Looking up values in Validation Rules

The VLookup function provides the ability to lookup values from other objects.  Note that it ONLY works on Custom Objects.  The format is: VLookup(field_to_return, field_on_lookup_object, lookup_value).

So if you need need to lookup an item from a custom table with an Id of 00Xj000000NK03j, and return the name, the formula would look something like this:  

Viewing the ValidationExceptions Collection

Occassionally, .NET apps that are using EntityFramework will throw the following error

System.Data.Entity.Validation.DbEntityValidationException: Validation failed for one or more entities. See 'EntityValidationErrors' property for more details.

The easiest way to see what these exceptions is to add the following to the Watch window:

((System.Data.Entity.Validation.DbEntityValidationException)$exception).EntityValidationErrors

Creating an SSL Certificate for Azure App Services

1. Generate the CSR (Certificate Signing Request).  An easy way to do that is https://www.digicert.com/easy-csr/openssl.htm
2. Take the output of this page and run it in a Bash shell, or some place that you have access to the OpenSSL library.  This will create a csr file and a key file. 
3. Buy the certificate.   These guys have good prices: https://www.ssls.com
4. As part of the checkout, it will ask you to type in the text of the CSR file generated by OpenSSL in Step 2 above. 
5. Not sure what to select when asked for Apache vs Windows.  But selected Windows, and I got a .cer file.  Support had to send me a .crt file instead. 
6. After verifying who you are, then will send you a .crt file. 
7. Use OpenSSL again to convert the .crt file and the .key file to a pfk
   openssl pkcs12 -export -out myserver.pfx -inkey myserver.key -in myserver.crt
8. Upload the resulting .pfx file to the server.
9. 
   
10. 
     

Some of this is taken from: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/web-sites-configure-ssl-certificate/#bkmk_iismgr