SQL Writer

Show Zip: "Task: Crystal Reports VB-SQL Writer/Helper. The application writes code for anyone developing using crystal reports and SQL Server. It generates the necessary 'TTX' and the 'RPT' files from an SQL statement, and then writes all the necessary Code into a window. You can then copy-paste it into a form, and immediately use it in your application. You must have Crystal Reports to use this great tiny app."

A tool for checking .NET code

Get FxCop: "another great tool from those nice people at Microsoft. It is a code analysis tool that checks .NET managed code assemblies for conformance to the Microsoft .NET Framework Design Guidelines. It uses reflection, MSIL parsing, and callgraph analysis to inspect assemblies for more than 200 defects in the following areas:

Library design
Localization
Naming conventions
Performance
Security

FxCop includes both GUI and command line versions of the tool, as well as an SDK to create custom rules."

It forms the basis of their code conformance checking tools in Visual Studio 2005 Team System !

And its currently free :-), with terms of course which you can read at the link site.

Wizards and scripts in SQL 2005

The Attach database wizard

Just a little comment on the machine computer interaction during the attach database wizard in SQL2500 when attaching a single file database. The wizard seems happy enough to deal with the fact that the log is missing and uses the correct procedure to attach the database but it needs to be informed that the log is absent. If it detects this for itself by looking in the header of the data file then an error occurs. The wizard correctly renames the physical pointer for the .MDF file but leaves the .LDF file as it would have been when it was orirginally created.

The message is a bit cryptic but it means that the wizard detected that the log was missing but it used the information from the primary device about where the log should have been as a default. If you want to create a brand new log file then simply delete the entry for the log file from the list and click on ok.

Scripting Wizards

One of the problems with using the wizards in the past was that if you had to do the same procedure at a later date or on multiple machines then there was no option of simply re-running a saved script. This could be remedied by scheduling a job and then saving the resultant script, or as many people did, using the profiler to capture the script while the front end called the appropriate stored procedures. It is nice to see that now the script can be generated for the wizard by clicking on the script button. What a nice feature.

Why 7+/-2 = RSS = Atom

When I was asked to create this blog I thought that it was just another way of creating lots of data, in a self satisfying way and was not very keen. Then I went through a process of dealing with my defenses and started thinking that it was a great tool and started putting all sorts on the site.

This led to lots of stuff which reminded me of the research that one of our tutors at University used to refer to, conducted by George A. Miller, which can be located Here. This research seemed to indicate that complexity decreases a human beings ability to absorb data unless the number of elements being handled is kept at around seven. I have always used this number when teaching people about design principles to control the level of detail at a given level of design. A little guidance for abstraction if you like.

Now with WebLogs there exists the possibility that we destroy what we are creating as we create it, by introducing too many elements to go back and deal with the creation adequately.

Then I came across RSS which is one of the XML dialects for siphoning web feeds into other web feeds. Then I read on this site that it is 'fixed' but out of date and work is now progressing on a development initiative called atom which is to be the future RSS .....

To cut a long story short, if you find yourself hunting around Weblogs by typing in the URLS manually, then get and install Sharpreader.net it is a free tool which you can use to subscribe to sites that display the RSS or XML icons. Or those that the Weblog service provider ensures are available in a compatible format, like this site :-)

Go to an online presentation on High Availability for SQL 2000

When August 19th, 2004 at 12:00pm Eastern Time which is the same as saying 5pm in the Uk me thinks. A chance to stay late in the office #:-), even if you have broadband available when you get home, you will never get there in time. Unless you are working from home of course.

Just click

here if you want to find out about the sponsors of the WebCast first

here to go to the event. You can be as much as 15 minutes early if you wish

.NET This

So much to learn and such little time to do it. Well here is another link to help you if you are feeling pushed up against the .NET

.NET Learning Guide

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