RSS feed for InstantSpot site fro

ANSI SQL Programming Test Results

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 14:00:00 GMT

I took an online assessment last night about ANSI SQL Programming. It contained 39 questions which could each have up to three correct answers. You get points for selecting the correct answers and you get points taken away when if you don't select one of the correct answers or if you select an incorrect answer. Also, each answer is weighted differently based on how obvious it is.

I ended up with a score of 91 out of 100. I'm pretty happy with that. The questions that I had to skip were more related to terminology than actual code. Which I'm OK with, since I've never study theory or the like. But I'd like to learn more about the three normal forms. I know how to normalize a database, but I don't know which form is which. Hopefully a quick read will fix that.

Anyway, here are some nice charts that they sent me.

What Does Your Desk Look Like?

Fri, 23 May 2008 05:17:00 GMT

I took this picture for someone today and I thought I'd share. This is my current setup at home. Once you go multiple monitors, you'll never go back.

I'm running Ubuntu on the left monitor connect to XP on the other two monitors via Synergy.

What does your desk look like?

SQL Server List Length Function

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 16:54:00 GMT

I know lists aren't good to store in a database, but something came up in which I needed to be able to get the list length of a VARCHAR filed. Instead of having to loop it each time, I decided to see what kind of functions were already out there. I found a count string function, but it wasn't exactly what I was looking for, so I took the idea and ran with it.

This function takes a list (VARCHAR) and delimiter (VARCHAR) and returns the number of items in the list.

/*  UDF_LISTLEN  ==================================================  Created on 02/19/2008 by Robert Froehling   - returns the length of a list   - this was modified from count string function at the link below   - http://www.sql-server-helper.com/functions/count-string.aspx */  CREATE FUNCTION UDF_LISTLEN(  @list VARCHAR(8000),  @delim VARCHAR(5)) RETURNS TINYINT BEGIN  -- define the vars to use  DECLARE @modString VARCHAR(8000)  DECLARE @newString VARCHAR(8000)  DECLARE @oldStringLen SMALLINT  DECLARE @modStringLen SMALLINT  DECLARE @newStringLen SMALLINT  DECLARE @delimLen TINYINT  DECLARE @diff TINYINT   -- set some default vars  SET @oldStringLen = LEN(@list)  SET @delimLen = LEN(@delim)  SET @modString = @list  SET @modStringLen = LEN(@modString)   -- if the first part of the string is the delim then remove it  IF SUBSTRING(@modString, 1, @delimLen) = @delim  BEGIN   SET @modString = SUBSTRING(@modString, @delimLen + 1, @oldStringLen - @delimLen)   SET @modStringLen = LEN(@modString)  END   -- if the last part of the string is the delim then remove it  IF SUBSTRING(@modString, @modStringLen - @delimLen + 1, @delimLen) = @delim  BEGIN   SET @modString = SUBSTRING(@modString, 1, @modStringLen - @delimLen)   SET @modStringLen = LEN(@modString)  END   -- count the lengths and setup the diff to return  SET @newString = REPLACE(@list, @delim, '')  SET @newStringLen = LEN(@newString)  SET @diff = @modStringLen - @newStringLen + 1   RETURN @diff END

Here is a usage example.

DECLARE @list VARCHAR(500) DECLARE @delim VARCHAR(1) SET @list = 'fro,ev,jc,ds' SET @delim = ',' PRINT master.dbo.udf_listlen(@list, @delim)

Update: I should point out that I've only tested this on SQL Server 2000.

ColdFusion Thinks My List Is A Date

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 16:55:00 GMT

I came across something interesting today when build a query for testing. I did the following:

<cfscript>  q = queryNew("id,name,list");  queryAddRow(q, 3);  querySetCell(q, "id", 1, 1);  querySetCell(q, "name", "robert", 1);  querySetCell(q, "list", "1,2,3", 1);  querySetCell(q, "id", 2, 2);  querySetCell(q, "name", "ryan", 2);  querySetCell(q, "list", "1,3", 2);  querySetCell(q, "id", 3, 3);  querySetCell(q, "name", "greg", 3);  querySetCell(q, "list", "3,4", 3); </cfscript>

Out of habit, I dumped the "q" to verify that I have what I want. When doing this, what do you think I got?

I thought I'd get an INTEGER (id) and 2 VARCHARs (name & list). Is that what you thought? Well, that's not the case. QuerySetCell determined that the "list" column values represent dates. This is what it gave me.

When I used 2 or 3 numbers in the list, that fell within some sort of date value range, ColdFusion set it's datatype to DATE. If I add rows that only have 1 list value, more than 3 list values, or list values that seem to break the DATE mold (e.g. "40,40"), then I'd get the VARCHAR list that I wanted.

So what is the lesson learned here? ALWAYS define your datatypes when using QueryNew.

Have you come across any other functions that produce unexpected results?

Reminder To Self - Cannot Concatenate NULL in SQL Server 2000

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 22:24:00 GMT

In SQL Server 2000, I'm not sure about 2005 yet, you can't concatenate on a NULL value. The result will continue to be NULL.

By running this you get an output of NULL.

DECLARE @my_string VARCHAR(20) SET @my_string = @my_string + 'something' PRINT @my_string

You have to set the variable to something other than NULL before using concatenation.

DECLARE @my_string VARCHAR(20) SET @my_string = '' SET @my_string = @my_string + 'something' PRINT @my_string

This had me hung up for almost an hour.

SQL Server Data Types (ntext, text, and image) To Be Removed

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 19:19:00 GMT

I was doing some research on data types in various DB engines when you came across the SQL Server 2005 documentation on data types and found that the ntext, text, and image data types will be removed in a future version of SQL Server.

When you plan on upgrading to a new version of anything, make sure to check the documentation for any deprecated functionality that you're using.

This doesn't impact me at the moment, as we haven't even upgraded to 2005 yet.

Looking for Open Source Suggestions

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 03:15:00 GMT

I'm working on my first Open Source project (more on that later) which I plan to release on RIAForge. Do you have any suggestions, tips, or best kept secrets for OSS development?

XBox Live - I'm online!

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 03:01:00 GMT

I picked up an XBox 360 a couple of weeks ago. I've been trying to get it online, with no success. I've been getting all kinds of strange errors, MTU failed, Network adapter disabled, IP Address failed, and so on. It was pretty random. But the most frequent error was MTU failed. So I contacted XBox support and my ISP. XBox support told me that my router wasn't compatible. I wasn't convinced since I'm with a major ISP and I have their latest router, the 2Wire 2701HG-B. My ISP didn't really know what to do. They didn't say that it should work, they just gave me the basic troubleshooting tips that I already found online.

So I messed around for a few days trying all kinds of different settings and configurations. Then I went to use the cable that I had plugged into the XBox on another machine, but I couldn't get online. It was picking up an IP from the router, but it wasn't getting out. I tried another cable on that PC, and it worked.

At this point, I kicked myself for not trying it earlier. I plugged the new cable into the XBox and wa la, it worked.

What's the point of the entry? Always check your cables!

Does anyone know of some kind of tool that can be used to test cables?

Excel 2003 Equivalent to Excel 2007's COUNTIFS Function

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 17:10:00 GMT

Microsoft's Excel 2007 has a new function called COUNTIFS which allows you to apply multiple criteria (up to 127) in order to arrive at your count range. Here is how I had it setup, which works great.

COUNTIFS(Employees!$D:$D,1,Employees!$L:$L,"Meets")

This counts all of the employees that have a level of 1 and a performance rating of "Meets". The problem is that this worksheet needs to be compatible to older versions of Excel, particularly 2003. Luckily, there is a pretty easy way to accomplish the same result. I googled and found this thread at www.ureader.com which mentions the use of the SUMPRODUCT function. Here is my backwards compatible version.

SUMPRODUCT(--(Employees!$D:$D=1),--(Employees!$L:$L="Meets"))

So what does this do? Well, the first argument returns an array of TRUE/FALSE values for each cell in the range. True if it equals 1, false if not. Adding "--" to the beginning converts the TRUE values to 1 and the FALSE values to 0. The next argument does the same thing, but for a different range of cells and for the value "Meets". Lastly, the SUMPRODUCT function multiplies each position in the first array with the same position in the second array then adds up the result. Here is an example:

Array 1 = {0;1;1;1;0}
Array 2 = {0;0;1;0;0}
Product Array = {0;0;1;0;0}
Sum Result = 1

The SUMPRODUCT function isn't quite as elegant as the COUNTIFS function, but it gets the job done.

SQL Server Identity

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 22:34:08 GMT

Here is a pretty good article about the differences between @@IDENTITY, SCOPE_IDENTITY(), and IDENT_CURRENT('tablename') for SQL Server. I didn't even know about IDENT_CURRENT('tablename') before.

http://www.mssqltips.com/tip.asp?tip=1385

Dallas Day One

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 03:23:50 GMT

I'm now blogging (hopefully more) from Dallas, TX. I finished the move today with a lot of help from my friend Ryan Everhart. I found a loft downtown that's pretty cool. I still have a ton of stuff to unpack, but that'll come in time. Time to get some sleep, I start at the new office tomorrow morning. Luckily, it's only a block and a half away. :)

Thanks again EV.

I Ordered a New Black MacBook

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 02:37:55 GMT

The title pretty much says it all.

I'm pumped!

Are you watching too much TV?

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 02:18:06 GMT

I just finished reading an article at savingadvice.com titled "How Dumping TV Allowed Me to Quit My Job, Create an Online Business and Fund My Retirement Account ", which was very interesting.

I use to watch a lot of TV. Probably more than the average person (4.5 hours/day). Lately, however, I've found myself watching far less TV. Instead, I've been working out, playing sports, reading (granted it's mainly only, but I digress), and working more on the side projects that I've wanted to work on for a long time.

Not only have I been getting more done, but I've also been feeling much more healthy and focused. I'm getting to the point were I don't have to rely on my alarm clock in the morning. And that's a feat for me, considering I love my sleep.I still have my moments when I don't want to do much, but that mainly stems from stress at work (which comes with working for a giant corporation).

My next goal is to work on my productivity over the weekends. I don't have a family, so I don't have the family time that a lot of other folks have, therefore I tend to watch a lot of movies or go out drinking (which is pretty much all there is to do in Springfield). I'll keep you posted how my weekend productive performance increases (hopefully).

How much TV do you watch? Have you cut back lately? If so, how has it helped your productivity in work and in life?

Using FFmpeg to Convert VOB to WMV

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 18:05:23 GMT

Today we were given a product demo on DVD that we needed to convert to a WMV so that we can make it available to our end users. My first thought was "How do I turn a VOB into a WMV?" without downloading a bunch of shareware. Then I remembered FFmpeg, one of the best video utilities out there.

First, I got a copy of the VOB file (520MB) on my machine. Then I opened up a command prompt, navigated to the FFmpeg directory, and started playing with the conversion settings.

I tried a few different options before I decided to go simple. I ended up just setting the bit rate to 500kb/s and let FFmpeg control the rest.

[codeshare jund8ac8]

The end result is a nice 38MB WMV.

Note: I am not a video expert. This process may not work on all VOBs.

You can download FFmpeg from SVN. And here is some good documentation on FFmpeg.

Email Habits from TechRepublic blogger Calvin Sun

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 17:24:09 GMT

TechRepublic blogger, Calvin Sun, posted a good article on email habits that covers five time wasting and problem causing issues. These are all issues that we know about, but have probably done a time or two.

Email etiquette and writing have been on my focus list lately. I have a ways to go, but I feel that I'm making progress on becoming a better communicator. (Now if I would just post more content.)

It has been my experience that you need to be very clear in your communications (especially email) when it involves a follow up or required action by another person. If it's not clear, there is a good chance that the person will not understand that they have some action to take. Therefore, the item is left uncared for. And that's never a good thing.

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/helpdesk/?p=56

What habits have you seen that led to a poor email experiences?

Testing in Multiple Versions of IE on XP

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 02:39:51 GMT

I know this has been covered before, but it takes me too long to find the best tool (that doesn't use a hack). So I'm posting here so that I can easily find it in the future.

We've started working on a project for a friend of mine in STL. (More on that later.) I had the design almost completely coded (in FF) when I realized that I haven't checked it out in other browsers. Doh!

So I opened up IE7 to see what it looked like. Luckily, it wasn't that bad. There were only a few margin errors. I fixed those, then checked the other browsers I have. All is good.

But what about IE6? Unfortunately, a lot of people still use IE6, so I figured I better cover as many folks as I can.

As I mentioned above, I didn't want to have to hack around to get IE6 to run with IE7. I did some searching and came across MultipleIEs. It's a Windows install from TredoSoft that will install IE3, IE4.01, IE5, IE5.5, and IE6. So far so good.

http://tredosoft.com/Multiple_IE

Fro

Web Design Survey

Tue, 01 May 2007 20:43:45 GMT

Office Document Behavior Change in Office 2007

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 13:51:56 GMT

Here is an article on how the behavior of opening Office documents from a browser changes in Office 2007. While I think the new behavior is a good thing for most cases, it does effect one of the applications that I work on.

http://blogs.msdn.com/excel/archive/2006/09/26/771221.aspx

Use mail merge to format and print mailing labels

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 13:49:11 GMT

Here is a pretty good article (with demo video) on how to use the mail merge feature in Word 2003 to create labels.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA011903941033.aspx

Fitness - Day One

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 12:07:31 GMT

It's been an interesting start of the year for me. I've been sick for a majority of it. Started off with a head cold, then the flu, then some viral infection which caused me to drop about 15 pounds (I wasn't a heavy guy to start with), which also led to my tonsils swelling up to the point that I could barely swallow and had to stay the night in the hospital (fun stuff). After all of that, the antibiotics I was on led to oral thrush. So, another week of not being able to eat very well.

Now that all of that is over, it's time to get back into shape. Not that I was in great (or even good) shape before that. My main focus right now is going to be to get in good enough shape so that I can start playing hockey again. And by start playing, I mean skating in a stick time every now and again.

I did some reading online yesterday about training for a 5K, and I figured I'd start there. I know it's not much, but I need to start somewhere. So I started off today with about a 15 minute run/walk. I felt like I could have done more, but I'm not in any hurry, so I'll just start off slow.

Here is what the first week should look like:

Mon	Tues	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun
15 min bike	15 min run	15 min bike	15 min run	15 min bike	off	1 mile run

Then you increase each week by a few minutes. And increase the Sunday run by 1/2 a mile. Also, I can take off on Monday and/or Wednesday if I feel that I need to.

I know it doesn't seem like much, but we'll see how it goes.

If any of you run, bike, swim, etc., leave a comment and let me know how you workout. This'll be the first time in at least 7 years that I've tried to stick to a workout plan. And back then I had a coach telling me what to do.