Tools I Used Today

TOAD - Tool for ORACLE Application Developers
Tweaked Package and Procedure Bodies

Visual Studio .net 2003
Deployed Web Service to test site.
Deployed Application to test site.
Had to reestablish Web Reference from localhost to test.
Had to changes several localhost references to relative paths.

Tools I Used Today

Visio
Did some UML Modeling and Code Generation for my DBProvider Factory Factory.

After building and tweaking the final results in VS .net 2003 I reverse engineered the project. Pretty Cool.

VS .net 2003

MS SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Mgr.
Oracle Enterprise Mgr.
ODBC Administrator

Created test databases and datasources for the Data Provider Factory Testing


NUnit
Kicked some more but with this awsome tool developing tests for my DB Provider Factories which are now working like a charm.

I've implemented factories for the .net SQLServer, Oracle and ODBC data providers.

All my study of design patterns is starting to bear fruit. I'm really excited with the results.

Next I plan to retrofit my DBObjects to use the Provider Factory Factory and then create a Provider Factory Factory for the Compact framwork which will implement the SQL Server CE and SQL Server providers.

Getting SQL Server CE Server Tools to Install

1. Downloaded and installed SQL Server 2000 CE
At this time got error message about version compatibility with SQL Server 2000 SP1 and above.


2. Downloaded and installed SP3 for SQL Server 2000

Ran: D:\My Downloads\SQL Server 2000 SP3\TEMP\x86\setup\setupsql.exe

3. Downloaded and installed SQL Server CE SERVER TOOLS for SQL Server 2000 SP3

Tools I Used Today

.net Compact Framework
SQL Query Analyzer for SQL 2000 CE
The System.Data.SqlServerCe Namespace

My First Foray Into the World of the .NET Compact Framework

Created my first CF .net app and published it to my pda. Voila, it worked!
Visual Studio does EVERYTHING for you, in terms of loading the required files:
The framework!
The apps assemblies etc.

I subsequently downloaded SQLServer 2000 CE and added a reference to it from my app. I added some code to create a DB, create a table, write data to the table, read it back out and display it on the screen. Worked first time!

After some interation of the build, load and run process the deployment to the pda started failing due to a sharing violation. I was unable to delete the .exe and/or its folder but I WAS able to rename the folder and got back on track!

ThreadAbortException rears its head again

Response.Redirect will always throw a
ThreadAbortException that will be silently handled by the ASP.NET runtime.

You can move your Response.Redirect outside the try/catch block or leave it there and rethrow the exception.

Mobile Developement and Sometimes Offline Scenarios

Here's an msdn article regarding synchronizatio strategies for Handheld apps:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/mobility/prodtechinfo/devtools/netcf/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/dnppc2k3/html/sometimesoffline2.asp

Tools I used today

VS .net 2003
Oracle Enterprise Mgr.

Tools I Used Today

Oracle Enterprise Mgr.
Tweaked the CareerPathSalesPositionNumber Procedure to return a Number instead of a Cursor Reference so now the declaration looks like this in the Package Declaration:

PROCEDURE CareerPathSalesPositionNumber(InParm IN NUMBER, OutParm OUT NUMBER);

In the package body the OPEN CURSOR FOR SELECT... is replaced with A SELECT INTO which looks something like:

SELECT DISTINCT
columnx INTO outParm
FROM
tablex
WHERE ....


VS .net 2003
Grabbing the return value is slightly different than using the Cursor Reference to fill a DataTable:

cmd.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure;
cmd.Parameters.Add("InParm", OracleType.Number).Value = iInParm;

cmd.Parameters.Add("OutParm", OracleType.Number).Direction = ParameterDirection.Output;

cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();

iOutParmVal = Convert.ToInt32(cmd.Parameters["OutParm"].Value);



SQL+Plus Worksheet

Finished slogging test data into the DB. What a pita!

Getting Reconnected to Visual Source Safe after Working Disconnected

Ran into a small head scratcher today.

I'm getting ready for a demo which will have to run without an Oracle DB connection. To test that everthing is a go, I undocked my laptop and ran the app. A small tweak was required and when attempting to make the change, VS .net complained about being disconnected from VSS. It asked if I'd like to do a 'virtual' check out and work in disconnected mode. I agreed.

Problem:

When I redocked VS .net was not smart enough to switch modes and most of my Source Control menu options were missing. Specifically, Check-in was gone and a couple of files were flagged as checked out!

Solution:

From VS .net, on the File menu, point to Source Control, and then click Change Source Control. Highlight the VSS Server and click on 'Connect' Icon in upper left of dialog. :-)

Tools and Technologies Catch Up

Just to catch up Here's a List of Tools and Technologies I've Used from Jan 5th 2004 to May 9th 2004:

Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003
C#
ASP.NET Mostly
A few Windows Forms Utility Apps

Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Mgr.
Almost every day

Microsoft SQL Server 2000 DTS
ETL Assignment

Microsoft SQL T-SQL Stored Procedures

VB 6
Maintain ASP components

XML

XSLT

Maintain / fix rendering of ASP web page(s)

XMLSpy
Great Product!

NUnit Unit Test Facility for .NET
Another Great Product and its FREE!
Testing components is now rapid! Actually, RETesting components is now super rapid!


HTML
JAVA Script

Maintenance of significant amounts of client side validation dynamic
DOM / Control creation, activation

ASP.NET
ASP.NET Data Web Controls
ADO.NET

Execution of stored procedures via ADO.NET Both Oracle and SQL Server

LDAP / Active Directory Access via .NET System.DirectoryServices
DirectorySearcher Class

Softerra's LDAP Browser version 2.1 Christmas Edition
Another excellent, FREE product
Visio
Created UML Static Class Diagrams. Used the diagrams to generate
code.

CSS

Tools I used today

Oracle Enterprise Mgr.
Finished Creating the Stored Procedures in the Package Body

VS .net 2003
Finished switching from 'embedded' SQL to calling the Stored Procs

SQL+Plus Worksheet
Described the tables requiring test data propagation and cut/pasted the results into my data propagation script. Subsequently cut and pasted the data in the script to SQL+Plus Worksheet and executed, fixed errors, more cutting and pasting ...

Test Data Propagation Woes

Have now wasted several hours downloading and evaluating SQL Test Data Generators.
The only one that actually 'worked' doesn't allow you to actually write the results to the DB. The results are held in memory where they can be viewed but you can't commit them to disk. The data LOOKS really good but its difficult to tell if all of the relationships are sound plus you don't know what disasters lurk in the facilities that actually do the writing to the db. It'll take some serious coin to find out, $1,600.

The product is GS Data Generator from Global Software Solutions

Two products that showed promised but ultimately failed miserably:

TurboData from Canam
Advanced Data Generator Pro Edition from Upscene Productions

I've gone back to creating the data by hand.