Archive for the ‘General’ Category

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List storedprocedures or database objects by last modified date

Author: May

2 May

I learnt something new today. I needed to make a release which includes lots of changes to DB over 3 months period and needed a quick way to figure out which staging db objects to move across to the production.

I wished many times to list storedprocedures by last modified date but stupid enough never Google it and just did the painful way of noting down and scripting them. Then I face the problem of all those script files keep piling up over the period of time and lost track of which scripts have been executed or not.

Today I’m in a bit of sensible mode and did a quick googling and found this useful script, so I’m posting here for later reference.

Listing last modified storedprocedures
select name, create_date, modify_date from sys.procedures order by modify_date desc

Listing last modified tables
select name, create_date, modify_date from sys.tables order by modify_date desc

Listing db objects by type and date
SELECT * FROM sys.objects WHERE type in ('P', 'U') AND DATEDIFF(D,modify_date, GETDATE()) < 90

Type “P” is for storedprocedures and “U” for tables. More on available Types: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms190324.aspx

Now that I know which objects have been last updated, I can do the DB script very easily by just selecting those objects. Sweet isn’t it?

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Filed under: Development, Microsoft, SQL, Tips and Tricks, Work

My bullshit’s sweet perfume etc

Author: May

7 Feb

Yet another random mumblings or something like what’s that cartoon says: “My bullshit’s sweet perfume etc”

Via: Gapingvoid

Damn Dishwasher
I need a good flask or a little teapot for my tea. Don’t wanna waste tea bags for each cup of hot water I drink. 1 tea bag can be used for about 3 cups ie. I just want a mild lukewarm tea so gotta get a good little flask and have to keep it save in my drawer. Whenever I clean a cup and keep it on my desk, it disappears the next day. The office cleaner must have taken it back to the kitchen. Let me keep my own clean cup at least! I don’t like the dishwasher they have here, it’s not clean at all and very disgusting with many residues still sticking to the dishes after. Why can’t they just leave a traditional liquid soup and a sponge there! Anyways…You see, I use this folded tissue paper to cover my tea cup just to keep it warm a bit longer. I’ve been wondering why the side facing the hot water doesn’t get wet but the outer side does. Hmm someone care to explain me the reason? I’ve never been good at Chemistry.

Tweets of the week
I just find this two pretty amusing.
@kaoskongo #YouKnowYourFijian ‘Umbrella’ is pronounced ‘Um-ba-re-lla’ #ella #ella

@sher0d Just viewed source on Bing: <html><head><title>Bing</title></head><body><iframe src=”http://www.google.com”></iframe></body></html>

Aussie Guys
Yesterday I was walking along Pitt St towards Castlereagh St and saw this two men kissing passionately in the middle of a very crowded street. Then another couple around World Square was hugging and whispering as they walk. Again this morning when I was on the way to work, on the bus, this big guy sitting next to me was flirting on the phone but I can very clearly hear the receiver from the other end was a man as well. Then I remember my Czech ex-flatmate once says; “In Australia, all the guys are either Married, Taken or Gays“. Hmm…O…K… I have no discrimination toward bi, tri, quad or whatever genders. I just find that people over here are very passionate and very openly show their affection in the public places. May be I’m just a traditionalist or come from a place where I don’t often see those kind of public affections so it’s kind of new for me.

Santa’s Close Relatives
I always have a problem with hairy people, especially those with extreme facial hair. I just can’t understand why they’re so very much in love with their facial hair; some cultivate them very carefully, some just have them for the sake of having them and some just doesn’t own a mirror or a shave. Whatever their reasons are, they just freak me out and kind of scare me. We had a lunch at this bar, Lord Nelson Brewery, last Friday. It was quite a crowded lunch hour; our table was right beside the entrance and 80% of the guys coming in have all those ugly facial hair and untidy long bird nest hair…urgh! Anyways, the lunch was nice, I had chilli crab spaghetti. I’m thinking of trying out the pie next time cos’ the table next to us were having pies and I’m very much curious about what those green stuffs on their pies are.

Ok that’s all for now. Ohhohoho
Opinionated

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Filed under: Australia, General, Humors, Life Style, Personal, Thoughts

MSDN Magazines: Silverlight Pivot Viewer

Author: May

4 Feb

I was checking out this Silverlight Pivot Viewer where you can browse through 10yrs worth of MSDN Magazines; found it pretty neat fast loading interface but it’s annoying when you select an article and click either “Read Article” or “Download Code” link, it redirects you to the article page on the same viewer page. And when you want to go back, you have to relaunch the viewer and reenter the search criteria again. I wish they make the article links open in new window so we can still keep viewer open.

Below are the screenshot of the article page cloud based on the search criteria I entered and the zoom in view of it.

Anyways, it’s good that we can search all MSDN articles using this thing quite easily so I’m pretty satisfy with it.

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Filed under: Development, Microsoft, Technology, Tools

Oh Dear Me & My Dances

Author: May

4 Feb

We had a Zouk Lambada beginner class yesterday evening. It was really hard dance steps for us (me) though it’s only a few beginner steps to learn but some of us (me) just can’t follow. It’s really sexy dance if you dance it well; the moves are so cool when the instructor and another assistance instructor demonstrated to us. There’s no way we can dance like that at this stage since we are still very much struggling with just one basic foot work.

“Anticipation leads to disappointment“, said so the instructor many times. He kept telling us to follow the men’s lead and let the guys do the thinking cos’ they are the brains here and women just follow whatever the guys do.
He said, there are only two rules in dancing (and in life as well);

1st rule – “The man is always right”;
2nd rule, “If you think he’s wrong, refer to rule #1″.

If you step on the guy’s feet, say sorry cos’ it’s your fault, you’re not following the guy’s lead.
If he step on your toes, you apologise, it’s again your fault, cos’ you didn’t move your foot back.
(hmm…)

I would agree to follow the lead if the guy is a good leader but some of the guys are just very bad at dancing; forget about leading, they can’t even get their own footwork right. We have to rotate around the floor so get to dance with everyone. You make heaps of mistakes if the guy partner is terrible. There’s no team work in dancing, it’s just follow the guy’s lead (according to the instructor) so blame it all on the guys. It’s quite true cos’ you dance so well if you get to partner with bronze level students or an advance level guys. They can lead you on not only on the footwork but also on the body movement as well. For us beginners, we only concentrate on the footwork and none at all for body/hip movement that all of us dancing like stiff mechanical robots at the moment.

You have to practice a lot in order to get the foot work right without looking down at the feet all the time. But for me, I forget the steps the min I step out of the studio so there’s no way for me to improve in dancing. Every Friday 8-11pm is a social dance where you can practice whatever you learn with everyone. The music keeps changing every few min and you get to dance with whoever ask you to dance. The problem for me is, I don’t even know which music beat is for which type of dance and even if I kinda know the beat, I forgot the footwork for the dance. I’m totally hopeless in this area. At the last social dance, this girl asked me what’s my plan after this class, and I told her I have no idea cos’ I wasn’t planning to join the classes to start with and I’m just coming here for a bit of laughter and fun since I need to de-stress myself. As for her, she comes to the studio to practice everyday, she’s really an advance level once and can dance so beautifully, plus she’s a very pretty Java Software developer. Whoop what a girl!

Anyways, so far I’m enjoying the lessons except for getting occasional sore toes cos’ the guys keep stepping on my toes. Especially those tall guys who have long steps which keep clashing with my steps. And yes, yes, I did apologise them for not moving my foot far enough. I get hurt and have to apologise too, not good at all! The instructor told me I think too much; he told me not to think at all but just follow the guy and go with the flow. But but, I just can’t do it, my brain just automatically tick tick tick and have to go figure out what’s the next step is, so yes, my anticipation keeps getting me sore feet and disappointment. Nevertheless, I’m enjoying the dances so far!

Here is my favorite Zouk vid published on the studio’s site. You can check out some more vids and a bit of the info on Zouk here. They are all performed at the “Step Up Dance Studio“. So very cool yet so hard isn’t it?

Zouk-Lambada

And here are recent Spring Ball performances and previous functions too. They are asking if we want to participate in the next function. We can ask the instructor of our choice to partner with us and he’ll teach us the choreography and everything. It’s pretty fun to watch all those previous performances.

Oh yes, coming Friday is V Day special social dance function so everyone has to wear pink or hot pink or anything to do with pink. Let’s see what the guys wear then. Ok, that’s all for now and I’ll be at the social dance tonight.

Enjoy your Friday!

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Filed under: Australia, General, Life Style, Personal, Videos

System.Web.UI.HtmlControls.HtmlGenericControl

Author: May

5 Jan

I learn something new today (I’m sure most of you already know, but I just found out). I didn’t know we can use html tags such as div, span etc as html server controls. I do know if you want to convert html controls into server control, you just have to add runat=”server” element but using div container as server control is a different story.

I normally use literal or panel server controls to show or hide the confirmation messages. But in this code, the div tag can act as a panel control by declaring it as HtmlGenericControl.

In the front-end you add id and runat=”server” elements to the div tag.

<fieldset>
	<h3>Registration Validation</h3>
	<div id="divValidated" runat="server">
		Your account has been validated. You may now log in.
	</div>
	<div id="divNoAccount" runat="server">
		No matching account. If it has been over 30 days since you registered your
		account will have been deleted. Please sign up again.
	</div>
	<div id="divNoNeed" runat="server">
		Your account has already been validated.
	</div>
</fieldset>

In the back-end you declare it as HtmlGenericControl.

protected System.Web.UI.HtmlControls.HtmlGenericControl divValidated;
protected System.Web.UI.HtmlControls.HtmlGenericControl divNoAccount;
protected System.Web.UI.HtmlControls.HtmlGenericControl divNoNeed;

Voila, you got your div panel with all those member variables you can make use of. So here is a little info on HtmlGenericControl.

Use this class to represent an HTML server control element not directly represented by a .NET Framework class, such as <span>, <div>, <body>, or <font>.
Caution
This control can be used to display user input, which might include malicious client script. Check any information that is sent from a client for executable script, SQL statements, or other code before displaying it in your application. ASP.NET provides an input request validation feature to block script and HTML in user input. Validation server controls are also provided to assess user input.
HtmlGenericControl Class
HtmlGenericControl Members

Pretty cool isn’t it? Well, I didn’t know that and now I know.

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Filed under: .Net, Asp.net, C#, Development, Project Notes, Tips and Tricks

“M” for “May”

Author: May

9 Oct

I was tagged on facebook and couldn’t figure out how to post a note there so I’m posting here anyways.

What is your name: May
A four Letter Word: Moon
A boy’s Name: Michael
A girl’s Name: Marilyn
An occupation: Manager
A color: Magenta
Something you’ll wear : Marc Jacobs + Maybelline
A food: Mutton + Mashed Potatoes (Moon Cake + M&Ms for dessert)
Something found in the bathroom: Mat + Medicine cabinet
A place: Melbourne
A reason for being late: Malaria or Mad cow disease
Something you’d shout: Mwahahaha!
A movie title: Me, Myself & Irene
Something you drink: Mocha
A musical group: Muse
An animal: Mongoose
A street name: Maunicau Rd (ok not exactly a street)
A type of car: Mini Cooper (Mr. Bean’s car) or Mini Bus
The title of a song: My Life Would Suck Without You, My Heart Will Go On
A verb: Motivate

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Filed under: Aside Notes, General, Humors, Notes, Personal

SDLC – Software Development Lifecycle

Author: May

6 Oct

Saw this over at “In search of simplicity, quality and tranquility in software engineering“; a series of posts on SDLC – Software Development Lifecycle. Thought a good series to follow and read it over the weekend. Love the graphics on each post!

SDLC – Software Development Lifecycle … what’s the point? (part 1 of many)

SDLC – Software Development Lifecycle … closer look at basics (part 2 of many)

SDLC – Software Development Lifecycle … exploring common models (part 3 of many)

SDLC – Software Development Lifecycle … agility strikes back with energy (part 4 of many)

SDLC – Software Development Lifecycle … is prototyping part of the good, the bad and/or the evil? (part 5 of many)

SDLC – Software Development Lifecycle … analyzing the battle ahead (part 6 of many)

SDLC – Software Development Lifecycle … designing the blueprint (part 7 of many)

SDLC – Software Development Lifecycle … testing, the moment of truth (part 8 of many)

SDLC – Software Development Lifecycle … flashback, component-level design principles (part 9 of many)

SDLC – Software Development Lifecycle … Visual Process & Estimating (Guessing) Software Deliverables

To scrum or to Run … that is the agile question? (new)

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