Today I was working with a database using LocalDB server and I had set this specific database named CBA as the default one for my user LENIEL-PC\Leniel. Setting a default database for the user is useful because when you login using SQL Server Management Studio [ SSMS ] you go directly to that database, that is, when running queries that’s the database used and not the master one. This is life saver.

I wanted to restore a backup file .bak I got from the production server using the Restore Database… command in SSMS. This is to test locally but first I had to drop my local database copy. I did drop my local copy while I was logged in to that database. I Selected the database in Object Explorer, right clicked it and selected Delete. Then checked the Close existing connections (bottom of the window), clicked OK and then the deletion succeeded. Pretty good… no.

What happened? The next time I tried to login again in SSMS this was what I got:

Figure 1 - SSMS | Cannot connect to (localdb)\v11.0.
Cannot open database requested by login. The login failed.
Login failed for user LENIEL-PC\Leniel (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 4060)

Pretty obvious! I deleted the default database I had set to my user LENIEL-PC\Leniel. Now what? How can I login to the database server and change the default database? Good question…

This “simple” error was such a pain to fix…I tried lots of things like using SqlLocalDB.exe utility to stop and delete that specific LocalDB instance named v11.0. I would create it again afterwards if deleting it worked at least. This was the message logged in Windows Event logs when I tried to delete the instance:

Windows API call LogSqlDiagRec returned error code: 0. Windows system error message is: The operation completed successfully.
Reported at line: 3791. [Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver][SQL Server]Cannot open database "CBA" requested by the login. The login failed.

As you see the problem was the same. It was barking about the deleted database. Damn it!

I also tried the login with the sa account but guess what… the sa account was disabled for that LocalDB instance. Even if it was enabled I would not be able to login because I didn’t know the password for sa.

Googling more I managed to find this post by Pinal Dave:

SQL SERVER – Fix : Error: 4064 – Cannot open user default database. Login failed. Login failed for user

So guess what: the solution is ridiculously easy once you know what to do of course…

Click that Options >> button in Figure 1. Now select the Connection Properties tab.

Figure 2 - SSMS Connect to Server | Connection Properties | Connect to database option

I had to type master in Connect to database field since I did not have it in the list of available databases.

Now click connect and you’re done.

Great. Thanks God I was able to login and access the database server.

What’s left?

Reset my user Default database to master so that I can login again directly. By the way, the field Default database was empty since I had dropped the database!

Doing so there’s no need to set the Connect to database option anymore.

Figure 3 - SSMS | Setting Default database for user

Sometimes things are so easy but they are hidden somewhere we just can’t figure it out at first.

Hope it helps.

This is the 2nd post of a series of posts about NPOI 2.0.

NPOI is jumping from version 1.2.5 directly to 2.0. A big reason for this is that it now supports Office 2007 formats (.xlsx and .docx). Given this fact, using NPOI 2.0 will seem a little bit more complicated than the previous version because NPOI now provides multiple namespaces, including HSSF (Excel 2003), XSSF (Excel 2007) and XWPF (Word 2007).

Don’t freak out! We’re here to help you understand how to work with all those namespaces.

Excel 2007 support
Here’s a simple sample for Excel 2007…

using NPOI.SS.UserModel;
using NPOI.XSSF.UserModel;
using System.IO;

namespace NPOI.Examples.XSSF.SetCellValuesInXlsx
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            IWorkbook workbook = new XSSFWorkbook();
            
            ISheet sheet1 = workbook.CreateSheet("Sheet1");

            sheet1.CreateRow(0).CreateCell(0).SetCellValue("This is a Sample");
            
            int x = 1;
            
            for (int i = 1; i <= 15; i++)
            {
                IRow row = sheet1.CreateRow(i);
                
                for (int j = 0; j < 15; j++)
                {
                    row.CreateCell(j).SetCellValue(x++);
                }
            }

            FileStream sw = File.Create("test.xlsx");

            workbook.Write(sw);
            
            sw.Close();
        }
    }
}

To go deeper and explore all the features available for Excel 2007 you can check a handful of sample projects here (as of now 24 sample projects showcasing many available features):

https://github.com/tonyqus/npoi/tree/master/examples/xssf

Open the file NPOI.XSSF.Examples.2010.sln to have all them show up in Visual Studio’s Solution Explorer.

 Figure 1 - Excel 2007 (NPOI.XSSF) sample projects list

Word 2007 support
Here’s a simple document example for Word 2007…

using NPOI.XWPF.UserModel;
using System.IO;

namespace SimpleDocument
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            XWPFDocument doc = new XWPFDocument();

            XWPFParagraph p1 = doc.CreateParagraph();
            p1.SetAlignment(ParagraphAlignment.CENTER);
            p1.SetBorderBottom(Borders.DOUBLE);
            p1.SetBorderTop(Borders.DOUBLE);

            p1.SetBorderRight(Borders.DOUBLE);
            p1.SetBorderLeft(Borders.DOUBLE);
            p1.SetBorderBetween(Borders.SINGLE);

            p1.SetVerticalAlignment(TextAlignment.TOP);

            XWPFRun r1 = p1.CreateRun();
            r1.SetBold(true);
            r1.SetText("The quick brown fox");
            r1.SetBold(true);
            r1.SetFontFamily("Courier");
            r1.SetUnderline(UnderlinePatterns.DotDotDash);
            r1.SetTextPosition(100);

            XWPFParagraph p2 = doc.CreateParagraph();
            p2.SetAlignment(ParagraphAlignment.RIGHT);

            //BORDERS
            p2.SetBorderBottom(Borders.DOUBLE);
            p2.SetBorderTop(Borders.DOUBLE);
            p2.SetBorderRight(Borders.DOUBLE);
            p2.SetBorderLeft(Borders.DOUBLE);
            p2.SetBorderBetween(Borders.SINGLE);

            XWPFRun r2 = p2.CreateRun();
            r2.SetText("jumped over the lazy dog");
            r2.SetStrike(true);
            r2.SetFontSize(20);

            XWPFRun r3 = p2.CreateRun();
            r3.SetText("and went away");
            r3.SetStrike(true);
            r3.SetFontSize(20);
            r3.SetSubscript(VerticalAlign.SUPERSCRIPT);


            XWPFParagraph p3 = doc.CreateParagraph();
            p3.SetWordWrap(true);
            p3.SetPageBreak(true);

            //p3.SetAlignment(ParagraphAlignment.DISTRIBUTE);
            p3.SetAlignment(ParagraphAlignment.BOTH);
            p3.SetSpacingLineRule(LineSpacingRule.EXACT);

            p3.SetSetIndentationFirstLine(600);


            XWPFRun r4 = p3.CreateRun();
            r4.SetTextPosition(20);
            r4.SetText("To be, or not to be: that is the question: "
                    + "Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer "
                    + "The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, "
                    + "Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, "
                    + "And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep; ");
            r4.AddBreak(BreakType.PAGE);
            r4.SetText("No more; and by a sleep to say we end "
                    + "The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks "
                    + "That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation "
                    + "Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep; "
                    + "To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub; "
                    + ".......");
            r4.SetItalic(true);
            //This would imply that this break shall be treated as a simple line break, and break the line after that word:

            XWPFRun r5 = p3.CreateRun();
            r5.SetTextPosition(-10);
            r5.SetText("For in that sleep of death what dreams may come");
            r5.AddCarriageReturn();
            r5.SetText("When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,"
                    + "Must give us pause: there's the respect"
                    + "That makes calamity of so long life;");
            r5.AddBreak();
            r5.SetText("For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,"
                    + "The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,");

            r5.AddBreak(BreakClear.ALL);
            r5.SetText("The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,"
                    + "The insolence of office and the spurns" + ".......");

            FileStream out1 = new FileStream("simple.docx", FileMode.Create);
            doc.Write(out1);
            out1.Close();
        }
    }
}

To go deeper an explore all features available for Word 2007 you can check a handful of sample projects here (as of now 5 sample projects showcasing some available features):

https://github.com/tonyqus/npoi/tree/master/examples/xwpf

Open the file NPOI.XWPF.Examples.2010.sln to have all them show up in Visual Studio’s Solution Explorer.

Figure 2 - Word 2007 (NPOI.XWPF) sample projects list