console application, add the references mentioned above.

Developing SharePoint Visual Webparts: How to check if jQuery exist or is already loaded

When you try to create a SharePoint visual webpart that makes use of jQuery, it is generally known that any conflict will cause the javascript rendering to fail, e.g. any document.ready() function.

It is common when you have a lot of customized components that were activated as a feature.

You can easily check whether you have loaded conflicting versions of jQuery from viewing the source on the web page. But how do you control whether or not to load the jQuery if it already exists?

Solution:
Check whether the jQuery object can be created, before loading the .js file using javascript.
if (typeof jQuery == 'undefined') {
            var jq = document.createElement('script'); jq.type = 'text/javascript';
            // Path to jquery.js file
            jq.src = '/_layouts/Test/jquery.min.js';
            document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(jq);
        }

躼腳日本料理

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

A part of me was really reluctant to release this post - this had to be one of the best kept secrets in Taipei! And I hope that it remains that way so that it won't be overwhelmed by hordes of tourists, ha ha.

Located in the Zhongshan district, the restaurant facade was unassuming enough that passers-by would not give it an extra glance. And yet, the telltale signs of a popular eatery gave it away - before 11:30AM, a long queue was forming up at the entrance.

National Palace Museum,Taipei

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

Finally, I have more spare time to continue my notes on my trip to Taiwan.
One of the highlights of my Taiwan trip was (gasp) a visit to the National Palace Museum!

It was said that the best of China artifacts were actually secreted away during the Chinese Civil war - it hosts one of the largest collections of Chinese antiques in the world. Must be the reason why I see a lot of tourists from China.

SharePoint powershell to cancel workflows

I got stuck into a situation where the workflows in SharePoint were stuck during the "In Progress" stage, and there was no way to cancel the workflow from the UI.

After googling around, I found a simple powershell solution and adapted it slightly to suit my needs.

The concept is very simple - Load the site, load the library, and either traverse all items, or retrieve a single item based on the ID. For that item, loop through the workflows and cancel it!

Alter schema owner for SQL Server 2008R2 in batches

Recently I encountered a situation where after installing some enterprise software, the schema owners of all tables became something other than dbo. After googling around, here is a quick solution to batch update the owner:

First execute this query in Query Analyzer:

SELECT 'ALTER SCHEMA dbo TRANSFER ' + TABLE_SCHEMA + '.' + TABLE_NAME 
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES WHERE TABLE_SCHEMA = 'toreplace'

Copy the results and run the statements.

Get the DLLs from the Global Assembly Cache (GAC)

You might have some software installed on your server, and registers the assemblies to the Global Assembly Cache. Typically, installers would register the assemblies but remove any accessible copy from the local disk as everything is packaged inside the msi or setup file.

There is a really simple way to extract the dlls from GAC, though.
Launch MS DOS, and change directory to c:windows\assembly\gac_msil (you won't be able to open this in windows explorer)!
run the xcopy command. Example:

Note: there are alternative ways such as modifying the registry, or temporarily uninstalling certain dlls to allow browsing from windows explorer, but I would seriously advise against that.

SharePoint 2010 Filter View by Quarter (Date)

This is an example of how you could create a view, with the help of calculated columns, to filter items in a SharePoint list by the quarter.

First, create 2 calculated columns of type Date and Time that will be the quarter start and quarter end of your preferred date.
e.g.
the date today: 5/7/2014 (Q2)
quarter start will be (1/4/2014) while quarter end will be 30/6/2014

Bopiliao Old Street 剝皮寮歷史街區, Taiwan

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

Bopiliao Old Street is a place rich in heritage and culture. It was made famous after the movie Monga was filmed here. It has been in existence since the Qing period, and has stood the test of time throughout the Japanese occupation and the development of Mengjia.

Nowadays it is well known as the one of the cultural highlights of traditional Taiwan, and here you could find Chinese herb shops, antique shops, prayer paraphernalia and established eateries.
It is also close to the famous Longshan temple.

Ximending - Ya Rou Bian 鴨肉扁, Taiwan

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

It was late evening by the time we ended our one-day excursion, so Andy our tour guide very kindly dropped us off at Ximending where we could grab a bite.

Ximending needs no introduction - it's an extremely popular spot where the young and trendy hang out. And for good reason too - here you find established eateries, popular fashion, hip cafes, specialty shops,  traditional snacks all nestled side by side.
There's always something for everyone.

SharePoint InfoPath 2010: C# populate rows in a repeating table

I had an InfoPath form where I needed to have 2 views. In the 2nd view, some information in the repeating table would be automatically populated based on the information entered in the first view.

Initially I wanted to use a rule-only approach but it ended up being too cumbersome; I had to resort to code :(

I will use a time card with date range as an example here. The repeating table will have one row for each day within the date range I have selected.

AgilePoint: Clean up participant list

In a AgilePoint workflow template, you might have created some activities and assigned some participants to them, just to decide that you don't need them at a later stage.

To keep the template clean, always use the Custom Process Properties to manage and delete them.

You can find the Custom Process Properties under the Miscellaneous section of the AgilePoint tab in your Visio.

Highlight the line you do not need and click the Remove button.

And you're done.

Danshui Fisherman's Wharf 淡水漁人碼頭 and Lover's Bridge, Taiwan

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

Fisherman's Wharf is a leisure fishing port and a famous attraction in Danshui. It is said to have one of the best sunset views.

There are numerous hotels, restaurants and shops that could be found here.

Danshui old street 淡水老街, Taiwan

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

After a late lunch at Fuji harbor, we continued our journey to Danshui.

There are a few things you can do in Danshui:

1) Try the fish balls

2) Buy Iron eggs and Fish crackers

3) View the sunset at Fisherman's Wharf

4) Try the famous Ah-Ge snack (glass noodles wrapped in tofu skin)

5) Take the ferry ride to Fisherman's Wharf to soak in the beautiful views.

Danshui river is really huge. If I didn't know better I would have thought it is a seaside harbor.

There are a lot of things to see and eat in Danshui!

Fuji Harbor Tourism Fish Market 富基漁港觀光魚市, Taiwan

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

Fuji Harbor is famous for the tourist fish market where tourists could purchase fresh, live seafood and have it brought to a restaurant for cooking.

The fish market.

Yeliu 野柳, Taiwan

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

We have heard and seen so much about Yeliu Geological Park that it feels like a holiday would not be complete without at least a visit to this place.

The heavens decided to smile upon us, with sunny weather today.
(What we didn't anticipate was busloads upon busloads of tourists. It was pretty scary. )

There's an entrance fee of NT $80.

石門洞 Shimendong, Taiwan

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

On the way from Yangmingshan to Yeliu, we passed by the scenic Northern Coast. There is a small attraction called Shimendong 石門洞 located there.

There was a large crowd today probably due to Qing Ming holidays, so we didn't feel the urge to linger.

AgilePoint: Suspect Infinite Loop in process

In AgilePoint we had a couple of processes that need to repeatedly check a certain condition and only continue once true.

Once our workflow was running in production environment, I noticed this error came about quite frequently.

Suspect infinite loop in process xxxx: 

Dear AgilePoint System Administrator, Process instance 'xxxxxx' has been suspended because maximum session was exceeded on Activity 'Wait for 1 hours'. Process Template = 'yyyyyyyy', Version = '1.31' You may check if it is infinite loop.

Xiaoyoukeng 小油坑, Yangmingshan National Park, Taiwan

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

Xiaoyoukeng is a famous attraction in Yangmingshan - it's a post-volcanic geological landscape area.

Meaning you get to see sulphorous gas and steam coming out from vents on the ground as well as the unique landscape.

Yangmingshan National Park 陽明山國家公園, Bamboo Lake (Zhu-zi Hu 竹子湖), Taiwan

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

March - April is the season of the calla lilies. This seems to be a big deal in Taiwan.
Although we did not manage to view sakura flowers in full bloom (as the cold weather forced spring flowers to bloom early this year), we were lucky to arrive in time to view calla lilies.

We started the 2nd day of our guided tour with a visit to Yangmingshan. Since there are no more sakura flowers to view, we headed straight for Zhuzi Lake, where all the lilies are!

Releasing Sky Lanterns at 十分 Shifen, Taiwan

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

For our last stop of the day, we hopped over to Shifen Old Street to release sky lanterns.
As it was getting dark, we didn't manage to visit the famous Shifen waterfalls.

Shifen is about 30 minutes way from Jiufen by car. You could also get there by hopping on the Pingxi train line (get down at Shifen station)

It's a small town spanning across a railway track,  with shophouses on both sides of the track. One could walk along the track. Yes, there are real trains every hour!

Jiufen 九份, Taiwan

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

Jiufen is a cluster of houses and shops perched on tn the hillsides of Jinguashi. It is well known for the maze of shophouses along flights of steps that lead from the top of the hill to the bottom. You could buy souvenirs here, taste the famous Taro balls, have Chinese tea in one of the teahouses, and take in the beautiful scenery while doing it all.

黃金博物館 Gold Ecological Museum, Jinguashi, Taiwan

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

ANY trip to Jinguashi would not be complete without paying a visit to the Gold Ecological Museum.
Since it is located very closely to Jiufen, we made a quick detour.

The Gold Ecological Museum is divided into several sections. There's the Crown Prince Chalet (Tai Zi Bin Guan), gallery area, the gold museum itself, and the mining tunnel, just to mention a few.

We were greeted by Japanese-style architecture as soon as we passed the entrance. Those are actually the 4 joined Japanese residences. The furniture and utensils were preserved and restored for visitors to view.

Keelung Miao Kou 基隆廟口, Taiwan

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

There is a well known street in Keelung that has lots of hawker food. Some might know it better as the Keelung Night Market, but in fact, the place is open all day.

After a morning well spent exploring scenic views of the northeast coast, we stopped at Keelung Miao Kou for lunch.

It's very popular among tourists and locals alight because of the variety of delicious food available. The place itself isn't big; it's a short street in front of the Mei Ji temple.

Wang You Gu 望幽谷 and Golden Waterfalls 黃金瀑布, Jinguashi, Taiwan

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

Wang You Gu 望幽谷 is a little known spot popular among hikers and bird watchers in Taiwan. It's located near to Keelung.

It's a beautiful and isolated place with a panoramic view of the Northern coast. There are no hints of civilization, apart from the occasional hiker. To get there, you need to drive.

Walk down a short flight of stairs and you will be rewarded with breathtaking scenery.

南雅奇岩 Nanya Rock Formations and 陰陽海 Yin Yang Sea, Jinguashi Taiwan

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

For Days 6 and 7 of our Taiwan trip, we would be engaging a driver to bring us around as the places we wished to visit had quite a distance in between.

Our friendly tour guide/driver Andy was a knowledgeable and chatty guy! We really enjoyed our experience with him showing us around.

Our first stop was at Nanya. It's a quick stop along the scenic northeast coastal road. There are several unique rock formations there, the most famous one being the ice cream cone shaped rock.

Under the bright sun, it is supposed to show off brilliant colors.

Shihlin Night Market, Taipei

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

After spending the afternoon at Taipei 101, it's time for dinner again.

Shihlin Night Market, being very near to Taipei 101, naturally became our preferred destination! It's super convenient to go there, just take the red line from Taipei 101 MRT to Jiantan station.

Note: Alighting at Shihlin Station would bring you to the other end, so I recommend getting outat Jiantan instead. Just follow the crowd after exiting the MRT!

Taipei 101

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

From Dazzling Cafe - Pink, we resumed our leisurely exploration of the Zhongxiao area.

We made a brief stop at Wei Feng to buy some dried meat. After that we headed to Ice Monster for some shaved mango ice.

At Ice Monster, there was a minimum consumption fee for dine-in, so we opted for takeaway.
At TWD 250, the serving was huge! We didn't quite manage to finish it between the 2 of us.

Dazzling Cafe - Pink, Zhongxiao Taipei

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

Dazzling Cafe is an ultra popular hangout spot known for it's long queues and honey toast.

Thanks to my aunt who helped to make a reservation 2 weeks in advance (YES 2 weeks) we secured a spot in the Pink cafe in Zhongxiao district!

It is really the perfect spot for having afternoon tea.

Shopping at ZhongXiao Fuxing 忠孝復興站

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

After enjoying a wholesome breakfast, it's time to do some shopping!

We opted to go to the trendy Zhongxiao district. Besides 2 SOGO stores on opposing sides of the street, there are plenty of boutiques to explore.

Oops.. just a couple of photos here. I was too busy shopping. Excuse meeeeeeee.

Fu Hang Soya Milk 阜杭豆漿, Taipei

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

Our first morning in Taipei,  we had planned to have breakfast at the famous Fu Hang Dou Jiang.

Staying above Taipei Bus Station is really convenient, we just had to take the lift down, go down the connecting escalators to the MRT station, and head for the Blue Line to Shandao Temple station.
 It cost TWD 20 each.

The soya bean store is located inside Huashan market. We took Exit 5 route and found the market on the right as soon as we came out from the exit.

A queue has already formed and spilled over to the market entrance. 阜杭豆漿 is actually located on the upper floor of the Huashan market. No choice but to queue since we came all the way here already.

Dinner at Yong Kang Street, Taipei

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

Yong Kang Street is a well-known place in Taipei with many established dining outlets.
There is a mix of traditional Taiwanese food, trendy cafes, popular dessert stores and boutiques.

Some of the more well known stores are Ding Tai Fung, Du Xiao Yue and Yong Kang Beef Noodles.

After we arrived at Taipei, we proceeded to check into our minsu where we would be staying for 6 nights.

Yong Kang Street is very easy to reach. You could take the MRT to Dongmen station and it's a short walk away. Here's a great article describing some of the famous eateries.

We made a beeline for Yong Kang Beef Noodles 永康牛肉麵. It's a very famous place for beef noodles listed on almost all Taiwan guides. We were lucky not to get caught up in a long queue as it was a weekday.

Puli Brewery 埔里酒廠, Nantou

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

From CingJing, we opted to pre-book the E-go bus to Taipei.

For this trip we did not choose to go to Hualien after taking the travel time into consideration. (Hualien is actually worth a day in itself to visit, as it is home to the famous and gorgeous Taroko Gorge.)

For TWD 780, a comfortable bus ride is provided from Cingjing to Taipei. The journey takes approximately 5 hours and stops at Puli Brewery.

Taiwan produces beer and wine. Puli is famed for beer and rice wine production due to the great quality of spring water and crops.

Green Green Grasslands 青青草原, Cingjing 清境農場

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

On the day we planned to visit Green Green Grasslands, we woke up to the bright morning sun. Thank God for clear weather!!!

Side note: I cannot stress enough the importance of checking the weather on your travel plans. It is pointless, really pointless to plan for all those wonderful places to visit (ESPECIALLY outdoor) if it's raining, or worse, typhoon season. So, do your research!

Since there's a free shuttle service from Misty Villa to Green Green Grasslands, we went down to the reception and informed the owner about our plans.

We settled down to a wholesome Taiwanese-style breakfast, a la buffet. By the way. the white cabbage in Cingjing is to die for. I have never tasted such sweetness and crunchiness before. I just love Taiwanese vegetables and fruits!

Our shuttle arrived punctually at 9:30. After a short drive uphill, we reached our destination.

Small Swiss Garden 小瑞士花園, Cingjing 清境

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

Having reached Cingjing early, after refreshing ourselves, we set out to explore the surrounding areas near our minsu.

We started off by having a light lunch at MOS Burger, Starbucks Plaza. It was drizzling slightly and so we headed indoors to somewhere warm first.

Lip smacking burgers. Definitely going to miss them!

Misty Villa 雲濛仙境民宿, Cingjing 清境

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

After checking out from our hotel in Sun Moon Lake, we hopped on E-go bus which would take us to Cingjing. We would be spending the night there in Misty Villa  for another relaxing experience.

Misty Villa is another minsu we found using TripAdvisor. It's a great place to stay in Cingjing due to the convenient location and all inclusive packages available.

Sun Moon Lake 日月潭 Boat Ride

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

There are several ways to explore Sun Moon Lake.
You could hop on the official tourism bus which circles the island, or rent a bicycle to explore the scenic surroundings. Or you could opt for boat rides.

If you're pressed for time, the boat ride is a good idea. Boats will reach the different piers in intervals of 20-30 minutes. I can't think of a suitable comparison, it's similar to island hopping. In this case, lake hopping.

Laurel Villa 桂月村民宿, Sun Moon Lake 日月潭

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

Laurel Villa 桂月村民宿 is a minsu that came highly recommended by TripAdvisor users. Without hesitation, we knew that this would be the best choice. And we were right!

Firstly, it's located in an extremely convenient spot. It's just right opposite the Shueishe Pier. Imagine staying so close at a fraction of the price. Of course, we did not have lake views but who needs it when you can walk right across the street to see it?

There are also scores of shops and restaurants along the same stretch.

A leisurely stroll at Shueishe Pier 水社碼頭, Sun Moon Lake 日月潭

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

After checking out from our hotel at Taichung, we proceeded to Gancheng bus station, where we purchased bus tickets to our next destination - Sun Moon Lake 日月潭

Tip: One of the easiest ways to reach Sun Moon Lake would be to take a bus. It is cost efficient, convenient and punctual. You can refer to this link for the schedules: http://www.ntbus.com.tw/032.htm 

E-go bus is also available. The journey will take around 70 minutes. You can either go to Gan Cheng bus station, or the HSR station to get a bus.

After we checked into our minsu, we set out for a stroll along the surrounding paths. Our minsu is very, very conveniently located on the streets near Shueishe pier itself.

The air was fresh and crisp after an afternoon shower - ideal for a walk or bicycle ride.

Yong He Dou Jiang 永和豆浆 , Taichung

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

Yong He Dou Jiang 永和豆浆 appears to be a very common breakfast chain across Taiwan, there are outlets in every major city.

There is one outlet located just across the road from Miyahara, Taichung.

Miyahara 宮原眼科, Taichung 臺中

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

On our second day, we had some spare time in Taichung before heading to Sun Moon Lake.

So we hailed a cab towards the middle of Taichung - to make a quick visit to Miyahara 宮原眼科.

Yong He Dou Jiang 永和豆浆It's a multi storey building that sells Taiwanese delicacies like pastries, sun biscuits and cookies.

Fengjia Night Market 逢甲夜市, Taichung 臺中

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

Fengjia Night Market is reported to be the biggest night market in Taiwan. Well I'm not sure whether this is bigger, or Shihlin, but it IS huge.

Located in close proximity to Fengjia University, the night market springs to life after 5pm. And on weekends, it closes at 2AM 2. Freaking. A.M. Now if  only we had that kind of night market back home...

Now without further ado allow me to show some of the delicacies on offer!

Fried onion rings.

Dinner at Lao Dong Beef Noodle 老董牛肉麵

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

After checking into our minsu, being typical Malaysians, we rushed out to experience the wonderful Fengjia Night Market as soon as possible!

The close proximity to Fengjia University could be one of the reasons this night market is so popular. Apart from hordes of tourists, the young and hip could be seen everywhere.

As we strolled slowly down Xi An Street, a shop caught our eyes - what is it?

Hmm.. it's Lao Dong Beef Noodle shop. Looks like a good place to have dinner so in we went.

Fengjia Music House 逢甲音樂屋 @ Taichung 臺中

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

Fengjia Music House 逢甲音樂屋

We got to know of this minsu after traversing forums and the Internet. It is a small minsu located off one of the alleys near Lie Mei Street (烈美街).
The place was not easy to find, so make sure you go prepared with the address!

Although the place was very small, the convenience and close proximity to the night market more than made up for it. We would be staying for one night before moving on to our next destination.

Arriving at Taoyuan Airport

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

Due to the poor weather conditions at Hong Kong International Airport, flights were slightly delayed.  To cut a long story short, we finally arrived at Taoyuan International Airport 2 hours later than expected.

Suggestion:
If time is absolutely of importance to you,  pick a route that won't stop at HKIA. I would definitely do that next time.

Taiwan 10D9N Trip Summary 2014

This is going to be a lengthy blog on my recent fun travel to Taiwan. I will try to split the post into several smaller ones.

We managed to book flight tickets to Taiwan at a fairly reasonable price from Cathay Pacific airlines a few months ago - so off we go!

Here's a quick summary of the places I managed to visit.

Golden Gate Steamboat, Gurney Drive

The hot weather did not dampen our enthusiasm for some lip-smacking fish head steamboat at Golden Gate Steamboat Restaurant.

One of the established steamboat restaurants, it is highly popular among locals and expats living in the same area.

Traditional steamboat is also available.

From CingJing (清境) to Taipei (台北) (and vice versa)

There are only 2 options, really.

1. Private cab / taxi
I have no idea how it's going to cost. But it's probably pretty expensive.

2. CingJing bus (E-Go)
Duration: 4 hours, once a day
Cost:
One-way: NT780 (weekday) NT880 (Holiday)
Roundtrip: NT1260 (2 weekdays) NT1360 (1 weekday + 1 holiday) NT1480 (2 holdays)

Refer to their website for more details.
http://www.cingjingbus.tw/ratesaschedule.html

Not going to Taipei? You might find this useful.
CingJing - Sun Moon Lake

From Sun Moon Lake (日月潭) to CingJing (清境)

There are several ways to travel from Sun Moon Lake to CingJing, Taiwan.

Although both are located in the Nantou vicinity, the distance between those 2 places are quite far apart.

1. Taxi / Cab

The most convenient option would, of course, be by taxi or cab.

Downside is that this option would be expensive unless if you have a group of people traveling together to share the expenses.

Taxis can be found near the Shuishe Pier of Sun Moon Lake. Alternatively, if you spent a night in one of the minshus around this area, you could ask the owner or minshu operator to call a cab.

AgilePoint Infopath integration: XML content as parameter

If you ever need to pass the entire XML document/body of an InfoPath as a parameter in AgilePoint, use this:
$//
Just like any other attributes that you reference ($AttrName)

For example, when you are making use of a web service that accepts an XML document as a parameter.

When you are using managed C# code, you can do this instead:

SQL Server: Create failed for User xxx. The login already has an account under a different user name. 15063

When you try to map an existing user to a database using SQL Server Management Studio - Security - Users - New User
You might see this error:
Create failed for User... The login already has an account under a different user name. 15063

SQL Server: Check the db owner using T-SQL

This query might come in handy sometimes.

To list all database owners:
select suser_sname(owner_sid), name from sys.databases

To list owners for a particular database
select suser_sname(owner_sid) from sys.databases where name='database_name'

AgilePoint (AgilePart) - Managed C# Code: How to get AdminService

In your lifetime of AgilePoint development you will commonly come across situations where you need to access system data such as process template information, delegations that are active and so on.
2 common services provided OOTB are the Workflow services object and AdminService services object.

You have probably come across code samples that shows you how to get the admin service in a standalone environment.
Now I am showing you a much easier method that can be integrated into your process template.

coffee is happiness.

A good cup of coffee is enough to make my day.

Coffee Journey
Island Plaza (near ground floor entrance),
Tanjung Tokong

C# Update InfoPath by passing in the XPath

C# code snippet to update the InfoPath XML file in a SharePoint library.

Sample parameters:
websiteUrl: http://sharepoint
library Name: InfoPath Library
list Id: 1
xpath: /my:myFields/my:Employees/my:Employee[my:ID='123']/my:Location
value: San Jose

What it does:
In the repeating group Employees, locate the employee whose ID is 123, and update the location to San Jose.

SQL Server change schema to dbo for TABLES and STORED PROCEDURES

Oops... so you mistakenly created some tables , etc, without specifying it belongs to dbo. It's fine, here's a very quick way to remedy it!

SELECT 'ALTER SCHEMA dbo TRANSFER ' + TABLE_SCHEMA + '.' + TABLE_NAME
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES WHERE TABLE_SCHEMA = 'oldschema'

SELECT 'ALTER SCHEMA dbo TRANSFER ' + ROUTINE_SCHEMA + '.' + SPECIFIC_NAME 

FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.ROUTINES WHERE ROUTINE_TYPE='PROCEDURE' AND ROUTINE_SCHEMA = 'oldschema'

Copy and paste the results in Query Analyzer and run.

AgilePoint C# API: Updating a custom attribute

There are a couple of ways you could employ to update a custom process attribute in AgilePoint. If you have the premier license, it's available as a stencil under Premier Extension. This is pretty handy when you have simple, straightforward values.

However, when you need to manipulate data or perform complex data calculations prior to the update, you can make use of the Managed C# code stencil instead. It can be found under Advanced Extensions.
With just a simple line, you're on your way:
api.SetCustomAttr(pi.WorkObjectID, "YourAttributeName", "TheValue");

Retrieving?
string x = (string)api.GetCustomAttr(pi.WorkObjectID, "YourAttributeName");      

Must-try foods in Taiwan (well, mostly Taipei)

Some of the most popular food in Taiwan. Most of the information is taken from the CNN article - Best Taiwanese food. The good folks at CNN Travel should have prepared one in Excel format for me to download in the first place...

I wanted something in Excel format that I could print out and refer to. Hope it will be useful to you too!

PowerShell: passing parameters by reference, and assigning values

example:

function ParamTest($ArgA, [ref] $ArgB)

{

    $ArgA = "Hello A!"

    // The following line won't work; it is referencing System.Management.Automation.PSReference

    $ArgB = "Hello B!" 

    // This line is the correct way to assign

   $ArgB.value = "Hello Test!"

    return $ArgA

}

$a = "A.."

$b = "B.."

write-host "a is $a"

write-host "b is $b"

$output = ParamTest -ArgA $a -ArgB ([ref] $b)

write-host "a is now $a"

write-host "b is now $b"

AgilePoint InfoPath 2010 integration: Submit & Close button not showing on web browser forms

Situation: I had a web-browser enabled InfoPath 2010 form hosted in SharePoint that I wanted to apply AgilePoint workflows to. To my endless frustration, the "Submit and Close" button normally associated with InfoPath approvals simply would not appear, no matter how I tried.

According to AgilePoint documentation, I am supposed to perform several steps such as removing code from InfoPath (Form Options - Programming), closing the InfoPath form, opening AgilePoint envision, creating a dummy InfoPath template and that would fix the issue. Obviously this is not working for InfoPath 2010 web-browser enabled forms!