xsd.exe and included schemas

Today I learned that the xsd.exe tool ignores all xsd:import statements. And the workaround is to explicitly provide all the schemas as command line arguments.

xsd.exe MainSchema.xsd  Reference1.xsd Reference2.xsd

According to the post here, the fact that the W3C Schema spec describes the schemaLocation attribute as a hint, not a true location might be a plausible reason to this behavior.

Webservice Testing Tool - WcfTestClient

Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) Test Client (WcfTestClient.exe) is a GUI tool that enables users to input test parameters, submit that input to the service, and view the response that the service sends back. It provides a seamless service testing experience when combined with WCF Service Host.

I didn't know this tool existed until a few weeks ago. Apparently its a part of Visual Studio. I've started digging deep into WCF the last few days and its been an indispensable tool to say the least.

More Info on the tool here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb552364.aspx

Also on a side note, I used to be a big fan of storm and they seem to have a paid version here which adds support to WCF. I don't know how it compares to WcfTestClient though.

New Home For The CRM Diagnostic Tool (CrmDiagTool4)

I was looking to download the CrmDiagTool4 recently and was unable to find it at the original location.

This is appears to be the new home of the CRM Tool:
http://blogs.msdn.com/emeadcrmsupport/archive/2010/03/04/crmdiagtool4-for-microsoft-crm-4-0-available-now-on-the-emea-dynamics-crm-support-blog.aspx

Download it from the attachment section of the post.

CRM 4.0 Customizations Comparison Tool

The Customization Comparison Tool

"...tools that help you analyze the impact of customizations on the system and maintain consistent configuration data across multiple Microsoft Dynamics CRM systems."

The Data Migration Tool

...lets you export custom configuration data from a source Microsoft Dynamics CRM system and import it to a target Microsoft Dynamics CRM system.

http://blogs.msdn.com/crm/archive/2010/01/14/isv-utilities-for-comparing-customizations-and-transferring-configuration-data.aspx

Another tool to go into my tool belt.

Storm, replacement for the aging WebServiceStudio

I am frequently required to work with 3rd party Web Services. These web services are often underdevelopment as well and more often than not tend to break our applications after each update.

I’ve been using WebServiceStudio for a while now to diagnose problems that arise after each update. WebServiceStudio was available on GotDotNet until it got shutdown and haven’t seen much updates since.

Luckily there’s a new open source tool that I discovered that replaces this aging application; Storm.

Here’s a description taken from the project site:

STORM is a free and open source tool for testing web services.

It is written mostly in F#. (I love this language!)

STORM allows you to

1. Test web services written using any technology (.NET , Java, etc.)
2. Dynamically invoke web service methods even those that have input parameters of complex data types
3. Save development time and money. Creating throw-away test client apps just to test the web service is just too wasteful
4. Test multiple web services from within one UI.
5. Edit/Manipulate the raw soap requests.
6. Others (Try out the tool and find out yourself!)

 http://www.codeplex.com/storm