Request.URL.Host

and

Step 1:

Browse to SharePoint Central Administrator by opening your web browser and going to http://yourservernamehere:12808/default.aspx

Step 2:

Under Application Management, select "Manage service applications"...

Step 3:

Click "Secure store service"...

Step 4:

If you haven't done so already, you will need to generate an encryption key and pass phrase.  SP will warn you that you need to do this and walk you through it.  It's really easy.  If you don't get the warning for some reason, and have not yet generated the key, you can do so on this screen by clicking the "Generate new key" button.  Once you have the encryption key setup, proceed to next step…

Step 5:

Once you have the encryption key setup, it's time to setup the Target Application ID, group, and assign users to the group.  Start by clicking "New" in the menu on the Secure Store Service screen…

Step 6:

Clicking "New" will take you to the Target Application Settings screen.  Fill out the form similar to what is in the screen shot below, replacing the values I've used with your own. Be sure to select "Group" for Target Application Type! Click Next.

Step 7:

On the next screen, leave it the way it is and click Next.  It should look like this:

Step 8:

On the next screen, you add users who should have admin privelges to edit the secure store target application.  You add the users to the first box on the screen. 

In the second text box, you add the users who should be mapped to the group execution account.  In this example you can see I added two domain user groups, and they will be mapped to the group login "vgsdemo" (we setup the group login in Step 6).  When finished click OK…

Step 9:

You will see the generic SP 2010 "processing" splash screen, and after a few seconds if everything is successful, you will see the new Target App ID listed in the secure store service list…

SELECT CAST(FLOOR(CAST( getdate() AS float)) AS datetime)

http://www.stillnetstudios.com/comparing-dates-without-times-in-sql-server/

Set IntegralHeight property to false...

ListBox1.IntegralHeight = False

"An ActiveX ListBox Control has a IntegralHeight Property, which by default is set to True. Go into the Properties Window of the ListBox and set it to False. This should stop the Auto re-sizing. -Dave Hawley "

http://www.ozgrid.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10568

It's important to keep Service Pack version in mind in your backup/restore strategies and operations for system databases like MSDB.

System databases can only be restored to a SQL Server version identical to the one used to create the backup. This condition goes down to the Service Pack level. A system database backup made with SQL Server SP1 cannot be restored on SQL Server SP2. If you are in a situation where you need to restore from a backup created with a different SP, you will need to do a fresh install & restore the backup before upgrading to the latest build.

This post is about accessing SSAS using Visio 2010.  For a great article on SSAS & Visio 2007, check out Dinesh Asanka's article here.

Some of the menu options are different between Visio 2010 and it's predecessor Visio 2007.  In Visio 2007 there was a Pivot Diagram option in the Data menu that would allow you to use Analysis Services as the data source.  As far as I can tell, Pivot Diagram has been removed from the Data menu in Visio 2010.  Of course you can still use the Pivot Diagram feature in Visio 2010, but it involves using the Shapes menu. 

Just create a Visio document and open the shapes menu. 

Then using the shapes menu browse to: More Shapes -> Business -> Pivot Diagram -> Pivot Diagram Shapes.

In the Pivot Diagram Shapes menu, there is a shape called "Pivot Node".

After dragging the Pivot Node shape on to the sheet, you will be presented with the Data Selector wizard, which allows you to select Analysis Services as an option.

Complete the wizard and connect to SSAS, just like you would in Visio 2007. 

From this point on, everything you know about working with Pivot Diagrams from Visio 2007 carries over to Visio 2010.

Enjoy!

Chris Hopkins, Visio guru at Microsoft, has a trailblazing tutorial on the web demonstraing Visio Services 2010, SharePoint 2010, and the new JavaScript mashup API for Visio Graphics Services.  Get the demo & white paper here.

The simplicity and elegance, and just how plain easy it is to build graphically rich and interactive reports using Visio is truly revolutionary.   The integration with Silverlight and how easy it is to embed Visio reports in a web page is wow factor to the max.

In my web crawling adventures I have the recurring need to translate HTML Ampersand codes into the actual characters they represent.   In this post you will find the user defined function that I use in SQL Server 2008 to handle this requirement. 

I have also included a copy of the conversion table for your viewing pleasure.  Please let me know if you find any Ampersand commands that are missing from the mapping table! 

Enjoy!

Usage:

T-SQL to create the function:

And here is the actual conversion table that was used to build this function:

By default "nofollow" is not added to the comment user URLs in Blog Engine .NET. 

You probably want to use "nofollow", because you do not necessarily trust the links being added by your visitors, and you do not want to lose page rank by linking to potentially bad sites.

This is very easy to do with Blog Engine .NET version 1.5.  Simply follow the steps:

1. Open the CommentView.ascx file in your theme directory (root\themes\).

3. Change "a href=\" to "a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"

4. Save the file, and you're done! 

Refresh the page, take a look at the source, and you see the issue is fixed:

I was surprised to find that C# does not have a built in method to reverse strings.  A quick search on Bing brought up the below code snippet from Sam Allen at dotnetperls.com.  The StringHelper class below contains a single static method named ReverseString.  Works like a charm!

Input:  [1] framework
           [2] samuel
           [3] example string

Output: [1] krowemarf
            [2] leumae
            [3] gnirts elpmaxe

EDIT: With Office 2010, almost all of the best Xobni features have been integrated with Outlook!!!

http://www.xobni.com/

This is a cool plugin for Outlook that I heard about from friend at work. It's not new, but it's new to me :)

Word of warning: it doesn't really work with Office 2010 (yet)...

I wrote the following code to make RegExing easier in C#.  The function takes two parameters, Text and Pattern.  Text is a string target that you want to scrape, and Pattern is the RegEx expression to match.

In this example, I pass "(?s)<li>.*?</li>" as the RegEx expression - this will match any string beginning with "<li>" and ending with "</li>" in the HTML text source.

For the text to search, I pass a dummy HTML snippet: 
 <ul>
  <li>a</li>
  <li>b</li>
  <li>c</li>
 </ul>

The output is an ArrayList containing a list item for each RegEx match.  In this example it would be an array list containing the values "a","b", and "c".  In this example it would be an array list containing the values "<li>a</li>","<li>b</li>", and "<li>c</li>".  Once I have this Array List I can scrub and transform the values however I want.   In this example I might strip out the HTML list elements to isolate the alphabetical values.

When you want to immediately return the identity value (often the primary key) after doing an insert, add the below to your sproc:

Just look at the connectors to differentiate between SATA and PATA

Windows Server 2008 System Requirements

To use Windows Server 2008 you need:

Processor
• Minimum: 1GHz (x86 processor) or 1.4GHz (x64 processor)
• Recommended: 2GHz or faster
Note: An Intel Itanium 2 processor is required for Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-Based Systems

Memory
• Minimum: 512MB RAM
• Recommended: 2GB RAM or greater
• Maximum (32-bit systems): 4GB (Standard) or 64GB (Enterprise and Datacenter)
• Maximum (64-bit systems): 32GB (Standard) or 2TB (Enterprise, Datacenter and Itanium-Based Systems)

Available Disk Space
• Minimum: 10GB
• Recommended: 40GB or greater
Note: Computers with more than 16GB of RAM will require more disk space for paging, hibernation, and dump files

Drive
DVD-ROM drive

Display and Peripherals
• Super VGA (800 x 600) or higher-resolution monitor
• Keyboard
• Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device

source: msdn.microsoft.com

One of the annoyances that I have come across in my short time working with Excel Services is the cycle of; change workbook -> publish to share point -> make sure everything works -> repeat.  Today I happened to find a compatibility checker that works extremely well, especially considering that it is in (probably permanent) beta.

I don't think that I can do a better job explaining how to use it than the author, so just go check out the site!  If you just want to download the installation file, you can get it here.

Issues that the compatiblity checker knows how to find/fix

The following is a list of the issues that can be found:

AutoFix available (all of these will be removed from the workbook when auto-fixed):

• Comments
• DialogSheets
• Display Formulas
• Macro Sheet
• OleObjects
• Query Tables
• Shapes
• Validation
• XML Maps

AutoFix sometimes available (will be removed if possible):

• IRM - AutoFix will work if there's no password.
• Protection - AutoFix will work if there's no password.
• VBA - AutoFix will work if the trust-cente enables Automation to interact with the VBA project.

AutoFix will not work for these:

• Unsupported formulas such as External Workbooks and RTD()
• FileFormatResult

excerpt from http://blogs.msdn.com/cumgranosalis

Data Connections in Excel 2007

Every workbook that imports data from an external location uses a data connection to retrieve data from the data source.  There are two types of connections in Excel 2007 – Embedded, and Linked connections.

Embedded connection
Embedded connections exist within the file definition of the containing Excel document – they are bundled together.  This is useful in scenarios where there is no central data connection library available, or for when you want to deploy a completely standalone solution.

Linked connection
Linked connections are connections that are stored in a separate file with a .odc (Office Data Connection) extension.   Using ODC files is good for scenarios where you have many different workbooks that utilize identical data connections.  You can deploy the connection file to a central location, where multiple workbooks can access it.  If the connection details ever need to be changed, only a single file needs to be updated, rather than updating the connection within every single workbook.

Within Excel both types of connections are utilized in the exact same way, there is no functional difference.

A single connection within an Excel workbook can be both embedded and linked at the same time.  Whenever you use the data connection wizard to setup a new connection file, the file is referenced by that connection by default.  However if you go into the connection settings within Excel and change any part of the connection, you will get a warning that the connection in the workbook will no longer match the linked connection, and the link to the external connection will be severed.

Optionally, the workbook can be forced to use the linked connection exclusively by checking the “always use connection file” option within the connection properties menu  (see screenshot to the right).  By doing this, Excel will always reference the external connection- even when it differs from the connection within the file.

The benefit of leaving “always use connection file” unchecked is that if one connection fails for whatever reason, the workbook will try the other one before giving up completely.  This gives you two shots at making the connection!

Check out Bamboo Nation's setup helper

from their site:
If you are a developer for SharePoint your best friend has been Virtual PC or VMWare. It’s time to introduce a new friend, Bamboo Nation's SharePointOnVista J

We have put together an installer that allows you to install WSS3.0 SP1 on Vista, both x86 and x64.  This will allow you to develop on your workstation with all the power of a non virtualized environment.

I'm posting this because I keep losing the link. 

This is the greatest little tool for those times when you need to burn an ISO image to a DVD.

Check it out here

UPDATE: SharePoint Designer 2010 Beta has been released!  Get it here...

http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2007/02/26/tip-trick-url-rewriting-with-asp-net.aspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms972974.aspx

"See how simple it is to create data-driven web sites using ASP.NET 2.0, Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition, and SQL Server 2005 Express Edition. Learn how to create a database, add its data, and display that data on a web page.

Duration: 13 minutes, 41 seconds"

watch it at http://www.asp.net/learn/videos/video-49.aspx 

The VBA script below is really useful if you need to flatten a pivot table output into a regular table with repeating labels.  Select a column, run the macro, and the blanks are filled!

source http://www.contextures.com/xlfaqPivot.html#Repeat 

The row headings show once in a Pivot Table, and there's no setting you can change to force them to repeat. To create a table with a heading on each row, you could copy the pivot table, paste it as values in another location, and fill in the blanks, using the technique shown here: http://www.contextures.com/xlDataEntry02.html.

Fill Blank Cells Programmatically

If you frequently have to fill blank cells, you may prefer to use a macro. The following code will fill blank cells in the active column:

Change Data Capture (CDC) is disabled by default in SQL 2008.  To check if it is enabled for a given DB use this SELECT:

Microsoft has confirmed that it will not be releasing any more beta versions of Windows 7, with the next release likely to be the first release candidate of the eagerly anticipated operating system.

The successor to Vista has been very well received since it arrived in beta, which will come as an almighty relief to Microsoft after the failure of Vista to hit the heights that were expected for it.....

-http://www.techradar.com/news/software/end-of-beta-is-in-sight-for-windows-7-516516

After running these scripts you can easily view the underlying MDX query for any pivot table that uses a SSAS cube for its datasource:
 

Works great!

The code comes from http://sqljunkies.com/WebLog/sqlbi/archive/2007/01/18/26875.aspx

This code provides you with a list of queries that are currently running on the SQL server:

source

Use this script to get a list of tables that are referenced in a stored procedure.  Just replace the value set for the variable "@sproc" to the name of the sproc you are evaluating:

source: http://www.sqlservercentral.com/scripts/SQL+Server+2000/65162/

Great introduction to the DATE data type (different from DATETIME)...

http://www.sqlteam.com/article/using-the-date-data-type-in-sql-server-2008

http://geekswithblogs.net/darrengosbell/archive/2006/04/26/76418.aspx

Step 1: Add the SSAS server as a linked server.

Step 2: Use OpenQuery clause in SELECT statement to write MDX query that will be the data source within a data transfer task in SSIS.

http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Integration+Services/64133/

great introduction to Data Profile Viewer in SQL 2008.... the gist of it is that you use an SSIS task to create an xml profile that can be loaded into the "Data Profile Viewer" to analyze the metadata.

Basics of change data capture (CDC) in SQL 2008: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc645937.aspx

This is a great introduction to the CDC capabilities of SQL 2008.  It's part of the larger CDC topic covered in BOL: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb522489.aspx

I passed the 70-431 exam today and I now have my MCTS (certified technology specialist) title!  :)

here's more info on the exam: http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/exams/70-431.aspx

If you want to interact with Excel 2007 file formats in SSIS 2005 don't bother with the Excel connection component. Setup your connections using Microsoft Office 12.0 Access OLE DB Provider and set extended properties to Excel 12.0....

Running the below commands will fix your windows update issues on XP/2003 almost every time.  This advice is repeated all over the web, not sure where the original source is.

Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
Copy and paste each of the following commands. Press ENTER after each command.

After reregistering the dll's try microsoft update again!

I keep losing these so here are the links to fresh copies... for safe keeping

Northwind and pubs Sample Databases for SQL Server 2000

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=06616212-0356-46A0-8DA2-EEBC53A68034&displaylang=en

SQL Server 2005 Samples and Sample Databases

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=E719ECF7-9F46-4312-AF89-6AD8702E4E6E&displaylang=en

Nice article on reading recursive query execution plans in SQL 2005...

http://blogs.msdn.com/sqltips/archive/2007/08/30/spool-operators-in-query-plan.aspx

Query to check for index fragmentation in SQL 2005 (shoot for below 10% fragmentation):

I am working on some fun expiriments in data collection that will require massive automated page scraping... below is a quick list of initial web research resources.

Page scrape in ASP.NET: http://www.4guysfromrolla.com/webtech/070601-1.shtml 

"Web Scrape" free page scrape utility: http://www.webscrape.com/

External links (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_scraping)

New Analytic Functions

Several new analytic functions provide basic analytic capabilities within Transact-SQL. These functions will be useful in data warehouses that allow user queries into the relational database rather than exclusively through Analysis Services. Also, these complex calculations are commonly used during data staging to develop valuable data attributes.

ROW_NUMBER. Returns the sequential row number of the result set.

RANK. Returns the rank of rows in a result set. RANK would be identical to ROW_NUMBER on an ordered set, but for the treatment of rows that tie. All rows with the same ordered value receive the same rank. The next rank matches up with the ROW_NUMBER again. In other words, if there is a two-way tie for first place, rows one and two receive RANK=1, and row three receives RANK=3. No rows receive RANK=2.

DENSE_RANK. Returns the rank of rows in a result set. The DENSE_RANK function is similar to RANK, but squeezes out the gaps left by the RANK function. In the sample above, rows one and two receive RANK=1, and row three receives RANK=2.

NTILE. Divides an ordered set into the specified number of groups of approximately equal size.

source: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/sql/2005/dwsqlsy.mspx

1.       Identify the Principal, Mirror, and Witness 

2.       Create a certificate for authentication between the end points on the Principal/Mirror 

3.       Create the end points on the Principal/Mirror 

4.       Set the Principal and Mirror recovery models to "Full" or else you will get an error 

5.       Ensure that the Principal and Mirror are synchronized by backing up the Principal and applying the backup to the mirror using the "no recovery" option

Problem: FTP component fails with error "unable to connect" even though when testing the connection manager you are able to connect.

1. Add "SSIS Debug Host" to firewall exceptions


2. Add visual studio / BIDS to firewall exceptions


3. Make sure package security property "ProtectionLevel" is set to some setting that will keep the FTP password encrypted (anything other than "DontSaveSensitive").  If you have it set to the common option "DontSaveSensitive" then your FTP task will fail.

Recently I wrote a .net console script to automate some stuff in Excel and part of the script includes uploading all of the contents of a given directory to a SharePoint document library.  After moving the script to production it did not work. Turns out that you need to have the WebClient service enabled. This service is disabled by default in Server 2003 so you will need to set it to Automatic or Manual and then start the service.

After starting the WebClient service you can access the SharePoint library like: \\sharepoint\site1\documentlibrary

Recently I have been dealing with a very annoying issue when debugging large SSIS packages using busines intelligence development studio.  Child packages called from parent package will fail randomly with an error something like "package already being used or locked by another process".  Turns out the solution is to kill left over rogue processes that may still be running from prior executions.

Jamie Thompson at blogs.conchango.com explains:

Packages in BIDS are executed by a process called DtsDebughost.exe. Child packages called from there are executed by dtshost.exe. These are managed processes and can sometimes be left as running processes (viewable in Task Manager) after the packages have actually completed. I'm guessing this is because they are waiting for garbage collection.
Anyway, I am guessing these might be the problem. You could kill the processes manually if they are causing a problem.

May 1, 2008 16:18 

 source: http://blogs.conchango.com/jamiethomson/archive/2005/05/16/1414.aspx?CommentPosted=true#commentmessage

XML, XLink, Namespace, DTD, Schema, CSS, XHTML ... If you are new to XML, it may be hard to know where to begin. This summary in 10 points attempts to capture enough of the basic concepts to enable a beginner to see the forest through the trees. And if you are giving a presentation on XML, why not start with these 10 points?

http://www.w3.org/XML/1999/XML-in-10-points.html

Took me a while to figure out how to do this.  I was really pulling my hair out and then the solution turned out to be so simple!

Problem:  Reports generated using SSRS 2005 Report Builder (ad hoc) based on Report Models developed using SSRS 2005 BIDS have a really neat drillthrough capability that allows end users to click an aggregate in the data region of a matrix report in order to drill down to the details behind that number.  By default the Report Model wizard attempts to choose which columns should be displayed in the drillthrough report for you, but it does not always pick the fields that you would like it to. 

Solution: In this situation you need to manually choose which fields to include in the drillthrough report.  The mistake I made was in assuming that the "include in drillthrough report" indicator would be a property at the attribute level within a Report Model, something you could set true/fales for each source field.  As it turns out you manage this via a collections property named "DefaultDetailAttributes" at the Query object level.  See screen shot:

Model Designer Object Properties: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms159611.aspx 

Model Designer Query Properties: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms157375.aspx

this is a nice tutorial explaining how to hack SSRS 2005 using JavaScript to make drillthrough reports open in a new browser window rather than overlaying the parent report.

http://www.mssqltips.com/tip.asp?tip=1283

In the RSReportServer.config file there is a <render> section.  This is where you specify which options will show up in the export control list within the report viewer UI.

source: http://forums.asp.net/p/1239637/2260726.aspx

It measures the number of packets waiting to be sent back to clients.  A value greater than 2 represents a potential network bottleneck.

source: these 2 basic sentences are repeated over and over on different sites all over the web, I'm not sure what the original source is

StoredProcedures\SP:StmtCompleted

source: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms175481.aspx

any version except for Express edition

 source: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143761.aspx

1. Scans\Scans Started - this event is triggered whenever a table or index scan begins, if it shows as a table scan then the table is missing an index.
2. Performance\Autostats - this event is triggered whenever SQL Server has to create statistics in order to improve query performance.  Statistics are only created if there is not an existing index that can be used to boost efficiency.

books online source: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms175481.aspx

1. ALTER permission on the schema
2. CREATE TYPE permissions on the database
3. REFERENCES permission on the registered assembly being used for the user defined type.

books online source: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms175007.aspx

Use the sp_dumpdevice system stored procedure.  For example (after mounting the USB drive as "g"):

 EXEC sp_addumpdevice 'disk', 'mydiskdump', 'g:\dump\dump1.bak';

source: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms188409.aspx

The session must be configured for High Availability operating mode, which provides synchronous data transfer between the primary and secondary (principal/mirror) servers, and which also requires a third server (witness) to handle the failover process.

 books online source: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms178104.aspx

By default, the Database Engine chooses as the deadlock victim the session running the transaction that is least expensive to roll back. Alternatively, a user can specify the priority of sessions in a deadlock situation using the SET DEADLOCK_PRIORITY statement

books online source: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms178104.aspx

You can use system/performance monitor to define an alert, then set the alert to notify admin.

url to MS KB source article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/324796

• you cannot return non aggregate data with pivoted columns
• you have to specifiy a derived table to pivot on
• pivot operator does not allow dynamic columns
• pivot operator does not allow multiple types of aggregation within a single operation

books online source: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms177410.aspx

1. you can use SQL Management Objects Copy Database Wizard
2. you can do an online backup and restore
3. you can manually copy the database files

books online for sp_detach_db: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms188031.aspx

books online for how to detach using management studio: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms191491.aspx

books online for copy datanase wizard: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms188664.aspx

when creating partitioned indexes in sql 2005 the ON clause must reference the partition scheme

books online URL discussing indexes: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms188783.aspx

SQL 7.0 and SQL 2000 can both be directly upgraded to SQL 2005.  SQL 6.5 cannot be directly upgraded to SQL 2005.

 books online source: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143695.aspx

It's a measure of how much time a processor is spending executing threads.  A high % Processor Time can be an indication of performance issues, but by itself cannot definitively verify performance issues.

books online source for more info on objects and counters to monitor activity: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms190382.aspx

You can schedule a job to run:

• Whenever SQL Server Agent starts.
  
• Whenever CPU utilization of the computer is at a level you have defined as idle.
  
• One time, at a specific date and time.
  
• On a recurring schedule.

books online source: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms175138.aspx

You need to setup Backup, Copy, and Restore schedules for log shipping in SQL Server 2005.

URL to books online article "Understanding Log Shipping": http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms187103.aspx

I am about to go for my first certification... the url to go to if you want to register for an exam is:

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcpexams/register/default.mspx

Data is Null. This method or property cannot be called on Null values. 

Recently received this error while playing with Report Models in SQL 2005 Reporting Services.  Turns out you get this error if you have partitioned tables in your database which do not have unique clustered indexes.  Adding the indexes fixes the error in BIDS. 

In my case the partitioned table was a test table that was not even really needed.

credit: http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=3101589&SiteID=17

http://www.soapui.org/

soapUI is tool for Web Service Testing. With more than 300 000 downloads, it's the most used tool for SOA testing in the world.

soapUI is Free and Open Source and is used for Inspecting Web Services, Invoking Web Services, Developing Web Services, Web Service Simulation and Web Service Mocking and Functional Testing of Web Services Load Testing of Web Services over HTTP.

Cause: This happens when you try to create an HTTP ENDPOINT in SQL Server 2005 because the SQL Server process lacks permissions to register the endpoint with HTTP.SYS.

Fix: Issue the following command before executing the CREATE ENDPOINT

credit: http://sqljunkies.com/WebLog/ktegels/archive/2005/04/14/11616.aspx

I just caught this (almost a month late) but TableDifference 2.0 by Alberto Ferrari has been released!  This is a great custom component for SQL 2005 Integration Services.  It is used within a dataflow step and the component accepts two inputs; one for "old" data (the existing table) and another for "new" data (new incoming rows).  The component compares rows from the two streams and provides output paths such as "new", "updated", "deleted", "unchanged", as well as any custom outputs you define. 

 There were a number of bugs in version 1x that have hopefully been resolved in v2. I really look forward to using this tool!

http://www.sqlbi.eu/ - home of TableDifference SSIS component

 Here is the official annoucement:

Table Difference 2.0 is ready

Guys,

The new version 2.0 of TableDifference is finished and available in the download area.

The zip file contains both the DLL and complete sources. Moreover, in the sources folder there is a README.DOCX document that explains how to use the new features of the component, so I will not discuss them here.

Main features are:

User interfaces completely rewritten and made much more user-friendly
Ability to disable output flows and/or single columns in the outputs
Ability to ignore case in string comparisons
Some speed improvement (haven't tested it carefully but it seems faster. :))
Have a good download and don't be afraid to ask if something is going wrong.

Alberto