Relax Dataset Constraints for TableAdapters in .NET

This is a very common issue that people run into as they begin to use complex dataset objects in their .NET development work. This applies to ASP.NET as well as Winforms development work... even WPF.

If you've ever put together a complex join query in one of your TableAdapter objects and then in your code attempted to apply it to a DataTable object, you may have seen this warning and had no idea what to do about it:

The solution is simple. Open your XSD in design view and select on the background area (do not select a query or a TableAdapter).

Then in the properties pallet you will see a property named "EnforceConstraints". Set this property to False.

This option gives you the ability to provide dataset level constraints which are usually not necessary if your database backend has its own constraints.

AU2010 CP333-1 .... 10001110100001011010100001101010001 1110100

Well I'm finally back and unwound from the trip to Las Vegas where I taught my first class for Autodesk University.

From what I could tell, about 140 (93 people completed a survey for me - THANKS) of the 186 that signed up for the class actually showed up and surprisingly, my speaker rating is an overall 4.469 out of 5! The comments people left were mostly right on point and next time I'll avoid the live code scrolling and slap the key stuff on some super duper slides and maybe even add some sound FX to keep people's senses going.

I just wished I had more than a tiny 60 minutes to present all the madness... I left a ton of information out of the presentation due to timing constraints... Oh well (enough complaining)...

William Lopez Campo mentioned my class as his favorite (I think he's just being nice ;) in his recently famous blog post entitled "AU 2010: My top 5 lists"... I have to say I read the whole post and couldn't agree more with what he wrote in there... right on point.

It was also really cool to meet all the industry badasses in regards to BIM in person (too many of them to name... you know who you are).

So the class was entitled "Leveraging the Tail End of the BIM Life Cycle with APIs" and was centered around how to build a powerful web environment where people could directly interact with data in a BIM model and even synchronize modified data back into the model if they so chose.

I'll be elaborating on this topic in future posts so don't go anywhere!!

A BIM Based Facility and Workplace Management Web Site

If you want the details on how to build your own BIM Based Facility and Workplace Management Web Site, you'll have to attend my class in Autodesk University 2010 in Las Vegas.

Most notably, I will demonstrate how a 32 bit Microsoft Access database can be directly connected to and edited from a 64 bit session of Autodesk Revit Architecture using no special drivers or crazy configurations... The resulting database can then be used to serve the BIM Based Facility and Workplace Management Web Site.

I will be demonstrating how a BIM model can be configured and managed from a web environment. Notable page configurations will include:

• A Searchable Employee Locator
• 3D Floor Plan Device Query
• Inventory Management
• Energy Meter Management (Readings, etc), Graphical
• How to manage external data using rooms as the parent element