MAPI Developer: MAPI call (lpFolder)->OpenEntry() takes 2 minutes to open messages in mailbox

Recently I was working with a MAPI developer and came across this interesting issue. We noticed their custom MAPI application takes 2 minutes to open the messages in a given mailbox. Further troubleshooting we noticed they see this behavior with the MAPI call, (lpFolder)->OpenEntry(). It takes 2 minutes to open messages in a given mailbox and there is no error thrown. In order to isolate we used latest MFCMAPI and MAPI notifications, but we failed to locally repro the issue with it. We enabled good amount of logging from their custom MAPI app, Outlook environment (Advanced logging) and at the Exchange environment (Exchange logs) as well – but nothing helped much. Also this issue can be repro at will at this specific end customer environment.

We traced down the specific message – it contained .PDF files, which are password protected and we can access the attachment table and its attachments(.PDF files). While analyzing Exchange environment we noticed that they implemented an Anti-virus (AV) application and enabled detailed logging for database/mailbox/folder/mail/attachment levels to scan incoming/outgoing messages. Due to this, whenever we tried opening the message  using OpenEntry() call, it tries to scan the message, attachments – as PDF is password protected it tries to open thrice to scan the content  (which takes 2 minutes) and making the OpenEntry() call to wait till it finishes; so the MAPI call OpenEntry() call turned to be a victim. By modifying the respective Anti-virus rule, the issue was resolved the issue.

Hope this helps.

E-Book Review – Introducing Windows 10 for IT Professionals, Preview Edition

In this post I am going to share my views on the E-Book which I finished reading in the recent time; it’s titled “Introducing Windows 10 for IT Professionals, Preview Edition (ISBN: 9780735696969)” authored by Ed Bott. The author is a well known award-winning technology journalist and wrote more than 25+ books earlier on Microsoft Windows and Office.

(Select the above link, download a copy of the eBook)

As I updated earlier, this book is a preview, a work in progress about a work in progress, lol. But it offers a great snapshot of the Windows 10 Technical Preview as of April 2015, on the eve of the BUILD Developers’ Conference in San Francisco. By design, this preview edition provides more detailed info and good book for IT Pro’s. Ed promises that he will revise and expand the content in this edition to reflect the finished product when the Windows 10 will be launched – that would be awesome for sure.

This book starts with an overview of the operating system, laying out the many changes to the user experience, and diving deep into deployment and management tools where it’s necessary. Also i can see that it’s not a in-depth guide or detailed book. But it will help you to understand how and when, to incorporate Windows 10 into your enterprise, based on your own organizational requirements. That’s the cool stuff with this book. If you’re an IT Pro, then you will find tips and tricks about the new user experience than your users want but more about management, deployment, and security in this book. I love the following info which is discussed in detail:

– Introduction about Windows 10
– Installing and deploying Windows 10
– Security
– Deploying and managing Windows Store apps
– Web browsing and Web apps
– Windows 10 Networking
– Virtualization and remote access
– Backup and recovery options in Windows 10
– Windows 10 on Phones and small tablets

So I would recommend this book; as it’s good for any IT Pro who wish to learn more about Windows 10 and it provides more detailed info, technical know-how, tips/tricks, insights. You can download a copy of the book in PDF format with Mobu and ePub formats as well.

Happy learning

Download: .Net Universe 2013 Poster

You can download the .Net Universe 2013 poster. This Poster showing the main .NET SDKs, libraries and packages classified by application type and package type (NuGet, official support, etc.).

This poster shows how the trends are changing in .NET as we´re moving from a single large .NET Framework to a more loosely coupled and autonomous libraries and sub-frameworks, many of them even published as NuGet packages and evolving continuously. The number of those libs and packages is evolving and growing, so having a visual photo of it can be helpful. The main idea of the poster is to show that you can create any kind of application with .NET, from the largest applications to the smaller apps: in the cloud, on the web, on desktops, tablets, phones, and in embedded environments (even watches!). Any of those application types is shown as category/bucket in the poster and within each bucket we´re tossing the main libraries/SDKs/packages out. Then we´re also showing cross-cutting concerns buckets like Security, Data Access, and .NET Extension libs. The main categories are the following: – Emerging application patterns (Mobile, Web & Cloud) – Established application patterns (Desktop and Embedded) – Cross-Cutting concerns Finally, the poster is putting a check/mark on every lib/SDK bullet depending if they are or not complaint with the following: – NuGet package – Open Source – Microsoft Official Supported You can print it out or use it as in electronic format (.PDF). Using the electronic format (.PDF) allows you to access each content URL/page related.

Download: Exchange Server 2013 Architecture

Now you can download the Microsoft Exchange Serve 2013 Architecture in .PDF format. This poster highlights the significantly updated and modernized architecture in Exchange 2013, and highlights the new technologies in Exchange 2013, such as Managed Availability, the new storage and high availability features, and integration with SharePoint and Lync.  In addition, it illustrates the new transport architecture in Exchange 2013. 

A zoom.it version of the poster can be found at http://zoom.it/BuoF.

Free eBook: Programming Windows 8 Apps with HTML, CSS and JavaScript

This wonderful eBook is written by Kraig. He provides comprehensive coverage of the platform for Windows Store apps, and devoted chapters on live tiles, notifications, background tasks, background transfers, networking, devices, printing, WinRT components, accessibility, localization, and the Windows Store itself. The final eBook contains 17 chapters. And of course all of the earlier chapters have also been reviewed and refined—over 800 pages in total, along with new and updated companion content!

So you can download the eBook in PDF format here: http://go.microsoft.com/FWLink/?Linkid=270056 (17.9 MB)

EPUB format is here: http://go.microsoft.com/FWLink/?Linkid=272592 (37.3 MB)

MOBI format is here: http://go.microsoft.com/FWLink/?Linkid=272591 (69.5 MB)

The eBook’s companion content is here: http://go.microsoft.com/FWLink/?Linkid=270057 (59.9 MB)

Just make use of it and develop new Windows 8 apps. Happy programming!!

Exchange Server 2010 Architecture and its feature set

You can download the following PDF file – a poster, which highlights the architecture and feature set of Microsoft Exchange Server 2010. Apart from showing the high-level architecture, it highlights the feature set of Exchange Server 2010 and sections include:

• Management and Monitoring
• High Availability
• Mailbox Server Role
• Client Access Server Role
• Unified Messaging Server Role
• Hub Transport Server Role
• Edge Transport Server Role

Book review: Programming Windows Phone 7

Are you the Windows Phone 7 developer or want to know how to create WP7 apps? Then this book is meant for you. To give you a sense of this offering, here is Charles’s Introduction—beneath that you’ll find the ebook’s full Table of Contents:

Introduction

This book is a gift from the Windows Phone 7 team at Microsoft to the programming community, and I am proud to have been a part of it. Within the pages that follow, I show you the basics of writing applications for Windows Phone 7 using the C# programming language with the Silverlight and XNA 2D frameworks.

Yes, Programming Windows Phone 7 is truly a free download, but for those readers who still love paper—as I certainly do—this book will also be available (for sale) divided into two fully-indexed print editions: Microsoft Silverlight Programming for Windows Phone 7 and Microsoft XNA Framework Programming for Windows Phone 7. ]

The best thing would be, with the money you’ve saved downloading this book, please buy other books. Despite the plethora of information available online, books are still the best way to learn about programming within a coherent and cohesive tutorial narrative. Every book sale brings a tear of joy to an author’s eye, so please help make them weep overflowing rivers.

In particular, you might want to buy other books to supplement the material in this book. For example, I barely mention Web services in this book, and that’s a serious deficiency because Web services are likely to become increasingly important in Windows Phone 7 applications. My coverage of XNA is limited to 2D graphics and while I hope to add several 3D chapters in the next edition of this book, I don’t really get into the whole Xbox LIVE community aspect of game development. Nor do I discuss any programming tools beyond Visual Studio—not even Expression Blend.

Sections:

This book is divided into three parts. The first part discusses basic concepts of Windows Phone 7 programming using example programs that target both Silverlight and the XNA framework. It is likely that many Windows Phone 7 developers will choose either one platform or the other, but I think it’s important for all developers who have at least a little knowledge of the alternative to their chosen path.

The second part of this book focuses entirely on Silverlight, and the third part on XNA 2D. For your convenience, the chapters in each part build upon previous knowledge in a progressive tutorial narrative, and hence are intended to be read sequentially.

To use this book properly you’ll need to download and install the Windows Phone Developer Tools, which includes Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone, XNA Game Studio 4.0, and an on-screen Windows Phone Emulator to test your programs in the absence of an actual device. Get the latest information and downloads at http://developer.windowsphone.com.

PDF Download:BTW, you can download a PDF here (38.6 MB).

Code samples (C#): You can download the ebook’s C# sample code here (5.03 MB).

Code samples (VB.Net): And you can download the sample code in Visual Basic for Chapters 1-18 here (5.21 MB).

Nice way to start with! Wonderful book for the Windows Phone 7 programming!

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