Month: August 2017

Software

New updates for Office 2016 apps

on August 25, 2017

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This past week updates for Office 2016 started to roll out. Let’s take a look at some of the new features.

What’s New

New ink effects – Easily express your ideas with flair using metallic pens and ink effects like rainbow, galaxy, lava, ocean, gold, silver and more.

New Dubai font.

Insert 3D models.

While you were away – shows you who edited your shared document since your last visit.

Saves for you – Changes are automatically saved when your document is stored in the cloud (much like the mobile versions of Office apps). You can also see others’ updates in seconds.

Once you start saving your document to OneDrive, you will see your AutoSave feature  enabled.

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While AutoSave is enabled your work will automatically be saved, similar to the Office mobile apps.

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If you’re not already saving your work to the Cloud (OneDrive or another) then you should seriously consider doing this. It provides a better experience and also peace of mind that your content is backed up to the cloud and accessible from just about any device.

Enjoy!

References

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/What-s-new-in-PowerPoint-2016-for-Windows-e8ef980c-5b12-4fff-ae3f-0819e6a21a1f?ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US#Audience=Office_365_subscribers

Uncategorized

Video: An introduction to Azure Logic Apps & Salesforce demo

on August 15, 2017

toon vanhoutte

Recently, I’ve created an audition video to become a Pluralsight author.  I wanted to share this video, as it might be interesting for you.  The video gives an introduction to Azure Logic Apps and finishes with a great demo about Saleforce integration (at 5:43).

Enjoy!

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Azure

FAQ: Azure App Service Domain and Custom Domains

on August 10, 2017

I came across an excellent blog post from the Azure App Service Team Blog – FAQ: App Service Domain (preview) and Custom Domains. Lots of great of questions and answers relating to Azure DNS and your custom domains.

If you have any questions or have run into issues with your custom domain and Azure this is a great resource, so check it out!

Reference

Azure App Service Team Blog

Database

An Update to SQL Server Management Studio is Available

on August 9, 2017

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This week we see an update for SQL Server Management Studio, version 17.2. This release is the latest generation of SQL Server Management Studio and provides support for SQL Server 2017.

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What’s New in this Release

  • Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
  • The connection dialog box now supports the following 5 authentication methods:
    • Windows Authentication
    • SQL Server Authentication
    • Active Directory – Universal with MFA support
    • Active Directory – Password
    • Active Directory – Integrated
  • Database import/export for DacFx wizard can now use Universal Authentication with MFA
  • ADAL managed library used by Azure AD Universal Authentication with MFA was upgraded to version 3.13.9
  • A new CLI interface supporting Azure AD admin setting for SQL Database and SQL Data Warehouse
  • Output window has entries for queries run during expansion of Object Explorer nodes
  • Enabled View designer for Azure SQL Databases
  • Changes to the default scripting options for scripting objects from Object Explorer in SSMS
  • Added support for National Clouds in "Restore from URL"
  • QueryStoreUI reports now supports additional metrics (RowCount, DOP, CLR Time etc.) from sys.query_store_runtime_stats
  • IntelliSense is now supported for Azure SQL Database
  • Security: connection dialog will default to not trusting server certificates and to requesting encryption for Azure SQL Database connections
  • General improvements around support for SQL Server on Linux
  • Performance Dashboard server report now available as a default report
  • Showplan node search allows searching in plan properties. Easily look for any operator property such as table name

For the full list of changes, see SQL Server Management Studio – Changelog (SSMS).

Getting the Update

Head over to https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/ssms/download-sql-server-management-studio-ssms and you will find two links for installation. The first links downloads and installs SSMS 17.2 where as the second link will update an existing 17.x installation.

This update will not upgrade or replace SSMS versions 16.x or earlier. SSMS 17.x will install side by side with previous versions. If you have multiple SSMS versions installed than the latest is labeled as Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio 17 and has the following icon:

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Starting the Installation

Installation is quick and easy…

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After the installation is complete, when you open up SSMS 17.2 and look at the About dialog you will see the following components updated:

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Sadly we still don’t have an official Dark theme for SQL Server Management Studio. I recall reading comments from the SQL team last year that they needed to do work on all the dialogs before releasing this theme. If the base SSMS IDE supports the Dark theme than just release it You can work on the dialogs as needed and provide them in future updates.

Enjoy!

References

Download SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)

SQL Server Management Studio – Changelog (SSMS)

Azure

Microsoft Azure Events

on August 8, 2017

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Microsoft Azure is huge and sometimes it can be a bit daunting to try to keep up to date with service changes, new products, region availability, etc. There are many options when it comes to staying current, but one of them I really like is by attending Microsoft Azure events…either locally or online.

Microsoft Azure Events site is a listing of Azure events happening in your area. You can filter events by Event Type, Country, and by a specific Azure Service.

If you missed an event then you can find recorded webinars that are available online.

You also have the option to checkout local Meetup events hosted by the community in your area which are also another great resource.

Enjoy your summer and have fun catching up on everything Azure.

Cheers!

Resources

Microsoft Azure Events site

Recorded Webinars

Community Meetup events