The new SQL Server Native Client 10.0 app appears not to return the password back when using Delphi’s ADO PromptDataSource
Update: 6/20/2008
There is definitely a bug in the Dialog not in the PrompDataSource. The solution is posted at the end of the article.
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 installs a new OLE DB Provider called: “SQL Server Native Client 10.0” Here is the Data Link Properties image:

Bringing up the ADO Connection Dialog:
CS := PromptDataSource( Handle, "");
One change I can see is that using Delphi’s PrompDataSource function, it returns a different string than previous providers. The Password field seems to be missing:
'Provider=SQLNCLI10.1;Integrated Security="";Persist Security Info=False;User ID=sa;Initial Catalog=XIMS;Data Source=(local);Initial File Name="";Server SPN=""'
Here is the output from PrompDataSource using Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server:
'Provider=SQLOLEDB.1;Password=1234;Persist Security Info=True;User ID=sa;Initial Catalog=Rome;Data Source=(local)’
Here is an image of the old Data Link Properties editor:

The new Dialog has three key differences :
- You can used mix mode authentication (nothing new here) but also use Windows NT Integrated Security and specify a Server SPN(service principal name). This is quite flexible. For more info click here
- Be able to attache a database file as a database Name - I am guessing this is here due to all the enhancements SQL Server 2008 offers in regards to backing up, restore, compression and encryption database files.
- Be able to Change the database password directly from this page.
If you find out how to retrieve the “whole” string let me know.
Solution: go into the ALL tab and make sure you set Persist Security Info to TRUE the default (today) is FALSE (thanks Ken!)

You might be interested in finding out what’s new in SQL Server 2008
Note: To use the ADO.NET Entity Framework you are going to need Visual Studio 2008 + SP1
What is it?
Basically it allows you to create a model of your database and map objects to relational data (classes). It marries classes to tables. Using LINQ you can easily query the classes auto generated by the model.
Quick Sample
Step #1
Add New Item to your project “ADO.NET Entity Data Model ” (generates edmx file)

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As the designated family geek, friends and family call me all the time to troubleshoot their computers. Sound familiar? If so, you probably have dealt already with the problem of trying to connect to the other’s party computer, transfer files, etc.
In my “arsenal” I always keep this three tools, I am sure there are some more out there. If you think they are better ones, by all means please let me know and I will update the entry.
This is my favorite tool by far. It is free for non commercial use. It is fast and reliable. This software will blow you away, it offers the fastest tcp/ip transfers while working remotely. The screen refresh speeds are jaw dropping… it is amazing how well this thing actually works. Great to use when one of the parties is behind a firewall. It also has an add-on called ‘TeamViewer Manager’ which allows you to define multiple groups and multiple clients per group.

Awesome speed
click here to visit vendor
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I predict that SQL server 2008 is going to be a huge hit. It has been designed for performance and scalability from the start.
Some of the new features:
- Table Valued Parameters - stored procedures will accept a table parameter. ADO.NET has been modified so from C#, etc you can create a new variable called ‘SqlDBType.Structure‘ and pass this onto your stored procedures. This is huge! No more temporary tables, or cursors to emulate the same behavior.
CREATE TYPE CustomersTableType AS TABLE (NAME VARCHAR(25), LASTNAME VARCHAR(25));
CREATE PROCEDURE UpdateCustomers(@CUSTOMERS CustomersTableType REAONLY)
AS
BEGIN
INSERT INTO CUSTOMERS (NAME, LASTNAME)
SELECT NAME, LASTNAME FROM @CUSTOMERS;
END;
- New date/time data types: date, time, and also same times but time zone aware
DATE - holds date from 1/1/1 to 12/31/9999
TIME - holds timeaccurate up to 100 nanoseconds
DATETIMEOFFSET - time zone aware. Stores value in UTC format
DATETIME2 - holds date & time with larger precision
- New geo-spatial (latitude/longitude) data types -SQL server understand natively coordinates so you can create location aware applications. For instance, get me all the customers within a 10 miles radius
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I will be attending Microsoft tech*Ed 2008 (Developers) in Orlando, Florida this week. Keynote address by Bill Gates!
Stats:
- 5,000 developers
- 615 training sessions
- 16 technical tracks
If you are an iPhone user and want to play with all the native applications available for the iPhone, your only choices are to wait for Apple to release the new Firmware (June 2008 ??) or basically jailbreak your iPhone.
iPhones are not cheap but they are worth every penny. The last thing you want to do is do something to break this great gadget. Well, there is a piece of software called Ziphone that will jail break your phone in a matter of seconds.
For those that don’t know, jailbreak means to open the iPhone so you can run native applications via an awesome program called the installer. The installer basically works like a program / package manager. Where you select from a list of available applications the one you would like to install and over the Edge or WiFi network the application will be downloaded and install in your iPhone (normally within seconds) Very effortless process. I love this process for installing applications due that it allows a novice user or an expert to install application quickly without making mistakes and breaking something within the phone.
The number of available applications is impressible. You can spend many hours just looking at all the available applications. I am putting together a list of the top 10 applications that should be available shortly.
The steps to jailbreak the iphone with ziphone are real easy:
- download and run ziphone (select jailbreak only)
- plug your iphone
- follow ziphone instructions, this step should take just a few seconds
