Unable to use SimpleDB with VS 2010

I just downloaded SimpleDB and Lightspeed to evaluate your product.

So far, I'm unable to even create an Amazon SimpleDB connection in VS 2010 using the Data Source Configuration Wizard. I can do a test connection which works but as soon as I click on Ok, the wizard closes with no warnings or error messages and does not create a connection.

Any ideas?

Thank you,

Thomas Jaeger

SimpleDB Management Tools integrates into Server Explorer -- we didn't realise it also showed up in any wizards and will investigate its behaviour in this scenario.

If you go to Server Explorer, right-click Data Connections and choose Add Connection then you should be able to enter your AWS credentials and see your SimpleDB domains in the Server Explorer tree.

Let us know if you still run into problems.

(Also, assuming this succeeds, if you subsequently decide that SimpleDB Management Tools is not for you, be aware that there is a nasty bug in VS2010 if you uninstall a Server Explorer provider while it still has connections in the list, so remember to delete the connection before uninstalling, or see http://hestia.typepad.com/flatlander/2010/08/fixing-the-server-explorer-the-given-key-was-not-present-in-the-dictionary-error.html for a workaround.)

 Thank you for your reply. I have it now show up in the Server Explorer. However, I have encountered several errors. One example error is below. I have seen other usability errors when querying etc.

Also, I still do not understand how to take a simple entity created in Lightspeed and persist that into a new SimpleDB. bascially how to create a domain model first, and then persist  the domain model.

Exception while processing Server Explorer drag: Amazon.SimpleDB.AmazonSimpleDBException: The specified query expression syntax is not valid.

at Amazon.SimpleDB.AmazonSimpleDBClient.Invoke[T](IDictionary`2 parameters)

at Amazon.SimpleDB.AmazonSimpleDBClient.Select(SelectRequest request)

at Mindscape.LightSpeed.Generator.Extraction.AmazonSimpleDBProvider.<GetColumns>d__15.MoveNext()

at Mindscape.LightSpeed.Generator.Extraction.Provider`1.PopulateEntityFields(TConnection connection, TableName tableName, EntityModel entity)

at Mindscape.LightSpeed.Generator.Extraction.Provider`1.CreateEntity(TypeModel model, TConnection connection, Dictionary`2 entities, TableName tableName, Boolean pluralise, Boolean populate)

at Mindscape.LightSpeed.Generator.Extraction.Provider`1.CreateEntities(TypeModel model, TConnection connection, Boolean pluralise, IList`1 tablesToFullyPopulate)

at Mindscape.LightSpeed.Generator.Extraction.Provider`1.PopulateTypeModel(TypeModel model, TConnection connection, Boolean pluralise, IList`1 tablesToFullyPopulate)

at Mindscape.LightSpeed.Generator.Extraction.Provider`1.ExtractModel(Boolean pluralise, IList`1 tablesToFullyPopulate)

at Mindscape.LightSpeed.Generator.Integration.EntityExtractor.PopulateTypeModel(ILightSpeedDataSource connection, IList`1 tableNames, Boolean pluralisedInDatabase)

at Mindscape.LightSpeed.Generator.Integration.EntityBuilder.AddTablesToModel(Model model, ILightSpeedDataSource connection, IEnumerable`1 tableNames, IGenerationLog log)

at Mindscape.LightSpeed.Generator.Integration.DiagramDragDropHandler.<>c__DisplayClass4.<OnDragDrop>b__3(DragObject dragObject, IGenerationLog log)

at Mindscape.LightSpeed.Generator.Integration.ServerExplorer.IfIsServerExplorerDrag(DragEventArgs e, DragAction action)

What's the name of the domain you're dragging on?  I've identified an issue with domain names with hyphens in them and will get this fixed in the next nightly build.

To persist an entity created model-first in LightSpeed into SimpleDB:

* Create a lsmodel file.  Drag on an entity from the Toolbox and name it Person.

* Set Person's Identity Type to Guid.

* Add FirstName and LastName properties to Person (by right-clicking and choosing Add New Entity Property).  Leave the Data Type as String.

* Save the model.

* For a non-SimpleDB database, you could now do an Update Database to create the Person schema.  Since SimpleDB is schemaless, we don't offer Update Database for SimpleDB, so you need to create the Person domain by hand.  Go into Server Explorer, right-click the SimpleDB Domains folder, choose Create Domain and enter the name Person.

* In your code, create a LightSpeedContext with the configuration info:

LightSpeedContext context = new LightSpeedContext {
  ConnectionString = "Access Key=*****;Secret Access Key=*****",
  DataProvider = DataProvider.AmazonSimpleDB,
  IdentityMethod = IdentityMethod.Guid
};

(You can also do this through configuration of course.)

* Create a unit of work from this context.  Add a Person to the unit of work and save the changes:

using (IUnitOfWork unitOfWork = context.CreateUnitOfWork()) {
  Person p = new Person { FirstName = "alice", LastName = "bob" };
  unitOfWork.Add(p);
  unitOfWork.SaveChanges();
}